DirecTiVo just died last night!

[mcdougll]

I watched TiVo last night, no problem. This morning, I get up and hear a loud clicking coming from the TiVo. I think "this isn't good", power-cycle it, and it won't go past the "Welcome, powering up..." screen, and it's still clicking. It's a Samsung SIRS4120R, 120Gb DTivo.

Anyway, I'm looking for options as to what to do. I know I can pay $20, ship it to DTV, sign up for another 2 years & get a replacement, but then I lose everything on the harddrive. What else can I do? I'm hoping to get options that involve possibly saving most or all of the stuff on the harddrive.

I know enough about circuits & components to be really dangerous when it comes to attempting this kind of stuff myself. :D

Assuming the problem is the harddrive, could I pull the harddrive & try to 'fix it' with drive-specific diagnostic software? Maybe copy the contents onto a new harddrive? If so, can anyone point me to some REALLY good 'how-to' guide?

If the problem is elsewhere, say, the power supply, can you get a new one?

Any and all ideas (& even comments) are welcome!

[ClemSole]

You have already lost everything if the hard drive is bad, witch it sounds like that's the problem.

Call D* and get the unit replaced.

[Dkerr24]

As said above, once the hard drive goes out, you've lost whatever is on it. There are ways of extracting data from crashed hard drives, but it is very expensive. Data recovery can cost several thousand dollars. This is used to recover valuable company data that is worth many times the cost of recovery. Obviously what you have on that dead drive is only 'TV', not worth that kind of money.

You could swap out hard drives yourself, but that will involve quite a bit of reading and research on how to do that.

If interested, you can download a boot CD iso image at:

http://www.ptvupgrade.com/products/software/lba48/lba_4.04_license.html

And google for 'Hinsdale Howto' to get a step by step instruction guide.

[Barryrod]

You could swap out hard drives yourself, but that will involve quite a bit of reading and research on how to do that.

If interested, you can download a boot CD iso image at:

http://www.ptvupgrade.com/products/software/lba48/lba_4.04_license.html

And google for 'Hinsdale Howto' to get a step by step instruction guide.


I like this idea for you if you are at all technical minded and have a PC you can use to do it. It is a pretty simple step by step operation to get the Instantcake image and install it that a lot of folks here can (and will) help you with....But I advise searching a bit before asking. There really is something to say about the satisfaction you get from DIY

[RBerryman]

If the unit you have is a true TIVO unit you may want to just purchase a larger drive from Weaknees, I had a unit die and had a Circuit City protection plan but they don't fix them any more so they gave me my full purchase back and I bought one of the new DirecTV DVR which is a primitive replacement and was completely disappointed in its use. When another unit went out I bought a large drive from Weaknees and am thrilled with it and it was a 10 minute fix.

[cowboys2002]

If the unit you have is a true TIVO unit you may want to just purchase a larger drive from Weaknees, I had a unit die and had a Circuit City protection plan but they don't fix them any more so they gave me my full purchase back and I bought one of the new DirecTV DVR which is a primitive replacement and was completely disappointed in its use. When another unit went out I bought a large drive from Weaknees and am thrilled with it and it was a 10 minute fix.


I essentially did the same thing, bought a weaknees upgrade kit for a failed Directivo unit.

Now, my HDVR "stutters" and when I reset it, it stays at the powering up screen. I will be calling weeknees for an upgrade kit for this Tivo as well!!

[BigBearf]

HDVR2 just died. No power at all. I will pull the cover and see if the power supply cable in seated, however it sounds like a PS failure. Does anyone have any other thoughts. Weaknees has PS for $50. Does anyone else know where to get one for less. I thought about just getting an old HDVR2 from eBay. Any thoughts?