Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek


#100617 15-Apr-2012 00:05
Send private message

I have setup 3 tivos in the past, 2 for family and 1 of my own. Two of these however have been DOA. One just displayed a grey screen on boot up with a flashing orange light on the front. The other kept crashing the day I got it. All the replacements when they have been swapped, have worked fine and are still running fine.

However I have just got my free tivo from telecom as part of they broadband deal, and this is also DOA. With this one you get a powering up message and then flicks to a grey screen. It doesn't progress from that screen after half and hour, and the fan on the tivo remains blowing at a high level. It should slow down after it has booted up.
I can't believe the high failure of these things out of the box. Will have to ring up telecom to get it replaced, but is is frustrating to have 3 out of 4 tivos DOA. I know it isn't anything I am doing, because the replacements all work fine.

View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic
 1 | 2
Skolink
1081 posts

Uber Geek


  #609482 15-Apr-2012 08:09
Send private message

It would be quite interesting to know what part(s) it is that fails so often.



pegi
37 posts

Geek


  #609489 15-Apr-2012 09:11
Send private message

Skolink: It would be quite interesting to know what part(s) it is that fails so often.


I have the same problem. My TiVo was working for 2 weeks and then it went to grey screen. I couldn't even go to the main menu. I think it's a hard drive.
I am waiting for replacement.


Jaxson
8041 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

  #609522 15-Apr-2012 11:20
Send private message

The units are all actually pretty old stock, circa 2007 ex Mexico.



mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek


  #609568 15-Apr-2012 13:47
Send private message

Jaxson: The units are all actually pretty old stock, circa 2007 ex Mexico.


It is a bit of a concern. Perhaps it is because they have been in storage for so long, and not used. Perhaps there is a button battery on the board that will run down if not connected to power for a long time. This can happen on PCs. But it is strange that it is affecting so many. My very first tivo purchased about 2 years ago has almost been flawless.

old3eyes
9119 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

  #609595 15-Apr-2012 14:55
Send private message

My first one worked fine for 11 months until the GSOD which according to the TiVo forums was a sure sign that the hard disk had died.. The second has been running for about 6 months so far so good touch wood..




Regards,

Old3eyes


Skolink
1081 posts

Uber Geek


  #609658 15-Apr-2012 18:25
Send private message

pegi:
Skolink: It would be quite interesting to know what part(s) it is that fails so often.


I have the same problem. My TiVo was working for 2 weeks and then it went to grey screen. I couldn't even go to the main menu. I think it's a hard drive.
I am waiting for replacement.



But did you get the 'sunrise screen' on power up before the grey screen? The sunrise screen is stored on the PROM, so should show even with a dead/corrupted HDD.

Dunnersfella
4086 posts

Uber Geek


  #609689 15-Apr-2012 19:39
Send private message

Cheap box, very old stock.
Lots of failures.


And people seem surprised?

 
 
 

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.
Skolink
1081 posts

Uber Geek


  #609720 15-Apr-2012 20:42
Send private message

Dunnersfella: Cheap box, very old stock.
Lots of failures.


And people seem surprised?


Yes. Electronics don't decay when in storage. The data on the HDD might, but that's all.

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek


  #609733 15-Apr-2012 21:14
Send private message

Dunnersfella: Cheap box, very old stock.
Lots of failures.


And people seem surprised?

They had an $800 value when they were first sold. Infact only last year they were still being sold for around $600 on the nz tivo website, so I wouldn't regard that as cheap. Even now they are being sold for $300, but that I presume is to get rid of a backload of stock.
Also I wouldn't expect so many failures, as it is supposed to be a quality unit and brand. It is not as though they are cheap chinese pvrs off some overseas website. If it weren't for these DOA usints I would consider them to be one of the premium PVRs in terms of the features and good easy to use interface.

pegi
37 posts

Geek


  #609740 15-Apr-2012 21:46
Send private message

Skolink:
pegi:
Skolink: It would be quite interesting to know what part(s) it is that fails so often.


I have the same problem. My TiVo was working for 2 weeks and then it went to grey screen. I couldn't even go to the main menu. I think it's a hard drive.
I am waiting for replacement.



But did you get the 'sunrise screen' on power up before the grey screen? The sunrise screen is stored on the PROM, so should show even with a dead/corrupted HDD.


When I came from work and turned my TV on, the TiVo was already on grey screen. When I tried to reboot it sometimes it stopped on first "Welcome..." screen or it went through second screen - "Just a few minutes", but then I got the grey screen again. The same thing happened after 8-10 hour disconnection.

Skolink
1081 posts

Uber Geek


  #612969 21-Apr-2012 21:22
Send private message

This thread on the OzTiVo forums may be of interest. Someone has actually fixed their faulty TiVoHD power supply.

Gemini
429 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #614277 24-Apr-2012 12:27
Send private message

Was keen but going off the idea of tivo now. To me a recorder is one of those devices you need to be able to count one. Would be particularily inconvienent if it failed because you lose not only current recordings but your ability to record anything until it's fixed! The failure rate can only get worse here I imagine

Gilco2
1556 posts

Uber Geek


#614292 24-Apr-2012 12:51
Send private message

Gemini: Was keen but going off the idea of tivo now. To me a recorder is one of those devices you need to be able to count one. Would be particularily inconvienent if it failed because you lose not only current recordings but your ability to record anything until it's fixed! The failure rate can only get worse here I imagine
If you worried about that, then buy 2 as cheap at the price they are and that way you have your spare tyre so to speak





HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard  graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner,  Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi


mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek


  #614335 24-Apr-2012 14:26
Send private message

Gemini: Was keen but going off the idea of tivo now. To me a recorder is one of those devices you need to be able to count one. Would be particularily inconvienent if it failed because you lose not only current recordings but your ability to record anything until it's fixed! The failure rate can only get worse here I imagine


Any device can fail, but in my case they were DOA. Once you get one that works out of the box it should be fine. However Telecom still have not replaced mine, after waiting a week before they got back to me to troubleshoot the device, with a solution that didn't even apply to the problem I was having. So I will be without one for at least 2 weeks. At least if you buy from the retailer, you can just take it in a swap it, unlike with telecom who have a painful and long troubleshooting process you have to follow, even when it is DOA.

GeoffisPure
459 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #621082 7-May-2012 16:45
Send private message

Gah... I've had my Tivos for just over a week. Today I turned on my TiVo in the lounge and it was the grey screen of death. Unplugged the TiVo and plugged it back in... "powering up..." screen displayed and then back to grey screen of death. TiVo in the bedroom still works fine.

Looks like I'll have to take it back to Noel Leeming, yeah?

 1 | 2
View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.