No sound on Live TV or last day's recordings

[John Whorfin]

My Series 2 (540) is suddenly not receiving/processing sound on any channel as of sometime after 4 AM, 4/24/09. The Letterman that was recorded 11:35 PM 4/24/09 had no sound, but perfect video. Sound from previously recorded shows works fine, and switching inputs to the TV's tuner also produces sound on all channels (so it looks like I can't blame evil ol' Time Warner cable).

The overall system's sound setup is apparently working fine, as I hear all the sounds when using the TiVo remote to flip between menus, etc., and as mentioned, I get full sound from prior recordings. Reboots and standby/wakes (2 each) have not helped. The coax is the only sound in source, and the video is fine.

So the big question: is this more likely to be a logic board problem (meaning new TiVo required), or could the hard drive (a 320 GB upg.) be failing (meaning just a new drive required)? The evidence seems to point to the former, but am I missing something? Have there been cases of JUST the sound recording/processing circuitry failing - essentially instantly? Replacing the HD is no big deal, but I don't want to go through that if the board itself has failed. HALP!

Thanks.

[mrdbdigital]

Try a hard re-boot. Unplug the power for 5 seconds or so and plug it back in. This fixes a multitude of strange problems with Tivo's. Maybe it will fix yours.

[John Whorfin]

And the winner is... mrdbdigital!

I actually tried this a few minutes after posting, and sure enough sound came back, but I didn't rush to update my post seeing as it was pushing 5 AM.

You'd think as an IT manager, I would have tried pulling the dang'd plug earlier. Lesson learned: even on a TiVo, a warm reboot is not the same as just turning the power off and on.

Thanks for the reply.

[mrdbdigital]

On my Tivos, I don't even waste my time anymore with a warm re-boot. I always just cycle the power, not that I have to do this very often.

Glad I could help!