Tivo - Flashing green light

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minimoke

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#269674 1-Apr-2020 11:01

OK - I know this has been covered before but thought it worth bumping after a new experience.

So I was meddling with my Tivo and pulled the power cord from out of the back of the Tivo.

After meddling with all my gear I connected aerial, USB, Hdmi then stuck the power plug back into the Tivo. Got the dreaded Flashing Green Light of Death.

Unplugged everything, let the drive sit for a few hours and went through the same process. No surprise same result. Flashing Green Light of Doom

Googled all the "Tivo Flashing Green Light " threads and seemed like a fix was the old hot air blower over some chips. Not a simple fix for me since I am a bit tight for space getting the Tivo cover off and running the hair dryer.

Thought I would try a different approach.

- Unplugged every thing off back of Tivo

- key step!. Switched power off at wall and pulled power cord out of socket.

- Let Tivo Sit for an hour or two (not sure if this step is needed)

- Plugged aerial, HDMI, USB and power cord back into rear of tive

- Plugged power card (with power switch off) pack into power socket

- Switched power switch on at socket

RESULT = solid green light

Yah - Tivo back working again. Not bad for a modded older beast!

old3eyes

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#2452117 1-Apr-2020 11:25

I think the secret is to unplug from the wall for about an hour . I suspect it's to let the capacitors discharge completely.

Regards,

Old3eyes

Spong

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#2452222 1-Apr-2020 12:10

I'd say you got lucky. Unplugging for an extended time may help, but from experience the problem will likely be out of tolerance RAM chips(s) and may return next time you have a power cut, or a time after. Heat applied to the RAM chips via a heatgun will usually get you back up again until the next power cycle, but the amount of heat needed varies quite a bit. You may have to try several times before success. Hynix RAM chips never seem to display this problem (if fitted) and some other brands do. Replacement probably isn't economic. I have hot air gear, but when a used replacement Tivo is around $20 these days, it's hardly worth the effort.

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

minimoke

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#2525087 18-Jul-2020 11:03

Ah you are quite right. Sadly my Tivo has died.

I had some electrical work done the other day and the house circuit was turned off. Also had a couple of other circuits trip. Long story short when the power was all back on I ended up with the dreaded green flashing light. I tried all the steps above but couldn't resolve the problem.

Fortunately I had a modded unused Tivo so I have just spent the past 20 minutes swapping the hard drives over. I'd put a 1T hard drive into the flashing green light tivo - so that is now in my unused Tivo and set is now happily re-booting up.

Thankfully I had the spare tivo lying around!

(I havent looked but will this afternoon - but I presume there is still no box on the market that matches the Tivo)

minimoke

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#2525161 18-Jul-2020 13:13

Hmm. That kind of worked. Everything worked except getting the recording programmes to play back. Got teh #51 error. Oh well, clear and delete every thing and start with a clean drive

AFWgtn

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#3069413 29-Apr-2023 21:38

Hi, I've recently experienced the green flashing light problem on our modded TiVo and it has resolved (I guess temporarily) by heating the motherboard with a hair dryer. We also have an unmodded TiVo. Is it possible to use the unmodded device simply by moving the modded chip and the disk drive from the modded one? If so, would a complete electronic novice (me), be able to transfer the chip? Any special tools needed? Thanks

gregmcc

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#3069437 30-Apr-2023 06:51

AFWgtn:

Hi, I've recently experienced the green flashing light problem on our modded TiVo and it has resolved (I guess temporarily) by heating the motherboard with a hair dryer. We also have an unmodded TiVo. Is it possible to use the unmodded device simply by moving the modded chip and the disk drive from the modded one? If so, would a complete electronic novice (me), be able to transfer the chip? Any special tools needed? Thanks

Yes.but the unmodded tivo had the chip soldered on, unsolder this, solder on a chip socket, put mod chip in - this is micro soldering, you need some micro soldering skills and the gear to do this.

As far as the Hard drive goes, this is plug and play, you will loose all recording season passes etc as the the hard drive data is CPU serial number locked, factory reset is the only way around.

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AFWgtn

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#3069513 30-Apr-2023 14:29

Thanks. I think doing this is beyond me. We might have to get into the market for another modded device if the current one doesn't last :-)

Spong

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#3069515 30-Apr-2023 14:43

AFWgtn:

Thanks. I think doing this is beyond me. We might have to get into the market for another modded device if the current one doesn't last :-)

You could of course send your "un-modded" one up to me to modify. Full details at www.hillcrest.net.nz

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

AFWgtn

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Wannabe Geek

#3069526 30-Apr-2023 15:22

I have your details Dave and that might be exactly what I have to do!

AFWgtn

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Wannabe Geek

#3069528 30-Apr-2023 15:34

Also, when I moved the TiVo, the feet basically fell apart, crumbling into masses of little pieces. While I can probably find something to sort that out, is there any known good fit as a replacement for these? Thanks

Spong

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#3069548 30-Apr-2023 16:50

AFWgtn:

Also, when I moved the TiVo, the feet basically fell apart, crumbling into masses of little pieces. While I can probably find something to sort that out, is there any known good fit as a replacement for these? Thanks

They all do that. The rubber has perished as these machines are 14 years old. I have good stocks of self adhesive feet. They aren't the same as the originals, but do the job OK.

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