Tivo HD Reboot Problem (2nd bad unit in 2 weeks)

[Detonate]

Ok, so I bought 2 Tivo's. One Tivo HD XL for the Living Room and a Tivo HD for the bedroom.

The Tivo XL has been chugging along quite nicely. The one in the bedroom is a different story.

After about 3 days, I turned on the TV to see a "Welcome Powering Up" screen. After about a minute the screen would flash and right back tot the "Welcome Powering Up" screen.

I called Customer Service, and they pretty much immediatley suggested a replacement unit. So I did that.

Well, after about 3 days with the new unit, the same thing started happening.

This is when I decided to seek my own answers on the internet. I removed the drive and replaced it with a 750g Segate Drive flashed with InstantCake. The unit fired right up. But it still seems that I'm getting lots of random reboots, and eventually I'll end up in a reboot loop of some sort.

I've tried every kickstart code I can think of, and I'm definitely going to send this unit back for a replacement, but I'm worried about getting a 3rd unit with the same problem. Because if it's not the harddrive, then what could else could possibly be the issue? Or where should I even begin to troubleshoot this issue.

I really don't want to tell CS this afternoon when I call in that I already replaced the drive myself and it's still busted.

Could it be a problem with the CableCard? The CableCard, Ethernet Cable, and Power cable are the only constants between the units. And I've actually taken the unit to my living room and hooked it up where my Tivo XL lives and it still doesn't work.... :confused:

[mikeb213]

It could be a problem with your signal stregth. Go to a hi def channel, begin recording. Go to Tivo central>messages and settings>account and system info>dvr diagnostics. Check your signal strength, and your SNR, and RS corrected and RS Uncorrected. If you have any number other then 0 for RS Corrected and RS Uncorrected you have a signal problem. Check with your provider.

[routerspecialist]

Ok, so I bought 2 Tivo's. One Tivo HD XL for the Living Room and a Tivo HD for the bedroom.

The Tivo XL has been chugging along quite nicely. The one in the bedroom is a different story.

After about 3 days, I turned on the TV to see a "Welcome Powering Up" screen. After about a minute the screen would flash and right back tot the "Welcome Powering Up" screen.

I called Customer Service, and they pretty much immediatley suggested a replacement unit. So I did that.

Well, after about 3 days with the new unit, the same thing started happening.

This is when I decided to seek my own answers on the internet. I removed the drive and replaced it with a 750g Segate Drive flashed with InstantCake. The unit fired right up. But it still seems that I'm getting lots of random reboots, and eventually I'll end up in a reboot loop of some sort.

I've tried every kickstart code I can think of, and I'm definitely going to send this unit back for a replacement, but I'm worried about getting a 3rd unit with the same problem. Because if it's not the harddrive, then what could else could possibly be the issue? Or where should I even begin to troubleshoot this issue.

I really don't want to tell CS this afternoon when I call in that I already replaced the drive myself and it's still busted.

Could it be a problem with the CableCard? The CableCard, Ethernet Cable, and Power cable are the only constants between the units. And I've actually taken the unit to my living room and hooked it up where my Tivo XL lives and it still doesn't work.... :confused:


Tivo HD's reboot all the time. Not all of them, but some have a definite problem. I have two TivoHDs. One reboots whenever I view downloaded video (CNET or Tekzilla will do it). The other doesn't. On the one I've had trouble with, I've replaced both the hard drive and the cable card. I believe it's a bios issue with the Tivo HD motherboard, but Tivo's not talking, and it appears no one on this board wants to deal with the reality that some Tivo HDs have this reboot problem. I've found no one on this board who will admit to this issue (they all want to blame the cable card, or the hard disk - oh god, how they love to blame the hard disk...). Tivo won't cop to it either. And yes, I went through all the kickstart stuff, per some folks here, and replaced the disk, then replaced the cable card. Nothing changed - it still rebooted. Sorry that I have no answers for you, but at least you know you're not alone with this problem.

What did I do about it? I just decided to live with it, and view downloaded video on my other Tivo HD.

[hjonez]

My 18 month old TiVo HD is now freezing and rebooting on pretty much every recorded program within the first 10 minutes, some of which have been previously viewed all the way through in the past. I've spent maybe 4 hours (mostly waiting for the stupid thing to boot) trying to skip past crashie parts of programs but at this point it's pretty much impossible to watch anything at all.

I figured I would try a full wipe/reset but I thought I'd ask:

Is this even worth it? Has anyone tried this with success?

If it doesn't work I guess I'll try to put a new drive in and divorce the expander... I've seen a thread on this board where people think it's the expander. Or cable cards.

TiVo HD
WD MyBook 500GB eSATA Expander
2 Motorola/Comcast cable cards.

Any experiences or advice welcome. Thanks,

-HJ

[solutionsetc]

I bought two new TiVO HD's last month. One is fine, and the other rebooted no less than six times in the first 10 days. TiVo offered a replacement, but only a refurb.

I was less than enthused to get a refurb for a new machine that seemed to have problems out of the box. I had Amazon replace it and no issues with the replacement.

Just my experience, but I have had less than great experiences with refurbs of several different CE devices, which is why I avoid them these days.

To the OP... you may come to regret replacing the hard drive as that could conceivably void your warranty. I hope that is not the case, but I think TiVo will be aware of the replacement even if you put the old drive back in.

[hjonez]

I checked mikeb213's suggestion and my signal strength is around 45-50 and definitely some "corrections". I guess I'll call Comcast and see what they might say about it.

solutionsect: do you have cable cards or DVR expansion drives? I'm just curious. It's really unfortunate that so many of these TiVo HDs are bad :(

[solutionsetc]

solutionsect: do you have cable cards or DVR expansion drives? I'm just curious. It's really unfortunate that so many of these TiVo HDs are bad :(

No expansion** but do have cable cards. I even went so far as to swap the cable cards between the two units but the reboot issue remained with the same unit.

** The TiVo approved WD hard drives seem to have way too many issues for me to put one on my shopping list. I know there are folks with them that have had no issues, but still way too many bad reports for me to climb on board. I also noticed way too many reported problems with the WD "My Book" externals as well (which seem to be similar hardware).

For now, if I run low on storage I just transfer shows to my media server. When my warranties are up or my internal drives fail (whichever occurs first), I'll install bigger internal drives.

[Detonate]

Well, I finally gave up trying to fix it myself and sent it back today. Should have a new one in the next day or two, since Tivo ships them about 20 miles from my house.

I guess I'll give it one more shot, and if this one starts rebooting all the time, then I'll just get a refund.

I suppose it's a good thing it's the unit I ordered direct from Tivo giving me the problems, and not the one I bought off of eBay. :(

[solutionsetc]

I suppose it's a good thing it's the unit I ordered direct from Tivo giving me the problems, and not the one I bought off of eBay. :(

I rarely buy new on eBay, but there are many other retailers such as Best Buy and Amazon that would have replaced your unit within the first 30 days.

[Detonate]

The one I bought off of eBay was a used one. That's why I'm glad it's not the one acting up. No warranty at all.