my tivo died

[pilotdru]

I have a TCD540040 and my hard drive died the other day.
Did the Kickstart Smart Drive test and it failed. Put the drive in a computer and did a backup of the drive with MFSLive and got a lot of errors but said it completed succesfully. I restored that image to a "new" 80GB drive and it won't boot, it gets to the "Just a few minutes more" then reboots. Tried to put the original drive back and it can't get past "Powering Up" (I think it is totally dead now cause when I boot from MFSlive with it back in my desktop it gives lots of errors trying to mount that drive)

My questions are:
Is there a way to fix that image file if it is corrupt by forcing a software reinstall?

I found a TCD540080 on craigslist for $30, Can I just pull that drive and put it in my TCD540040? Will this keep my Lifetime Sub?

Also my friend says he has an old copy of instantcake that he could reimage the drive with but its Tivo software version 5.x I think. Will this older software version work or will I need the newer version. Will it update the software on boot.

Thanks

[richsadams]

Sorry to hear about your hard drive. If it were me I wouldn't waste any more time on the OEM drive. As you said, it's dead. RIP.

I also wouldn't buy a used machine. The image may or may not work (probably won't) and you'll have a pretty useless second machine.

Your friend's IC has to be specific to your TiVo model or it won't work.

Lifetime service is tied to the motherboard so you're best bet is to simply buy a new hard drive (preferably larger than the original) and a new copy of Instant Cake (http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/instantcake.cfm)
(instant download):

http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/instantcake.cfm

Image the new drive, pop it into your TiVo and you'll be back in business.

BTW, IC will come with an older OS image, but TiVo will automatically upgrade to the latest version within 48 hours or so.

[HomeUser]

My questions are:
Is there a way to fix that image file if it is corrupt by forcing a software reinstall?

Maybe, if you can get the DVR to boot that far... the data would still be suspect much better to start with a known good image. You do not want to have weird problems later when the corrupt data is accessed.

I found a TCD540080 on craigslist for $30, Can I just pull that drive and put it in my TCD540040? Will this keep my Lifetime Sub? Yes you could use the 80G drive in your TiVo you would have to do a Clear and Delete everything to register the drive in your TiVo. The Lifetime is tied to something on the TiVO's main board, the life time will remain with your TiVo. The drive is probably about the same age as your bad drive better to invest the $30 into a new (even larger) drive.


Also my friend says he has an old copy of instantcake that he could reimage the drive with but its Tivo software version 5.x I think. Will this older software version work or will I need the newer version. Will it update the software on boot.
If the Instant Cake is four your model (TCD540xxx) it will work.

Your drive is bad. Unless you run extensive diagnostics on the drive I strongly suggest you use a new drive. Your model takes an EIDE (PATA) drive 40G or larger a 160G drive can be found for under $50. You can get a pre-loaded 160G drop-in drive from Replacement Drive Kits for the TiVo TCD540040 (http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/category.cfm?Category_ID=2&Product_ID=0&ModelID=45&type=Model&page=cat&CFID=1310213&CFTOKEN=39868163) for $70 to $100.

[pilotdru]

Thanks guys.

I will try and find out if my friends version of InstantCake is for the TCD540 series. And go that route if it works.

If it all works I was planning on getting a new drive but I do have an old 80 GB drive laying around that I want to try first to make sure everything else works well before I spend money on an IDE drive of such "small" capacity.

[HomeUser]

That noise dampened DVR optimized pre-loaded 160G drive from DVR-Upgrade looks like a good deal to me. It comes with a SATA to IDE.

[pilotdru]

If I can find a backup image for the TCD540 online would those work. Is that something that can be hacked with spy ware or something?

Basically I want to make sure everything works without putting money into it because if I spend $100 to put a new drive in then it may just be worth getting a Tivo HD.

[HomeUser]

Because of the boot checks it would be very difficult to modify an image altho not impossible. There are a couple of image begging threads here you could try one of those if you can not find one then the least expensive way would be purchase and download Instant Cake for $20.

[pilotdru]

HomeUser thanks for your help. I talked to my friend and he said he is pretty sure its the same model but isn't positive since he has upgraded and doesn't have his old one anymore. I'll let you know how it goes.

On a side note, I noticed your from A2. I grew up there, over buy Glacier Hill Retirement Home.