Tivo Partition Table Goes Mad! Welcome, Powering Up.

[bmgoodman]

OK, I started off trying to get my parents' Tivo pas the "Welcome. Powering Up" screen in this thread: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=307043.

The short version is that PowerMax examined the 200 GB Maxtor (upgraded 3 years ago, 137 MB limited) and found something it vaguely described as a problem with the partition table. I (probably stupidly) accepted its offer, and let it run through the full HD test. It came back reporting no errors.

Back in the Tivo, I could not get past the "Welcome. Powering Up" screen far enough to get the Tivo to "panic" and GSOD. I reinstalled the original 60 GB drive (w/ v 4.0 SW) and it booted up just fine.

So, I feel comfortable that I could do the upgrade from the 60 GB to the 200 GB drive all over again, but that would dump all their current recordings. So, I am looking for a way to preserve the recordings and upgrade again. I'm no Linux wiz--my only "hacking" was using MFS Tools CD to upgrade Tivos, which I have done probably a dozen times. I am guessing there are commands I could use to backup the programs partition(s), but I am not sure which ones or if they are on the MFS Tools disk. I have no experience compiling programs or building customized Linux "Live" CDs, but I can type commands, almost verbatim ;) , so maybe someone here can help me out?

Thanks!

[HomeUser]

See what mfsinfo from your MFSTools CD sees your hard drive as if the TiVo partitions are intact then try make tivo bootable (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=1193306&&#post1193306) .

[bmgoodman]

I did mfsinfo /dev/hda and got back:

/dev/hda10: Success
mfs_load_volume_header: mfsvol_read_data: Input/output error

But, pdisk -l /dev/hda gives:
Partition map (with 512 byte blocks) on '/dev/hda'
#: type name length base ( size )
1: Apple_partition_map Apple 63 @ 1
2: Image Bootstrap 1 1 @ 115248192
3: Image Kernel 1 8192 @ 115248193 ( 4.0M)
4: Ext2 Root 1 262144 @ 115256385 (128.0M)
5: Image Bootstrap 2 4096 @ 115518529 ( 2.0M)
6: Image Kernel 2 4096 @ 115522625 ( 2.0M)
7: Ext2 Root 2 262144 @ 115526721 (128.0M)
8: Swap Linux swap 260096 @ 115788865 (127.0M)
9: Ext2 /var 262144 @ 116048961 (128.0M)
10: MFS MFS application region 524288 @ 116311105 (256.0M)
11: MFS MFS media region 50770944 @ 64477248 ( 24.2G)
12: MFS Second MFS application region 524288 @ 116835393 (256.0M)
13: MFS Second MFS media region 64477184 @ 64 ( 30.7G)
14: MFS New MFS Application 1024 @ 117359681
15: MFS New MFS Media 151068672 @ 117360705 ( 72.0G)
16: Apple_Free Extra 6078 @ 268429377 ( 3.0M)

Device block size=512, Number of Blocks=398297088 (189.9G)
DeviceType=0x0, DeviceId=0x0

Should I still try MakeTivoBootable? Or something else?

Thanks!

[bmgoodman]

OK, I went ahead and did:
MakeTiVoBootable -d /dev/hdX --pk 3 --ak 6 --bp root=/dev/hda4

And suddenly, mfsinfo showed partition info and hours!! So, I put it back into Tivo and it's working! THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP!

My last questions:

Should I try to do a kickstart with a 57 or 58 to make Tivo check the file system? I don't want to have a problem on the alternate partition that will become apparent as soon as version 7.3 is installed, but I've never done kickstart, so I'm not sure if it will help.

Is there an easy way now to expand the drive to take full advantage of the 200 GB? I expanded 3 years ago w/ mfs tools 2.0, but it only went to 137 GB. Thoughts?

Thanks again!

[cheer]

Odds are when you expanded previously you weren't booting from a CD with an LBA48-aware kernel, which is why it went to 137gb.

You can't expand a second time. There is a procedure involving coalescing partitions but it's not for the timid. Search the other forum if you're interested.

[HomeUser]

OK, I went ahead and did:
MakeTiVoBootable -d /dev/hdX --pk 3 --ak 6 --bp root=/dev/hda4

And suddenly, mfsinfo showed partition info and hours!! So, I put it back into Tivo and it's working! THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP!

My last questions:

Should I try to do a kickstart with a 57 or 58 to make Tivo check the file system? I don't want to have a problem on the alternate partition that will become apparent as soon as version 7.3 is installed, but I've never done kickstart, so I'm not sure if it will help.

Is there an easy way now to expand the drive to take full advantage of the 200 GB? I expanded 3 years ago w/ mfs tools 2.0, but it only went to 137 GB. Thoughts?

Thanks again!

Modern drives are really good at hiding errors, when you see one it is because all the maintenance blocks are used up. If there was an error on the drive the drive is probably about to fail I would make a small backup NOW and replace the drive ASAP.

As cheer pointed out you can only expand a drive in a series 2 TiVo once because of partition limits therefore you will need to start with the backup without recordings if you want to expand past the 137G otherwise you can just copy with dd or dd_rescue.

[bmgoodman]

I ran PowerMax long test twice and SpinRite 6 (level 4) and the drive checked out OK every time. Do you really think it will fail soon? How would I convince Maxtor to RMA it, short of lying and saying it won't spin up at all?

[cheer]

If it passes Spinrite level 4 it's probably in good shape.

But.

Some time ago, I had an intermittently-failing HD in my work laptop. Now I know our repair folks and (like many/most) I know they'd test it for a while and, if it didn't fail, send it back to me NTF. On the other hand, I had a lot of work to do.

So my wife suggested something brilliant.

Pulled the HD out of my laptop. Wrapped it thickly in bubble wrap.

Then...(wait for it)...I popped it in the dryer (no heat) for a couple hours. Pulled it back out -- BAM! Not intermittent anymore, but no marks or signs of physical abuse.

Of course, such a thing might not work with Maxtor, but...

[rbautch]

I ran PowerMax long test twice and SpinRite 6 (level 4) and the drive checked out OK every time. Do you really think it will fail soon? How would I convince Maxtor to RMA it, short of lying and saying it won't spin up at all?I just put a Maxtor 300GB in one of my Tivos, fresh image, and I'm getting some random pausing, mostly on Tivoserver videos. Some of the background animations also pause occasionally. It passed a SpinRite L4 check, and still the problems continue. I decided to just stick it my PC and get another one.

[HomeUser]

I ran PowerMax long test twice and SpinRite 6 (level 4) and the drive checked out OK every time. Do you really think it will fail soon? How would I convince Maxtor to RMA it, short of lying and saying it won't spin up at all?
Great, SpinRite at level 4 refreshes and checks every sector. While SpinRite was running did you notice anything unusual with the smart values? A high value of ECC corrected is a sign of a failing drive and can be the cause of the pauses and stuttering rbautch mentioned. If the values are in the acceptable rage enjoy.

[bmgoodman]

I'm not that familiar with Spin Rite, to be honest, so I am not sure what is unusual. I remember looking at the SMART status screen, but without context it was just numbers. I remember seeing 129/129.

Should I try to kickstart the Tivo now with a "57" or "58"?

[HomeUser]

I'm not that familiar with Spin Rite, to be honest, so I am not sure what is unusual. I remember looking at the SMART status screen, but without context it was just numbers. I remember seeing 129/129.

Should I try to kickstart the Tivo now with a "57" or "58"?

GRC still has not have a SpinRite 6 user manual, the ver 5 .pdf does explain what the numbers represent altho the screens are different. FYI the next time you run SpinRite if you go to the setup page before starting the scan you can log the operations to a DOS device like a floppy or fat drive.

I have never used the kickstart commands, can't advise you there. Id make the small backup without recordings before running it. You probably should make the backup regardless all mechanical Hard Drives will Fail eventually.

[bmgoodman]

I'm going to take the advice here and replace the 200 GB Maxtor (only using 137 GB anyway) with a 160 GB Seagate from Circuit City ($40 after MIR). I'll reformat the 200 GB eventually and may use it for something. I still have the original 60 GB drive with Tivo 4.0 SW on it, which I will keep for the next failure!

Thanks for the help!