tivo showing no picture

[halfax]

hi
i have unpluged my tivo and moved it. now it does not respond.t it fails to start up all i am getting is every two or three minutes there is a bleeping sound. when i connect the power it goes straight to a green light on the front panel and the remote does not work. and i am not getting any picture at all. i hope someone can help
thanks

[blindlemon]

Hmmm, could be a disconnected or dodgy drive.

Have you opened the lid and checked the connections to the drive?

[halfax]

first, thank you for prompt reply.
took back off and the noise is comming from thr hardrive.
i bought one from ebay already for a straight swap (maxtor) already progamed for tivo ,it is about 5 months old.
does this need replacing ,if so ,can u recomend anywhere
thanks

[...coolstream]

The beep is probably more of a squeak.

If you can remove it from tivo and attach to a spare IDE lead in the PC, try to attach the power lead (no need for IDE) and power up the PC. Listen to the drive.

If it squeaks again and you don't hear it spin up, then the drive is goosed. If it spins up, maybe you have managed to kick start it. Then switch off PC and reattach drive to tivo and try again.

Try to listen to the drive spinning up in the tivo even though it was spinning up in the PC, but if all you get is the squeak, it could well be the tivo's PSU that is failing.

Good luck!

[Automan]

http://www.tivoheaven.co.uk/ is a popular site to obtain a new ready to just plug in hard drive.

Automan.
first, thank you for prompt reply.
took back off and the noise is comming from thr hardrive.
i bought one from ebay already for a straight swap (maxtor) already progamed for tivo ,it is about 5 months old.
does this need replacing ,if so ,can u recomend anywhere
thanks

[blindlemon]

http://www.tivoheaven.co.uk/ is a popular site to obtain a new ready to just plug in hard drive.

Automan.ta :)

I refuse to be drawn on the Maxtor issue as I believe my views are already widely reported... ;)

[Pete77]

I refuse to be drawn on the Maxtor issue as I believe my views are already widely reported... ;)

I wonder just where exactly you think the pre-prepared Maxtor drive may have come from? Clearly not from Tivo Heaven of course.

Having said that you yourself have I believe (please correct me if I'm wrong) previously suggested that a certain percentage of all makes of hard drives fail early on in their lives, although this is very rare with the Samsung HA250JC.

Does Seagate only offer a 1 year warranty on products sold under their cheapo down market Maxtor brand rather than the 5 years they give on those in their own original brand name?

Given the young age of this drive it must be possible to get it replaced under warranty and one would then have hoped the original supplier would also be willing to reformat it free of charge as another pre-prepared drive.

[halfax]

i have plugged it into a pc and the hardrive is making the same noise.is it just a case of replacing the hardrive?
thanks to everybody for help

[Pete77]

i have plugged it into a pc and the hardrive is making the same noise.is it just a case of replacing the hardrive?
thanks to everybody for help

No the hard drive has to be formatted with the Tivo operating system first.

See www.steveconrad.co.uk/tivo/upgrade3.html

Or www.tivoheaven.co.uk, www.tivoland.com and Tivo Central (see Ebay) can sell you one already in the correct format.

[Automan]

One other supplier or pre-configed drives is pacelink at http://www.keshelectrics.co.uk/ (click on online shop).

Re a drives long life I suspect a lot is still down to how well it is packed for transit or if it is subject to external forces while powered up.

Automan.

[AMc]

If the current drive is only 5 months old and was sold with a Tivo OS on it then your first port of call would be the eBay vendor. Unless it was a one off, private sale you have a reasonable expectation that they will help you with a replacement suitably configured for your Tivo.

If you've just bought a new blank drive (your post isn't too clear) then you will need to install the Tivo OS. The guides above will be helpful and there is a special thread on here to request a backup image link if you can't backup your current drive.

[ColinYounger]

If you're going the DIY route, can I also recommend Hooch! (http://www.tivoheaven.co.uk/hooch) from TivoHeaven (http://www.tivoheaven.co.uk).

[...coolstream]

i have plugged it into a pc and the hardrive is making the same noise.is it just a case of replacing the hardrive?
thanks to everybody for help
Glad to have been able to help you with the diagnostic notes and sorrry to hear that a relatively new drive has given you a problem. The others are right in suggesting that you try and get the seller to replace it under warranty.

A preformatted new drive is the easiest option, but I do recommend deciding what size you require to be important, because adding a second drive to a preformatted setup will require more work and configuring. It's not like a PC where you can add a second drive whenever you feel like it.

If you have a network card already installed in your tivo, you can have the necessary files added to the drive before shipment, and also, you need to be aware of which version of the tivo software you require. More info on these aspects will be available from the vendor you chose.

[Pete77]

One other supplier or pre-configed drives is pacelink at http://www.keshelectrics.co.uk/ (click on online shop).
I don't think Kesh/Pacelink can any longer be regarded as serious players in the UK Tivo upgrading marketplace given that the only upgrade drive size they offer is 120Gb and that is severely overpriced.