Premiere XL burned up

1594 Views 12 Replies 5 Participants Last post by SOGLAD, Oct 17, 2019

DPosadas

Discussion Starter · Oct 6, 2019

Walked into the room where my TivoXl is installed and immediately noticed a strong smell of electrical/plastic burning with a sight haze in the room. I saw that the lights were out on the front of the TiVo and as I got close to it I could hear a soft buzzing coming from it.

I disconnected it from the power and could tell that it was the source of the smoke. I took the cover off and found that the power lines to the hard drive and the connector at the hard drive had burned and were melted.

Today I chatted with a TiVo rep on the website about the problem. At first I was told to unplug the unit and plug it back in. I had to tell the rep again that it nearly caught fire. I was ten told that the unit was defective (duh!) and I would need to upgrade. I asked if I could transfer (for free) my lifetime subscription and was told probably not.

I'm going to call a sales rep tomorrow but wanted to warn anyone with a unit to keep an eye on it. Everything was working fine up to that point. Nothing else plugged into the same power surge protector was damaged in anyway.

Passive circuit component Circuit component Hardware programmer Electronic engineering Electronic component

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Teeps

· #2 · Oct 6, 2019

From the photo and my knowledge of electronics. This looks to be a problem where current to the HDD met with some resistance in the connection. The unwanted resistance in the connection causes heat, which causes more resistance... more heat... ect until it catches on fire or in this case smolders.
This is not a good condition either way.
If this is an unmodified TiVo, ie no hdd upgrade; I would escalate through TiVo to get to a manager, and ask for a replacement for free.

At the very least I would submit a report to the CPSC: CPSC SaferProducts.gov | Report an Unsafe Product

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DPosadas

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 6, 2019 (Edited)

Report an Unsafe Product[/QUOTE]

Teeps said:
From the photo and my knowledge of electronics. This looks to be a problem where current to the HDD met with some resistance in the connection. The unwanted resistance in the connection causes heat, which causes more resistance... more heat... ect until it catches on fire or in this case smolders.
This is not a good condition either way.
If this is an unmodified TiVo, ie no hdd upgrade; I would escalate through TiVo to get to a manager, and ask for a replacement for free.

At the very least I would submit a report to the CPSC: CPSC SaferProducts.gov | Report an Unsafe Product

It's an unmodified unit with original hard drive. I am the original owner. I only did the chat today on the TiVo website. I'm going to call tomorrow and see what they can do.

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SOGLAD

· #4 · Oct 7, 2019

AMAZING! These connector usually fit quite snugly and do take a decent pull to disconnect...
Curious to know if that DC Connector has seen a lot of action ~ as in many disconnects?
Also would like to know if you see any other signs of burnt PC Board on the Drive or near and drive board posts/pins?

That YELLOW line can deliver up to 1.6 AMPS of 12 Volts and it appears it trying to do just that ~ or perhaps a little more? And no surprise the display lights were off!

WITH CARE, you can cut the four DC Wires totally away at the connector. Then carefully solder a new DC Connector to them. Heat shrink would be ideal, but wraps of quality electrical tape will too... Some of that China junk tape overheats and can unwrap. To be safe I would add 4 small tie-wraps.

The RED DATA cables are quite common and will replace easily.

IF you have a spare SATA Drive try connecting the DC connector only... constantly touch that new connector to assure it's not getting angry. If all appears well/cool 15 minutes later, power down and disconnect the test Drive.

CLEAN your original Drive connectors using CONTACT CLEANER with SILICONE. Use a Q-Tip and spray to one tip end (NOT to the Drive)... then gently 'buff' the gold connector pins. Use the other end of the Q-Tip and clean them again. The Silicone content will help prevent future tarnishing!

After cleaning reconnect that original drive and watch it very closely!

SOGLAD

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Sparky1234

· #5 · Oct 8, 2019

DPosadas said:
Walked into the room where my TivoXl is installed and immediately noticed a strong smell of electrical/plastic burning with a sight haze in the room. I saw that the lights were out on the front of the TiVo and as I got close to it I could hear a soft buzzing coming from it.

I disconnected it from the power and could tell that it was the source of the smoke. I took the cover off and found that the power lines to the hard drive and the connector at the hard drive had burned and were melted.

Today I chatted with a TiVo rep on the website about the problem. At first I was told to unplug the unit and plug it back in. I had to tell the rep again that it nearly caught fire. I was ten told that the unit was defective (duh!) and I would need to upgrade. I asked if I could transfer (for free) my lifetime subscription and was told probably not.

I'm going to call a sales rep tomorrow but wanted to warn anyone with a unit to keep an eye on it. Everything was working fine up to that point. Nothing else plugged into the same power surge protector was damaged in anyway. View attachment 43719

Something caused a short. Dust? Mites? Insect?

Rewire and try again.

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SOGLAD

· #6 · Oct 8, 2019

I suspect a connector defect when it was built ~ but the molding around the wires and pins are usually well 'fixed'?... And this is why I was curious if that connector has seen many ' 'disconnects'?

Then again, IF the connector was installed at the wrong angle just once, it's possible the pins were spread apart just enough to cause a poor connection and poor current flow? One site reports a "Western Digital Green Drive" needs 12 VDC with Read/Write currents at up to 1.78 A.

Once the wires are cut to that connector (leave 1 inch or so), a OHM meter should quickly tell if the short is within the body? Testing from the YELLOW to it's nearest BLACK neighbor? Use care as you strip the wire jackets so you don't accidentally pull that possible short apart. And by the way, that is a great photo showing the connector funeral/cremation.

Of course the drive may be the culprit and it remains suspect too? I just checked Google for "sata hard drive short" and there are only 8,590,000 hits, but oddly ~ only 1 or 2 photos showing actual hard drive burnt parts?

I must add that I have never seen this problem before and if it's a manufacturing defect one would think there would be a rash of TiVo complaints... and this is true for both the connectors and drives.

FILM AT 11:00!
SOGLAD

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Wigohwt

· #7 · Oct 9, 2019

DPosadas said:
I disconnected it from the power and could tell that it was the source of the smoke. I took the cover off and found that the power lines to the hard drive and the connector at the hard drive had burned and were melted. View attachment 43719

Did you detach the sata/power combo connector from the motherboard?
It looks like if there is no damage to the motherboard, you just need to order a new connector.
Also it wouldn't hurt to clone/upgrade to a new hard drive.

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SOGLAD

· #8 · Oct 10, 2019 (Edited)

eRR not at home right now but I THINK the Hard Drive Connector is "HARD-WIRED" at the Supply and hence the need to solder 4 wires with it's new connector at the Drive?

And no about a 'new' hard drive now... BETTER to isolate the problem first! IF the Supply is at fault you would not want to (possibly) toast a new drive before the actual problem is identified...

Cut the wires at the Drive Connector leaving 1/2 to 1 inch from the connector... now power up without the hard drive connected... DO THE TiVo LEDs work? If YES, continue to replacing the Power Connector first. If NO ~ suspect a possible faulty Power Supply!

So AFTER all fixes and BEFORE you connect that NEW DRIVE... FIX the problem first. As stated before ~ the ORIGINAL DRIVE may be the fault causing the Connector to overheat and meltdown?

More film at 11:00!
SOGLAD

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Sparky1234

· #9 · Oct 15, 2019

What was the fix?

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Teeps

· #10 · Oct 15, 2019 (Edited)

Sparky1234 said:
What was the fix?

Don't know if the OP has fixed this TiVo; but assuming the mother board and/or power supply are not damaged.
Probably installing a new 4P power connector and hard drive.

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Sparky1234

· #11 · Oct 15, 2019

Teeps said:
Don't know if the OP has fixed this TiVo; but assuming the mother board and/or power supply are not damaged.
Probably installing a new 4P power connector and hard drive.

Just curious if OP was just fishing or found an appropriate answer.

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Teeps

· #12 · Oct 15, 2019

Sparky1234 said:
Just curious if OP was just fishing or found an appropriate answer.

Yeah, my guess it was a WTF! inquiry and how best to deal with tivo.

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SOGLAD

· #13 · Oct 17, 2019

Sparky1234 said:
Just curious if OP was just fishing or found an appropriate answer.

Yes... I remain curious too but his/her failure looked quite real and the photo appeared real too ~ right down to his heat sink? I think his model is a Tivo "XL", but that heat sink looked rather close to the hard drive?
Like others ~ I dunno?

SOGLAD

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