Tivo rebooting and freezing, new HDD?

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zebis

55 posts

Master Geek

#139012 24-Jan-2014 22:22

Hi all,

A few months ago my series 3 TiVo started randomly rebooting, around once a day (I hear it at night power up) - I inspected the Caps/PSU and all looks good. I performed what appears to be a successful backup using winmfs (tbk file)

I then did a full reset and its been running fine for ~2 months but now two freezes within a few days.

Is a closer inspection of the PSU required or a replacement HDD? Should I sector scan the HDD? no SMART or quick scan errors using manufacturer software.

Matt

Skolink

1081 posts

Uber Geek

#974033 25-Jan-2014 12:08

Test the HDD with Seatools, but it will be the caps. They looked fine on mine, but replacing them fixed the random reboots.

zebis

55 posts

Master Geek

#974221 25-Jan-2014 18:30

Thanks Skolink

Ill look at replacing the caps - maybe check with the scope for load/change transients. Cant rule out line level disturbances, although nothing else in the house is affected so if its the PSU its the caps or poor design.

Being under load 24/7 I wonder if the heat gets does this?

Matt

BigmacNZ

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#974492 26-Jan-2014 10:07

Yesterday I had my first every problem with my Tivo. The unit randomly rebooted itself, it then commenced a continuous boot loop.
I rang Tivo support. He told me to disconnect everything from the unit and leave it for over 6 hours for the battery to drain. It will then do a reset.
I did this and it broke the boot loop. Then this morning just before I was called back by Tivo support (as they wanted to check in and make sure the issue was resolved) it rebooted itself again.

The Tivo support person was very helpful, said they would send out a new unit(perhaps refurbished but who cares) and a courier bag to send back the old one.

Now that is service!

I would suggest that instead of trying to do your own DIY just contact Tivo support. I was going to run through the various tests as listed on internet sites, but why when you have helpful service such as this.