AGHH! Random Pause/Crash of TiVO

[richkeys]

Tried searching for 30mins couldn't find anything (perhaps my bad search terms are to blame?)

My TiVO has the 2 original drives (40gb total) but i've added cache card and modded it has tivoweb etc... did this last year - can't remember a thing about how to hack etc...

anyway... my tivo keeps randomly pausing either while watching live tv or a recording then will not respond to remote and i have to remove power and re-boot etc... it also freezes on now playing screen as well - but less often.

My tivo is accessible via web - is there anyone (trustworthy!!) who log on and have a look round make sure she's alright?

Thanks in advance,
Richkeys

PS i'll change my signature at bottom in a minute!

[vassilis]

This sounds like a disk failure. Don't panic. All you need is to replace the disks.

[blindlemon]

I agree it sounds like a possible drive problem.

Check the logs via TiVoWeb - eg. kernel and tverr - and look for DMA or sector read errors.

[b166er]

anyway... my tivo keeps randomly pausing either while watching live tv or a recording then will not respond to remote and i have to remove power and re-boot etc... it also freezes on now playing screen as well - but less often.Could it be something as simple as a broken remote? One which has a faulty pause button perhaps.

[trevor.austin]

Exactly what I had - 1 or more times a day, replaced the drive and its now been running over a week without even a hiccup.

[Fred1]

I too am getting lockups (see this thread http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=282637)

There are some other possible causes

1. IR lockup - not seen this mentioned in this forum, but i have heard from other TiVo users that if they have an IR sender (for remote controlling the TiVo), then this can confuse the Tivo by blocking the remote control signal. Basically the IR sender picks up noise and sends IR into the room which interferes with the IR from the remote. - Try removing any IR sources from the room for a while.

2. You have some out of memory condition due to hacking Tivo?

3. You are experiencing the so called event "bug" - http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=3730821&highlight=event+bug#post3730821

is there any way of testing the disk to tell if its at fault?

[trevor.austin]

Not sure about testing. But I noticed stuttering just prior to a lockup/crash/reboot.

Mine was definitely the disk as the replacement is a clone of the failed disk which is now working well.

Of course that doesn't mean everybody has the same problem but it does seem very common.

[Fred1]

Aha!

Stuttering I am getting too!

guess its time to look at the even bigger hard drive threads - not much point getting a new HD if I dont get an added benefit

[trevor.austin]

I used the same size, 160gb, but still got a 40gb increase by using the latest kernel to address all of the disk, which I don't even remember reading about when I originally did the upgrade many years ago:)

[richkeys]

find attached kernel logs - from today. my tivo did freeze today. can anyone see anything. i don't know what i'm looking for!

[managerxxx]

I'm not an expert but these look to be drive related to me:

Feb 8 10:30:18 (none) kernel: hda: drive_cmd: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
Feb 8 10:30:18 (none) kernel: hda: drive_cmd: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError }, secCnt=0, LBAsect=12734272
Feb 8 10:30:18 (none) kernel: hda: drive_cmd: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
Feb 8 10:30:18 (none) kernel: hda: drive_cmd: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError }, secCnt=0, LBAsect=12734327

[blindlemon]

Agreed. You have a bad sector.

[Ian_m]

Run smartctl and see what it says, ie at Telnet type

/var/hack/bin/smartctl -A /dev/hda
If Reallocated_Sector_Ct is anything other than zero, it means that the drive is getting and reallocating duff sectors and this is your notice to get a new drive now before a duff sector appears in something more series and kills your TiVo completely.

[Fred1]

Have similar symptoms so tried the same command from command, but got

bash: /var/hack/bin/smartctl: Permission denied

I tried

bash: /var/hack/bin/smartctl: Permission denied

But ls -l showed that smartctl was unaffected by this

bash: /var/hack/bin/smartctl: Permission denied

What am I doing wrong? Any help appreciated.

Checked kernel.log for any Error string but couldnt find any

[Fred1]

I used the same size, 160gb, but still got a 40gb increase by using the latest kernel to address all of the disk, which I don't even remember reading about when I originally did the upgrade many years ago:)


Hey - Cool

For the kernel upgrade what do I have to do for this - just use the MFSTools for larger drive and the -127 option?

[blindlemon]

For a 160gb drive I would use -s 350 to give you enough swap to add a 500GB "B" drive at a later stage :D

You will also need to run copykern after the restore, specifying option 1 to copy the kernel and initialise the bigger swap.

[Fred1]

I couldnt see this in the Hindale how to, is there a big drive how that I am not aware of?

....or am I a bit short sighted (either is entirely feasible;))

[richkeys]

Thanks guys... I don't have the cache card set up on replacement drives. but I think i'll them out before i kill TiVO. i don't mind having to use dial up to get listings.

[steford]

I've had the odd stutter over the last year or so - nothing that worried me particularly. Now 3 freezes in the last week as outlined above (no response, reboot required) and my /var/hack folder got wiped. is it time to get a bigger hard drive in (was one of the £50 120GB Samsungs!). For the price and the added capacity I'm inclined just to go ahead and do it. Does this make sense?

[blindlemon]

If you want to save your settings and recordings then I would recommend doing it ASAP. Once drives start to fail in a TiVo the outcome is never good.