# Severe Error Green Screen



## rubybear (Oct 16, 2007)

Has anyone else experienced a freeze/reboot/severe error problem lately? I have a 3-year old (Aug 2005) unmodified Series 2 Samsung S4080R, and its been working fine lately. I received the 6.4a update back on June 12. 

This morning I was watching live TV when it froze and rebooted. However, after the welcome, powering up, then the just a few minutes more screens, I got a green screen saying a severe error has occurred. It had some further instructions about not doing anything for 3 hours while the recorder tries to repair itself. Within a 20-minute period, it rebooted itself 3 times, always ending up with the green screen. The 4th time it rebooted, it went all the way through like a normal reboot, and has been working fine ever since.

Id like to know if this has happened to other people recently, which would indicate a software problem, rather than my hard drive going bad. Any advice would be appreciated. Im not tech savvy enough to open the box and modify anything, so I'm wondering about my options. Or, was this just a one-time deal, and my DVR is probably fine? 

Thanks,
rubybear


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## John T Smith (Jun 17, 2004)

I am NOT a Linux techie, but I do remember reading in a previous message that when DTV sends a new software version, it goes to a "hidden" part of the hard drive... and it sometimes happens that there is a problem with that area

Keep watching, and report back if you have more problems... it MAY be that you will need to replace the hard drive, which is not difficult at all... if you buy a ready made drive from someone like weaknees (a forum sponser)


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

The GSOD (Green Screen of Death) is a very common occurrence. It can happen for any number of reasons but the most common seems to be either software corruption or a bad hard drive. If data gets corrupt then the Tivo will attempt to repair itself while displaying the green screen. Usually the Tivo can fix the problem on its own and then resume normal operation, as it apparently did in your case. 

If the drive has bad sectors then it will keep trying to repair the problem and either get stuck in a reboot loop or an endless green screen. Sometimes running a diagnostic that will map bad sectors will allow the Tivo to bypass the bad sectors and repair itself normally. If the bad sectors aren't mapped then the Tivo will continue to attempt writing to them, the result being that niothing gets written and the Tivo goes around in circles trying to fix the problem.

Tivos tend to display the green screen following a software update. The reasoin for this is because the Tivo has two sets of partitions for the kernel and OS, but only one pair of partitions is active at any given time. When the Tivo downloads an update, uit gets installed on the inactive set of partitions and is then made active while the currently active set is made inactive. Updates cause the active/inactive pairs to toggle every time an update is installed. If bad clusters form on the surface of the disk corresponding to the inactive partions, the GSOD is displayed when the inactive partitions are made active and the Tivo attempts to boot from them. 

Sometimes you can repair the bad clusters or simply work around them. More often than not, the bad clusters may be an indication of a failing drive and it's time to think about installing a replacement while you can still recover the data.


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## tivoboy (Jan 14, 2002)

I have this too, most likely from the latest SW update. It hadn't done the update yet since I received no "your software is updated" message.

But, GSOD it is, and the unit is in a constant reboot cycle, not going anywhere? Is there a way to REVERT BACK from the front UI? Didn't there USED to be a way to HOLD DOWN a couple buttons and revert back to a previous good load? Pretty crazy that this would KILL a unit.


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## unclemoosh (Sep 11, 2004)

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=371093


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

Symtoms indicate the hard drive is going to is about to go bad. suggest you replace it. Less problems in the long run.


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## wscannell (Dec 7, 2003)

A short term fix might be to remove the drive and run the manufacturer diagnostics on the drive (without writing to the drive). If there is just a couple of bad sectors, these will get reassigned. The next time you boot the TiVo, the GSOD may run to completion. Then the TiVo wiill be working again. However, this is usually a sign of a failing hard drive.


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## tivoboy (Jan 14, 2002)

unclemoosh said:


> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=371093


I haven't used this for more than three years now, there weren't this many options in the past? What is the best option to chose now, for just a GSOD following a SW update?

Should one FORCE the update using kickstart, or a previous SW load?

thanks in advance!
n


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

A GSOD is not necessarily a sign of a bad drive. It's true that it could be a symptom of a drive going bad but it's not always the case. I've had Tivos go into a GSOD only to repair itself in short order and then function just fine for several years afterwards. That's why I suggested running a diagnostic on the drive before going into a panic and buying a new drive. Examine all of your possibilities before throwing in the towel.


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## tivoboy (Jan 14, 2002)

I actually had a GSOD after an upgrade of an h10-250, where I TRIED to copy over all recordings (which in the end I did, but the process was tricky) when the unit booted, it GSOD'd, but after a couple reboots it was fine and I have just left it for the past three months.

So yeah, GSOD ain't the end of the world or TOTALLY a bad drive.


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## unclemoosh (Sep 11, 2004)

tivoboy said:


> I haven't used this for more than three years now, there weren't this many options in the past? What is the best option to chose now, for just a GSOD following a SW update?
> 
> Should one FORCE the update using kickstart, or a previous SW load?
> 
> ...


Well, like others have said, I would pull the drive and run diagnostics to confirm or condemn the drive. You could run the HDD diagnostics from the kickstart code, but I don't know how extensive they are.

If the drive checks out, you may want to do the kickstart for emergency reload, which is what the the GSOD probably tries to do.

I have never had any luck recovering from a GSOD. The times it happened to me were caused by failing drives.


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## rubybear (Oct 16, 2007)

Thanks for all your responses to my GSOD question. I'm breathing easier, because it hasn't happened again, and some of your posts indicated it could just be caused by a swap of sorts during software updates.

However, I haven't actually had (or forced) a reboot since, so it may happen again the next time. I'm not going to deliberately do a reboot, for fear it will go into the never-ending loop. I do think I'd better get busy recording all my saved programs to DVD's, just in case.

Question: Can I just replace the hard drive of this 3-year old Samsung DVR (which was standard issue from DTV) when it dies, or would I need a new DVR? I don't want DTV's DVR if I can help it. If I replaced the hard drive, will DTV recognize it and still provide my usual programming?


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

Yes you can replace the drive. If you replace it now you can use www.mfslive.org to save all your settings. If you wait til it dies then you will have to use instantcake from www.dvrupgrade.com to reimage the drive. good luck whichever you choose.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

Now would be a good time to create a backup image since everything seems to be working as it should. If and when the drive finally dies (it's still only a matter of time) you'll have a working image to restore to a replacement drive. It won't save your recordings but with all of the downloadable media available, chances are you'll be able to find any shows you may have lost.


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