2 week old Humax 300 hr CRASHING!

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I am pretty Tivo new as we got our first 40 hr unit at Christmas. It was bought from Best Buy and we have had no problems. But we bought a 300 hr Series 2 unit straight from Tivo first week of January. We've been using it just over 2 weeks now and it has begun crashing.

Last weekend I was away and my wife said it just stopped showing channels and the last few recordings that it did had no data. A power off and back on solved that problem.

However, yesterday evening I tried to watch TV with it and it crashed. It was in the middle of recording something and when I tried to go to Tivo Central the unit began making this intermittent high-pitched squealing noise and the response to remote commands was stuttery like it was locking up. It eventually went back to "Powering Up" screen. I turned of power for a few seconds to reboot it and it worked fine for the next 1.5 hours while I was watching recorded shows.

Today, basically the same thing. I turned on TV and the Tivo was recording something it chose to record. As soon as I went to Tivo Central I began hearing high-pitched squealing noise... not sure if it's coming straight from the HD or what. After less than a minute of on and off squealing and jerky display it went to "Powering Up" screen. I left it on its own long enough to see if it was actually going to reboot, but it didn't- just stayed on that screen. I powered it off for 20 seconds and back on and it rebooted.

I'm about to call Tivo and tell them to replace it but was wondering if anyone else has had these problems with a new unit, particularly this latest 300 hr model?

 

Thanks for reply. As mentioned in other post, temp has been normal. And the location is sitting on an open shelf with several inches of clearance between back of unit and wall so I don't think that is it.

 

More info:

This evening when I got home I did these things:

1- turned on TV to find Tivo on NBC recording Surface
2- Went to Tivo Central and then to System Info to check internal temp- it was 38C
3- Went back to "Now Playing"- Tivo initially showed the list but as I was scrolling through the list it began "freezing" (the screen) and the unit was making the squealing noises and now was also making a clicking noise (one click or clunk every second or 2).
4- After maybe 10 seconds of the above behavior the unit began to reboot.
5- unit made it to "a few minutes more" screen but was still clicking and then rebooted again.
6- I pulled power from unit and waited 15 seconds or so then plugged back in.
7- Unit never got past "Powering Up"
8- I cycled power and am currently in the process of attempting to reboot again while on hold with Humax on phone

I'm thinking this has to be a failing HD, based on my experience with computers and HD's. Thoughts?

 

I finally got through to Humax. They initially asked things like "is the unit sitting near, on top of, or under any other pieces of electronic equipment". Yes. Well, she says that the unit is very sensitive and needs to be on a shelf by itself. And she suggests powering the unit off for several minutes then turn it back on (incidentilly the unit did finally boot up and seems to be acting normal, which is inline with what it has been doing- work fine once it finally gets working again). I mentioned that my OTHER Tivo unit has been doing just fine in this location until I swapped them last night. Is it a Humax she asks??? Well, no.

I reluctantly said OK, but said that these things still don't directly explain the loud and strange noises I've been hearing. She immediately offered that if I preffered they could send me a replacement now. However......... the repacement would be a refurb unit and they would put a $699 hold on a credit card until they received my faulty one back.

I decided to call Tivo directly and tell them I want either a replacement (new) or I will be returning the unit for a refund. I'm on hold now.

 

Well, Tivo customer support has been very nice. They do not have a new 300 hour Humax that they can give me so they are just going to do a full refund on my faulty 300 hour unit and then I can get a replacement in whatever method I choose. I'm thinking buy a used 40 hour Series 2 and put my nearly new WD 200GIG HD from my computer in it I don't need nearly that much space on my CPU but my Tivo........... now that's another story!