[Funny Dude]

TCD846500 model. Worked fine until I went through guided setup to change from one cable company to another. It connected to the TiVo service for the final program guide details and said it would take 20 minutes. I turned off the TV and came back a few hours later. It was in a boot loop with the green starting up screen. It would flash about every 30 seconds and then reboot to the same green screen.

To summarize what I've done - replace power supply, change hard drive to an old one that worked, rebooted with no hard drive connected. The behavior is the same.

Black starting up screen. Green power light on the front. About 15 seconds in, screen flickers, green light goes out for a second and then comes back with same starting up screen. Never progress, with or without a hard drive connected.

During the first 15 seconds, when I have a drive connected, I can hear it spin up and then stop. No other lights on the front of the TiVo illuminate other than the green one - except the red will flicker when attaching the power cord.

Any ideas?

 

[ThAbtO]

Green screen - possibly bad hard drive.

The power brick adapter need to be >2 amps. The OEM power adapter is 2amps when new and degrades over time.

Tivo is very specific about the type of drive used. NO SMR type drives. Has to be CMR.

 

[Funny Dude]

Green screen caused me to buy a new power supply. Now I get black screen but same problem. Using old power supply also get black screen now when it gave green screen yesterday. Drive is a WD Red 3TB and checks out using WD tools.

Power supply I bought yesterday is 2amp -

TMEZON 12 Volt 2A Power Adapter Supply AC to DC 2.1mm X 5.5mm Plug 12v 2 Amp Power Supply, Wall Plug Extra Long 8 Foot Cord https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Q2E5IX...abc_561ZDSGMXD36EJG9GBG8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I can reformat the drive and try it - what's the best way? I have a Windows PC.

Thanks in advance

 

[ThAbtO]

Power supply I bought yesterday is 2amp -

This is too small, needs to be >2amps, so at least 3 amps.

The hard drive was recently relabeled to be WD Red Plus. If it ends in EFRX, EFZX, it should work. Does not need to format, Roamio will self-prepare.

 

[Funny Dude]

I ordered a 12v 3a power supply. It will be here Wednesday. In the meantime, can I somehow test the hard drive? It's been running in the TiVo for 11 months without issue.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Scott9mm]

Current WD20EFAX to 60EFAX are "shingled" drives and not suitable for TiVo.
List of known SMR drives

 

[JoeKustra]

I can reformat the drive and try it - what's the best way? I have a Windows PC.
Thanks in advance

I have replaced three drives in my basic Roamios. From the 500GB to 1TB and 3TB. My only prep was to run a full format (NTFS) on the drives. It takes a while, but the PC doesn't die while formatting. I use an external USB 3 cradle. Sorry, I don't have the P/N.

 

[Funny Dude]

I got a 3 amp power supply, no change. I removed the hard drive and booted the Roamio. It's still only shows a black screen that says welcome, starting up. Shouldn't it display a missing hard drive error?

Using the WD Dashboard software with the TiVo hard drive plugged into my pc, the drive passed the WD Smart short test but the long test never passed 10%.

Any ideas to try?

 

[JoeKustra]

Shouldn't it display a missing hard drive error?
but the long test never passed 10%.
Any ideas to try?

Without a drive connected the results may vary, but whatever you connect next will be considered "new". Since it wouldn't work before, no reason to expect that to change. Any luck formatting the drive?

 

[LarryAtHome]

What is the model number on the new WD Red hard drive?

Something else to try, there may be something on the hard drive that is giving the TiVo issues. You can try wiping the hard drive. I have previously used
CBL Data Shredder
for wiping hard drives.

 

[Funny Dude]

I used MFS Formatter to reformat the WD Red 3TB - Model WD30EFRX. Then I ran WD Dashboard and tried both short and long SMART tests. Short test passed, long test froze at 10%. I put the drive back into the Roamio - no change. Black screen, welcome starting up. Left it like that for 30 minutes. There are no noises coming from the hard drive head but it is spinning.

I'll try the hard drive shredder app mentioned above and report back.

??

 

[ThAbtO]

If a test failed, there's a problem with the drive and tivo doesn't like problems.

 

[Funny Dude]

Formatted the drive overnight with NTFS. It passed both SMART tests. The Roamio still behaves the same - black Tivo Welcome starting up screen...

RMA the drive? So far I see nothing wrong with it. Looks the the TiVo is dead but I hate to give up on it. I've also got 3 newer Minis.

 

[JoeKustra]

Formatted the drive overnight with NTFS. It passed both SMART tests. The Roamio still behaves the same - black Tivo Welcome starting up screen...
RMA the drive? So far I see nothing wrong with it. Looks the the TiVo is dead but I hate to give up on it. I've also got 3 newer Minis.

I guess it's easier to replace the drive, but I don't have much hope. Good luck.

 

[ThAbtO]

Its dead, Jim.

 

[Funny Dude]

So replace it with refurbished Bolt for $300 or sell the 3 Mini Vox and move on? We just cut the cord and won't go back... Trying to figure out next steps.

 

[ThAbtO]

The Roamio is the last and greatest Tivo model. Bolts and newer uses laptop hard drives which fail more often.

 

[ClearToLand]

TCD846500 model. Worked fine until I went through guided setup to change from one cable company to another. It connected to the TiVo service for the final program guide details and said it would take 20 minutes. I turned off the TV and came back a few hours later. It was in a boot loop with the green starting up screen. It would flash about every 30 seconds and then reboot to the same green screen...

...Any ideas?

I got a 3 amp power supply, no change. I removed the hard drive and booted the Roamio. It's still only shows a black screen that says welcome, starting up. Shouldn't it display a missing hard drive error?

IME, on a TiVo unit a missing HDD looks the same as a dead HDD. Let's begin by verifying the suitability of your HDD.

...Using the WD Dashboard software with the TiVo hard drive plugged into my pc, the drive passed the WD Smart short test but the long test never passed 10%.

Any ideas to try?

I used MFS Formatter to reformat the WD Red 3TB - Model WD30EFRX. Then I ran WD Dashboard and tried both short and long SMART tests. Short test passed, long test froze at 10%. I put the drive back into the Roamio - no change. Black screen, welcome starting up. Left it like that for 30 minutes. There are no noises coming from the hard drive head but it is spinning.

I'll try the hard drive shredder app mentioned above and report back.

??

Formatted the drive overnight with NTFS. It passed both SMART tests. The Roamio still behaves the same - black Tivo Welcome starting up screen...

RMA the drive? So far I see nothing wrong with it. Looks the the TiVo is dead but I hate to give up on it. I've also got 3 newer Minis.

MFS Formatter, hard drive shredder, NTFS format - It's like you're painting a room green in preparation for painting it beige - you need to "Prime" the walls first. You still haven't verified if your HDD is any good?!?

By "WD Dashboard" do you mean Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics? Are you using the Windows or DOS version? Forget about all those other tools you're talking about - stick solely with WD.

Here's what I run for ALL of my new HDDs:

1. Quick
2. Extended
3. Write Zeros-Quick
4. Write Zeros-Full
5. Extended (again)

If the new WD HDD fails any of the steps above, report back which step and what error message.

Currently I'm testing a batch of Western Digital Easystore 8TB External HDDs that I bought a few years ago. Extended and Write Zeros-Full steps initially report ~67 hours to complete *EACH*, but they always take longer. Including the time when a step finishes while I'm asleep, or just not paying attention, it takes over NINE DAYS to test EACH HDD!

I don't put a new HDD into anything (or new memory - I run MemTest86+ for days) until it's passed WD Diagnostics. Eliminate as many variables as possible when installing / changing / updating hardware.

 

[ClearToLand]

So replace it with refurbished Bolt for $300 or sell the 3 Mini Vox and move on? We just cut the cord and won't go back... Trying to figure out next steps.

UGH NO!!! First follow the steps in my previous post and let's see if the WD30EFRX is OK. Installing a zero-filled HDD in a Roamio will result in it downloading and installing the TiVo OS (probably TE4 like my "new" Roamio OTA just did but maybe not... You can always downgrade to TE3 if it does.).

If that doesn't work, and the TiVo motherboard somehow went bad from running "Guided Setup" (I doubt it), you'd be better off with a used Roamio Basic w/Lifetime from eBay for ~$200-300. Stay away from 2½" HDDs (Bolt, Edge).

 

[ClearToLand]

I have replaced three drives in my basic Roamios. From the 500GB to 1TB and 3TB. My only prep was to run a full format (NTFS) on the drives. It takes a while, but the PC doesn't die while formatting. I use an external USB 3 cradle. Sorry, I don't have the P/N.

You'd be MUCH better off running the 5 steps in Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics that I listed above.