TiVo's constantly rebooting

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Gramps

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#272746 13-Jul-2020 16:13

I have 2 TiVo HD 3's that were modded locally (and had new HDD drives put in each) which according to she who must be obeyed, have been rebooting constantly for the past 2 months or so. According to her they reboot approximately every 2 days or so. Any have knowledge on this or is this death for them finally? I hear possibly power supply??. Would truly appreciate saving them as my wife is ill and home constantly using them. Thanks

freitasm

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#2522256 13-Jul-2020 16:19

Do they reboot at the same time every time, or at random times? Is it while recording something, during playback or just while watching a live program?

olliechick

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#2522262 13-Jul-2020 16:36

I think my parent's TiVo had a similar rebooting issue, and they solved it by not skipping the video that plays when the TiVo boots up - let it play out fully.

Gramps

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#2522383 13-Jul-2020 18:15

Hi
Randomly reboots, I’ve had it reboot during recorded playback but is most prevelant when recording scheduled programs. We have allowed the preliminary video to play all the way through thanks

Batman

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#2522387 13-Jul-2020 18:23

I know you said new HDDs but ... could be HDD failure?

Spong

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#2522473 13-Jul-2020 20:22

I see you had these modified by Symondo down south in early 2018. Maybe have him check them for you. From experience I'd say the chance of there being power supply issues is extremely unlikely in the NZ/Aussie models. That's one area that's been bulletproof, especially if the +12V and +5V rails are not low. There's a trimmer (covered in silicon) for the 5V rail, and a small number have been found to be low. Maybe check that the hard drive replacements you had were good, reliable types. I don't feel 7200rpm desktop drives are reliable in these machines, hence I always use WD surveillance purple drives, or occasionally a Seagate alternative. Random reboots are not the easiest of things to diagnose. A new clean patched image on a good hard disk would eliminate the drive or software. Otherwise, it starts to look like a motherboard issue - possibly failing RAM, and a replacement modified machine is an option to consider based on economics. These machines are all 10+ years old now, so a small number are failing.

Tivo upgrades to operate with the new OzTivo EPG, support and service. Over 400 performed here so far. See: www.hillcrest.net.nz

Gramps

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Wannabe Geek

#2522481 13-Jul-2020 21:14

Hi
Yeah it was Symond and the drives installed were 1tb WD purples. I will try contact him again. I suppose I was hoping there was a simple “quick fix”

gb67

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#2523725 15-Jul-2020 19:40

I have seen this in a couple and adjusted the trim pot referred to above on the 5v supply with good success.

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Gramps

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2523984 16-Jul-2020 10:36

Thanks for the responses. Will keep all of them in mind. I went ahead and did what Olliechick suggested and pulled the plug on them both. Let them sit for 32 minutes and re-powered. They both have not rebooted in 2 days now. "Fingers Crossed". The next thing to have tried was getting the pots adjusted as Spong and Gb67 mentioned. Another bit of good news. Fearing the worst I went online and found on Trade me an IN THE BOX unopened unmodded TiVo which is now stored in a dry warm cupboard ready to be modded, still sealed in its manufacturers plastic. Yay.

Gramps

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#2534888 5-Aug-2020 07:14

Well it was good while it lasted. Pulling the plug on them both, then rebooting after a period of time elapsed appeared to work for about 7-9 days. now they back to rebooting again. Have emailed Symondo to see if he can assist. If not, am I able to ship them to you Gonzo to have them checked out?

Gramps

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#2534891 5-Aug-2020 07:24

Genuine question - why does it need to be modded?

old3eyes

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#2534908 5-Aug-2020 08:37

Batman: Genuine question - why does it need to be modded?

It needs to be modded if you still want to get the EPG as it used to be back in the TiVo days. Without the mod it's just another DVR with manual setup recording a bit like your old VCR.

Regards,

Old3eyes

Gramps

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2727802 13-Jun-2021 04:27

FIXED:

Finally got these running again after many months of reading. Appears there was a split second brownout (too short for my UPS's to pickup which corrupted the boot. After previous discussions with SPONG I downloaded the WinFS and used the functions inbuilt to copy from the second boot record. ALL IS WELL again! thanks all. Sorry for the late reply, my wife is seriously ill so her health and well being come first.

Thanks all for your help.