TiVo boot problems (1 Viewer)

[Christian Behrens]

Hi all,

I just purchased an upgraded TiVo second hand, and am having boot problems with it. The original owner said that it worked fine for him (he upgraded to DirectTiVo).

I am already reading through all kinds of FAQs etc. to get a better idea what might be happening, but hopefully you guys can provide a couple more pointers.

The situation:

It is a Philips model, coming with a 30 gig A drive from Western Digital plus an additional 80+ gig drive from Maxtor (is it a problem/unusual that the A drive is WD? I read that they are using Quantum drives for the A drives?!?).

Once everything is connected, the boot screen comes up, but the system apparently never actually accesses the drives to boot (I opened it and cannot hear any HD access).

Interestingly, once I disconnect the Maxtor B drive from the power supply and power up, there is activity on the A drive, and I do get to see the gray "Just a few more moments..." screen, only to flash in a color and reverting to the original boot screen and basically looping.

From the FAQs I understand that this is not surprising, considering the two drives are "married".

But does someone have a suggestion why there is no disk activity at all when both drives are connected properly? What can I check, or how should I proceed?

Thanks for any hints,

-Christian

 

[GordonL]

I thought Philips used Quantum drives also. If the guy you bought it from hacked it with a WD drive, he might still have the original image. It would be a good idea to get that from him. You could then rebuild the system yourself. Did he sell it to you with a subscription?

BTW, make sure the A drive is jumpered as the master and the B drive as the slave.

 

[Christian Behrens]

Well, I know a little more: the 2nd drive, the bigger one of course, is actually _not_ working, therefore the system cannot boot. And apparently the 30 gig WD drive was part of the upgrade (it was a 14 hr system originally).
In any case, I need to reformat that A drive to be able to use the TiVo at all at this point. Anyone out there in the Bay area who could help me with that?
I am tempted to just buy a 14 gig Quantum A drive for $50 to get the system running. The seller has unfortunately not responded yet. Hopefully after the weekend.
Gordon, yes, the TiVo has a lifetime subscription. Thanks for the tip, though .
-Christian

 

[Jeff Bamberger]

check www.tivocommunity.com in the "help" forum. You should be able to post and get some quick help/response there!

 

[James Zubb]

It sounds like since B drive is broken the config for system is messed up (it is looking for the B drive). You may be able to use mfstools to backup the system, unmarrying the drives, then restore to just the single A drive. Might want to try to a different drive so you don't destroy the current one in case you make a mistake. It actually doesn't matter what brand the A drive is, I have a 60GB WD as my A drive, works great.
You can get mfstools here:
http://www.9thtee.com/tivoupgrades.htm
Ask on the tivocommunity boards about unmarrying the drives, if that doesn't work you are SOL without the original. You will have to either buy another unmodded unit (of course you will then have 2 working ones so not a total loss) or borrow someones backup.

 

[Christian Behrens]

Thanks for the tips guys, although I have seen basically all these pages already. I heard from the seller yesterday and he will look at my drives and replace the B drive. They are already on their way back to him .
During my research, I found a nice place that sells small A drives taken from TiVos before upgrading them. I might still consider getting one of those just to have a working backup drive.
-Christian

 

[JasenP]

Christian,

I had the same problem you did andwhen I called Tivo they offered up this trick to reset the modem:

1. Unplug the phone cord from the Tivo unit and unplug the power cord for the Tivo at the same time.

2. Wait at least three minutes

3. Plug the phone cord back into the Tivo and plug the power cord back into the wall at the same time.

4. Force a daily call

I hope this helps!

 

[Mark_E_Smith]

Christian Behrens,
Dont revert to a 14 GB drive when for the same trouble you can install up to a 120 GB drive. The UNIT has a lifetime sub NOT YOU so buying another TiVo wont save your Lifetime Sub. go here and read the How to
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...threadid=36974
. you know enough about computers to do all the work you need, If you need an image go to the
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...?s=&forumid=24
In the upgrade center ask for an image of the machine you have. Or you can ask for a image from the guy whos fixing it as he will have to have one to fix the drives. just have him burn it to a cd for you. The file is about 300mb compressed, read the how to and it will explain the procedure.