# HELP!! 2 DirecTivos died within 1 week! Stuck on Powering Up Screen



## marcelh (Jun 21, 2004)

I have had two of my DirecTivos HDVR2 within 1 week of each other, both are stuck on Powering up screen! One unit both drives checked o.k. with Drive diagnostics from Manufacturer, the other one had errors on A drive, used DDrescue and copied both A and B drives and still same problem!!! tried everything 
Was there some kind of update that could have caused both of these units to die? 
Is there any hope? 
I even tried to reinstall the original 40GB drive in one of the units and still same issue stuck on Powering up screen and will not go any further, same as if I unplug drives. 
So it seems the drives are not connecting or engaging! 
Need help have a ton of saved recordings on both units! 
Any suggestions? 
Can it be the power unit? would it still start then? 
Up for anything at this point. 
Any help is appreciated! 

Marcel


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## funtoupgrade (Mar 15, 2005)

Are the TiVo's connected to a Universal Power Supply (UPS)? Most experts recommend each TiVo be connected to at least a 350watt UPS to protect from power spikes and failures.


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## marcelh (Jun 21, 2004)

Yes all my electronic equipment is plugged into UPS
Marcel


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## captain_video (Mar 1, 2002)

Make sure all of the Tivo's intrernal cables are securely connected. It is very easy to accidentally dislodge the ribbon cable to the front panel, which will cause the exact symptoms you are describing. A bad IDE connection or dislodged pin on the power connector will also prevent your Tivo from booting. Also check the jumper settings on the drive. An incorrect jumper setting will also cause you problems.

FYI - UPS stands for Uninterruptible Power Supply, not Universal Power Supply. Many of them do not offer spike protection or voltage regulation but only battery backup in the event of a power failure. You need to research the capabilities of a UPS before you buy it to make sure it has the protection you need.


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## marcelh (Jun 21, 2004)

Guys this cannot be a coincidence I am now having my 3rd Tivo dying on me!!!!!!
It seems to freeze/hang and reboots after about 15 minutes or so!
Can this be due to some upgrade?????? I have 6.2.01-2-151 which was just done it
seems last night and now I am having issues!!!!
Can anyone out there please help I cannot be alone in this am I????

Marcel


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## mmccully (Dec 31, 2002)

Marcelh,

I am in the same boat. My HDVR2 died on me with the same symptoms a few days ago...stuck on powering up screen. There goes this season's 24 episodes... The original hard drive also won't work for me. I have tried everything that you tried with the same results. I am downloading a new HDVR2 image through the StanSimmons ftp site to see if I can get that image to work...although I don't think that this is a drive problem. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks Directv pushed something out to try get everyone to switch over to their new leasing model and non-tivo DVR's. As a backup, I just ordered the bare-bones DSR7000 from weaknees for $35 - I am going to try and repurpose my hard drives into that unit when it comes.


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## Diana Collins (Aug 21, 2002)

No software updates have been pushed out to any DirecTiVos for months. In any case, a software update would not effect a drive that has been on the shelf, would it?

If you haven't been inside the TiVo such that you might have dislodged a cable (as captain_video suggests) then I'd say you've likely got an electrical problem (either coming into the TiVo power supply or on the coaxial cable) and it sounds like your TiVos are fried.


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## marcelh (Jun 21, 2004)

I was able to find the original drive for one of the Units and it fired right up and seemed to work o.k. so I am asking this is there anything else that can go wrong with the drives even if they check o.k. for errors ona disc check??
Also is there any possible way to save the recordings which were on them, I already tried the dd_rescue which did not work the new drives do the same as the old.
Any other help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Marcel


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