naltrexone
11-20-2008, 01:56 PM
Okay, I've got an odd one here-- hopefully someone else has some insight to help me navigate this one.
The very short version:
After swapping in a replacement hard drive to my Series 1, it gets to 18% on loading program guide data from the daily call, spontaneously reboots, and comes back up with no Tivo Service ID and Status 7 (Never Activated) rather than 5 (Lifetime Subscription). If I then do a Clear & Delete Everything, after its initial call-in it claims that there are no cable providers in my zip code (clearly not right) and kicks me back to the test call again. I've got both a backup of the original drive (via WinMFS) and the original drive itself, so I've got quite a few options, but there's other odd wrinkles.
The background:
This is a 30GB Series 1 Tivo with a Lifetime Subscription to which I had (years ago) added a TurboNet card and an 80GB B-drive.
What I did:
The original A-Drive (30GB) had gotten unnervingly loud recently, so I:
Performed a Clear Everything to make the backup smaller
Popped out the A-Drive and used WinMFS to divorce it from the added 80GB B-drive.
Popped out the B-Drive and put the A-Drive back in to be sure the divorce took. It GSOD'd 3 or 4 times then finally came back up acting fine. However, I didn't try dialing in for guide data.
Popped the drive back out and used WinMFS to perform a backup.
Restored the backup to the 80GB former B-drive
Popped the 80GB drive back in the Tivo and fired it up. Looked fine.
Kicked off the daily call-- it gets to 18% and spontaneously reboots. No GSOD, comes back up superficially okay. But the System Info screen says that the Tivo Service ID is "Unavailable" and the status is "7: Never Set Up" as opposed to the more expected "5: Lifetime Subscription".
After that, it dials in fine, but downloads for far too short a time and then tells me that I can't really get program data until I activate the Tivo.
I assume the restore was wonky and drop the original drive back into the Tivo-- I tell it to do the daily call and it does exactly the same thing as the restored B-drive.
I try a Clear and Delete All on the 80GB drive and when it comes back up it dials in for the setup call, claims it downloads data, then says there are no cable service providers in my zip code and sends me back to try the call again, endlessly.
If I restore the backup to the drive again, I can do manual recordings and the system behaves fine and claims to have a lifetime subscription until the daily call comes along-- then always reboots at the 18% mark and reverts to the same bad state.
I called the Tivo support folks and they confirmed that when it dials in after the restore it shows up as the proper unit and is recognized as having a lifetime subscription. They can't spot it by that ID when it dials in after the spontaneous reboot.
Suggestions?
The always-rebooting at 18% and then going corrupt smacks of bad sectors, maybe-- but it happens on both drives. So whatever the problem is, it's portable. Not sure how to fix this one...
Thanks for any insights!
The very short version:
After swapping in a replacement hard drive to my Series 1, it gets to 18% on loading program guide data from the daily call, spontaneously reboots, and comes back up with no Tivo Service ID and Status 7 (Never Activated) rather than 5 (Lifetime Subscription). If I then do a Clear & Delete Everything, after its initial call-in it claims that there are no cable providers in my zip code (clearly not right) and kicks me back to the test call again. I've got both a backup of the original drive (via WinMFS) and the original drive itself, so I've got quite a few options, but there's other odd wrinkles.
The background:
This is a 30GB Series 1 Tivo with a Lifetime Subscription to which I had (years ago) added a TurboNet card and an 80GB B-drive.
What I did:
The original A-Drive (30GB) had gotten unnervingly loud recently, so I:
Performed a Clear Everything to make the backup smaller
Popped out the A-Drive and used WinMFS to divorce it from the added 80GB B-drive.
Popped out the B-Drive and put the A-Drive back in to be sure the divorce took. It GSOD'd 3 or 4 times then finally came back up acting fine. However, I didn't try dialing in for guide data.
Popped the drive back out and used WinMFS to perform a backup.
Restored the backup to the 80GB former B-drive
Popped the 80GB drive back in the Tivo and fired it up. Looked fine.
Kicked off the daily call-- it gets to 18% and spontaneously reboots. No GSOD, comes back up superficially okay. But the System Info screen says that the Tivo Service ID is "Unavailable" and the status is "7: Never Set Up" as opposed to the more expected "5: Lifetime Subscription".
After that, it dials in fine, but downloads for far too short a time and then tells me that I can't really get program data until I activate the Tivo.
I assume the restore was wonky and drop the original drive back into the Tivo-- I tell it to do the daily call and it does exactly the same thing as the restored B-drive.
I try a Clear and Delete All on the 80GB drive and when it comes back up it dials in for the setup call, claims it downloads data, then says there are no cable service providers in my zip code and sends me back to try the call again, endlessly.
If I restore the backup to the drive again, I can do manual recordings and the system behaves fine and claims to have a lifetime subscription until the daily call comes along-- then always reboots at the 18% mark and reverts to the same bad state.
I called the Tivo support folks and they confirmed that when it dials in after the restore it shows up as the proper unit and is recognized as having a lifetime subscription. They can't spot it by that ID when it dials in after the spontaneous reboot.
Suggestions?
The always-rebooting at 18% and then going corrupt smacks of bad sectors, maybe-- but it happens on both drives. So whatever the problem is, it's portable. Not sure how to fix this one...
Thanks for any insights!