Audio & Video Stuttering

[JDNick]

I’ve been experiencing audio & video stuttering with my TivoHD lately and it has been getting worse. It happens only while watching live TV and only then when watching certain HD channels. It never happens when watching a recorded program. After doing some searching it appears that the most likely cause is a failing hard drive, although I still think it may be caused by my cable signal too. I still have the original drive in the TivoHD and added the My DVR Expander over a year ago. As I understand it, if I were to replace the drive in my unit I would then also lose the My DVR Expander as well. Could someone confirm that for me?

Also, I wanted to run the KickStart tests to confirm that it is one or both of the drives, but I haven’t been able to find good documentation on how to do this. There seems to be many options with different numbers but I can’t find which one I should specifically run. Could someone please point me in the right direction or post detailed instructions here. I would very much appreciate it.

[richsadams]

Sorry to hear about your troubles with your TiVo HD. The symptoms you listed are often caused by something happening with the external drive. The biggest issue has been the eSATA cable. The first thing to do is to ensure that the eSATA cable is securely attached to both TiVo and the external drive. The connections have to be snug, not loose. Swapping the cable connections sometimes resolves the problem. If that's okay your next step is to test the drives.

You could try running TiVo's built-in drive diagnostics called Kickstarts. KS57 and KS58 might be able to make some repairs. KS54 will test both drives and return an error code if it determines there's a problem with either one. The downside is that it often gives a false positive, showing both drives as having passed the test without finding that there actually is a problem. Information on Kickstarts can be found here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5643823#post5643823

If both drives pass you have a couple of options. The first thing to do would be to replace the SATA cable. The recommended SIIG Serial ATA external cable is less than $10.

http://www.provantage.com/siig-cb-sa0111-s1~7SISE00F.htm

If that doesn't resolve it the next step is to disconnect the drive from TiVo and see if TiVo returns to normal. If so, you'll probably want to contact WD for a replacement drive. Of note is the fact that TiVo recognizes eSATA drives by the exact hard drive model number. Quite a few recent reports have indicated that the WD My DVR Expanders are failing because something is going south in the enclosure, not with the actual hard drive itself. Several folks have had success by removing the hard drive from the enclosure and installing it in a new one (such as the recommended Antec MX-1). Once re-connected life is good again. Something to keep in mind.

Unfortunately if you do disconnect and divorce your eSATA drive you will lose all of the recordings made since the dive was installed. If you want to save any recordings you can use TiVo Desktop or one of the other transfer programs to move non-copy protected recordings to your computer.

If you decide to remove the eSATA drive, be sure to follow the proper divorce procedure:

http://www.tivo.com/mytivo/howto/getconnected/howto_add_recording_capacity.html

If removing the eSATA drive doesn't resolve the issues that would indicate that the internal drive has a problem and needs replacing. Time to call TiVo or if it's past the warranty period you can replace the hard drive yourself.

Hope that helps. More information about troubleshooting, how to fix things and replacing your hard drive can be found on the Drive Expansion and Drive Upgrade FAQ (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5616160#post5616160) sticky thread:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5616160#post5616160

If you still have questions, please feel free to post on that thread for more advice.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes.

[JDNick]

Thanks Rich.

The KickStarts info is exactly what I was looking for.

I did buy the better SATA cable shortly after buying the expander because of the poor connector on the original cable. I guess I could try swapping back with the old cable and see if that helps.

I did come across those two threads about the expanders failing and mine is in month 13 which seems to be the magic number.

I'll run the tests, but since both the Tivo and expander are out of warranty I think the easiest thing to do would be to buy a new 1 Tb drive and put it in the unit.

Thanks again.

[richsadams]

I think the easiest thing to do would be to buy a new 1 Tb drive and put it in the unit.Glad to help and upgrading the internal hard drive is what most folks do now. The DIY method is pretty easy and doesn't take much time. The Drive Expansion and Drive Upgrade FAQ (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5616160#post5616160) has all of the info (Section V, #18a or #18b).