Tivo HD locking up, already switched out HD. What next and what are my options?

[brettatk]

My Tivo HD has been locking up about once a day. I replaced the hard drive last night and everything was fine. Watched and recorded a show or two. Tonight came home to find it locked up again. There is no response at all from the Tivo. The only thing I can do is pull the plug and watch it boot up fine. I thought for sure it was the hard drive. What else can I check?

Even if I hadn't upgraded it, it is far beyond it's one year warranty. What are my options in getting it fixed? I wouldn't care as much if I didnt have a lifetime sub on it. Thanks for any help you can offer.

[bkdtv]

Do you use an antenna, basic/analog cable, or cable with CableCards?

Can you clarify "locking up?" Do you mean that your TiVo crashes and reboots and/or does not respond to the TiVo button? Or do you mean that you lose the picture and get a gray screen on analog channels?

[brettatk]

Do you use an antenna, basic/analog cable, or cable with CableCards?

Can you clarify "locking up?" Do you mean that your TiVo crashes and reboots and/or does not respond to the TiVo button? Or do you mean that you lose the picture and get a gray screen on analog channels?

I have cable with CableCards.

When I say "locking up", I mean when I come home and turn on the Tivo I get nothing on the screen (it's just blue, but I think that's because my TV or reciever is no longer detecting a signal on that input). The Tivo HD lights are on but it does not respond. If you press a button on the remote you would normally see the yellow/orange light come on the front, but now nothing happens. The only thing left to do is unplug it. It never fails to boot up fine. It's never locked up or rebooted while I'm watching it which is usually somewhere between 7:00 - 12:00 at night. I've swapped out HDMI cables and inputs but it still does it. Ever hear of this problem before? I've done some searching but have not come up with anything.

[bkdtv]

I assume you have the TivoHD and not the older TiVo Series3 model.

What drive replacement did you use?

What software version does your TiVo have? Sometimes a software update doesn't reinitialize correctly (for lack of a better term) and you have to reboot the TiVo once or twice before it returns to normal operation. I mention that because TiVo is rolling out the 11.0d software to all TiVos this week.

I would set your TiVo to fixed 720p or 1080i and try component for a few days to see if the problem continues. That would rule out any potential HDMI sync issues.

[brettatk]

Yes, it's a Tivo HD.

I had a Western Digital 1TB WD10EACS and replaced it with a 1TB WD10EADS. I just checked and I have software version 11.0d. I think it just downloaded last night. When I first booted up with the new drive (which I transferred all settings and recordings to) I saw something about it installing a new software update. This problem has been going back almost a month though.

I already have it on 1080i fixed, perhaps I'll dig out a component cable and try that to see if the problem continues. Guess I can also force some restarts in the meantime.

If the problem continues, what are my options? Does Tivo still offer to swap the unit out for a refurb for a fee even if it's not under warranty? And if I did get another Tivo HD, could I just put in the existing hard drive or would I have to go through the WinMFS process again with the refurb units hard drive in which I guess I'd lose all setting and recordings and would have to have my CableCards paired again.

[Zugig]

bkdtv, I have the Series3 and am having the same problem. The machine constantly cycles through the Welcome and Almost read screen, then shows the THX screen and finally goes to the Now Playing list, where it freezes up entirely. It doesn't respond to the remote, nor to the buttons on the front of the device. It doesn't stay up long enough for me to check the software version, unless there is a way I don't know. The problem started within the last week, so a software d/l may have caused it if one occurred. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[brettatk]

I dont know if it will do any good, but I just went in and deleted everything in my Recently Deleted folder (190 shows). I do transfer a lot of shows between my PC to my Tivo so maybe one was corrupted or something. Wish there was an easier way to do that then one by one.

Do you think doing a complete erase might benefit me? I don't have too many recordings and could transfer them to my PC and afterwards transfer back. Might be a pain setting up all my SP's again, but if it might solve my problem I'd do it.

[HomeUser]

Test the old drive with the drives manufactures diagnostics I suspect that there may be corrupted data and that got copied to the new drive.

One of the Kickstart codes (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5643823#post5643823) may help try 54 and 57

If there is a "toxic" data then Clear And Delete Everything may help clear that up if not you may need completely a new image.

other thoughts

Over heating, check the fan and vent holes.

Bad Cable Card, try running without the cable card warning removing the cards may require a phone call or truck roll for the cable company to re-assign the cards.

[brettatk]

Will doing the Kickstart codes notify me and attempt to fix it if there is "toxic" data? Or will I have to do a clear and delete everything to get rid of it. It's really going to suck getting Charter to try an repair the cablecards. Maybe since two year's ago they are more familiar with them now.

[HomeUser]

KS-54 runs drive diagnostics ends with pass or fail for each tests run. Requires user intervention to re-start the DVR.

Running KS-57 forces the TiVo into thinking that there is a problem and starts running the MFS data checks I do not think that there is any notification if something is found, Hopefully the kickstart will fix it.

Suggest you run the 54 first running the file checks on a bad drive may make the problem worse.

[HomeUser]

I am not sure about removing the cable cards on my original S3 I have removed the cards ran the DVR for 24hrs then re-inserted them into the same slots without any problem. I have the basic digital package without any of the premium channels which may make a difference.

[brettatk]

Ok, thanks. I'll try the kickstarts tonight.

[brettatk]

Another question. I dug out my Original Tivo HD hard drive. Right now I'm hooking it up to see if the problem still happens. If it does not what exactly is the procedure I would follow with the new HD I used with WinMFS the other day? Do I need to reformat that drive or can I just run WinMFS again?

[brettatk]

Well now I'm not sure what's going on. I took my original Tivo HD hard drive and backed it up using WinMFS. I then shut down and connected the new 1TB drive and used WinMFS to restore the backup to the new drive. I hooked it up to my Tivo HD and had to go through Guided Setup. Everytime it gets to the "Getting Program Info" screen it gets stuck on "Preparing". I've searched on this problem and everything says bad hard drive. I really doubt that since it's a brand new drive.

Right now I'm trying to get the original drive working and if I succeed I'll try to use WinMFS to copy that drive to the new one. If that doesnt work then I guess I'll be calling Tivo to see what my options are. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

[brettatk]

Hooked the original drive back up and decided to do a Clear and Delete Everything on it. That may have been a bad idea since it's taking a long time. If this fails I think I'm going to purchase Instantcake so I know I have a good image. Then I'll try the new drive again and if that doesn't work guess I'll have to purchase another one. Everything I've read says I'm going to be screwed out of my lifetime sub if I get Tivo to swap it out for a refurb since it's not under warranty. If that is not correct I'd love to hear it. So I'm going to do whatever I can to get this working before calling Tivo customer support.

[HomeUser]

is that the original 160G drive?

What was the results of the Kickstarts?

You should check both drives with the Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic (http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?modelno=WD10EADS&x=4&y=13) lets eliminate the drives as a source of the problem.

Before giving up try it after removing the Cable Card(s) a bad card / toxic channel can cause reboots and other problems also.

[CrispyCritter]

Clear and Delete everything can take 10 hours. I agree InstantCake is a reasonable option if the C&DE doesn't work.

Under no circumstances will you totally lose your lifetime subscription if you pay TiVo $149 to swap the hardware. The worst case is you'll have to pay $199 for transferring lifetime. The best case (if you paid $399 for lifetime on this unit within the last 3 years) will be a free transfer of lifetime - you'll just have to pay for the hardware swap.

[brettatk]

Clear and Delete everything can take 10 hours. I agree InstantCake is a reasonable option if the C&DE doesn't work.


It finished Clear and Delete and successfully went through Guided Setup. I'm now waiting for it to load all my Guide information which can take awhile. After it's done I'm going to take the drive out again and put both it and the new one back in my PC and try WinMFS again. I figure if it works then I shouldn't have to go through Guided Setup on the new drive.

Now that I think about it I might just leave the original drive in there to see if it still locks up as I described above. I'm leaving to go out of town tomorrow so if it's still working on Sunday when I return that will be good news. If it isn't working then I think I can pretty much rule out it being a hard drive issue and it might be time to call Tivo Support.


Under no circumstances will you totally lose your lifetime subscription if you pay TiVo $149 to swap the hardware. The worst case is you'll have to pay $199 for transferring lifetime. The best case (if you paid $399 for lifetime on this unit within the last 3 years) will be a free transfer of lifetime - you'll just have to pay for the hardware swap.

Great! That's good news as a last resort. Thanks for your input.

Edit: I just looked and I bought this Tivo HD on 12/5/2007 and did pay $399 for my lifetime sub. So if you are right then worse case I'll just be out the $159. I think i can live with that if I had too to get a working Tivo.

[brettatk]

Good news. I got home this afternoon and my Tivo HD has been up and running since Friday morning. I'm guessing the older 1TB drive had some corrupted data on it and when I did a Mfscopy it copied the corrupt data over to the new 1TB drive. I'm now taking the original Tivo drive and doing another Mfscopy to the new 1TB drive. From what I've read this will reformat the drive and everything should be fine with the world again. At least this is a downtime for tivo recording and it didnt happen during sweeps. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

[brettatk]

Came home last night and Tivo was not working again. I'm 100% convinced it is not a hard drive issue. Reading some other threads I feel this is because of a software update but do not know how to find out for sure. Anyone else having this problem? If I get home tonight to a non working Tivo I was thinking about doing a Kickstart 52 to try and reinstall the software. If that doesnt work I guess I'll call Tivo and have it swapped out. I just have to get this taken care of before the new season of shows start rolling out.

[dumbdiety]

I woke up this morning and wasn't getting video or audio (but could browse the menus and everything just fine). So I re-started the TiVo and now it won't get past the first screen. I says starting up for about 2 minutes then resets. I've tried the kickstart codes, but the system isn't responding to them. Anyone have any ideas?

[brettatk]

Friday evening I performed in order a Kickstart 52, 57, and 58 on my Tivo HD. Since then I have not had any problems with my Tivo but I'm still holding my breath. I still think it will repeat it's behavior sooner or later. When/if it does, I'm just going to call Tivo up and see about swapping it out for the $149.00.

[agentfive]

When you do the 52 do the cable cards and other options like season passes stay intact? I'm having the exact same issues as you are.

[brettatk]

I'm not really sure. I called Tivo last night as it did it again when I got home from work yesterday. They had me go into the cablecard menu and look at some things. They told me it looks like my cablecards are paired but are not validated. Under the Conditional Access Screen I get something like validate: Unknown 00. I thought since I was receiving all the channels everything was fine. But apparently when I did a Clear and Delete Everything when I swapped out the hard drive it must have wiped out my cablecard settings. Now the Host and/or Data ID have changed and does not match the headend (Charter). Called Charter but they couldn't do anything and said I needed to call back during disbatch hours or schedule a truck roll out. Not sure when I'm going to be home during those hours but I guess I'm going to get the cablecards validated and see if my problem continues. If I do have to have a tech come out I'm going to request he bring an M-Card to replace the two S-cards.