Video problems after upgrade

dbsanders · 06-14-2005, 03:12 PM

Just upgraded my 240040 to a Maxtor 160GB. I used the Weaknees LBA large disk boot CD and everything seemed to go fine.

My problem now is that live TV seems to be ok, but watching recordings or even skipping back during live TV is not. Video freezes and gets "blocky" every 10 seconds or so. I tried setting the drive to quiet and performance mode, and it made no difference (except for the seek noise).

Is this a bad drive? It is a new Maxtor.

Rcrew · 06-14-2005, 03:38 PM

Tough call. It was my understanding that you're never, ever watching a 'live' feed. So what you see while watching 'live TV' is still the recorded image from disk.

But I'm not an engineer and can't really appreciate the potential for signal path differences between watching a recording in progress, a completed recording, or a trick play, IE: slow motion/rewind.

However, you may have really answered your own question. At the very basic level of diagnosing a problem, what changed most recently.

If your system was working fine before the upgrade, and not it's not, it's probably the upgrade. Can you re-install the original drive and verify it's back to no problems?

dbsanders · 06-14-2005, 04:00 PM

Thanks for the input. The old drive does work fine, and I'm sure the problem has something to do with the upgrade. Just wondered if this symptom pointed to any obvious screw up in my upgrade procedure, or if it sounds more like hardware.

I'm running diagnostics on the new drive now - we'll see what it says.

Dkerr24 · 06-14-2005, 04:38 PM

Check your jumper settings on the new Maxtor drive and make sure it's set to "Master". Setting it for "CS - (Cable Select)" may be the problem.

dbsanders · 06-14-2005, 05:31 PM

I thought that was going to be the answer. It was in CS mode. I moved the jumber to master, re-installed the drive, booted, and same problem.

The Maxtor diagnostics finally finished its complete test and found nothing wrong. Also checked to see if 'write verify' was turned on (I read that it is enabled for 10 power cycles when new), and it is not.

synch22 · 06-14-2005, 06:00 PM

i did a maxtor as well on sunday so far so good its a bit loud.. but i guess thats the 7200 rpm, other than that i am pleased so far..i just wish i didnt wait 1.5 years to upgrade my 40hr.

dbsanders · 06-14-2005, 08:53 PM

I used the exact same procedure with a new Seagate 160GB and it works great. I don't understand what the exact problem was, but it was something with that drive I guess.

wscannell · 06-14-2005, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dkerr24

Check your jumper settings on the new Maxtor drive and make sure it's set to "Master". Setting it for "CS - (Cable Select)" may be the problem.

All the series 2 TiVos that I have encountered have the drives set to cable select.

dbsanders · 06-18-2005, 12:25 PM

Strange indeed. I exchanged the Maxtor 160 with a brand new one, and got the exact same result. Choppy video, etc.

wscannell · 06-18-2005, 10:45 PM

I have used a Maxtor DiamondMax 10 160 GB PATA 133 (6B160P0040211) 160GB drive without any problems in a 24080.

dbsanders · 06-18-2005, 11:13 PM

Found an extra Western Digital 200GB disk, and it works fine as well. Really don't know what the deal is with my Maxtors.

sbhorns · 06-19-2005, 08:26 AM

Hi replaced a the noisy HD in my Hughes DirecTV Tivo with a Maxtor 120gb 7200 RPM (ultra series), and have the exact same problem. The original HD replay is good, but the new drives replay is very choppy, lots of pauses, slow down, then speed up of video/audio, and pixilation in the video.

c3 · 06-20-2005, 04:12 AM

Bought two Maxtor DiamondMax 10 160GB drives from Office Depot last week. Both failed the "Installation Confirmation SMART test" but passed the "Basic Quick Test". Video problems when they were installed in the TiVo. I have used many DiamondMax 10 drives, including the two in my 540SA2 TiVos. This is the first time I have encountered this problem. My bet is on recent firmware/hardware changes.

kdawg · 06-22-2005, 03:09 PM

I purchased a pair of the same Maxtor drives for my Sony SVR-2000 Series 1. The video is extremely choppy. I also tried to backup my image to a single 160 and still choppy. To be sure I had a clean backup I restored to a spare 40GB Quantum that worked flawlessly. Specifically the drives are Maxtor DiamodMax 10s, model number 6B160PO.

Anyone else have a fix or suggestion?

c3 · 06-23-2005, 03:43 AM

I think this is the first systematic TiVo-incompatible drive I have encountered. BTW, did your drives pass the "installation confirmation" test?

kdawg · 06-23-2005, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by c3

I think this is the first systematic TiVo-incompatible drive I have encountered. BTW, did your drives pass the "installation confirmation" test?

By "installation confirmation" test I assume you mean the Maxtor MaxBlast v4.1 utility diagnostics. The drives passed the "SMART" test, the quick and long tests and the even longer "burn in test" which Maxtor claims is the utility they use to determine their drives functionality. So basically they both passed all tests. Not that it matters I also did a low-level format which I know really shouldn't matter but it couldn't hurt.

Out of desperation and hoping to salvage these hard drives into good use I am considering Instant Cake. Does anyone think this utility will work? Has anyone tried it? If not I may have to make a RAID out of the pair and stick them in my computer.

falc122727 · 06-26-2005, 12:27 AM

Loaded 2 120G Maxtor DiamondMax drives in a S1SA and got the stuttering. I was baffled and tried everything, until I read this thread. Looks like there's definitely something incompatible with the Maxtor DiamondMax and Tivo. I returned the Maxtors and got 2 WDs at Best Buy (great deal $39 after rebate) and they work perfectly, with not a hint of stuttering. Another thing I noticed is my internal temp is 3 deg cooler with the WDs vs the Maxtors.

Thanks for all who posted to this thread!!!

Ronin · 06-27-2005, 07:30 PM

Has similar issues with three DiamondMax 10 160s in three seperate DVR40's. All three went throught PowerMax 4.21 full erase and full read w/o error before being used.

Video would play, but would just pause, then keep playing.

Replaced with Seagate 160s, and no more pausing issues.

When I replace the maxtors with the seagates, I noticed that the seagates use about .4A on the 12V rail, but the maxtors used about 1.25A on the 12V. The old maxtor diamondmax 9 used about .7A on the 12V.

I haven't researched it any more than that, but I think the diamondmax 10 just requires too much power to run in a tivo.

sonofsnood · 06-27-2005, 10:44 PM

had the same problem when I put my 7200 rpm Maxtor 160 gb in my Humax T800, pixelation, freezing, slow response when I rewind/fast forward...

then after using it for about 2 weeks, the number of times it errored slowly decreased so now other than making loud whirring noises when ff/rw, it's pretty much ok now

c3 · 06-27-2005, 11:03 PM

Hmmm, that's interesting. Maxtor used to ship drives with write verification turned on for the first 10 power cycles. Maybe they're doing something similar to that function.

Ronin · 06-28-2005, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by c3

Hmmm, that's interesting. Maxtor used to ship drives with write verification turned on for the first 10 power cycles. Maybe they're doing something similar to that function.

Good point. I did actually turn Write Verify off after the tests and before I used it in the TiVo.

Also set Accoustic Management to Quite originally. Set it back to Performance, and the pauses were reduced, but they were still there.

kdawg · 06-28-2005, 08:59 AM

I thought the Maxtor setup was getting better over time also but I wasn't sure if it was my imagination and didn't want to be without my Tivo long enough to leave them in. Perhaps I'll look more into the write verification thing. I still think they may work....or hoping they'll work.

So my question is how do I turn off the verification? And for that matter any other functions that may be running.

I guess this would is a lessen in rebate tactics. I was too quick in mailing in the rebates now I can't return them.

Or perhaps I'll just return the Maxtors and go to BestBuy and pick up the Westerns. called OfficeDepot and they said they would give me a refund minus the rebates.

kdawg · 06-29-2005, 11:23 AM

Yup, broke down and bought the Westers Digitals. They work like a charm.

Dkerr24 · 06-29-2005, 01:23 PM

Thanks for the heads up... I'm going to stay away from the Maxtors for Tivo use.

sonofsnood · 06-29-2005, 08:22 PM

yeah, I'm starting to think maxtor's suck for Tivo use, my last Tivo series one was upgraded with WD's and I never had any problems, my pc has 2 WD caviars and no problems

when I opened up my Humax, I saw the 80gb Maxtor and thought, well, if I put another maxtor in there, it wouldn't hurt...

lutefisk · 07-03-2005, 01:05 AM

Just to chime in:
I just upgraded my tivo with a L01R300. That's a Diamodmax10 300GB with 16MB cache. It's a bit of overkill for a tivo, but I thought I had gotten a pretty good deal on it.

Anyway, there is a bit of stuttering during live tv. Sometime it goes away when watching with a few seconds of delay (using the 7 sec back button), sometimes it doesn't. TiVo is watchable though.

I'm formating the drive and taking it back ASAP though.

The original Maxtor was a diamondmax plus 8. On the drive it says +12V 790mA, +5V 647mA.

The new drive is rated at +12V 1520 mA, +5V 740 mA.
I wonder if the extra power draw is too much for the cheap power supply in the tivo.

formulaben · 07-03-2005, 10:26 PM

I have the same Maxtor problem. Will try to swap drives and see if there are any improvements.

MMMQ74 · 07-10-2005, 12:58 PM

Ready to pull my 200GB Maxtor from my Series 2. I see that I have 2 options:

1. Pull the 200GB Maxtor - replace with 120GB Seagate that I have in a portable USB case.

2. Pull the 200GB Maxtor - replace with 40GB that came with the Tivo and add 120GB Seagate.

Anybody have any thoughts about running dual drives? Any extra HW needed to pull the 2 drive install off?

Thanks much!

Silver 96 Z28 · 07-12-2005, 08:03 PM

This is not a post a wanted to see.

I upgraded my TIVO to a 200GB Maxtor drive just the other day and I am having the same problem. I was hoping it was something in the way I upgraded, but I guess not.

Silver 96 Z28 · 07-17-2005, 02:07 PM

Anyone been able to figure out a solution for the Maxtor drives? Or is the only solution to switch to a Western Digital or Seagate drive?