Frozen Tivo, need advice please

[reebs]

Hi folks, this is my first post :) I have had my Tivo for many years now, so know it inside out operationally, but the unit I bought for my parents has now started to freeze from time to time needing a power cycle to get it back.

I don't profess to know anything of the engineering of the unit, but suspect from reading this forum, that the hard drive has bad sectors on it, and needs replacing.

If that is so, could someone tell me:

a) is it an easy swap over?

b) where do I source a replacement hard disc?

c) does it need formatting first?

d) what size hard disc is it best to get?

Many thanks in advance for any replies to my questions.

[blindlemon]

Yep, it sounds like a drive problem.

a) Yes - it takes about 15 minutes to fit a preconfigured drive with no tools other than a screwdriver required.

b) I could recommend myself, but that would be in violation of forum rules ;)

c) Yes, they need to be formatted/configured and if you want to configure the drive yourself then you will need a PC with a spare IDE port, a CDROM drive and a few spare hours.

d) Any size from 40gb to 1TB is currently possible. My most popular drive upgrade is currently 400gb, although many first time upgraders also opt for 160gb which is about the the smallest size it makes sense to fit these days.

Welcome to the forum :)

[AMc]

http://www.tivoheaven.co.uk or http://www.tivocentral.co.uk/ will sell you a drive preconfigured which you can just put in place - you will lose all your thumbs and season passes though.

You can do it yourself if you have a bit of knowhow and some time.
Here is a good a guide http://www.steveconrad.co.uk/tivo/index.html

If you can't get a backup of the existing image then you can ask for one in the special thread in this forum.

[Richard Loxley]

with no tools other than a screwdriver required

I'd just point out that most Tivo's use Torx (star-shaped) screws, so you need a screwdriver with a Torx bit. It's easy enough to buy a set from a DIY shop, but check you've got it first to prevent disappointment!

[RWILTS]

If you are not confident with doing the upgrade INSTRUCTIONS yourself there is HOOCH available which automates the creating of a new disc. You plug your new drive into the ide cable and follow the simple instructions.

I used it about 18 months ago to config a new 250 hard drive...

Same retailer as previously suggested have it:)

[Pete77]

I could recommend myself, but that would be in violation of forum rules ;)

ok

d) Any size from 40gb to 1TB is currently possible. My most popular drive upgrade is currently 400gb, although many first time upgraders also opt for 160gb which is about the the smallest size it makes sense to fit these days.

But who needs forum rules.......;):p

[Davyburns]

If you are not confident with doing the upgrade INSTRUCTIONS yourself there is HOOCH available which automates the creating of a new disc.


Was the INSTRUCTIONS and HOOCH supposed to be links?, if so, theres nothing there

[blindlemon]

ok
But who needs forum rules.......;):pLOL - well, as I can no longer rely on yourself to recommend me now that you've 'defected' to the cheaper competition, I'm having to improvise :p

[Pete77]

Was the INSTRUCTIONS and HOOCH supposed to be links?, if so, theres nothing there

Yes they were and they are on my PC's web browser.

Try cutting them and pasting them in to the browser instead if you can't click on them directly.

[reebs]

Yep, it sounds like a drive problem.

a) Yes - it takes about 15 minutes to fit a preconfigured drive with no tools other than a screwdriver required.

b) I could recommend myself, but that would be in violation of forum rules ;)

c) Yes, they need to be formatted/configured and if you want to configure the drive yourself then you will need a PC with a spare IDE port, a CDROM drive and a few spare hours.

d) Any size from 40gb to 1TB is currently possible. My most popular drive upgrade is currently 400gb, although many first time upgraders also opt for 160gb which is about the the smallest size it makes sense to fit these days.

Welcome to the forum :)

Many thanks for the info, new 160gb drive ordered from one of the many suppliers on the on the net :rolleyes:, guess I do need a new drive as now only get "welcome" screen, "almost there" then "green screen of death", and won't boot up past that, just keeps cycling round.

Should know by Friday if it has cured the unit.

Thanks all again.

[Pete77]

LOL - well, as I can no longer rely on yourself to recommend me now that you've 'defected' to the cheaper competition, I'm having to improvise :p

AMc got there first and like me he recommended both firms.

I think your complaint is you would ideally like only one of the Tivo upgrading firms to be recommended.

If Dave complained like another Tivo upgrading firm always complains if they are not mentioned when Tivo upgrading firms are referred to then I'm sure we might also mention www.tivoland.com

[blindlemon]

AMc got there first and like me he recommended both firms.

I think your complaint is you would ideally like only one of the Tivo upgrading firms to be recommended.

If Dave complained like another Tivo upgrading firm always complains if they are not mentioned when Tivo upgrading firms are referred to then I'm sure we might also mention www.tivoland.comLOL - which 'TiVo upgrading firms' are you talking about Pete? Just to be clear.... :D

I guess one of these days you will get over the fact that I wouldn't let you have a Glo remote at cost :p

[blindlemon]

Many thanks for the info, new 160gb drive ordered from one of the many suppliers on the on the net :rolleyes:, guess I do need a new drive as now only get "welcome" screen, "almost there" then "green screen of death", and won't boot up past that, just keeps cycling round.

Should know by Friday if it has cured the unit.
Actually, you should have it tomorrow as I'm making a special trip to a more distant post office shortly to ensure you get it ASAP ;)

[Pete77]

Actually, you should have it tomorrow as I'm making a special trip to a more distant post office shortly to ensure you get it ASAP ;)

I suppose your local one is one of those that closes on Wednesday afternoons still? I hear in the end the Post Office won't allow that for those sub Post Offices that they allow to remain open. They seem to prefer the idea of closing at lunch time instead, although that also seems to have rather a lot of snags.

Still its nice to know the OP has got some kind of extra service in return for another £20 extra, although I expect that Mike lives only down the road from a main Post Office that would be open until 5.30pm anyway.;)

[blindlemon]

Still its nice to know the OP has got some kind of extra service in return for another £20 extra.Yes he has, as have all my customers over the last nearly 5 years. Have a look at my customer feedback forum (http://www.swanstep.f2s.com/forum$0502/simpleforum.cgi?fid=01) if you don't believe me.

And if you bothered to check you'd see that 'other suppliers' charge extra for next day delivery, which I do not ;)

[Pete77]

And if you bothered to check you'd see that 'other suppliers' charge extra for next day delivery, which I do not ;)

I believe your competitor's price includes normal delivery by 1st class post but not the Special Delivery guaranteed next day service that you use.

Whilst for those who must have guaranteed next day delivery it is clearly worth paying a premium for most people the normal 1 to 2 days that 1st class post usually takes is quite sufficient for their needs.;)

[blindlemon]

Whilst for those who must have guaranteed next day delivery it is clearly worth paying a premium for most people the normal 1 to 2 days that 1st class post usually takes is quite sufficient for their needs.;)If you say so....

[mikerr]

LOL, 1st class generally gets there next day :rolleyes:

FYI I do usually send higher value items like £99 500GB drives (http://www.tivocentral.co.uk/500gb.html) next day delivery (special delivery) for free :up:

If customers only order a single £13 remote (http://www.tivocentral.co.uk/remote.html) then I do send that 1st class recorded

The alternative is to add £10+ to all prices and send everything special delivery - I prefer to give customers the choice and cheaper prices... ;)

Either way the nice people at google give you £5 off in google checkout, so use that and get free next day delivery (£5) for free ...

[blindlemon]

I prefer to give customers the choice and cheaper prices... ;)That's why competition is a healthy thing. Different people have different priorities and in most marketplaces there will be a variety of suppliers catering to those differing priorities.

I have never claimed or tried to be the cheapest supplier of TiVo upgrades, even back in the days when I was selling only on eBay, but it doesn't seem to have harmed my business too much.

What Pete doesn't seem to understand is that not everybody is as obsessed with the headline price as he is and that people have the right to make up their own minds....

[Pete77]

That's why competition is a healthy thing. Different people have different priorities and in most marketplaces there will be a variety of suppliers catering to those differing priorities.

I agree completely with you here.:eek:

I have never claimed or tried to be the cheapest supplier of TiVo upgrades, even back in the days when I was selling only on eBay, but it doesn't seem to have harmed my business too much.

I entirely agree that you have never claimed to be the cheapest supplier of Tivo upgrades.

What Pete doesn't seem to understand is that not everybody is as obsessed with the headline price as he is and that people have the right to make up their own minds....

I have always believed people should be allowed to make up their own minds but in order to do that they need the maximum possible level of information about the various alternatives in the marketplace. But sometimes I feel that rather like Sky one of the most active suppliers in the marketplace would like us to only be aware of their product range.

For instance people might be considering paying £20 for a Hooch download but when they find out they can get a whole 160Gb prepared upgrade drive delivered for only £44 (after Google Checkout discount) they might come to another view.................

Not all parts of the marketplace are always that price sensitive but the bottom end usually is as those with lower incomes have the least money to spend.

I would never recommend anyone to buy a product that was cheap but didn't do the job properly but I don't believe that is true of either of the main current suppliers of Tivo upgrades.

[RichardJH]

Perhaps what is needed on this forum is a sticky topic:-
Petes views and off topic comments:D

[verses]

Could it be titled "SPECIAL THREAD: Pete's views (no discussion)" please?

;) :D

[blindlemon]

For instance people might be considering paying £20 for a Hooch download but when they find out they can get a whole 160Gb prepared upgrade drive delivered for only £44 (after Google Checkout discount) they might come to another view.................They might, but then they can use Hooch for *any* size drive up to 500gb, and they can use it as many times as they like to a configure as many drives as they need.

For somebody willing to spend a little time who needed to configure larger drives for multiple TiVos that would work out a lot cheaper overall, although they would lose out on the sheer convenience (and warranty) of buying a pre-configured drive.

[Pete77]

They might, but then they can use Hooch for *any* size drive up to 500gb, and they can use it as many times as they like to a configure as many drives as they need.

For somebody willing to spend a little time who needed to configure larger drives for multiple TiVos that would work out a lot cheaper overall, although they would lose out on the sheer convenience (and warranty) of buying a pre-configured drive.

But as your own sales figures no doubt show a majority of customers buy only the very smallest pre-configured drive size from you and only make one hard drive purchase from you every two of three years. Hence the theoretical ability to configure numerous other drives with Hooch is just that. That is to say theoretical.

By the way have you considered the possibility that a buyer of Hooch could then set up in business and use the product to start selling pre-configured drives against you as a rival.;)

[andonevris]

You could try to repair the damaged sectors with spinrite

http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

I've repaired many a sick drive with it.....

[blindlemon]

But as your own sales figures no doubt show a majority of customers buy only the very smallest pre-configured drive size from you and only make one hard drive purchase from you every two of three years. LOL - how on earth do you know what my sales figures show? All I'm prepared to reveal is that they certainly don't show that... ;)

By the way have you considered the possibility that a buyer of Hooch could then set up in business and use the product to start selling pre-configured drives against you as a rival.;)Nice of you to suggest it Pete - thanks :)

I have a feeling that the big "TiVo Heaven" splash screen coming up on people's TV's might be a bit of a giveaway though....

[reebs]

Original poster here, I successfully fitted the new drive, and the unit now works perfectly once more :up:

Thought I'd read somewhere that with the 160GB drive, you'd get 1 hour buffer, rather than 30 mins, but I may have got that confused with another size drive.

Also, slight pity about now getting a "different" splash screen on start up, would have liked the machine to have stayed as original in appearence as possible, but I understand why it was done.

Very happy with my purchase and extremely prompt delivery, thanks all for the help. :D

[mikerr]

Thought I'd read somewhere that with the 160GB drive, you'd get 1 hour buffer, rather than 30 mins, but I may have got that confused with another size drive.
Wrong supplier, thats an advertised feature of my drives :D

...though network users can add it - bufferhack

[Pete77]

Wrong supplier, thats an advertised feature of my drives :D

£20 cheaper than another supplier and yet a better featured product it appears. I'm also not clear why any splash screens would have changed when the new drive was installed unless Tivoheaven always install Cachecard drivers on their hard drives, even for those customers who do not have Cachecards and so do not require them.

However the other main Tivo hard drive upgrade supplier assures me that he offers better quality phone support than you on his up to £6.00 per hour 0870 phone number and is also available almost 24 hours per day. He also claims to be more friendly and responsive to customers than his main rival (or at least he does in the various chiding PMs I receive from him from to time to time). I will not use the actual words he used as perhaps he would have thought better of them had he been posting them in the open forum here.

By contrast I am happy to report that Tivocentral have never felt it necessary to send me any PMs laying down the law as to what I should or should not be saying in the forum about their Tivo Upgrade Service or any PMs knocking the credentials of their commercial rivals.

[blindlemon]

(totally unbiased post removed)Seems like I've upset Pete again.... oh well....

[mikerr]

I'm also not clear why any splash screens would have changed when the new drive was installed
The almost there screen has contact/website details on tivoheaven drives,
done for user convenience mainly. So they know where to call.

A good marketing idea, and one I might get around to doing at some point.

Though it could also stop people cloning drives, as someone was reselling mine back on ebay recently ;)

always install Cachecard drivers on their hard drives, even for those customers who do not have Cachecards and so do not require them.

I used to do that - it does no harm and means the owner doesn't have to pull the drive when later adding a cachecard.
But it does mean there's an error screen on startup that people don't like to see... horses for courses

[Pete77]

The almost there screen has contact/website details on tivoheaven drives, done for user convenience mainly. So they know where to call.

Sounds like you have bought one of these drives then. Or someone has bought one on your behalf.;)

A good marketing idea, and one I might get around to doing at some point.

Though it could also stop people cloning drives, as someone was reselling mine back on ebay recently ;)

I will eat my hat the day Tivoheaven praises one of your unique selling features.

In any event it seems like Tivoheaven customers should be given a choice as to whether or not they want Tivoheaven to modify this screen.

[ColinYounger]

OK - I'm bored with Pete baiting The Lemon, and vice-versa. :down:

Can we stop now please - or at least take it to chit-chat? Thanks.

[Pete77]

OK - I'm bored with Pete baiting The Lemon, and vice-versa. :down:

Can we stop now please - or at least take it to chit-chat? Thanks.

The thread is about a frozen drive and where and whom to get a replacement drive from though. So to my mind this discussion is definitely not off topic.

The OP has also expressed disappointment that his replacement drive from Tivoheaven has a startup splash screen that is not the same as he originally had on his Tivo and it is on that point and the reasons for that difference existing that further discussion has then ensued.

If this doesn't interest you Colin then no one is forcing you to read the thread. If the OP expresses dissatisfaction with this aspect of the discussion then I will be certainly be inclined to take more notice.

[warrenrb]

OK - I'm bored with Pete baiting The Lemon, and vice-versa. :down:

Can we stop now please - or at least take it to chit-chat? Thanks.

I've found a very simple solution that I'm surprised more forum users here don't take (see below)... :D

Cuts down the time it takes to read this forum enormously.

http://www.radardesign.com/drop/pete.png

[blindlemon]

The OP has also expressed disappointment that his replacement drive from Tivoheaven has a startup splash screen that is not the same as he originally had on his Tivo ... but he also said he could understand why. In fact 99% of customers don't comment on it and I get quite a few compliments from customers saying they like it! :) So far, if I recall correctly, this is only the second time somebody has commented negatively on it, and in very mild terms at that.

Oh, and for the record, here's a feature of Mike's drives that I am thinking of adding - automatic restore of the var partition if it gets wiped. My drives have had a feature where you can do this via telnet for nearly 2 years now, but Mike has taken it a step further - and kudos to him. I may well add this to my drives if I get time as it's a sensible and worthwhile development.

[Pete77]

My drives have had a feature where you can do this via telnet for nearly 2 years now, but Mike has taken it a step further - and kudos to him. I may well add this to my drives if I get time as it's a sensible and worthwhile development.

blindlemon,

It was big of you to say that and as a potential customer that kind of sensible respect for the opposition is certainly what I like to see. Of course if your commercial opposition are complete cowboys then perhaps it can't be that way but I certainly don't think that is true of either you or Mike.

That is to say that you are rivals for sales and on prices but you are both good at what you do and therefore should respect one another as each striving to provide the best possible deal for your customers.:up:

[mikerr]

I will eat my hat the day Tivoheaven praises one of your unique selling features

Oh, and for the record, here's a feature of Mike's drives that I am thinking of adding - automatic restore of the var partition if it gets wiped.

http://www.fishingmagic.com/news/images/ww80b.jpg

:D

[Pete77]

Fortunately my hat has been especially made out of chocolate and so proved rather tasty;):p

By the way is that picture of the hat eater a self portrait of the proprietor of Tivocentral?

I have to say I'm a little puzzled why this post has come from the Liverpool area and not from deepest Wiltshire. Perhaps Tivocentral and Tivoheaven are like Procter & Gamble and their numerous brands of washing powder and so are in fact just two different brands of an outfit that is ultimately under the same final commercial control.:confused: