# Dead Roamio...Power Supply?



## Bwatford141 (Jan 5, 2012)

We had a pretty good lightning storm last night, and I woke up to a non-working Roamio Plus.

Symptoms are:
No video output at all
No lights on front, except for a brief moment when it's plugged in
Fan runs
Hard drive spools up, but is very quiet 

I original thought that the issue might be the Hard Drive, so I swapped in a spare 1TB drive. No luck..
I tested the power output on the Power Supply, and it is sending out 12V. The Hard Drive is also getting 5V and 12V. I've read that just because the power supply is producing the correct voltage, it could still not be functioning properly. I was able to find a used PS on eBay for $24, so I thought I would give that a try. 

Any other recommendation on what I can do or test with my volt meter to determine what the real problem is, until my new PS comes in? I'm really hoping that it is not the motherboard, or course.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Once you get it working you should get a UPS and plug the TiVo into that. To help avoid issues in the future.


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## Bwatford141 (Jan 5, 2012)

Bad news, new power supply did not fix the issue. It looks like it might be a bad chip on the motherboard causing these issues. Does anyone know if weaknees does chip-level board repairs, and what the costs generally are? I sent them an email, but they're obviously closed on the weekends. Bummer....


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

I assume you have lifetime on it which is why you are trying to save it? Have you tried calling TiVo and see if they'll do any kind of repair/replacement and transfer lifetime for a fee?

Scott


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## Bwatford141 (Jan 5, 2012)

Ok, Good news and Bad news. I heard back from weakness and they do not do chip repairs on Roamio's yet. The good news is that I called TiVo technical support and explained that I've been a TiVo subscriber for like 12 years and sadly I lost my Roamio due to a power surge. I explained to him that I have already tried a new power supply and hard drive, yet it still will not fully power up.

The tech said that it is usually $149 for a replacement, and $199 to transfer the Lifetime Service. He said that because I have been a longtime subscriber and that I have already done everything I could to bring the TiVo back to life, he was going see see if he could get me a discount for as much as 50% off. He placed me on hold while he got approval from "advanced technical support" and came back telling me that it was only going to cost me $79 plus tax, for everything!

He emailed me a shipping label and they are cross shipping my new TiVo w/ Lifetime to me.

Great job TiVo!!


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Bwatford141 said:


> Ok, Good news and Bad news. I heard back from weakness and they do not do chip repairs on Roamio's yet. The good news is that I called TiVo technical support and explained that I've been a TiVo subscriber for like 12 years and sadly I lost my Roamio due to a power surge. I explained to him that I have already tried a new power supply and hard drive, yet it still will not fully power up.
> 
> The tech said that it is usually $149 for a replacement, and $199 to transfer the Lifetime Service. He said that because I have been a longtime subscriber and that I have already done everything I could to bring the TiVo back to life, he was going see see if he could get me a discount for as much as 50% off. He placed me on hold while he got approval from "advanced technical support" and came back telling me that it was only going to cost me $79 plus tax, for everything!
> 
> ...


Wow, wow, wow, that's so good to hear--congratulations, and kudos to TiVo! @TiVo_Ted


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## sfhub (Jan 6, 2007)

Bwatford141 said:


> The tech said that it is usually $149 for a replacement, and $199 to transfer the Lifetime Service. He said that because I have been a longtime subscriber and that I have already done everything I could to bring the TiVo back to life, he was going see see if he could get me a discount for as much as 50% off. He placed me on hold while he got approval from "advanced technical support" and came back telling me that it was only going to cost me $79 plus tax, for everything!
> 
> He emailed me a shipping label and they are cross shipping my new TiVo w/ Lifetime to me.
> 
> Great job TiVo!!


You know, this is the second report I've seen where TiVo support has been very customer friendly (the other was a TiVo mini replacement out of warranty). That is certainly good news. Perhaps there has been some directive to try hard to keep customers.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

sfhub said:


> You know, this is the second report I've seen where TiVo support has been very customer friendly (the other was a TiVo mini replacement out of warranty). That is certainly good news. Perhaps there has been some directive to try hard to keep customers.


I wonder if there is a correlation between their phone service improvement and total abandonment of their support forums.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

And I would assume the long standing advice still applies: If you get a bad result from a phone rep, wait a while and call to get another rep.


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## Bwatford141 (Jan 5, 2012)

dlfl said:


> And I would assume the long standing advice still applies: If you get a bad result from a phone rep, wait a while and call to get another rep.


The first guy helped me out pretty well, although I had to tell him several times that his headset was horrible and I couldn't not understand him! Lol


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## snappa (Apr 24, 2003)

Bwatford141 said:


> Ok, Good news and Bad news. I heard back from weakness and they do not do chip repairs on Roamio's yet. The good news is that I called TiVo technical support and explained that I've been a TiVo subscriber for like 12 years and sadly I lost my Roamio due to a power surge. I explained to him that I have already tried a new power supply and hard drive, yet it still will not fully power up.
> 
> The tech said that it is usually $149 for a replacement, and $199 to transfer the Lifetime Service. He said that because I have been a longtime subscriber and that I have already done everything I could to bring the TiVo back to life, he was going see see if he could get me a discount for as much as 50% off. He placed me on hold while he got approval from "advanced technical support" and came back telling me that it was only going to cost me $79 plus tax, for everything!
> 
> ...


Are you saying they waived the $199 Lifetime transfer fee and only charged $79 for the entire swap out?


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

snappa said:


> Are you saying they waived the $199 Lifetime transfer fee and only charged $79 for the entire swap out?


Not speaking for the OP, but that's what TiVo sometimes has done, in its discretion. And the amount quoted for this sometimes has been between the low or mid-$100 area to $79 or $49, or even free. And the amount sometimes goes down in the course of the call (and so, be nice, and persuasive  ).


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## snappa (Apr 24, 2003)

Mikeguy said:


> Not speaking for the OP, but that's what TiVo sometimes has done, in its discretion. And the amount quoted for this sometimes has been between the low or mid-$100 area to $79 or $49, or even free. And the amount sometimes goes down in the course of the call (and so, be nice, and persuasive  ).


Thank you. FYI, I called back after researching sending to Weaknees possible cost to compare TiVo's offer and decided to go with TiVo's offer to replace. I did this before seeing your reply and tried to get them to waive the $199 transfer fee and wasn't successful. Figured the price to replace of $79 plus the lifetime swapover was worth it to me. I had looked at Xfinity X1 and renting their device for a year was almost the same cost so it was a no brainer for me. 18 year TiVo customer and rather stick with them. Plus, I've got 3 TiVo minis in the house and X1 was not going to solve that and, let's face it, it's still not TiVo.

Normally I'd have gone with weakness but decided for this problem based on my diagnosis of it being a mother board issue I chose to just replace.


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## BimmerDob (Jul 3, 2003)

First the HDMI port went this summer and the TV's same HDMI port want (other HDMI ports still worked), thinking cable power hit/lighting, cable was not on UPS/Surge for this box (it is now). Switched to Composite Video and back in service. Roamio S5 in service May '15.

Now Dec '18, got the solid Red Circle / Circle on right front panel. No response to remote or Left "peanut" touch button. Can't see S5 content from Bolt, no screen output. 3 years 7 months - dead. Been Tivo customs since DirectTV box days. Just did the "upgrade" offer from Tivo this summer for a Bolt 1TB ($299) w/ extended lifetime then for $99 to decommission an older Tivo going out of service (need serial number for deal).

Called Tivo Service per this thread (and other threads) on dead Roamio, best "exchange" offer was $79 for refurb S5 and $199 to transfer Lifetime. I declined, have older S3 in reserve, only pain is dealing with Spectrum for getting back single channel cable cards.

Today got a "employee" pricing special, Min for $159. So may go that route now to reduce hardware.
But Tivo was very insistent ant/eager to get back my Roamio in "the deal" and assume I would be getting a "refurbished" Romaio. Wonder what the MTBF is on the units now, seems like a perpetual refurb business... built in obsolesce? Hoping Bolt remain more reliable.


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