Help - Series 2 Tivo issue - Sad

maddog2827 · 10-25-2009, 02:44 PM

I have a Tivo Series 2 540080 with lifetime subscription. About a month ago the picture froze so we restarted the Tivo. When it restarted the sound is fine but the picture is constantly jumping - like scrambling the picture in black and white. Reading a lot online here is what I have done so far:

1. Changed cables and TV's - no change in condition
2. Bought a used working Tivo (same model), confirmed it worked with external cables (thumbs up), and swapped the used hard drive into my lifetime subscription tivo - no change in condition still jumping screen
3. Changed internal video and hard drive cables on my lifetime subscription tivo - no change in condition still jumping screen
4. Changed power drive into my lifetime subscription tivo - no change in condition still jumping screen.

Now what? Have I just isolated that the CPU has an issue? Can I send this anywhere for repair to a trusted source? I understand if I call Tivo they will charge $199 fee to move my lifetime sub to a like unit they must supply.

Sad day - please help.

gastrof · 10-25-2009, 08:23 PM

I'm curious. Please describe the swapping of the hard drive to test the LIFETIME machine with a different drive.

Tell us exactly what steps you took in swapping the drives.

shwru980r · 10-25-2009, 08:43 PM

You can buy a used single tuner TIVO with lifetime service on EBAY for about $100. It doesn't make sense to go to all this trouble over a Series 2 TIVO.

warrenn · 10-25-2009, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gastrof

I'm curious. Please describe the swapping of the hard drive to test the LIFETIME machine with a different drive.

Tell us exactly what steps you took in swapping the drives.

The lifetime subscription is bound to the serial number on the motherboard of the unit. You can swap hard drives no problem. The lifetime flag will stay with the Tivo unit.

maddog2827 · 10-25-2009, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gastrof

I'm curious. Please describe the swapping of the hard drive to test the LIFETIME machine with a different drive.

Tell us exactly what steps you took in swapping the drives.

I opened my lifetime subscription Tivo (aka Tivo A). Disconnected the hard drive and replaced it with the hard drive from the used Tivo I bought (aka Tivo B). Tivo A still did not work thus confirming (to me) the hard drive is not the issue.

Do I really have no other recourse to fix it than to go on ebay and find one working with lifetime subscription? Any of these DVR upgrade places actually repair them. All help/advice appreciated.

classicsat · 10-27-2009, 08:48 AM

Find somebody with experience pulling and soldering small surface mount ICs, and get them to move the crypto chip (Atmel chip with "SC" in its model number) from the Lifetime unit to the other.

NJ_HB · 10-27-2009, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maddog2827

I opened my lifetime subscription Tivo (aka Tivo A). Disconnected the hard drive and replaced it with the hard drive from the used Tivo I bought (aka Tivo B). Tivo A still did not work thus confirming (to me) the hard drive is not the issue.

Do I really have no other recourse to fix it than to go on ebay and find one working with lifetime subscription? Any of these DVR upgrade places actually repair them. All help/advice appreciated.

http://www.tivoblog.com/

have Weaknees repair it.

gastrof · 10-27-2009, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by warrenn

The lifetime subscription is bound to the serial number on the motherboard of the unit. You can swap hard drives no problem. The lifetime flag will stay with the Tivo unit.

I said nothing about the drive being involved with the LIFETIME status.

You're not the OP and you're not answering the question I asked...

And it was asked for a reason.

gastrof · 10-27-2009, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maddog2827

I opened my lifetime subscription Tivo (aka Tivo A). Disconnected the hard drive and replaced it with the hard drive from the used Tivo I bought (aka Tivo B). Tivo A still did not work thus confirming (to me) the hard drive is not the issue...

What was on the drive you put into the machine? Anything?

Did you do a "clear and delete everything" first?

I don't believe you can just move a drive from one TiVo to another, even if they're the same model.

Steps have to be taken with the drive first.

tivoupgrade · 10-28-2009, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maddog2827

I opened my lifetime subscription Tivo (aka Tivo A). Disconnected the hard drive and replaced it with the hard drive from the used Tivo I bought (aka Tivo B). Tivo A still did not work thus confirming (to me) the hard drive is not the issue.

A couple of problems with this logic...

1) as Gastrof pointed out, taking a TiVo from unit B and putting it in unit A, does have some prerequisites. If TiVo B and TiVo A were EXACTLY the same kind of unit, then the drive should be expected to work in TiVo A; you would need to do a "clear and delete everything" for things to work properly, however. it sounds like TiVo A didn't boot up, and unless you can confirm that TiVo B is the exact kind of TiVo, and that there is nothing wrong with that one, then you've really not established anything

2) You may have established that there is still a problem with TiVo A, but you haven't proved that there is nothing wrong with the drive. ie, there could be something wrong with both the unit and the drive

Quote:

Do I really have no other recourse to fix it than to go on ebay and find one working with lifetime subscription? Any of these DVR upgrade places actually repair them. All help/advice appreciated.

Yes, we do repair units. But, what you might want to do is try to narrow down the source of the problem. See the link below for some troubleshooting advice - I'd run diags on the drives to see if there is anything wrong with either or both of them. Then consider a DIY approach to possibly fixing the problem if it looks to be just a hard drive problem. Beyond that, a repair might be your best option - Ebay is typically not a good way to solve the problem as it involves a good amount of risk and there are quite a few less than forthright people out there who will sell you broken stuff (as you may have already experienced).

gastrof · 10-29-2009, 12:17 AM

If the drive was simply moved from one TiVo to the other, even if they're the same model, YOU CAN'T JUST MOVE THE DRIVE AND EXPECT THINGS TO WORK.

If the "clear and delete" wasn't done, we still shouldn't expect the machine to work. The drive from the other machine hasn't been made ready for the original machine.