HR10-250 constantly rebooting?

1291 Views 11 Replies 6 Participants Last post by awaldo, Oct 19, 2007

jrl007

Discussion Starter · Oct 7, 2007

I know there's a lot of threads with a lot of information about the DVR's rebooting, but I'm trying to narrow down what the problem is. We've had our Tivo since December 2004 and there's never been a problem with it.

The first sign I had was that the time code (sel-play-sel-9-sel) kept coming up missing, 3 or 4 days ago, and today it rebooted at least 5 times. Some of the threads seem to indicate that it's a problem with the software, we have version 6.2a. I tried about 10 times today to get it to call out and see if there's an update and even though I tried 3 or 4 different numbers it wouldn't connect to any of them, although it seems to be able to call out and get the list of numbers just fine.

Other threads seem to indicate that, at least with a system this old, the hard drive is probably going. I'm tending to lean toward that theory. My main concern is that it'll probably be a week or so before I could scrounge up enough for the new drive, and with it rebooting constantly like this I wonder if there could be any damage to the rest of the unit if it goes completely before it's replaced.

Opinions are definitely appreciated, thanks to any and all who reply.

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Dkerr24

· #2 · Oct 7, 2007

Most likely, it is the hard drive going out. 2 things to do while you shop for a replacement drive:

1) Open the case and use compressed air to blow out the dust - if the problem is heat related, this will definitely help.

2) Connect the AC cord to a UPS battery backup device - this is a good idea to protect the unit from any AC power outages. I have them frequently at my house, many are only a 1 second or so outage, but that is enough to cause my DTivo's to reboot.

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jrl007

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 7, 2007

Dkerr24 said:
Most likely, it is the hard drive going out. 2 things to do while you shop for a replacement drive:

1) Open the case and use compressed air to blow out the dust - if the problem is heat related, this will definitely help.

2) Connect the AC cord to a UPS battery backup device - this is a good idea to protect the unit from any AC power outages. I have them frequently at my house, many are only a 1 second or so outage, but that is enough to cause my DTivo's to reboot.

Thanks for the tips, I don't know about the ups, it would probably cost more than the hard drive would so I'll shop for that down the road. I'll blow the case out today, and I should have the new drive within a week or so.

Thanks for the reply, appreciate it!

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Dkerr24

· #4 · Oct 7, 2007

jrl007 said:
Thanks for the tips, I don't know about the ups, it would probably cost more than the hard drive would so I'll shop for that down the road. I'll blow the case out today, and I should have the new drive within a week or so.

Thanks for the reply, appreciate it!

UPS devices come in all price ranges. You can even pick them up at discount stores like Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. Think I paid $40 for each of mine.

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jrl007

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 10, 2007

Dkerr24 said:
UPS devices come in all price ranges. You can even pick them up at discount stores like Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. Think I paid $40 for each of mine.

Well the wife approved me for $100 to fix the tivo, $70 w/ express shipping for a Seagate DB35 160BG drive+$19.99 for Instantcake I brought it in just under the wire. Finished the upgrade about an hour ago and it WAS cake. I'll try for the UPS in another week or two.

Thanks again for the replies, the info, and the assistance.

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Rich584

· #6 · Oct 10, 2007

jrl007 said:
I know there's a lot of threads with a lot of information about the DVR's rebooting, but I'm trying to narrow down what the problem is. We've had our Tivo since December 2004 and there's never been a problem with it.

The first sign I had was that the time code (sel-play-sel-9-sel) kept coming up missing, 3 or 4 days ago, and today it rebooted at least 5 times. Some of the threads seem to indicate that it's a problem with the software, we have version 6.2a. I tried about 10 times today to get it to call out and see if there's an update and even though I tried 3 or 4 different numbers it wouldn't connect to any of them, although it seems to be able to call out and get the list of numbers just fine.

Other threads seem to indicate that, at least with a system this old, the hard drive is probably going. I'm tending to lean toward that theory. My main concern is that it'll probably be a week or so before I could scrounge up enough for the new drive, and with it rebooting constantly like this I wonder if there could be any damage to the rest of the unit if it goes completely before it's replaced.

Opinions are definitely appreciated, thanks to any and all who reply.

I have 6 SD TiVos on two different dishes and have software version 6.3e and they reboot at least once a day. This is also same new version for the HD TiVo

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Rich584

· #7 · Oct 10, 2007

jrl007 said:
Well the wife approved me for $100 to fix the tivo, $70 w/ express shipping for a Seagate DB35 160BG drive+$19.99 for Instantcake I brought it in just under the wire. Finished the upgrade about an hour ago and it WAS cake. I'll try for the UPS in another week or two.

Thanks again for the replies, the info, and the assistance.

Two weeks ago, I got sick of the rebooting and took a Samsung 4040 out of the box and activated it for the first time. Have had it for a couple of years, never used it. Checked the software version and it was 3.1... The unit NEVER rebooted until three days ago when it downloaded 6.3e and is now rebooting just like the other ones. I have spent over $400 on multiswitches, hard drives, etc. Paid $30 to have one HD checked out by the company I purchased it from. They found nothing wrong with it and are sending it back.

Try this if you can live with it: Disconnect the satellite feeds and watch your recorded programs for 3 hours. The unit will not reboot. Then hook up the satellite feeds and watch 3 more hours of recorded programs. It will reboot. The problem has to be the software. Check it out, the unit will not reboot if the sat feeds are disconnected. And it is not a power failure and blowing out the dust will not cure the problem, nor will a UPS.

TiVo has to be aware of this. D* is "hearing some issues". Since the software is the same on SD and HD TiVos, is it surprising that the same problem occurs?

Don't waste a lot of money, the only thing I can see is waiting for a new software version.

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Mark W

· #8 · Oct 10, 2007

Well, in his case, whether it's the 6.3 software or the hard drive, he has it covered. He is getting a new hard drive, and the instant cake software that he bought should have the 6.2 software on it. So as long as he doesn't plug in the phone line, his new drive won't get updated to 6.3.

It's the dilema we are all in, do you live with the constant re-boots and wait for a software update, or do you spend your money to go back to 6.2, if you have the technical ability to do that. We have no idea how long it will be before we get a fix.

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Dkerr24

· #9 · Oct 10, 2007

Mark W said:
Well, in his case, whether it's the 6.3 software or the hard drive, he has it covered. He is getting a new hard drive, and the instant cake software that he bought should have the 6.2 software on it. So as long as he doesn't plug in the phone line, his new drive won't get updated to 6.3.

It's the dilema we are all in, do you live with the constant re-boots and wait for a software update, or do you spend your money to go back to 6.2, if you have the technical ability to do that. We have no idea how long it will be before we get a fix.

Very sound advice, Mark. If you still have ver 6.2, DO NOT plug in the phone line and let it put 6.3 on your DTivo. The daily nag screens are better than constant reboots, and if you installed the zipper like I did, you don't have to even see the daily nag screens.

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chuckg

· #10 · Oct 11, 2007

Dkerr24 said:
Very sound advice, Mark. If you still have ver 6.2, DO NOT plug in the phone line and let it put 6.3 on your DTivo. The daily nag screens are better than constant reboots, and if you installed the zipper like I did, you don't have to even see the daily nag screens.

Roughly three weeks back on 6.2a and not one single solitary problem! Nada! Unlike 6.3e which was frequent restarts etc.

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jrl007

Discussion Starter · #11 · Oct 12, 2007

Mark W said:
Well, in his case, whether it's the 6.3 software or the hard drive, he has it covered. He is getting a new hard drive, and the instant cake software that he bought should have the 6.2 software on it. So as long as he doesn't plug in the phone line, his new drive won't get updated to 6.3.

It's the dilema we are all in, do you live with the constant re-boots and wait for a software update, or do you spend your money to go back to 6.2, if you have the technical ability to do that. We have no idea how long it will be before we get a fix.

2 days w/o a reboot. Time and date are still displayed (that's how we could tell it was rebooting overnight). We're still at 6.2a thanks to instantcake and we never plug in a phone line, in fact the old drive still had 6.2 on it so that's why we were pretty sure it was the drive causing the reboots.

Must be the software. I'm not plugging in a phone line until I see here that a fix has been applied AND there's something worthwhile upgraded. From what I've read about the upcoming changes they don't seem to be enough for me to consider upgrading anyway.

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awaldo

· #12 · Oct 19, 2007

I just started searching for this thread this morning after I got sick of it and figured I couldn't be the only one with this problem. I plugged my phoneline in this morning hoping it would fix it (new software/) but after reading from all you, that wouldn't have helped. My question, with all the HD updates on D*, wouldn't it be more economical (choke!) to pony up for the HR-20 now?

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