Bad lines through picture and making noise

[baden]

I am Tivo illiterate when it comes to fixing anything. I think I harmed my DirectTv Tivo unit when I powered it with a generator during a recent storm. Now when running it makes a constant humming noise as well as diagonal lines through the screen. Not so bad that you can't watch, just annoying.

Any suggestions on how to fix this?

[goony]

Sounds like the power supply is hozed - probably a bad capacitor.

You might watch for a junker unit on eBay and as described, it sounds like the power supply might be OK (i.e. get one that says "bad tuner" or "bad drive"). Another source: http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-power-supply.php

Learn how to open one up at http:/tivo.upgrade-instructions.com - it will even tell you which Torx bits you need.

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A few years ago we had an ice storm and power was out for 85 hours. I had my DTV setup running off of the gen, but had it front-ended with a UPS. The UPS kept complaining about high input voltage (beeping, clicking) so I took an electrical receptacle (not wired to anything) and rigged it so that I could plug the UPS and an old electric heater (nichrome coils) into the receptacle and that they would then be wired in series - the heater dropped just enough volts so that the UPS now saw 120 volts instead of 132 volts. An electric iron may have worked just as well.

Don't try that trick unless you have a good voltmeter and really understand what you are doing.

[litzdog911]

I am Tivo illiterate when it comes to fixing anything. I think I harmed my DirectTv Tivo unit when I powered it with a generator during a recent storm. Now when running it makes a constant humming noise as well as diagonal lines through the screen. Not so bad that you can't watch, just annoying.

Any suggestions on how to fix this?

Need a bit more info ....

* What brand/model TV do you have?
* How is the Tivo connected to the TV (inputs/outputs, cables, connectors)?
* Do you have other video sources connected to the TV?
* Do those other sources also show this problem?
* Can you connect this Tivo to a different TV? Does it have the problem there, too?

Let's try to identify the root cause of the problem first.

[baden]

Thanks for the feedback. Unit does the same thing when plugged into another TV. Sounds like the power supply could be it. I'm going to by a used on on Ebay and make 1 good unit out of what I have. I guess the good news is that I'll no longer be limited to 40 hrs.

Thanks for the quick response.

[craig5571]

hey,
im having the same problem with my samsung sir 4040r , with the diagonal lines, did the new power supply fix it?