# Almost there. A few seconds more...



## JohnLawton (Mar 25, 2003)

Hi

I woke up this morning, turned on TiVo and felt my heart drop as I received the message "Almost there. A few seconds more..." on a grey background.

A few seconds passed and nothing more happened. It's been a few hours now and still the same. I've tried unplugging, waiting a few minutes and plugging back in, and I end up with the same message.

Aarg, even my wife who hates telly is in a spin, how will we cope!!!

TiVo support in the UK say they can't do anything.

Any thoughts? I'm not a techy and don't want to get out the screwdriver!!

It's a Thomson TiVo, all shiny and silver, other than that I don't know if it's got one hard drive, two or a magic pixie inside.

Any help desperately welcome, especially before next weekend's grand prix!

Cheers

John


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## OzSat (Feb 15, 2001)

All TiVo's have a magic pixie in them - but unless you know how to handle them it isn't worth taking the lid off. If you don't know what you are doing then you may kill the pixie. (Sky boxes have a gerbil which gets tired and slows down - and doesn't think for itself).

Try powering TiVo off for 2 minutes then powering it back up.


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## 10203 (Nov 11, 2001)

ozsat, you owe me a new laptop


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## Milhouse (Sep 15, 2001)

Until someone else chimes in, this FAQ may be helpful to you: http://alt.org/wiki/index.php/TivoDiagnostics

Try kickstart option 57 - mfs check (performs an integrity check of the file system)

Or wait until someone far more knowledgeable than I responds!


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

As we had a very nice thunderstorm here in the Malmesbury area yesterday my money would be on a blown modem, unfortunately 

When the modem goes, often the modem test program that runs at startup will hang, causing the TiVo to hang at "almost there...". 

Unfortunately, modem repairs mean sending your TiVo away (to Ireland) and the possibility of a frighteningly big bill, plus postage, plus VAT. Therefore, if you have broadband the cheapest/best option would probably be to fit a network card and get your updates via the internet instead.


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## JohnLawton (Mar 25, 2003)

BlindLemon, where are you in Malmesbury? Do you know how to work the magic of which you speak? Sending my TiVo to Ireland and being lumped with a big bill seems less than appealing. Upgrading to a network card is a possibility, if I can run a cable up the garden from my broadband office. Do you know how to install new bigger harddisks? Hmm, to think, a TiVo guru within minutes!


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

JohnLawton said:


> BlindLemon...Do you know how to work the magic of which you speak?


You could say he has some experience


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

Thanks Carl 

John, I have sent you an email.


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## JohnLawton (Mar 25, 2003)

Just a quick question about networking - if I connect my TiVo to broadband, will it do it's nightly thing of downloading TV schedules automatically or will I have to instigate this manually.

Also, while the lid's off, can a digital decoder be installed to get Freeview stuff?

Ta

John


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## worm (Feb 10, 2005)

1. It will do it itself.

2. No.



Two TiVo users in Malmesbury? This must be a conspiracy (although I'm aware that blindlemon is actually just 'near' Malmesbury) - whereabouts are you John?
I'm a native of Malmesbury, but left just over 10 years ago.


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## JohnLawton (Mar 25, 2003)

Struth, was Malmesbury targetted by TiVo marketting campaigns!!!

Gastons Road - just opposite the old Art Centre/school

Thanks for the answers, shame about digital though - yes I know you can get TiVo to bounce remote signals around the room and try to hit the freeview box, but I was hoping for a more elegant solution!!

Cheers muchly

John ;-)


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## hokkers999 (Jan 5, 2006)

JohnLawton said:


> BlindLemon, where are you in Malmesbury? Do you know how to work the magic of which you speak? Sending my TiVo to Ireland and being lumped with a big bill seems less than appealing. Upgrading to a network card is a possibility, if I can run a cable up the garden from my broadband office. Do you know how to install new bigger harddisks? Hmm, to think, a TiVo guru within minutes!


Or you could just go wireless instead......


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## worm (Feb 10, 2005)

It doesn't have to bounce - there is an IR 'wand' that you can attach to the Freeview box in front of the IR detector which controls it like a normal remote control does.

It's not massivly pretty, but it's fairly unobtrusive, and is more reliable than the IR Blaster 'bounce' method.


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