# Premiere stuck on start up screen



## Brolan (Apr 4, 2002)

A few days ago I noticed my Premiere XL was stuck at the "Welcome! Starting up" screen. I called Tivo tech support and after trying a bunch of rebooting they gave up and wanted me to pay $279 for return unit.

That seems steep to me and I want to fix it myself if possible. After looking over some troubleshooting info it appears the most likely problem is a bad hard drive.

I tried getting the kickstart to work but I never see the amber light to start it up. All I see is the green light.

So, I'm not sure what to do next. Should I just try a new hard drive and see what happens? Are there alternatives to the hard drives at Weaknees? They seem pricey.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

Post in this thread, and use DvrBars to restore to a new HDD
Dvr Backup And Restore Software for Windows (DvrBARS)

PM ggieseke and ask for a link to the TCD748000 Premiere XL image - make sure to donate to his efforts.

Might as well upgrade the HDD to 2TB use the Western Digital 2 TB WD AV-GP WD20EURX


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

Brolan said:


> A few days ago I noticed my Premiere XL was stuck at the "Welcome! Starting up" screen. I called Tivo tech support and after trying a bunch of rebooting they gave up and wanted me to pay $279 for return unit.
> 
> That seems steep to me and I want to fix it myself if possible. After looking over some troubleshooting info it appears the most likely problem is a bad hard drive.
> 
> ...


I can't send you a link because you have PMs disabled.



CoxInPHX said:


> Post in this thread, and use DvrBars to restore to a new HDD
> Dvr Backup And Restore Software for Windows (DvrBARS)
> 
> PM gespears and ask for a link to the TCD748000 Premiere XL image - make sure to donate to his efforts.


Did you mean ggieseke?


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## Brolan (Apr 4, 2002)

PM enabled. (I think)

So I buy the new hard drive and use DvrBARS to put a new image file on it? What do I do with the current drive? Should I test it? Any way I could get the settings off of it?


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

Brolan said:


> PM enabled. (I think)
> 
> So I buy the new hard drive and use DvrBARS to put a new image file on it? What do I do with the current drive? Should I test it? Any way I could get the settings off of it?


PM sent.

If the current drive and all of your settings can be saved, a DvrBARS truncated backup will save them. If it errors out at all during that process I'd start from scratch. You can run the manufacturer's diagnostics like WinDlg for WD or SeaTools for Seagate drives if you hook the drive up to a PC.

You never know what sectors may be bad until you try. Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

ggieseke said:


> Did you mean ggieseke?


yes, I picked the wrong "g" from my PMs, it was very late.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

I can't remember, after using DvrBars, to restore a new image to a larger HDD, is JMFS Live still needed to expand the drive?


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

CoxInPHX said:


> I can't remember, after using DvrBars, to restore a new image to a larger HDD, is JMFS Live still needed to expand the drive?


Yes. I wrote DvrBARS as a straight backup/restore program back when the standard answer here was that it's impossible to image a Premiere at all. Times have changed drastically since then, but with other free tools available it didn't seem worth a major rewrite.

You still need jmfs to expand beyond the original disk size.


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## Brolan (Apr 4, 2002)

Ok, I was able to pull a truncated backup with DvrBARS. Then later I ran the WD Data Lifeguard diagnostics and got an error right away with both the quick and extended test.

Monday I should get my new drive and try the restore.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

If you didn't get any "ReadFile" errors during the truncated backup there's a pretty good chance that all of your settings will be saved. Note that all the recordings will appear to be there in My Shows, but they won't play. You can delete them with the Clear button.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

Brolan said:


> Ok, I was able to pull a truncated backup with DvrBARS. Then later I ran the WD Data Lifeguard diagnostics and got an error right away with both the quick and extended test.
> 
> Monday I should get my new drive and try the restore.


Run the drive maker's own diagnostic long test on the new drive before putting it into service, just to be sure you're dealing with a known good drive.

Also, if it's a WD Green, but not one of their AV models, you'll probably need to run

wdidle3.exe

on it to disable Intellipark.

Then you might be able to use

dd_rescue

or

ddrescue

to "Xerox" the old drive to the new one and save your recordings.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

Any time a TiVo puts up the initial Welcome screen and doesn't move on from there, it's almost certainly a failure to properly communicate with the hard drive.

This can be due to a number of causes, including a failing power supply not being able to provide enough current to fully spin up the drive, or the drive not being connected at all because you forgot to put it back in.


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## Brolan (Apr 4, 2002)

Ok, this where I am at now: I did a quick restore from my backup with DvrBARS, then I used JMFS and did the expand and supersize option. Using the 2T drive suggested early in this thread.

Now it's still stuck at the Startup screen but instead of sitting there dead it cycles every 30 seconds or so where flashes the front lights and blanks the screen for a second. Got any guidance?


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

Brolan said:


> Ok, this where I am at now: I did a quick restore from my backup with DvrBARS, then I used JMFS and did the expand and supersize option. Using the 2T drive suggested early in this thread.
> 
> Now it's still stuck at the Startup screen but instead of sitting there dead it cycles every 30 seconds or so where flashes the front lights and blanks the screen for a second. Got any guidance?


Did you try the new drive in the TiVo before the jmfs expansion?


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## Brolan (Apr 4, 2002)

ggieseke said:


> Did you try the new drive in the TiVo before the jmfs expansion?


No.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

It might be worth trying just to see if the DvrBARS backup/restore goofed up, or if something happened during the expansion.


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## Brolan (Apr 4, 2002)

is it normal for the JMFS expand and supersize to execute pretty much instantaneously?


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

AFAIK. It should only take a few seconds to add a blank MFS partition / media zone, which is how jmfs works.


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## Brolan (Apr 4, 2002)

Tried the restore without JMFS and had the same result. Now trying the clean copy.


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## Brolan (Apr 4, 2002)

Getting hugely frustrated. Restored the clean copy and it looked like it was booting successfully. Then pulled the drive and did the JMFS expend and supersize. Ended up looping at the Startup screen like before.

So figured I pulled the drive too soon the first time, restored the clean copy again, did the JMFS expand only and it ended up looping at the startup screen again. 

It looks like the only way to get this to work is restore the clean copy and forgo the extra space on the drive. Will try that tomorrow. Either that or go out and get drunk.


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## Brolan (Apr 4, 2002)

Update: Got the drive to work by just using DvrBARS and the clean backup. So now my 2T drive now looks like a 1T drive.  

Does anyone know why JMFS would fail to expand a drive while saying it was successful? The only thing I can think is is can't handle the way my drive was connected. I was using an old computer than only had two SATA connectors I was using for a RAID 0 array. So I bought a cheap card that does SATA/EIDE and RAID and hooked it through that. Maybe that was too much for JMFS?


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

Something in the way that hookup sees the drive must be throwing jmfs out of whack. Do you have another computer you could use?

I could also send you my TCD758250 image. I ran it on my XL for about 6 months without any problems. The first OS update from 14.5 to whatever's current downloads the correct software, and the partition alignment is much better for 4K drives since it was designed for 2TB. No expansion needed.


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## Brolan (Apr 4, 2002)

Thanks for the offer but I'm done messing with it for a while. Later I'll back it up and try the expansion on another computer.


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## djose (Aug 30, 2017)

I'm having the same issue - my Tivo is stuck at the "Starting up" screen and doesn't seem to respond to the remote control (it doesn't blink the amber light when I press keys in the remote). 
Should I try a new disk? If so, does anyone have a TCD746320 image to share?


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

djose said:


> I'm having the same issue - my Tivo is stuck at the "Starting up" screen and doesn't seem to respond to the remote control (it doesn't blink the amber light when I press keys in the remote).
> Should I try a new disk? If so, does anyone have a TCD746320 image to share?


PM sent.


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## Sam L (Jan 12, 2018)

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Hi ggieseke!

Everyone here tells me you're the one to talk to about getting a Premiere XL image (TCD748000). Everything was fine until this week when I rebooted the TIVO. Now it is stuck on "Getting Started" screen. The hard drive in the TIVO is a Western Digital WD10EVVS-63M5B0 1TB. Do you have an image link you can send me so I can try another 1TB hd SATA i have sitting around?

Thanks so much!
Sam


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

Sam L said:


> Hi ggieseke!
> 
> Everyone here tells me you're the one to talk to about getting a Premiere XL image (TCD748000). Everything was fine until this week when I rebooted the TIVO. Now it is stuck on "Getting Started" screen. The hard drive in the TIVO is a Western Digital WD10EVVS-63M5B0 1TB. Do you have an image link you can send me so I can try another 1TB hd SATA i have sitting around?
> 
> ...


PM sent.


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## duncan7 (Sep 17, 2004)

I, too, have a Premiere that’s stuck starting up. I’ve yanked the TA, CableCard, and Ethernet and rebooted, to no avail. Can I just swap in the drive from a Premiere of similar vintage that I decommissioned in the fall when its HDMI port died? It was otherwise functional at that point.


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

It will need to be 'married' to the TiVo by doing a C&DE.

-KP


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## duncan7 (Sep 17, 2004)

kpeters59 said:


> It will need to be 'married' to the TiVo by doing a C&DE.
> 
> -KP


That's fine. I don't really need a stand-alone tivo in this spot but this box has lifetime, so I'd like to keep it limping along as long as I can.


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## duncan7 (Sep 17, 2004)

Welp, that didn’t work. Turns out they weren’t the same model. The upgrade deal from Black Friday required a device check-in within 30days, right? My Roamio Pro’s on the old second-device discount, wondering what the best move is with this one, which is lifetime and the “first device.” Just replace it with a mini?


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

Did you try any of the Kick Start Codes?

Miscellaneous Services from WeaKnees.com

-KP


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## emuman100 (Jul 3, 2003)

duncan7 said:


> Can I just swap in the drive from a Premiere of similar vintage that I decommissioned in the fall when its HDMI port died? It was otherwise functional at that point.


Did you try replacing the HDMI interface IC? It's the only IC between the CPU and HDMI port. In the TCD746320, it's a CD2030-A0TR. Mine might be bad, but I don't use the HDMI port, so I'll have to check it.


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

duncan7 said:


> Welp, that didn't work. Turns out they weren't the same model. The upgrade deal from Black Friday required a device check-in within 30days, right? My Roamio Pro's on the old second-device discount, wondering what the best move is with this one, which is lifetime and the "first device." Just replace it with a mini?


You could find a replacement hard drive for your specific model on ebay for ~$30. You might want to hook up the original drive to a computer and run the manufacturers diagnostic utility confirm it's dead.


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## duncan7 (Sep 17, 2004)

shwru980r said:


> You could find a replacement hard drive for your specific model on ebay for ~$30. You might want to hook up the original drive to a computer and run the manufacturers diagnostic utility confirm it's dead.


I don't have easy access to a Windows machine and I couldn't get my USB/SATA adapter to do low-level stuff like those diagnostics via Parallels the last time I tried. I punted and sent the box off to Weaknees. Thanks for all the advice.


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## bd177 (Oct 22, 2010)

I've had this problem for the last 2 years or so. Since the hard drive was less than a year old when it started happening, I didn't think the hard drive was the problem. Thru trial and error I got past the "Starting Up" screen by watching the lights on the Tivo while it was rebooting. When all the lights flash I pull the power cord and then immediately plug it back in. It usually takes 3 or 4 times or more doing that but it gets past the "Starting up" screen and then boots up normally. I don't know if it is a bad spot on the hard drive or what. If I was a conspiracy theorist type , I would think that this was a ploy to make you upgrade.


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

bd177 said:


> I've had this problem for the last 2 years or so. Since the hard drive was less than a year old when it started happening, I didn't think the hard drive was the problem. Thru trial and error I got past the "Starting Up" screen by watching the lights on the Tivo while it was rebooting. When all the lights flash I pull the power cord and then immediately plug it back in. It usually takes 3 or 4 times or more doing that but it gets past the "Starting up" screen and then boots up normally. I don't know if it is a bad spot on the hard drive or what. If I was a conspiracy theorist type , I would think that this was a ploy to make you upgrade.


The hard drive probably had a warranty. If you had hooked it up to a PC and ran the manufacturers diagnostic utility and it showed errors, then you could have returned the hard drive.


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