can't delete programs and have a "stuck" recording

[Barry Friedman]

I have a Series 3 HD with a WD 750GB external drive. Has been working well that way since before it was officially supported.

Since 3-4 days ago, I have been unable to delete programs. When I click "delete" or "clear", the X appears as it usually does, but then nothing happens, and the show is still there. Next time I look at my shows, the X is gone and the show is there as it would normall be. Perhaps coincidental with that, for the first time our Tivo is nearing capacity (only shows 3 recently deleted shows, and we have suggestions turned off). Not sure if that is somehow related, but guessing not. Also, there is one show that is stuck in "recording mode" in that the red dot is next to the show even though it was recorded 5 days ago. That show is viewable, but also not deletable. I'm guessing this is related to the problem - maybe the disk is locked up waiting for that show to release it, or something like that.

But the approaching other problem is, now new shows may not get recorded since it will be out of space shortly. I tried kickstart 57 two days ago, and it took 36 hours, but eventually started over ok - but still the same problem persists - can't delete any programs... any ideas? Thanks in advance from a Tivo loyalist. Have two other Tivos, dating back to 2002, love them.

Help...!

[jrm01]

Did you try the Kickstart 54 (used for expander drives)?

Instructions here:

http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/308/c/123%2C129/r_id/100041

[Barry Friedman]

Thanks - I will try that tonight. Hopefully the diagnostics still work even though my external drive was set up prior to it becoming a supported Tivo feature.

[jrm01]

Good luck. I used this procedure on my original S3 (with unsupported 1tb WD Expander) four months ago and it identified a problem with the internal hard drive.

Fortunately my 3-year old S3 was covered by BB 4 year service plan, so I returned it and got the new HD XL and a $200 store credit for the price difference.

[Barry Friedman]

OK, so I ran kickstart 54, and voila - got "Fail 7" for the primary drive for Short, Conveyance, and Extended test. I'm assuming that means my primary drive is dying. Other than for "Initial State" (which both primary and secondary passed), it says "NoSupport" for the secondary drive for the other categories. Guess that's because my external drive was set up prior to it being a supported feature.

Thoughts/suggestions? Assuming I need a new internal drive, what are the various options, and are there any easy ways to transfer shows off of it, so that I can put them back on it once I have the new drive. Guessing Tivo Desktop? I seem to be able to watch most shows (just can't delete), so maybe I'll have luck with that.

Any suggestions / thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

[mattack]

I had a program stuck in the recently deleted folder. All the rest of the RD and suggestions had gone away, so I suspected it was one of these 'stuck' programs (rather than being one that HAPPENED to survive for many days).. Tried deleting it manually and it wouldn't delete. After rebooting, then it would delete.

(Darn, I suspect I lost some recordings in the meantime if it really needed that space..)

[Barry Friedman]

Rebooting has not helped. Now that I see that Kickstart 54 shows the internal drive is failing, I'm probably in a foot race to get my "important" shows off the drive before it becomes inoperable (day by day, it is becoming more symptomatic). Tivo Desktop can do the trick, but is extremely slow considering the 500GB of stuff I'd ideally like to copy now and then replace later onto a new unit.

Any suggestions? Connecting a linux machine directly, etc?

Also with regards to calling Tivo, are internal drives warrantied?

Thanks in advance!