# Rebooting, nothing helps



## jpscratches (Nov 21, 2007)

I've run the gauntlet and yet...

S3 HD with known good HD, known good power supply, good fan, plugged directly into power, traded out multistream cable card just to eliminate that and no joy, still rebooting. Unit has OS 11m...

What else causes spontaneous reboots?

Lifetime Tivo so I don't want to hit it with a hammer and yet I do.

Thanks for any ideas.

JP

BTW: No indication prior to reboot, no pixelization, no pattern that I can tell.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

jpscratches said:


> I've run the gauntlet and yet...
> 
> S3 HD with known good HD, known good power supply, good fan, plugged directly into power, traded out multistream cable card just to eliminate that and no joy, still rebooting. Unit has OS 11m...
> 
> ...


Is it getting past the first screen (Welcome) to the second screen (Just a few more minutes) before rebooting?

If possible, watch output from yellow RCA jack, the composite video output, or 3 component video output jacks if necessary, either way, disconnect any HDMI plugs.

If it's still rebooting--

Unplug the power cord, disconnect the hard drive, plug the power cord back in, and see if it reboots.

If it just sits on the first screen and does nothing else, try it with the drive connected again and watch the front panel lights--about 60 seconds after applying power there should be a change in them--on the HD the green LED should blink.

That's the signal to enter a kickstart code and we can learn something from whether it gets that far or not.

If it can get that far, cycle power and when it flashes the LED around the 60 second mark again, do KS58

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

Maybe that'll straighten things out.

Also, do you have a PC running XP SP3 or newer on which you can run WinMFS and to which you can hook the hard drive, preferably to a SATA port on the motherboard directly?


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## jpscratches (Nov 21, 2007)

unitron said:


> Is it getting past the first screen (Welcome) to the second screen (Just a few more minutes) before rebooting?
> 
> If possible, watch output from yellow RCA jack, the composite video output, or 3 component video output jacks if necessary, either way, disconnect any HDMI plugs.
> 
> ...


Thanks!

The Tivo boots fine, runs fine for unpredictable periods then spontaneously reboots. It can last for minutes or many hours but never more than a day. Records fine (apart from when it reboots in the middle of recording). I cannot detect a pattern for the life of me. No rhyme but there's certainly a reason.

Have disconnected the external antenna, running on cable only, complete clear and delete with known good HD. Have gone to scrapping/exchanging parts off other units that I have confirmed working.

I'd pull my hair out if I had enough but I need what remains. Yes, have access to PC and WinMFS.

My latest futile attempt is to go back to the Tivo USB wireless from a gaming type wireless that uses the ethernet port. Now waiting for it to reboot to eliminate that.

I'm starting to think it's cursed.


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## jpscratches (Nov 21, 2007)

jpscratches said:


> Thanks!
> 
> The Tivo boots fine, runs fine for unpredictable periods then spontaneously reboots. It can last for minutes or many hours but never more than a day. Records fine (apart from when it reboots in the middle of recording). I cannot detect a pattern for the life of me. No rhyme but there's certainly a reason.
> 
> ...


BTW, a good idea to try running it without HDMI as a test. That will be next.


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## jpscratches (Nov 21, 2007)

jpscratches said:


> BTW, a good idea to try running it without HDMI as a test. That will be next.


Tested using component video (HDMI disconnected) and it took about 10 minutes before reboot.


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

jpscratches said:


> I've run the gauntlet and yet...
> 
> S3 HD with known good HD, known good power supply, good fan, *plugged directly into powe*r, traded out multistream cable card just to eliminate that and no joy, still rebooting. Unit has OS 11m...
> 
> ...


I would never run a Tivo plugged directly into the power outlet. I always use a UPS.


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## jpscratches (Nov 21, 2007)

shwru980r said:


> I would never run a Tivo plugged directly into the power outlet. I always use a UPS.


I have always run my Tivos on house power. I have another of the same model that hasn't hiccuped in 10 years. The one I'm working on has lifetime so I'm not willing to give up on it easily.


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## jmbach (Jan 1, 2009)

Define "known good" when you say hard drive and power supply. I have seen brand new drives quickly developed bad sectors. 

Consider trying a fresh image on the unit and see what happens.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

jpscratches said:


> I have always run my Tivos on house power. I have another of the same model that hasn't hiccuped in 10 years. The one I'm working on has lifetime so I'm not willing to give up on it easily.


Wow! I didn't think the Series 3 came out 10 years ago. And no 'hiccup' in all those years? Fantastic!


jmbach said:


> Define "known good" when you say hard drive and power supply. I have seen brand new drives quickly developed bad sectors.
> 
> Consider trying a fresh image on the unit and see what happens.


The only way a HDD is "known good" is when it is connected to a PC and the extended diagnostic test is run (successfully).


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## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

jpscratches said:


> I have always run my Tivos on house power. I have another of the same model that hasn't hiccuped in 10 years. The one I'm working on has lifetime so I'm not willing to give up on it easily.


I also vote for putting any TiVo (and anything with a hard drive) on a good UPS. Is the other TiVo that hasn't hiccupped in 10 years on the same circuit as the problem unit? That would tend to rule out glitches in your incoming power, but a loose wire somewhere or a large load starting up could cause a local glitch. And everything associated with a TiVo should be properly grounded, with all grounds (for outlets, network cables, coaxial cable shields, etc) connecting to the same grounding point. Varying ground levels can cause strange problems. Random freezes and reboots can also be caused by heat issues.


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## jmbach (Jan 1, 2009)

dlfl said:


> The only way a HDD is "known good" is when it is connected to a PC and the extended diagnostic test is run (successfully).


I would take it further and run destructive tests as well. And then read the drive and see how many sectors are pending bad and how many sectors have been reallocated. Also if the drive experienced any ATA errors. The manufacturer diagnostics although good don't always give you everything mainly because they will accept some issues as long as they don't go beyond a certain threshold. I have had 3 drives in the past year that the manufacturer diagnostic passes in which I found errors. One was a TiVo drive and the other PC drives. In all cases I was having random problems that until I replaced the drive never went away despite all the other troubleshooting I did.


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## GBL (Apr 20, 2000)

Have you checked your system logs for any indication of an error logged before the reboots? On Series 3, on the System Information Display, pressing Clear Clear Enter Enter 0 brings up a short menu with an option to view System Logs. System logs can be quite useful for diagnosing problems.


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## tootal2 (Oct 14, 2005)

I think that is a bad hard drive.



jpscratches said:


> Thanks!
> 
> The Tivo boots fine, runs fine for unpredictable periods then spontaneously reboots. It can last for minutes or many hours but never more than a day. Records fine (apart from when it reboots in the middle of recording). I cannot detect a pattern for the life of me. No rhyme but there's certainly a reason.
> 
> ...


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

Do you have a spare SATA drive at least as big as 160GB you can use temporarily?

I'd slap a 652 image on it and see if the re-booting happens with it.

If it does, then the drive in there now is probably not the problem (but I'd be running the drive maker's long test on it as long as I had it out anyway), and if it doesn't reboot with the new temp drive, I'd be suspicious of the one in there now.


I was thinking if KS 58 didn't do anything for you that you could use WinMFS to see which set of partitions it's booting from and set it to use the alternate set to see if that helped.


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## jpscratches (Nov 21, 2007)

I have suspected every component of being the weak link but, because sometimes the unit will reboot on channel changes, I suspected something in the tuner section might be a problem. When I replaced the cable card, the Tivo tech that Comcast referred me to asked about my signal strength. Every station on the tuner was registering 100%. He pointed out that it could pose a problem.

I did a little research and found that Tivo may not be able to handle strong signals. I don't have an attenuator but I do have a bunch of splitters. I tried several that dropped the signal between 3.5 and 7 dB. 3.5 still had the tuner pegged at 100%. The 7 dB dropped the signal into the 70% range, with fluctuations depending on channel. The oft-rebooting unit lasted for 7 hours without a reboot, while it was recording two shows and stopping, rewinding, fast-forwarding playback of one of the recorded shows. Previously, this would have certainly caused a reboot. I did notice some pixelation during playback, so the signal was getting weak enough to degrade. But previously the machine had gotten to rebooting at least once if not several times in an hour.

I think dialing the signal into the 80-90% range might do the trick but we'll see. Ordering some attenuators from Amazon today.

Anyone have experience with this?

Once I get the signal strength dialed in, I will again do thorough testing of the HD. The idea of getting the system logs is great. Didn't know they were available.

Thanks all for your input. Greatly appreciated!!!

JP

PS "Known good" means they were operating properly in another Tivo.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

Actually, it sounds like a bad PS to me. 

Irregular issues, rebooting, problems when current flow changes, all sounds like a bad PS and not the drive. It sounds like "known good" is not a visual measure of caps or a physical measure of voltage, so not a high water mark to judge "good" by. 

At a minimum, do a visual of the caps before dealing with the hard drive.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

It would be best to get all your signals in the 80 - 99 range, although that is impossible to do in my case. You can run with levels somewhat above 100 with no viewing problems or long term tuner damage.

However, I doubt your reboots are signal related. Power supply or hard drive are the prime suspects.


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## jpscratches (Nov 21, 2007)

dlfl said:


> It would be best to get all your signals in the 80 - 99 range, although that is impossible to do in my case. You can run with levels somewhat above 100 with no viewing problems or long term tuner damage.
> 
> However, I doubt your reboots are signal related. Power supply or hard drive are the prime suspects.


I have replaced the HD three times, once with a brand new drive, twice with drives from working machines. They all exhibited the same behavior. I've swapped power supplies (the first had bulging capacitors, the one in there now does not), all exhibited the same behavior.

I'm not convinced that the too-powerful signal is the only cause of my troubles but I'm absolutely certain it's the cause of a good portion.

Once I was able to bring the signal down from 100 to 70, I went from having several crashes an hour to none for 7 hours with a lot of channel changes, recordings starting and stopping, etc.

I'm not going to stop looking once I have the signal stabilized. Will have 3dB attenuators in my hands by Wednesday night so I should be able to dial the signal in pretty close to ideal.

Thanks for all the input!!!

JP


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## jpscratches (Nov 21, 2007)

jrtroo said:


> Actually, it sounds like a bad PS to me.
> 
> Irregular issues, rebooting, problems when current flow changes, all sounds like a bad PS and not the drive. It sounds like "known good" is not a visual measure of caps or a physical measure of voltage, so not a high water mark to judge "good" by.
> 
> At a minimum, do a visual of the caps before dealing with the hard drive.


I don't doubt that PS issues may be contributing somehow but having tried three different power supplies (the current one has no bulging capacitors) with the same behavior, my journey has pushed me elsewhere. Once I get the signal tamed, I'll voltage test and, if necessary, rebuild one of the extras I own.

JP


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

What if you just unplug the coax and set a group of like 20 shows to play all? See if it survives without the signal interfering.


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## jpscratches (Nov 21, 2007)

Arcady said:


> What if you just unplug the coax and set a group of like 20 shows to play all? See if it survives without the signal interfering.


Good idea.

I'm prepping a brand new AV-GP drive right now. It's done a 9 hour sector test and passed using WD's tool. I will do a voltage test and look for bulging capacitors, get my attenuators in to adjust signal strength, then see how it behaves. If it's still crashing, I'll do your test without incoming signal.

Thanks for the suggestion.

JP


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

jpscratches said:


> Good idea.
> 
> I'm prepping a brand new AV-GP drive right now. It's done a 9 hour sector test and passed using WD's tool. I will do a voltage test and look for bulging capacitors, get my attenuators in to adjust signal strength, then see how it behaves. If it's still crashing, I'll do your test without incoming signal.
> 
> ...


Be careful not to touch the supply itself while doing any of this.

Start it without the drive plugged in and check the +3.3v, +5V, and +12V.

Then, with it still plugged into the electrical socket on the wall, plug the drive in and check again.

Then connect the cable or antenna cable, whatever you use.

Check readings.

Then insert any cable cards.

Check readings.

Then connect whatever you use to connect to the internet and your home network.

Check readings.

If you have to use a Tuning Adapter, plug it into the TiVo's USB port and check the readings.

There should be very little difference in the readings if the power supply is good and doing its job of voltage regulation.

The 3.3V should be nearly dead on, the 5V can vary a little above or below, and the 12V can vary a little more than that, but if it's down around 11.5, or if somewhere in those "adding current draw" steps it starts to sag down around there, that's an indication of not being quite up to snuff.


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## jpscratches (Nov 21, 2007)

jpscratches said:


> Good idea.
> 
> I'm prepping a brand new AV-GP drive right now. It's done a 9 hour sector test and passed using WD's tool. I will do a voltage test and look for bulging capacitors, get my attenuators in to adjust signal strength, then see how it behaves. If it's still crashing, I'll do your test without incoming signal.
> 
> ...


The saga continues. Had the attenuated signal at 90%, a good working hd (original 160), good working PS and everything was stable. No reboots for 24+ hours.

Took my brand new EURX drive and my old suspect drive (a 1TB Seagate) and used the old suspect drive as the image (since it has all my media on it) to clone to the new HD. As soon as I installed the new HD in the Tivo, the reboots started again.

Now thinking the original (1TB Seagate) HD wasn't failing but had a corrupted image. Taking the new drive out, going to put a fresh image on it and start over. So much for my old media.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

jpscratches said:


> Now thinking the original (1TB Seagate) HD wasn't failing but had a corrupted image. Taking the new drive out, going to put a fresh image on it and start over. So much for my old media.


Can you transfer the shows to your PC first or are they copy-protected?

Scott


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## jpscratches (Nov 21, 2007)

HerronScott said:


> Can you transfer the shows to your PC first or are they copy-protected?
> 
> Scott


I'd like to do that Scott but don't know how. Done some googling but what comes up with doesn't seem like it addresses my concern or involves arcane command line hoop jumping. Have PC and reasonable understanding of software/hardware so I'm willing to try if you have a suggestion.

In the meanwhile, looks like I'm onto checking voltages on the PS to see if it's within reasonable tolerance.

Do appreciate the suggestions!

JP


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## jmbach (Jan 1, 2009)

kmttg would be a place to start. Hopefully it will stay up long enough to download the programs.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

jpscratches said:


> I'd like to do that Scott but don't know how. Done some googling but what comes up with doesn't seem like it addresses my concern or involves arcane command line hoop jumping. Have PC and reasonable understanding of software/hardware so I'm willing to try if you have a suggestion.
> 
> JP


If the TiVo can stay up long enough to transfer as Jim indicated, kmttg or TiVo Desktop can be used to transfer shows to your PC assuming you have enough disk space. No arcane command line hoop jumping needed (again assuming your cable company does not have extended copy protection set. Comcast is good not copy protecting anything except movie channels and I've heard Time Warner is bad, copy protecting everything except broadcast stations).

Scott


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

Dead THD.

Sequence of events:

1. TiVo hung, don't remember what I was doing.

2. Power cycled.

3. TiVo got into a reboot loop. Would get all the way up, then immediately reboot.

4. Pulled drive (a 2TB WD Green) and hooked it up via USB 3 dock. Ran long test and it passed with no errors.

5. Put drive back in and now I get nothing. Lights and fan come on but no video. Disconnecting drive doesn't change anything.


It's on monthly (yeah, yeah, don't want to hear it) but I am sure that when I call TiVo to deactivate it, they will offer $99 lifetime so the question is - is it worth it on the chance that it can be repaired? I examined the PS and there were no bulging caps.

I wasn't actually using it for much except for OTA backup and recording of a few things available "free" only OTA.


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## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

lpwcomp said:


> Dead THD.
> 
> Sequence of events:
> 
> ...


It sounds like it could be the power supply, and it would require only some time (and minimal $) to replace the PS caps to be certain. OTOH, I guess you could try to nail down the $99 PLS first, and then if recapping fails you could get a refund as long as you're within the 30-day buyer-remorse window.


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## jmbach (Jan 1, 2009)

I would still try a fresh image on a spare drive to make sure something in the MFS structure did not get corrupted. 
I would also get a program like HDD Guardian and have it check the drive for any pending errors (might have to hook it up via SATA)


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

jmbach said:


> I would still try a fresh image on a spare drive to make sure something in the MFS structure did not get corrupted.
> I would also get a program like HDD Guardian and have it check the drive for any pending errors (might have to hook it up via SATA)


At this point, I do not even get the initial "Powering Up" screen, which I should get even with the drive disconnected.


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## jmbach (Jan 1, 2009)

Well unitron would say at this time, get your meter out and test voltages.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

lpwcomp said:


> At this point, I do not even get the initial "Powering Up" screen, which I should get even with the drive disconnected.


By all means, break out the voltmeter and check with everything disconnected except the power cord and a composite video cable to a yellow jack somewhere, but read the hair dryer thread as well.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=373772

Remember, ground the meter to the chassis away from the power supply, keep one hand in your pocket while you back probe where it plugs into the motherboard with the meter's + lead.

Orange +3.3V
Red +5V
Yellow +12V
(Gray if testing a clock front S3 +7.5V)

Then check it again with the drive plugged in to see if it can handle the extra load without the voltages changing more that 0.1 or so, to see if it's still regulating properly, and still able to deliver enough current.

Once you establish that the power supply is probably still good, if you do, then you can experiment with the hair dryer.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

Lacking both a volt/multi-meter and a workbench, I would have to schedule time at a friends place. There's also the fact that I haven't used a multi-meter since I used a PSM-6 while in the AF and I've been out for 41+ years. Haven't used a soldering iron since I put together my H19 in the 80's.


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## jmbach (Jan 1, 2009)

It's like riding a bicycle.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

lpwcomp said:


> Lacking both a volt/multi-meter and a workbench, I would have to schedule time at a friends place. There's also the fact that I haven't used a multi-meter since I used a PSM-6 while in the AF and I've been out for 41+ years. Haven't used a soldering iron since I put together my H19 in the 80's.


If your local Radio Shack is still open, they've got a thing that looks like a soldering pencil, but has a big squeeze bulb attached, that works well for de-soldering, at least on single layer boards like the TiVo power supplies, and can also serve as a soldering iron in a pinch, and the cost of it and the right replacement caps (which you'll have to mail-order from someplace like Mouser or Digi-Key because Radio Shack will not have them) will be far less than buying a replacement power supply by a factor of at least 5.

I haven't looked at their meters in a long time, got what I'm using now from Sears several years ago for $20 to $30.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

unitron said:


> If your local Radio Shack is still open, they've got a thing that looks like a soldering pencil, but has a big squeeze bulb attached, that works well for de-soldering, at least on single layer boards like the TiVo power supplies, and can also serve as a soldering iron in a pinch, and the cost of it and the right replacement caps (which you'll have to mail-order from someplace like Mouser or Digi-Key because Radio Shack will not have them) will be far less than buying a replacement power supply by a factor of at least 5.
> 
> I haven't looked at their meters in a long time, got what I'm using now from Sears several years ago for $20 to $30.


I actually have a soldering iron. A solder sucker I could acquire. A workbench on which to utilize them is another thing entirely.

Edit: Would I need to use something as a heat sink to avoid damaging the surrounding parts?


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

lpwcomp said:


> I actually have a soldering iron. A solder sucker I could acquire. A workbench on which to utilize them is another thing entirely.
> 
> Edit: Would I need to use something as a heat sink to avoid damaging the surrounding parts?


On the TiVo power supply circuit board, you'll probably need at least a 40 watt iron, or the equivalent thereof. Which is where that Radio Shack turkey baster can come in handy. You can apply its tip and your soldering iron's tip simultaneously to the joint to be de-soldered.

The negative leads of the caps are soldered to ground planes, so if anything you'll be fighting too much heat sinking from all that spread out copper.

The holes for the positive leads aren't so close to semiconductors that they'll be in any particular danger.

Melt a little new solder into the joint you're trying to unsolder to help the old solder melt and flow--use tin/lead alloy, nothing else in it but a rosin core.

When installing, heat the copper pad around the hole and the metal lead of the replacement cap until they're hot enough to melt new solder--you'll get a much better joint if you heat the work and let the work melt the solder.

De-soldering, you do whatever melts it fastest, but don't use a hot air paint stripping gun, that'll melt nearby stuff and burn the board.

Radio Shack also has de-soldering braid. Avoid it like the plague. Several years ago they had some mediocre stuff that was okay in emergencies, but they replaced it with absolute garbage.


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## jpscratches (Nov 21, 2007)

Original poster here. After suffering through months of miscellaneous reboots I finally swapped the HD and cable card with another Tivo in the house that's run perfectly for years. Replaced the capacitors (including one bulging) on the power supply and plugged it in. This is after having replaced the HD twice with new drives.

It's still rebooting. I haven't checked voltages of the PS but I've had three different power supplies in there that all worked with other chassis and it demonstrates the same issues of random reboots. So, all replaceable parts have been replaced.

What the chance that the tuner, HDMI circuit or something else is the culprit?

I'd love to give up on this POS but it has lifetime on it.

I'm letting it run smart tests right now but I have no reason to suspect the HD since it ran perfectly in the other chassis.

No hair left to pull out.

Thanks for any thoughts, other than a hair transplant. Two kids in college, I can't afford it.

jpscratches


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## jmbach (Jan 1, 2009)

There are some 'secret' codes that will allow you to view the logs on your TiVo. They might be able to shed some light on the issue. Thread for codes is  here. 

With everything you have done, it sounds like the motherboard. Might call TiVo and see if they either can fix it and keep your lifetime or possibly a deal on something else. Never hurts to ask.


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## jmbach (Jan 1, 2009)

Have you tried to switch the physical location of this unit with the location of another one that is not experiencing the issue.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

Have you verified that there is no problem with the power to the TiVo? Power cord, UPS, all connections?


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## jpscratches (Nov 21, 2007)

jmbach, I think you're right that it's likely the MB.
lpwcomp, I've tried swapping it with another unit two floors away, with a UPS, etc. Nothing changes its behavior. After 3 PS swaps and doing the capacitor replacement, I think power has been eliminated. 3 HD swaps for new, freshly installed OS, I think I've eliminated HD as an issue. I even tried dialing down the incoming signal, all to no change.

With the oncoming MPEG4 switch coming with Comcast, I'm thinking this has become an academic exercise rather than a long term investment. I'm going to ask Tivo what they can do but right now I'm shopping craigslist for a premier or romio with lifetime. I've lost enough hair and brain cycles which can now be dedicated to something more productive.

In a last ditch effort to understand the problem, I'm going to see if the logs provide any insight. 

Thanks for your input!

jpscratches


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## jpscratches (Nov 21, 2007)

Here's what came up in the Viewing/var/log/tverr:

The date and time followed by:Activity NetAppChannelListActivi[482]: Tmk Fatal Error: Thread died due to signal 11

Followed by: Activity NetAppChannelListActivi[482]: Invoking rule 834: rebooting system.

I've done some googling and it looks like it's a memory problem, as in it's run out of memory on the swap partition and some people have cured this by editing the parameters and increasing the swap file size.

Sound familiar to anyone?

Thanks!


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## jmbach (Jan 1, 2009)

I am not sure. Didn't you use the same image in a different unit and it worked okay without rebooting? You can WinMFS or MFSTools 3.2 to copy the image to the drive and adjust the swap size.


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## jpscratches (Nov 21, 2007)

Yup, same HD/image that came out of a working (non-lifetime) unit. There's really no reason to suspect the HD. It's the third HD in there and at least two of those were fresh images on new drives.

That said, I could see how one MB could differ from another but I'm guessing it's because something on it is fried.

jpscratches


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## jmyshral (Apr 23, 2009)

I am seeing similar reboot issues in a my tivo HD (TCD652160) with lifetime on Verizon Fios. Reboots and/or freezing happening every few hours to every few days - can't pinpoint the frequency or the cause. Here is what I have tried so far -

(1) Switched hard drive twice; clean image each time
(2) Replaced capacitors on original power supply
(3) Replaced power supply with a known working PS from another HD
(4) Connected direct to wall AC outlet and through power strip
(5) Connected video via component video and via HDMI
(6) Moved tivo from one room with low signal strength (50-90%) to another one with better strength (84-100%)
(7) Disconnected coax in case signal strength was too high and/or cablecard was causing problem; unit freezes up even with no coax connected

When the unit freezes, sometimes there is no picture, sometimes there is frozen picture. Sometimes you can still access the unit from another tivo and see the recordings, other times it is completely offline. Sometimes it freezes during recording, sometimes it just reboots while recording and results in "partial" recordings. Sometimes you can see that the remote control is being received (yellow light on front), other times it doesn't blink at all when remote buttons are pressed.

I think I have eliminated all variables except the cablecard and the motherboard. I can't see it being the cablecard since even with no coax connected it can still freeze up. I am leaning toward motherboard issue but I wanted to see jpscratches ever fixed the problem or anybody else has any suggestions.

I would try to dump the unit to somebody who can fix it but I assume the value of lifetime HDs are dropping now that they are no longer supported and I wouldn't want to sell a device that has such flaky performance.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

I have had a cablecard impact my box- try reseating it.


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## jeremy_lauer (Dec 6, 2006)

What ever happened with this unit?

(I'm just trying to get to 10 posts so I can send private messages)


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## jmyshral (Apr 23, 2009)

An update from a few months later... I had the unit unplugged for several months while I was using another (no subscription) HD unit as a basic STB.

I came across some free hard drives so I decided to dust off the problematic HD and give it another go. I re-imaged a 1TB drive and got the prescribed 157 HD hours on it. I fired up the unit, and it downloaded the latest 11.0n software. I also saw some of the motherboard screws holding the MB to the case were corroded, so I cleaned those off hoping to make the board have a more solid grounding. I was optimistic that the new HD, the new software, or the better grounding would make a difference, but alas, I am still getting several reboots per day.

Any new theories or fixes to this nagging HD TCD652160 motherboard sporadic reboot problem?


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

Temporarily install the hard drive in a PC and run the mfg extended (overnight) diagnostics. A drive which passes smart may not be good enough for tivo. Check the internal cables, power hard drive etc. Make sure the connectios look good.

Posters on TCF say most problems are with power supply and hard drive. True but occasionally it's the motherboard. Try not using HDMI port. Sometimes HDMI port goes bad.


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## jmyshral (Apr 23, 2009)

jmyshral said:


> Any new theories or fixes to this nagging HD TCD652160 motherboard sporadic reboot problem?


I managed to make some progress... Previously this unit was having both motherboard and HDMI port problems - usually it was rebooting 1-3 times per day and definitely several times per week. The HDMI was only available about half of the time - the rest of the time I had to use the composite AV output.

What I have discovered is that I can dramatically cut down on the problems by leaving the unit in "Standby" mode when not in use. It still records all the programs properly, and I have only had one reboot in 2.5 weeks. Incidentally the reboot happened when I turned on the Tivo and it was in the middle of recording two shows at once. Every other time I have turned on the Tivo it seems to work fine, and the HDMI port is also more reliable.

This is obviously not a fix, but an improvement...


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## drhoads (Apr 2, 2009)

SATA cable


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