Just Installed New Power Supply on Series2...

[sw10025]

and I'm wondering what should be happening because I'm not sure what actually is happening is good. In fact, I'm quite sure what is happening is bad indeed.

Here's what's happened thus far. Started having problems with this unit a couple of months ago, so I installed a new HD (purchased from DVR_Dude) about six weeks ago. The new unit worked fine for a couple of weeks, then I noticed it was getting a S03 error and wasn't downloading the programming data correctly. So I tried rebooting the machine. Problem is, it failed to reboot properly. Went from blue screen to grey screen to Tivo orange and then back to grey, and just kept doing the reboot loop like that. Never came up.

Checked for bad caps as unitron suggested, couldn't find any symptom of that. Was worried the HD had failed. (The second new HD on the other Series2 started getting the same S03 error although its still booting up, for the moment anyway). Went ahead and ordered brand new power supply from weaknees on the assumption that couldn't hurt. Installed it just now.

Tivo went from grey screen to orange Tivo screen and got as far as telling me I had a new message, then before I could do anything, the message screen disappeared and the Tivo started the booting cycle all over again. It gets as far as the message screen telling me I only have 3 days of programming data left, then it spontaneously reboots. This now suggests to me that the HD is faulty, has been damaged, something, because I've now replaced just about everything in the Tivo except the motherboard.

I've unplugged it temporarily and will try again in a few minutes, but anyone have any sage advice or wisdom to impart? I think I'm pretty much screwed on this and going to have to send it in for repair now...

[sw10025]

Update: damn, its the HD. I uninstalled the "new" HD and re-installed the old one that had been having problems -- but hadn't failed completely yet -- and the Tivo booted up properly. I've contacted the seller.

With the other unit that is still working, but won't download the programming info properly, one of the repair places I contacted suggested that I "clear program information and To Do List" and see if that resolved the problem, so I've gone ahead and done that, its downloaded 65% of the data, so I'm hoping that at least one of the two units will remain working (crosses fingers).

About the dead HD, is there anything I personally can do to try to recover all the programming I had on it? Would I be able to plug it into an external drive and possibly access the recordings through Tivo desktop or some other way?

[lillevig]

Originally Posted by sw10025

Update: damn, its the HD. I uninstalled the "new" HD and re-installed the old one that had been having problems -- but hadn't failed completely yet -- and the Tivo booted up properly. I've contacted the seller.

With the other unit that is still working, but won't download the programming info properly, one of the repair places I contacted suggested that I "clear program information and To Do List" and see if that resolved the problem, so I've gone ahead and done that, its downloaded 65% of the data, so I'm hoping that at least one of the two units will remain working (crosses fingers).

About the dead HD, is there anything I personally can do to try to recover all the programming I had on it? Would I be able to plug it into an external drive and possibly access the recordings through Tivo desktop or some other way?

The only way I know to get programs off of the HD is to transfer them while the drive is in the Tivo. Having said that, I read where others here have recommended that you try to do something like dd_rescue to copy the bad drive to a new one. Maybe Unitron will chime in here since he is knowledgable on this subject.

[sw10025]

Just a bit of a bump hoping Unitron will see and share his wisdom, once again. ;D

[shwru980r]

I think you've spent more on parts than the S2 is worth. You can find used S2s with lifetime service for $100 easily.

[sw10025]

Originally Posted by shwru980r

I think you've spent more on parts than the S2 is worth. You can find used S2s with lifetime service for $100 easily.

The bulk of what was spent was to upgrade to 1TB HDs for both of my Tivos, after ten good years from each unit where the only money I ever spent was to replace the fan in one unit. I've never had that kind of value out of any other TV related piece of electronics I've ever owned. (In fact, the only devices I've ever owned that lasted that long or longer were a KitchenAid stand mixer, my food processor and a cheap rice cooker. Go figure.)

Other than that, I spent about $70 some odd dollars total. I did check out what it would cost me to buy new, with lifetime, and it was prohibitively expensive, but didn't bother to check used prices. At least with my own units, I know exactly how old they are, the service record, how well they've been taken care of over the years, that they haven't been dropped, spilled on, that they work, that they weren't "lemons" from the start, etc.

Maybe the units aren't worth that much on the open market, but they ARE worth that to ME.

[unitron]

Now that you've got one known good supply, you could try putting it in the other machine (they're both the same model, some sort of 240, right?) and seeing if it makes any difference in how it acts. Either way we'll learn something.

As for using dd_rescue, that, unfortunately, requires another drive of the same or greater capacity, and right now is of course a terrible time to be buying one, but if you can spare the shekels for what might work but no guarantees, let me know and I'll try to walk you through it.

How much shipping did you have to pay on that power supply?

[sw10025]

Originally Posted by unitron

Now that you've got one known good supply, you could try putting it in the other machine (they're both the same model, some sort of 240, right?) and seeing if it makes any difference in how it acts. Either way we'll learn something.

As for using dd_rescue, that, unfortunately, requires another drive of the same or greater capacity, and right now is of course a terrible time to be buying one, but if you can spare the shekels for what might work but no guarantees, let me know and I'll try to walk you through it.

How much shipping did you have to pay on that power supply?

I ran a clear of the programming data and season passes on the second machine, as one of the Tivo repair places suggested, and that resolved the S03 errors (so far). Its connected and finished downloading the programming data several times since then, so hopefully, that issue has been resolved. Since its currently working, its not making any loud noises at the present, and I'm trying to get all its content downloaded to Tivo desktop before (my luck) something else happens, I think I'll leave it alone for the present. They didn't charge me any shipping for the power supply, that was included.

I actually have a 1 TB Hitatchi HD that I had purchased a while back for my PC (its a SATA Hitachi HD31000 if that makes a difference) but that I haven't even taken out of the box yet, much less used, would that work? (The Tivo drive is a PATA, as you pointed out previously). I also have a dual external drive (it has two slots) if that's of any use.

[unitron]

Originally Posted by sw10025

I ran a clear of the programming data and season passes on the second machine, as one of the Tivo repair places suggested, and that resolved the S03 errors (so far). Its connected and finished downloading the programming data several times since then, so hopefully, that issue has been resolved. Since its currently working, its not making any loud noises at the present, and I'm trying to get all its content downloaded to Tivo desktop before (my luck) something else happens, I think I'll leave it alone for the present. They didn't charge me any shipping for the power supply, that was included.

I actually have a 1 TB Hitatchi HD that I had purchased a while back for my PC (its a SATA Hitachi HD31000 if that makes a difference) but that I haven't even taken out of the box yet, much less used, would that work? (The Tivo drive is a PATA, as you pointed out previously). I also have a dual external drive (it has two slots) if that's of any use.

I'll post later today or tonight after some sleep.

In the meantime, read the adapter thread.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...d.php?t=416883

[unitron]

Since you're sort of spread out over different threads, I've consolidated you.

Meet me at

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...d.php?t=480978