[xnevergiveinx]

hey yeah, last night i installed my twinbreeze fan in my 240. i also took out my case fan and cleaned all the dust out of it with a q-tip, then i put it back in the case.

but, i forgot to connect the cord for the power to the case fan back up...so for about 8 hours, the only cooling it got was from the tiny twinbreeze fan.

this morning i discovered it like that, i promptly took the case apart and snapped the fan back in. right now i'm running it without a lid, it's at 30 degrees...i didn't check the temp when it didn't have a case fan, but i'm sure it was like 50+

the power supply has a slight heated electronics smell now, only noticable when you open the case and shove your nose in it.

so, how much did this kill off on my tivo?

 

[ZeoTiVo]

looks like you caught it quick enough. Absent any noticeable fried electronics I would be looking for signs of garbled writes to the hard drive as the CPU or encoding went loopy (if they even did)

otherwise, short of getting the tools to run diagnostics on all the resistors and so forth, there is not much else you can do.

 

[xnevergiveinx]

does the tivo shut itself off when it gets too hot?

i watched a couple of the shows that recorded while it was heated up and they don't have an errors...i guess i'm in the clear

 

[ZeoTiVo]

there is no shutoff from an overheating sensor. They did not even spring for shielding the power supply in an effort to make the cost of making the box dirt cheap.

 

[lajohn27]

Really? So the temperature reading in the System Information screen is for information purposes only? The software doesn't shut down the unit when it gets too hot?

Are you sure? There's minimal cost in software development to do that.

Otherwise.. if you're not going to use the data from the temp sensor in any meaningful way - why not just get rid of the temp sensor and save on that hardware cost too?

If what you say is true.. that's just stupid.

 

[windracer]

there is no shutoff from an overheating sensor. They did not even spring for shielding the power supply in an effort to make the cost of making the box dirt cheap.

I'm not so sure about that. Once after I did a drive upgrade I forgot to reconnect the fan on my 140 box. The next morning when I turned on the TV, I had a blue information screen saying that the TiVo had been shut down due to a high temperature condition. Obviously it was still on since it was displaying video to my TV, but I think the HD was off.

 

[ZeoTiVo]

I'm not so sure about that. Once after I did a drive upgrade I forgot to reconnect the fan on my 140 box. The next morning when I turned on the TV, I had a blue information screen saying that the TiVo had been shut down due to a high temperature condition. Obviously it was still on since it was displaying video to my TV, but I think the HD was off.

ah, I was thinking from the power supply perspective and the expense of adding in an ATX like power shutdown. from what you are saying it looks like TiVo went for a big heat source of stopping the Hard drive which would be a simple software solution like LaJohn27 noted.

my new thing learned for the day.

 

[windracer]

Ah, I knew I had a photo somewhere ... here's the screen I was talking about:

Kinda generic (all the references to "System") but that's what I got.

 

[lajohn27]

Cool =-> I'm happy to hear the this works as I expected.

 

[t8erbug]

I recently picked up an unmodified Series 1 from flea bay, and while playing around with it, I noticed the unit fan wasn't on. Should it be running all the time or does it only come on as needed? The temp reads 39C (normal), but I haven't done any recording or other testing yet.

thanx in advance...

 

[classicsat]

Really? So the temperature reading in the System Information screen is for information purposes only? The software doesn't shut down the unit when it gets too hot?

Are you sure? There's minimal cost in software development to do that.

Otherwise.. if you're not going to use the data from the temp sensor in any meaningful way - why not just get rid of the temp sensor and save on that hardware cost too?

If what you say is true.. that's just stupid.

It shuts it off somewhat, as it putting what it can/has to into a low power state. Otherwise it is on, as there is no hardware self powerdown capability.

 

[classicsat]

The fan should be on all the time, just running at a lower speed until it gets too warm,

 

[Phantom Gremlin]

The hard disk media (platters) are quite temperature sensitive. For many drives the lubricants start to degrade around 60C. Some drives may have better lubricants but I've never heard of better than 70C. The electronics can tolerate much higher temperatures than that.

 

[thesaintfl]

I have my new Tivo HD a little over a week and I have gotten a Green Screen? System Error... the system rebooted suddenly and showed up with a Green Screen. It repaired itself after about 20 minutes, but I am pretty concerned since the Tivo is only 1 week old.

I noticed that my internal temp is pretty high @ 48c.. I read on the board (I forgot where) that a good or "safe" temp is 42c? Could my temp at 48c be causing the Green Screen? Is there any suggestions how to keep the Tivo HD running cooler?

 

[Phantom Gremlin]

I think 48C is marginal but OK. I've seen that temperature when the weather was warmer and the glass door was closed to my cabinet. My Tivo worked fine at that temp and also the system status claimed that temp was OK.

Now, with the house at about 70F (21C), my Tivo is at about 42C with the glass door open.

I think you might want to improve your ventilation, but I think the odds are quite good that 48C is NOT the reason for your Green Screen.

 

[richsadams]

The folks with ComcasTiVo/Moto boxes will likely find this thread one day...Moto boxes don't have a cooling fan. The one we had became so hot that you couldn't leave your hand on the top of it for more than a few seconds. We were constantly worried that it would spontaneously explode into flames! TGFTiVo.

 

[windracer]

My S3 has been running at about 52C for the past year ... no green screens/reboots due to temp.

 

[lonewoolf47]

Does anyone know why the temp is shown in Celsius? The R-15 shows the temp in Fahrenheit.

 

[richsadams]

My S3 has been running at about 52C for the past year ... no green screens/reboots due to temp.

Our S3 is in a cabinet with some ventilation but runs between 48c and 51c most of the time. No problems for about a year now. Our S2's are "open air" and run between 42c and 45c...again no problems.

 

[classicsat]

Celsius is what the sensor they use puts out. They musn't know how, or bothered to code a C to F convertor, which is simple; F=(C*1.8)+32.