TIVO rebooting

[swanny]

Hi all,

My HDD died on me last week. I bought a new Samsung 160GB and have used the original TIVO drive to get back up and running. I used the instructions at: http://www.steveconrad.co.uk/tivo/upgrade3.html to do the install.

All went well, TIVO booted and made its daily call to update itself. This morning however it is rebooting at random times. Whether recording a show or just watching live TV. I have attached the kernel log - can someone please point me in the right direction, I am not sure what is going on other than it looks like HD errors.

Thanks.

[blindlemon]

I hate to say it, but you have a bad drive. The "uncorrectable sector" and DMA errors are a sure sign of at least one bad sector.

Did you test the drive with the manufacturer's utility before using it?

[swanny]

No I didn't. Kinda jumped straight in - HDs are normally reliable.

Is it worth trying to fix the bad sectors or should I call in the drive?

[blindlemon]

Once a drive has gone bad in a TiVo I have never seen one that recovered.

You may be able to reallocate the bad sectors and use it in a PC, but if you do that and put it back in a TiVo you are likely to be on a hiding for nothing as nothing thrashes a hard drive like a TiVo.

Personally, I'd RMA it immediately. You might also want to consider an HA250JC rather than the drive you had, as they are 5400rpm and run cooler and quieter than the 7200rpm drives. Cache size is irrelevant.

[swanny]

Just run the Samsung HD utility on it - it is indeed knackered. :(


Off to PcWorld to get a replacement. Cheers for the advice mate. :up:

[Pete77]

Off to PcWorld to get a replacement. Cheers for the advice mate. :up:

Hard drives are much cheaper on line than at PC World unless of course you buy them on the PC World website and then collect them from a PC World local store. ;) But that would no doubt explain how you came to buy a 160Gb drive as by far the most cost effective hard drive size per Gb online these days is between 250Gb and 400Gb.

[swanny]

Hard drives are much cheaper on line than at PC World unless of course you buy them on the PC World website and then collect them from a PC World local store. ;) But that would no doubt explain how you came to buy a 160Gb drive as by far the most cost effective hard drive size per Gb online these days is between 250Gb and 400Gb.


I don't normally touch them with a barge pole but I need the drive today :) I did reserve it online so not too expensive.

Wife is not happy with no TIVO. Forget the fact she moaned like hell when I bought it 4 years ago. :D

[Pete77]

I don't normally touch them with a barge pole but I need the drive today :) I did reserve it online so not too expensive.

Wife is not happy with no TIVO. Forget the fact she moaned like hell when I bought it 4 years ago. :D

Thought she might have been even happier if you had slammed in a 400Gb drive so you record more programs and/or record everything in Mode 0 (better than basic).

The 400Gb Samsung drives are only 80 quid or something.

[swanny]

Well the TIVO's future is a little undecided at the moment due to NTL launching TVDrive soon in my area. Hmmmmmm, reliable TIVO with great software\versitility vs 3 tuners\HD TV\dodgy less funtional software. :confused:

[Pete77]

Well the TIVO's future is a little undecided at the moment due to NTL launching TVDrive soon in my area. Hmmmmmm, reliable TIVO with great software\versitility vs 3 tuners\HD TV\dodgy less funtional software. :confused:

Answer = Tivo remains in service even if you also acquire a Tv Drive.

[swanny]

Answer = Tivo remains in service even if you also acquire a Tv Drive.


Had considered that or moving it into another room. Of course Tivo 3 would be even better but that ain't gonna happen :down:

[Pete77]

400Gb Samsung available for 85 quid including delivery at Tech Fever compared to about 42 quid purchased on line and picked up in store for your 160Gb at PC World.

Are you sure it wasn't worth the extra 43 quid as you were reverting to your original hard drive set anyway to create the new one?

[swanny]

400Gb Samsung available for 85 quid including delivery at Tech Fever compared to about 42 quid purchased on line and picked up in store for your 160Gb at PC World.

Are you sure it wasn't worth the extra 43 quid as you were reverting to your original hard drive set anyway to create the new one?


In the run up to Xmas that was all I could afford. 160GB is enough for our needs at the moment. Might add a second drive in the new year.

[Pete77]

In the run up to Xmas that was all I could afford. 160GB is enough for our needs at the moment. Might add a second drive in the new year.

You could always add a 400Gb. Then you would have more capacity than even my 500Gb (2 x 250Gb) ;)

Probably not worth going that large though unless you are also going to install a Cachecard which adds another 100 quid or so but a lot of functionality via TivoWeb.

[swanny]

You could always add a 400Gb. Then you would have more capacity than even my 500Gb (2 x 250Gb) ;)

Probably not worth going that large though unless you are also going to install a Cachecard which adds another 100 quid or so but a lot of functionality via TivoWeb.

I have a turbonet card so already use Tivoweb. How do you find Tivoweb plus? I read that it can be rather unstable.

[Pete77]

I have a turbonet card so already use Tivoweb. How do you find Tivoweb plus? I read that it can be rather unstable.

You can find TivoWebPlus at http://thomson.tivo.googlepages.com/TivoWebPlus

But I tried running the latest version 1.3.1 for a couple of weeks a month ago and unfortunately it is definitely less stable than TivoWeb 1.9.4. It caused my Tivo to completely lock up a couple of times requiring a power off reboot when I was running both it and TivoWeb at the same time and I could choose between either. And some of the add on hack modules for TivoWeb are not supported by TivoWebPlus.

If you use the above web page and its instructions you can install it in addition to TivoWeb and use it mainly for its superior HiGuide program guide and superior Info functions. All other functions are no better than TivoWeb can be made with its add on modules.

Are you aware of all these sites in terms of hacks and upgrades for the Tivo?

http://tivo.lightn.org/

www.ljay.org.uk/tivoweb/

www.beaconhill.plus.com/TiVo/tivohacks.htm

http://www.arielbusiness.pwp.blueyo.../TiVo/HowTo.htm

http://alt.org/wiki/index.php/TiVoWeb%20Modules

http://thomson.tivo.googlepages.com

http://tivo.stevejenkins.com/network_cd.html

http://thomson.tivo.googlepages.com/tivowebplus

http://widgets.yahoo.com/gallery/?search=oztivo&x=0&y=0

www.tivohackman.com

www.weethet.nl/english/tivo_extract_videos.php

You will probably like the Yahoo Widgets TivoGuy desktop thing the most as that can keep you up to date on the desktop or even at the office with what is recording now on the Tivo and what is in Now Playing and ToDo in much prettier one click form than TivoWeb can. That works with TivoWeb and TivoWebPlus but it works better and faster with TivoWeb like so many things.

If you only have a TurboNet card you probably won't want to go much above 250Gb and even then you would need to be recording a lot of stuff at Best or in Mode 0 (Better than Best) so as to avoid having more than 150 items in Now Playing which can cripple the menu speeds unless you have a Cachecard and RAM.

[swanny]

Cheers for all the tips and advice Pete. :up: