TiVo HD stuck in rebooting loop

5949 Views 15 Replies 6 Participants Last post by mattack, Sep 16, 2011

SnakeEyes

Discussion Starter · Sep 5, 2011

I just detached my failing MyDVR Expander, did the three thumbs down, clear thing and it then got stuck in a loop with a green screen saying serious error, may take up to 3 hours but it would reboot shortly after. Then after numerous reboots I got the external storage missing screen and now it's stuck in a loop where it just keeps returning to that screen. Each time that I do three thumbs down and clear it then stays on the next screen for like 10 seconds then reboots.

Anyone with an idea of how to get out of this?

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

dwit

· #2 · Sep 5, 2011

Think your only chance may be to try to get one of the kickstart diagnostics going. Maybe someoneone can post some links for you.

Does it have the original internal drive inside?

SnakeEyes

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 5, 2011

dwit said:
Think your only chance may be to try to get one of the kickstart diagnostics going. Maybe someoneone can post some links for you.

Does it have the original internal drive inside?

Yes, original internal. Should I plug the external back in and kickstart or without the external? Will the kickstart codes take effect before the external drive missing screen?

dwit

· #4 · Sep 6, 2011

SnakeEyes said:
Yes, original internal. Should I plug the external back in and kickstart or without the external? Will the kickstart codes take effect before the external drive missing screen?

Yes, the kickstart codes, if they are going to work, should kick upon powering up, before anything appears on the screen. This is as far as I know. It's been a very long time since I had to do it, which was only once.

You can try it both ways; with and/or without the external. Whatever it might take to hopefully get the ks to kick in.

You can always just try a normal boot a couple more times.

Otherwise, reimaging may be required.

Good luck.

SnakeEyes

Discussion Starter · #5 · Sep 6, 2011

Ok thanks I'll try both ways. If I need to reimage, where would I look to find such instructions? I am tech savvy.

dwit

· #6 · Sep 6, 2011

SnakeEyes said:
Ok thanks I'll try both ways. If I need to reimage, where would I look to find such instructions? I am tech savvy.

Before reimaging, you might check with Tivo customer service, just to see what they have to say.

Then, if you decide to reimage, the first thing to do is to aquire an image. The image can be obtained from the hard drive of another Tivo HD you might have on hand, or otherwise, an image in the form of a backup file donated by someone. This backup image will then be "restored" to another drive to become the Tivo drive. You can also purchase the "Instant Cake" software from dvrupgrade.com which is a cd or download which has everything needed to create a new Tivo hard drive.

If you are able to acquire an image from a donor, it will most likely be in the form of a Winmfs .tbk backup image. This is the easiest type image to use, and the precise directions are to be found at www.mfslive.org. The name of the program is WinMfs. Very easy.

There is also a guide, that is mostly useful, but may be a little dated, here as a sticky thread in the Series 3 Forum. See the "Series 3/Tivo HD Upgrade" thread for more.

Good luck.

See less See more

SnakeEyes

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 6, 2011

Regardless of if the external was plugged in or not the kickstart codes, except one, didn't appear to do anything. 54's menu never appeared. Each time it either went to the GSOD (when external was plugged in) or external missing (when not plugged in).

Only code that seemed to respond at all was 58 (when the drive was plugged in and when not). But according to list it's supposed to do the same as 57 but with rudimentary defragging. Instead the installing update menu appeared for no more than 10 seconds and then it went to the BSOD and rebooted shortly after or external drive missing screen.

According to the KS list, it's supposed to restart itself shortly after the KS is entered. But that didn't happen. I even held down the pause button during restart so that the red and yellow light switched on and I know the KS number was entered in time. Tried multiple times just to be sure.

Looks like I'm going to need to find someone that can donate me an image.

And buy a SATA/USB adapter.

dwit

· #8 · Sep 6, 2011

SnakeEyes said:
Regardless of if the external was plugged in or not the kickstart codes, except one, didn't appear to do anything. 54's menu never appeared. Each time it either went to the GSOD (when external was plugged in) or external missing (when not plugged in).

Only code that seemed to respond at all was 58 (when the drive was plugged in and when not). But according to list it's supposed to do the same as 57 but with rudimentary defragging. Instead the installing update menu appeared for no more than 10 seconds and then it went to the BSOD and rebooted shortly after or external drive missing screen.

According to the KS list, it's supposed to restart itself shortly after the KS is entered. But that didn't happen. I even held down the pause button during restart so that the red and yellow light switched on and I know the KS number was entered in time. Tried multiple times just to be sure.

Looks like I'm going to need to find someone that can donate me an image. And buy a SATA/USB adapter.

Let me know if you need the image. I've got one, but will need to figure out how to deliver it to you. The file is too large to email, but I think those download sites are worthless. PM me your email address when ready. I think I recall some type of service that will deliver it, or save it as a link somewhere, etc.

PIANOCRAT

· #9 · Sep 11, 2011

If you are using a Tivo wireless adapter, unplug both the adapter and the Tivo.

Then replug the Tivo ONLY--leave the wireless adapter unplugged. Tivo tends to "hang" on start-up/reboot if the wireless adapter is connected.

Wait until the Tivo has finished its boot-up, then connect the wireless adapter.

Both my S3 & S4 Tivos "hung" at reboot after installing new hard drives. Unplugged the wireless adapter, rebooted, and both were up & running within 10 minutes.

This info came from the Tivo FAQ on the Tivo website.

firebladezz

· #10 · Sep 14, 2011

hey dwit, i'm so sorry to bug you but i'm desperate to find an image for TiVo HD TCD652160, or point me to the right place... thanks heaps in advance.

dwit

· #11 · Sep 14, 2011

firebladezz said:
hey dwit, i'm so sorry to bug you but i'm desperate to find an image for TiVo HD TCD652160, or point me to the right place... thanks heaps in advance.

Send me a PM with your email address.

firebladezz

· #12 · Sep 14, 2011

thanks heaps dwit, but i've put the wrong model number in, its acually a tcd663160. would you know where that is.. thanks again.

dwit

· #13 · Sep 14, 2011

firebladezz said:
thanks heaps dwit, but i've put the wrong model number in, its acually a tcd663160. would you know where that is.. thanks again.

Sorry. Never heard of it. It's not even listed at weaknees.com. I do see hits in a web search though. Possibly a model not made for the U.S. market.

firebladezz

· #14 · Sep 15, 2011

yeah, its an Australian model so i'm i'm mega stuck. they don't have an image for me to buy even... this sucks... thanks anyway.

GreenMonkey

· #15 · Sep 15, 2011

It's probably the HDD but not always. I still have a lifetime service Tivo (off right now...on Uverse) that would do this every 6-9 months. HDD changes didn't help. I just ended up using Instant Cake to fix it once in a while.

Probably a flaky PSU or motherboard for my case.

mattack

· #16 · Sep 16, 2011

firebladezz said:
yeah, its an Australian model so i'm i'm mega stuck. they don't have an image for me to buy even... this sucks... thanks anyway.

There is an Austrialian Tivo forum here.

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.