Interesting Observation During S3 Serious Problem and Reboot

[V7Goose]

I have had my S3 for about 1 month without observing a spontaneous reboot. Several power outages resulted in uneventful reboots. Tonight while dubbing a movie to DVD, the recorder spit out a message that the input signal was unstable, and the next thing I noticed was a blank gray screen with seemingly every possible light on the front of the TiVo lit up. Within a minute or two I saw the TiVo power-up message, and then very shortly thereafter a green screen saying the TiVo had experienced a serious problem and was attempting to fix it. The fix would take about 3 hours and NOT TO DO ANYTHING (paraphrasing multiple sentences here) until it was done.

I saw all of this while watching the DVD/R output, which was being fed by the TiVo S-Video cable. While the green screen was up I attempted to cycle through the TV inputs to watch a direct cable feed -- here is the interesting part --

When I stopped on the HDMI input from the TiVo to the TV, THERE WAS NO VIDEO SIGNAL AT ALL, just a blank screen that looked like the TV was off. :confused: If I had been watching S3 directly when this problem hit, instead of watching the output from the DVD recorder, I would never have seen the green screen with the "serious problem" message, and after about 2 minutes of the blank screen with no front panel display, I would have been over there pulling the plug to force a reboot in direct violation to the specific instructions on the green screen to not touch the power cord while the repair was under way!

So, my warning to each of you is to be wary of what might be going on with your S3 if you are using an HDMI feed to your TV! You might want to hook up an S-Video cable to an alternate input on your TV to check for messages.

[slimoli]

Hey Goose, thank you for the intel.

Did you actually waited 3 hours? What did the S3 do?

Sergio

[rdrrepair]

You have the S-Video, Component Cables and the HDMI all hooked up at the same time? Could there be too much of a load on the TiVo video driver?

When I had the HDMI hooked up thru a DVI Adapter to a Sony XBR and the Component cables hooked up to a Panasonic I lost the HDMI signal - blank screen, like it was off. My Panasonic worked fine.

I forced a reboot thru the remote and then both worked fine again - not wanting to screw anything up I disconnected the Panasonic. The Sony stayed HDMI until the same problem reappeared. I lost HDMI again, so then I hooked up the Component and had video - went thru my screens and did the restart thru the remote control.

I'll go back to HDMI and I'll grab an S-Video cable and have it handy - if it happens again I'll hook that one up too and check the S-Video feed.

[DeathRider]

rdrrepair, did you eveer try to unplug/plugin thr HDMI cable?

I seen the video where the Sony PS3 has weird problems effecting Westinghouse TVs (screen may blank on and off) and I believed the workaround us pulling thr cable/reinserting it.

Right now, with my Westinghouse 3213, I switc the HDMI cable between the S3 and a Zenith upconverting DVD player with no problems. Haven't had to reboot the S3.

The one thread on this board with Sony TV, they fixed the problem using a USB ethernet or USB WiFi adapter. I know it caused a different problem, but jus a thought. How do you have the S3 to call home? Just a thought.

[wackymann]

I never see any bootup messages from the Tivo S3 on my Samsung DLP, probably because it can't display 480i on the component input it is connected to. I have to wait until it is finished booting up and switches over to 720p or 1080i. I've often wondered what it is trying to display during bootup.

[pl1]

I never see any bootup messages from the Tivo S3 on my Samsung DLP, probably because it can't display 480i on the component input it is connected to. I have to wait until it is finished booting up and switches over to 720p or 1080i. I've often wondered what it is trying to display during bootup.Sounds like a setting on your TV. I have always been able to see the boot up sequence on my TV through HDMI and component.

[CrispyCritter]

I never see any bootup messages from the Tivo S3 on my Samsung DLP, probably because it can't display 480i on the component input it is connected to. I have to wait until it is finished booting up and switches over to 720p or 1080i. I've often wondered what it is trying to display during bootup.Doesn't the front format button determine this during the boot process? I would have thought it would, just for diagnostic help. That's the hardware "format" button on the TiVo front itself. It's hard to see: in black towards the bottom about 2/3 of the way over from the left.

[V7Goose]

Hey Goose, thank you for the intel.

Did you actually waited 3 hours? What did the S3 do?

Sergio
I was going to wait the full three hours, but turned out to take only about 15 minutes before it rebooted again and all has been well since then. Hope it stays that way!

You have the S-Video, Component Cables and the HDMI all hooked up at the same time? Could there be too much of a load on the TiVo video driver?
Actually, I only have the HDMI and S-Video inputs connected at this time, but I have used all three together in the past without any problems. Other than this specific problem with the 'serious error', I have had zero problems with the HDMI output to my Sony plasma TV. I run the S3 in native mode so it puts our any signal from 480i to 1080i since my Tv can display them all - I have checked the TV resolution with various signals and have seen just about all of them at one time or another. The S3 menus are spit out at 720P. Since the S3 has passed standard TV signal at 480i without problems, I see no reason why the green error screen would not have been passed except maybe that in the error correction state, maybe the higher video output functions were disabled? I don't have any problem seeing the normal boot sequence through the HDMI connection, just the green error screen. After the second reboot, the HDMI output was back to normal without me touching anything on the TV.

Good luck,
Goose

[rdrrepair]

rdrrepair, did you eveer try to unplug/plugin thr HDMI cable?Yes - nothing. If it happens again I'll shut off the Tv and turn it back on again to see if that helps it.

How do you have the S3 to call home?I believe your asking me how the TiVo gets the program data? I have a Linksys wireless G with the TiVo branded WiFi adapter. The signal strength is at 80%.