My Weaknees Tivo Died!!

[coleren1]

I bought a 120 hour tivo from Weaknees in September of 2004. It's used lightly and mostly just to store special programs. Well on Jan 2 my husband tried to turn it on and it was a "paused" screen. We couldn't un-pause it so we powered it down and started it up again. We kept getting to the message "Almost there just a few more minutes..." We left it on all night and those minutes never past. I tried disconnecting everything again in the morning and had the same message. I called Directv and because I have the "protection plan" they are sending me a new Hughes. I told the rep that I got it from Weaknees and that it had a 120 hour hard drive on it and that I didn't think Directv sells ones with 120 hours and she said that I will get the same as I had and that it goes according to the model number. Well the model is for a "Hughes 40 hour" so I don't believe that they'll be sending anything more than that! She did promise me that Directv would make me happy and if I wasn't happy to just let them know. I also have to send my souped-up Tivo to Directv. I told them that I didn't purchase it from them but they said they need it back or I'll be charged. I had to sign up for two more years of Directv through Weaknees when I activated this Tivo and I don't see how Directv is going to replace it with a "like" system. I then called Weaknees and they said I should purchase a 120 hour hard drive from them and replace it when the new Tivo arrives. They said it's over the warranty time so too bad for me. We barely used this thing compared to our other 20 hour tivo which is a workhorse! Has anyone had this happen to them? Does anyone know if Directv will honor the 120 hard drive that was in my Tivo? Are there other places besides Weaknees to modify the systems? If I modify it, they won't replace it. There's a sticker on the back of my 20 hour that said warranty will be void if I remove it. What do I do???

[mick66]

My opinion - Just replace the hard drive in the so called dead Tivo.

[funtoupgrade]

So much for those "wonderful" Weeknees Maxtor hard drives with the worst warranty in the business!

[atmuscarella]

The weaknees warranty maybe up however the maxtor warranty may not be (some maxtor drives have 3 yr. warranties others 1 year). If you are willing to open your box up you can check it at:

https://www4.maxtor.com/en/support/service/rma/create/

This is a quote from the weaknees warranty page:

"Many of our newly-installed TiVo hard drives come with a full manufacturer's warranty, which is generally one to three years. Some of our drive kits use OEM drives which have our six-month warranty only. If your drive fails after our six month warranty, but before the manufacturer's warranty (if existent) is over, we will help you exchange the drive quickly for a service charge.*"

Kind of sucks that weaknees doesn't warranty their imaging of the drives for as long as the manufacture warranty.

In regards to not using your Direct TiVo much - it is being used continually because of the 30 min buffer so as long as its on, its recording to the hard drive.

atmuscarella

[coleren1]

Well Directv sent me a refurbished dvr r10 and the remote doesn't work. Also the line 1 is not working and a technician will be here Saturday. I'm now wondering if the fact that the line 1 is dead, could be contributing to the fact that the tivo was dead. Could my Tivo still be alive, just in need of a line 1??? We didn't find that out until we were setting up the new refurbished one. I wonder...