[teaffns]

Alright....

The motherboard is bad as I swapped a good hard drive in and power supply in. Tried different AV, Composite, and HDMI cables. It still reboots and reboots.

Weaknes says ship it to them and still pay the diagnostic fee. There’s still no guarantee they can fix the motherboard.

What’s everyone else done in this situation?

 

[lhvetinari]

What model, and what's Weaknees' diagnostic charge? Premieres with lifetime are getting cheaper by the day off eBay, it might not be worth the trouble to get it fixed, assuming they can.

 

[teaffns]

TCD746320 is the model and weeknees charges $49 just for diagnostic fee. That doesn’t include the repairs.

I’ve sent them an email and it doesn’t sound like they are capable of repairing the motherboard.

I might ask some of the local computer repair stores and ask them. Otherwise....Ebay might be the best option.

 

[lhvetinari]

TCD746320 is the model and weeknees charges $49 just for diagnostic fee. That doesn't include the repairs.

I've sent them an email and it doesn't sound like they are capable of repairing the motherboard.

I might ask some of the local computer repair stores and ask them. Otherwise....Ebay might be the best option.

Barring some sentimental attachment, I wouldn't bother with the MB repair. The 746320 is probably the cheapest model to find, being the oldest with the smallest drive of all the Premiere configurations.

 

[WVZR1]

OP - Where are you located? If you mention 'location' maybe there's actually a 'solution' right around the corner!

 

[teaffns]

I like this unit as well as the Series 3. Those can do cable and OTA at the same time.

My location is central Arkansas.

 

[WVZR1]

I like this unit as well as the Series 3. Those can do cable and OTA at the same time.

My location is central Arkansas.

I'm not 'right around the corner' so I can't help. I'd be very cautious in originating a purchase as I understand that a Premiere without 'AllIn/Lifetime' can't even be activated any longer. I happen to have the same device w/Lifetime and I added a 1TB HDD to a few months ago, the 1TB wasn't new but functions well. I also have a 2XL 1 TB w/Lifetime that does both OTA & Cable.

How have you actually determined/documented that yours has a bad motherboard? Are you sure you properly did the HDD install? I don't know that mentioning just reboots, reboots actually without further explanation could be considered confirmation.

 

[teaffns]

I'm not 'right around the corner' so I can't help. I'd be very cautious in originating a purchase as I understand that a Premiere without 'AllIn/Lifetime' can't even be activated any longer. I happen to have the same device w/Lifetime and I added a 1TB HDD to a few months ago, the 1TB wasn't new but functions well. I also have a 2XL 1 TB w/Lifetime that does both OTA & Cable.

How have you actually determined/documented that yours has a bad motherboard? Are you sure you properly did the HDD install? I don't know that mentioning just reboots, reboots actually without further explanation could be considered confirmation.

I still have one good TiVo Premiere same as the one that doesn't work. I've swapped hard drives and power supply from the good one. I even used all the HDMI and AV/composite cables connected to the good TiVo.

Process of elimination....leads me to believe the motherboard has an issue. Something else I'm missing?

 

[teaffns]

I removed the motherboard and did a super cleaning. Took lots of Q-tips and a little rubbing alcohol....cleaned every spot on the motherboard. I continued until no dust was visible on Q-tip. Let it sit all night.

Plugged it it this morning....and it came alive. It connected to TiVo fine. It did take a little longer to boot up though.

The motherboard never appeared dusty/dirty till I cleaned it.

 

[WVZR1]

I removed the motherboard and did a super cleaning. Took lots of Q-tips and a little rubbing alcohol....cleaned every spot on the motherboard. I continued until no dust was visible on Q-tip. Let it sit all night.

Plugged it it this morning....and it came alive. It connected to TiVo fine. It did take a little longer to boot up though.

The motherboard never appeared dusty/dirty till I cleaned it.

Is there a 'coin CR2032' battery in your Premier?

 

[keithg1964]

I removed the motherboard and did a super cleaning. Took lots of Q-tips and a little rubbing alcohol....cleaned every spot on the motherboard. I continued until no dust was visible on Q-tip. Let it sit all night.

Plugged it it this morning....and it came alive. It connected to TiVo fine. It did take a little longer to boot up though.

The motherboard never appeared dusty/dirty till I cleaned it.

Removing dust would not fix a no boot situation. It could fix an over heating issue. I am thinking in the process of removing and replacing you fixed a bad connection or you have a bad wire that if get bent would cause an issue.

 

[teaffns]

It does have the coin battery....

Whatever happened during the cleaning process....it works again.

 

[WVZR1]

It does have the coin battery....

Whatever happened during the cleaning process....it works again.

Did you remove the 'coin battery' to do the clean? I'd guess yes and if you didn't replace, I'd think it's 'time to'!!!

To many times it's mentioned that just a 'slap' results in function and now just a clean?

 

[teaffns]

I removed the little battery and cleaned that area....reused the same battery.

Don’t know what really changed other than a good cleaning.

 

[Rowan]

I had the same problem, I have a total of 3 premiers, the one should start but never show the "almost there" but would instead reboot and repeat. I have replaces working power supplies (tested voltage and it was all good), replaced the hard drive and got a fresh image with no luck.

I did exactly as you stated, took everything apart cleaned it up really good with rubbing alcohol put is all back together and it is now working again. I know that some dust can conduct electricity so that must have been it.

Thanks for posting this information.

 

[Joseph Feng]

I removed the little battery and cleaned that area....reused the same battery.

I would replace the battery on general principle. Batteries are cheap, so even at minimum wage, your time is more valuable, and the original battery is probably about 10 years old.

 

[keithmaclroz]

Thanks for the info in the thread!

 

[Rohambekaj]

I've never had to deal with a bad motherboard before, but I can understand why you wouldn't want to ship it off and pay a diagnostic fee without any guarantee of a fix. Have you considered looking into a replacement motherboard instead? I found this article on the top 3 best motherboards for Ryzen 7 5800x that might be worth checking out: https://finalratings.com/top-3-best-motherboards-for-ryzen-7-5800x-which-one-is-right-fоr-you/. Of course, a replacement motherboard would be an added expense, but it might be a more reliable solution than trying to fix a bad one. Plus, you could potentially upgrade to a better motherboard that would improve your system's performance.