Screen Freezes for a few seconds... regularly...

[AStotzer]

I have the first Series of Tivo that I got soon after it came out. It has always worked great until now...

This just started a few days ago I think. The screen freezes for about 1-3 seconds then continues (skips the 1-3 seconds part) and is ok for a few seconds, minutes, then starts again. It will freeze like this a few times in a minute, then not for 5 minutes. Then a little here and there. It's not consistient, but it is very annoying. :mad: :mad:

If I rewind and play the freeze part over again, usually that part does not freeze again, so I don't think it's the video/data. I think it is the software that is screwing up...

When I see this start to happen a lot, I have also switched my tv input to just use direct cable and bypass Tivo just to see if is the cable feed. The video is good on direct cable.

So, if the direct cable is good. And also when I rewind the video does not freeze in the same place.... It must not be the cable feed or recorded video/data. So, I am left with it being the Software!?? :confused:

When I go into System Information and look at the last Service Data Download it says this:

Service Data Download:

Last Successful: Monday, Dec 6 at 4:35am
Last Attempt: Wednesday, May 11 at 4:36am
Last Status: Finished


How can the Last Status be Finished if the Last Attempt was 5 months after the Last Successful? Maybe it can? But I was just trying to see if a recent Software update was applied that started this happening..

Any Help will be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!

[AStotzer]

It also seems that sometimes the Tivo menus don't respond for a second or two...

I read in another thread of a similar problem. The replies said this was an impending hard drive failure.... Is that a sure thing? Should I just get a new hard drive?

I'm a noob to Tivo updates/upgrades... Isn't all of the menus and software on the hard drives? If I remove the current hard drive and replace it, how will I get all of my Tivo Software back?

[scandia101]

If I remove the current hard drive and replace it, how will I get all of my Tivo Software back?
:rolleyes:
By copying the software from your dying HDD to the new HDD or by purchasing a copy of the software to copy to the new HDD or by purchasing a HDD with the software already on it.

[AStotzer]

Tivo sells the software on CD and Hard Drives? Can you provide a link to this?

[jjberger2134]

TiVo does not sell the images. There are several ways to get an image onto a hardrive.

1. Free Software such as WinMFS (copies files from old drive to new) - check the upgrade forum for more details.

2. Instantcake - $20 download. Contains the image specific for your model TiVo. (do a google search)

3. Weaknees/DVRupgrade - online retailers that sell drives with the images already installed. Just drop the new drive into the TiVo and plug in. This is the most expensive option.

**I am not advocating that you get a new hard drive, but just providing you with the most popular options available to you.**

[AStotzer]

Thanks for the replies...

Just to be sure I understand and am not too stupid. But are these the 'real' TiVo Software that came with my Tivo? Or some other kind of Tivo Menu system that somebody created?

It seems strange that I would be buying the software from someone other than Tivo... Did Tivo sell the rights to their software to these other companies?

[greg_burns]

Yes it is the original, real software.

Not sure the details, but I would imagine these retailers are licensed by Tivo to distribute the software.

Apparently it is not legal for us end-users to distribute the images ourselves.

PS: I don't think there has been a software update to the Series 1 Tivos in quite awhile.

[AStotzer]

Yea, it might be a hard drive failure... I was looking for bad sectors by looking for missing parts of the video, but when I rewind, many times the part that froze does play ok, so the data was stored correctly. But it may be some other hard drive problem. Maybe it has a motor problem, dust?, spinning problem?? I don't know other hd problems other than bad sectors...

I'll see if it get worse..

[scandia101]

2. Instantcake - $20 download. Contains the image specific for your model TiVo. (do a google search)



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