Stuck in a boot loop

[Gary P]

Hi forum -

My TiVo is stuck in a boot loop - I get to the 'almost there' message and after a little while it starts rebooting. Not a good sign I'm thinking. This was following a (possibly unrelated) interruption of power.

Is there anything I can try?

I have upgraded one HDD on my machine in the past so if memory serves I used the MFStools CD and I have an image of my drive saved on CD - is this enough to recover the situation if one HDD has become corrupted? I'm a little hazy on where the TiVo OS lives...

Thanks for any help/advice.

Gary

[blindlemon]

Hi Gary,

Try the kickstart options (http://alt.org/wiki/index.php/TivoDiagnostics) - 57, 58 and 52 in that order - and see if that fixes it. They will trigger a GSOD so don't panic when you see it :)

[Glesgie]

The image saved on CD will get you back to where you were when you made the image in terms of the OS, season passes etc (but not recorded programs) if you made it with the
usual options.

[Gary P]

Many thanks for your helpful replies.

I have now tried kickstarts 57,58 and 52 resulting in 1 GSOD and 2 Installing New Software screens, but after a fairly short time in each case my TiVo just returned to the loop it was in.

I guess my options now are to buy a new drive and install it as my A drive, (perhaps new PSU too?) or send TiVo off for repair.

As I say, I have an old drive image on CD and I'm not too bothered about saving my current recordings.

Do you think I could pick up at the relevant point in the Hinsdale How To and manage to do the things I need to do to the new drive? When I went through the process before it was by following the instructions slavishly rather than with any real understanding...

Thanks again,

Gary

[healeydave]

Gary, if you take the drive out and run it through the manufacturers diagnostics, you may find the drive passes and your current issue is just a soft error (corruption).

If thats the case, all you need to do is restore your image and you won't even need to buy a new drive!!