# new HD replacement local



## cl8855 (Jan 2, 2009)

So diagnosing my constant rebooting Tivo HD this weekend, and assuming it is a Hard drive problem, I want to be able to run to microcenter or the like to pick up a drive vs ordering and waiting a few days. Online I dont see any WD EARS/EURS on microcenter site, just regular caviar greens that seem to have a different serial. Are there other know good 2 TB HDs that people have used that I can look for locally?

thanks!


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

cl8855 said:


> So diagnosing my constant rebooting Tivo HD this weekend, and assuming it is a Hard drive problem, I want to be able to run to microcenter or the like to pick up a drive vs ordering and waiting a few days. Online I dont see any WD EARS/EURS on microcenter site, just regular caviar greens that seem to have a different serial. Are there other know good 2 TB HDs that people have used that I can look for locally?
> 
> thanks!


Probably not.

I haven't heard any success stories involving WDs that end in Z or X.

I don't think I've heard any success stories involving 6Gb/s drives, either.

Do you currently have the original 160GB drive in there?

Are you sure it's not the power supply failing due to "capacitor plague"?

Do you have any other hard drives lying around at least 160GB in size that you could use temporarily for test purposes?

Finding drives that work in TiVos is going to be increasingly difficult, I fear.

I just got a WD20EURS from Amazon, free 2 day shipping by doing a 30 day free trial of Amazon Prime.

Put it in an S3 HD to free up a WD20EADS, and it's working fine, just like the EADS did.

Why not leave the EADS in place?

'Cause you can't get them anymore and they work in slightly older computers with slightly older OSes.

The EURS is made to do A/V, which means it worries more about keeping up with the input than it does error correction (one error in a video stream might not even be noticed on playback, but might screw up other software or data), so I can use it in the HD and free up the EADS for storage duty.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

Okay, here's a guy that seems to be having success with a particular model Seagate, the ST32000542AS

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=9303383#post9303383


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## cl8855 (Jan 2, 2009)

thanks doing the full diagnosis shortly...


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

cl8855 said:


> thanks doing the full diagnosis shortly...


Get the latest Ultimate Boot CD and run the manufacturer's diagnostic long test on whatever drive you currently have in the TiVo.

Do you happen to own/know how to use a voltmeter?

Already familiar the "capacitor plague" phenomenon?


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## cl8855 (Jan 2, 2009)

unitron said:


> Get the latest Ultimate Boot CD and run the manufacturer's diagnostic long test on whatever drive you currently have in the TiVo.
> 
> Do you happen to own/know how to use a voltmeter?
> 
> Already familiar the "capacitor plague" phenomenon?


capacitors all look good at first glance after opening, dont have a voltmeter, going to test the original wd 160 that's in there now.


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## cl8855 (Jan 2, 2009)

well crap, HD tested out fine even on long test. Went over the PS board and all caps look just fine, not the slightest visible issue.

I was using a DVR expander too, I wonder if it would be that part which was going bad?


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

cl8855 said:


> well crap, HD tested out fine even on long test. Went over the PS board and all caps look just fine, not the slightest visible issue.
> 
> *I was using a DVR expander* too, I wonder if it would be that part which was going bad?


That's the kind of thing you need to mention at the very beginning.

You need to run the WD long test on the drive inside. You need to be sure the cable or enclosure haven't gone bad. It seems that they can do so just sitting there, oddly enough. The eSATA cable WD includes is not looked upon very favorably.


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## cl8855 (Jan 2, 2009)

well, crap again expander drive also tested out ok... so to summarize

symptoms were reboot cycle and recordings in 5 parts with gaps in between

original hd tested ok, dvr expander drive tested ok, power supply caps look perfect, no leaking or bulging obvious...

so that leaves me...? esata cable/enclosure? something entirely different?


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

cl8855 said:


> well, crap again expander drive also tested out ok... so to summarize
> 
> symptoms were reboot cycle and recordings in 5 parts with gaps in between
> 
> ...


Are you using cable cards? A tuning adapter?


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

Did I mention I'd still be suspicious of the power supply and the eSATA cable?

Both of which are famous for giving trouble.


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## cl8855 (Jan 2, 2009)

unitron said:


> Are you using cable cards? A tuning adapter?


OTA only


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

"...recordings in 5 parts with gaps in between..."

Perhaps caused by loss of signal.

TiVos have never dealt intelligently with temporary signal loss, even in the analog days.


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## lillevig (Dec 7, 2010)

cl8855 said:


> well, crap again expander drive also tested out ok... so to summarize
> 
> symptoms were reboot cycle and recordings in 5 parts with gaps in between
> 
> ...


Are the gaps in the recordings several minutes? That would indicate re-booting during recording. If the drives test ok, it could be that the drive SW got hosed. Have you tried the kickstart code that swaps the boot partitions?

http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-kickstart-codes.php

If that doesn't work, then do you have a spare hard drive of at least 160GB? If so, you could image that to see if the box plays nice. If you don't have one, you could just re-image the internal drive and leave the external detached as a test. If that all plays nice for several days, then you could try plugging the external drive back in.


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## cl8855 (Jan 2, 2009)

unitron said:


> "...recordings in 5 parts with gaps in between..."
> 
> Perhaps caused by loss of signal.
> 
> TiVos have never dealt intelligently with temporary signal loss, even in the analog days.


no its minutes in between, as if it reboots each time. and trying to watch the parts was rebooting over and over.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

cl8855 said:


> no its minutes in between, as if it reboots each time. and trying to watch the parts was rebooting over and over.


Are you saying that trying to view the pieces of the recording causes the TiVo to reboot?


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## cl8855 (Jan 2, 2009)

unitron said:


> Are you saying that trying to view the pieces of the recording causes the TiVo to reboot?


it clearly reboot during the recording 3-4 times (and other recordings), then when trying to view next day, it would restart after a minute or two while trying to watch...over and over until it didnt come back up and I just left it down

that being said, i put it all back together just now after my hd tests, and it is running for the moment...i set it to record a long football game tonight and will see if it breaks up again...


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

cl8855 said:


> it clearly reboot during the recording 3-4 times (and other recordings), then when trying to view next day, it would restart after a minute or two while trying to watch...over and over until it didnt come back up and I just left it down
> 
> that being said, i put it all back together just now after my hd tests, and it is running for the moment...i set it to record a long football game tonight and will see if it breaks up again...


I was trying to find out if specifically trying to play those chopped up recordings caused it to reboot as opposed to just trying to use it in general.


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## Soapm (May 9, 2007)

Is the Tivo hacked? Can you get to the logs?


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## cl8855 (Jan 2, 2009)

Soapm said:


> Is the Tivo hacked? Can you get to the logs?


not hacked, and just to update, since I put it all back together after testing both HDs, not a single restart (??!?!) I'm not complaining but it's very strange considering I couldnt get it to stay up before.


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