problems opening Series2 (540) Nightlight case

[Robertjm]

Hi all,

Hopefully, a quick question and answer for this one. I'm having problems opening the case of my Tivo Series 2 Nightlight 540 series.

I unscrewed the five torx T-10 screws off the back, but when I try and slide the case top backwards the right side will slide fine, however, the left side slides less than a militmeter. Its like there's a latch mechanism, or something like that, which won't let it slide any further.

Anyone else have the problem? Is there something that I need to unhook/unscrew that I'm missing?

I realize that some instructions say it might take a bit of force, but I sure don't want to wack on my Tivo to the point of damaging it!

Later,

Robert

[funtoupgrade]

It should slide off to the back. Best plan is to get a large flat bladed screwdriver and stick the blade under the tabs on the sticking back side and gentley pry upward. Once you get it off you probably find that one or more of internal side tabs on the inside of top have been bent out of shape and will need to be straightened. You are not going to hurt the Tivo by prying it off just don't use too much brut force.

[Robertjm]

Thanks! That did the trick. Actually didn't have to really pry much at all. Hard a heart attack on the next step though.

The molex plug that goes into the back of the hdd is REALLY tight. I used a pair of needle nose pliers to work it off and then a little white piece came flying out. Thought I'd busted the molex plug, but upon further review, the plugs they use have a white "cap" over the ends of the power cables so it was just the cap that flew off.

Was able to reseat it once I got the hdd off.

Powering off my main computer to copy the files from one hdd to another. The next time I post will be after the deed is done.

Later,

Robert

[AV_Novice]

I just opened up my 540 the other night and struggled with the lid like you described. A little messing around with downward pressure while also pushing back did the trick for me.

Good luck with your upgrade. I just replaced my original 40 Mb drive with two WD 320Mb drives. So far so good! Info screen reports capacity of 733 hours!

[Robertjm]

Thanks for the encouragement! I installed the WD 300gb drive I bought, but I'm stuck in the endless reboot loop.

Came back online to research and I think I munged up the msftools line with swap file info. Going to redo it again and see what happens. Need to get that puppy back together before Survivor airs tomorrow night!!

UPDATE: Its alive!!! I went back and re-ran the mfstools stuff and this time it took something like 25 minutes to do its thing, rather than the five minutes it took the first time. Popped the drive in and it tells me I have 340 hours available. That's on a 300gb drive! One thing to say though, the WDC 300Gb w/8mb buffer is a bit noisier than the Maxtor that was in there. Its mostly when its writing to the drive and I thik I can get used to it, but I was a bit disappointed when I first heard the "clicking" in there.

Anyone with suggestions on how to either quiet the machine down, or dampen the sound without making the machine too hot?

[AV_Novice]

I used the Hitachi Drive Tools (go to the Hitachi hard drive support website) to enable the Acoustic Management function of both drives. I did this before I did the install for the Tivo. I think you can still do this, but someone else may want to chime in to confirm. The drive tools program boots off of a DOS bootable floppy, so you don't have to worry about Windows screwing up the drive.

My setup is a little noiser, but I now have 2 drives plus an extra fan, so I figured there would be more noise. It is still a TON quiter than my old PIII Gateway computer with an IBM hard drive. There is no ability on that drive for acoustic management and it emits a high pitched whine whenever the computer is on.

[spaceboy]

Robertjm,

What size did you set your swap to?

Thanks,
Rob.

[Robertjm]

I actually just used the -s 127. I'd tried -s 200 on the first go round. Not sure if that was what munged up that installation, or something else. Sor far, so good. However, I hadn't tried actually recording anything before I went to work today. Tonight will be the first recording using the new HDD.

Robert

UPDATE: Got home and was able to watch both Survivor and The West Wing (Bravo) at the same time it was recording. No problems that I could detect.