DRT400 Stuck in Start Up Loop - Bad DVD Drive

[dssslut]

I did several searches on this and couldnt find any posts on it so I thought I would add one.

I recently acquired a DRT400 off Craigslist for $35. I plugged it in and it came up with the initial Start Up screen. It then went to the Wait for a few more minutes screen... then the Start Up screen came back. It was stuck in a loop.

The first thing I did was put an old DRT800 hard drive in it that I knew was a good drive. Same thing. I changed IDE cables. Same thing. I then swapped the power supply from the DRT800 into the DRT400. Same thing!

I eventually thought what the heck, I will unplug the IDE cable from the DVD drive. It started up and just gave me an error saying there was a hardware problem. I skipped it and the unit worked. I then swapped out the DVD drive from my working DRT800 and Voila, SUCCESS!

So, it looks like I am going to buy a new 111D for the DRT400 and I will have a DRT400 for around $70. Of course I will still need to add a lifetime to it... it currently says Account Closed.

Two questions:

Are Account Closed 595 boxes eligible for a Lifetime Sub?

Is the 111D DVD drive still the best replacement for a DRT400?

[Chester_Lampwick]

:up: :up: :up:
Great luck! I'm so jealous. Why don't you swap the DVD drive from your DRT-800 just to confirm that will work?

It see,s any DVR-108, 109, 110 or 111 will work. My last Froogle search did find DVR-108s so you could buy one of them. Of course you'd be able to find a DVR-111 locally so that's also a good option. If a DVR-111 works for you, buy a spare for future consumption while your at it.

I'm not sure if you can lifetime a previously subbed box or not. I suspect it luck of the draw, and can find a generous CSR at TiVo.

[dssslut]

Thanks for the drive suggestions. I ended up with a 112D and it seems to work perfect. Bought if from Directron for around $40 shipped.

I am going to try doing the lifetime sub online. I checked it out and it says that it is eligible online...

[magnumis]

I had the same issue and I thought it was a power supply issue until I read your post. Thank you for the suggestion! :up:

[dssslut]

Another thing on DRT400 and DRT800 that wont boot and are stuck in the start up loop. Open them up and plug the DVD drive into a computer power supply. Then press the eject button on the front of the DVD drive. There may just be a DVD left in the drive and if there is this may cause the boot problems. I just saw this on a DRT800. You will have to loosen the front panel of the DRT800 to get to the DVD eject button.

Trying to use the Tivo power and pressing the eject button doesnt work. You need a actual computer power supply hooked up to the drive.

[amr]

I've got the Humax TiVo and when I came into the living room this morning all I saw was "Welcome" on the LED panel. I turned on the TV and all I can see is the "Welcome! Powering Up..." splash page. I thought that my power might have gone off, but since the cable box is on the same outlet and it was still on, I ruled that out (also, being in NYC, power does not just go out).

So i pulled the plug for a few minutes and saw the red lights go on and the same "Welcome! Powering Up..." screen has been there for 20 minutes now.

Are you saying that it's a good chance that the DVD drive is dead? I was having some problems with the drive before, like, especially with certain DVDs where there was a lot of motion on certain grainy films, the bottom fifth of the screen was all jumpy and stuff.

[dubluv]

check the post about removing a dvd stuck in the humax drive. i just put a dvd into my drt400, and it was loading for a few minutes unsuccessfully. finally, it just rebooted, and was stuck in the reboot cycle for a while. i searched this forum, and found a post with dvd not ejecting. if you have a disc in the drawer, pry down the plastic drive door (its only spring loaded) and you'll see a regular pc type dvd drive door. below is the eject button, and voila! the door opens, and the offending disc can be removed. hopefully this is your problem.

[robomeister]

+1 on checking if a DVD is in the drive. I've won 2 DRT400s and one Pioneer DVR-810H-S from Ebay and all had a DVD in the drive. I got a free copy of Cars (Full Screen :down:), some burned discs and a naughty DVD. :) Actually, one had 2 DVDs in the drive!! It made an awful sound when it tried to start up. One even had a lifetime sub on it. :) But after removing the DVD from the drive, the units booted up with no problems. And they still were able to burn discs.

On the Pioneer models, it was easy to eject the drive with power off. There is an access hole that you can push a straightened out paper clip into and eject the drive. On the Humax and Toshiba models, it is a bit trickier. I had to disassemble the unit to eject it. If you are very flexible or have small fingers, you can push the eject button through the tray door.

Apparently, the TiVo tries to boot from the DVD and gets stuck in the boot process. The TiVo engineers should check if the DVD is bootable and gracefully fail, or just not attempt to boot from the disc in the drive at all.

I've been able to use a Pioneer DVR-112 to replace the burner with no problems.

Happy TiVoing!
robomeister

[cdeckert219]

I had this same problem with my DRT400 one time...wouldn't boot because of a bad disc in the DVD drive. I unplugged it, plugged it back in and repeatedly hit the eject button on the drive as soon as it began to power up. After a bit, the door opened. Curious guy that I am, I put the disc back in and experimented a bit more. It was definitely the disc preventing it from booting. Interestingly, it was a commercial DVD and works fine on other DVD players. Hoses my DRT400 though.

[numuse]

+1 on checking if a DVD is in the drive. I've won 2 DRT400s and one Pioneer DVR-810H-S from Ebay and all had a DVD in the drive. I got a free copy of Cars (Full Screen :down:), some burned discs and a naughty DVD. :) Actually, one had 2 DVDs in the drive!! It made an awful sound when it tried to start up. One even had a lifetime sub on it. :) But after removing the DVD from the drive, the units booted up with no problems. And they still were able to burn discs.

On the Pioneer models, it was easy to eject the drive with power off. There is an access hole that you can push a straightened out paper clip into and eject the drive. On the Humax and Toshiba models, it is a bit trickier. I had to disassemble the unit to eject it. If you are very flexible or have small fingers, you can push the eject button through the tray door.

Apparently, the TiVo tries to boot from the DVD and gets stuck in the boot process. The TiVo engineers should check if the DVD is bootable and gracefully fail, or just not attempt to boot from the disc in the drive at all.

I've been able to use a Pioneer DVR-112 to replace the burner with no problems.

Happy TiVoing!
robomeister
would the pioneer DVR-115 work as well? They are $27.95 at CDNERDS and are 20X burners

thanks
Peter

[robomeister]

numuse,

I don't know if that model will work or not in the Humax or Toshiba TiVo models. You could be the first to try it and report back here. :)

Good luck,
robomeister