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Cods
21-10-2006, 04:13 PM
G'day all, my TiVo seems to have another issue, basically:

- one day, around ten days ago (I've been away, otherwise the loss of TiVo would have had me posting sooner!), the TiVo was fine (sound issue even sorted out, as detailed here (http://forums.oztivo.net/showthread.php?t=660&page=3)) - however, the next morning I noticed that the TiVo wasn't recording Rage as it usually is on a Saturday, and that there were about forty new messages (!) noting the IP address. As the only time my TiVo shows this message is when I've reset it, it looked like the box had reset itself about forty times overnight. Needless to say, there were bits and pieces of recordings during that time, but nothing longer than about 10 or 20 minutes. Then, as I was pondering this phenomenon, the TiVo reset itself.
- the reset went as usual, I surfed channels a bit to see if I could (yep) and then went into the menu system to see if I could manipulate them (yep, all good), and then after about ten minutes(ish), the box reset itself.
- I persisted for another couple of resets, then pulled the plug from the wall and packed my bag and went away. Back now, and have not plugged the TiVo in yet, because of the research I did over the past week, as follows.

I have searched OzTivo web & Mailing List (http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome) and also searched here in the forums. I've Googled quite a bit too, and taken a look at a few of the other TiVo sites listed in various places here.

What I have found is a bit inconclusive, but it suggests that perhaps my TiVo's power supply might be on the way out. Does that sound right?
I understand that my TiVo diagnostics are probably crap compared to the combined might of OzTiVo!

Any help would be appreciated - watching live TV with no pause or rewind function is making the wife & I rather twitchy! What the devil did we do before we had one?

Cheers, and thanks for your time.
Cods


References:
- Yes, I checked the twiki, and have mostly followed the guide here http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/view/Howto/HardwareTroubleshooting. Well, except for the bits about pulling the HDD and doing a surface scan / re-imaging / setting up a new disk / etc. Why haven't I done those? Well, from the rest of the research below it suggests a power supply problem. I may be wrong, if so, no worries, I shall hang my head in shame, and complete the steps in that thread verbatim.

- the reboot loop I refer to is NOT (well, it seems different to me, anyway) the type where the TiVo only gets to the startup screen and then resets (as described here (http://minnie.tuhs.org/pipermail/oztivo/2004-February/009229.html) and here (http://minnie.tuhs.org/pipermail/oztivo/2004-February/009229.html). My TiVo works absolutely normally for a short time, then resets.

- I hadn't noticed any brownouts or blackouts, and there were no other signs (clocks flashing, microwave time not set etc) to suggest that these had occurred (as per this post on the mailing list (http://minnie.tuhs.org/pipermail/oztivo/2005-January/021491.html).

- The twiki http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/view/Howto/StopRebootLoop specifically states (bolding is my own emphasis):
Update: First of all.. this howto is for a reboot loop, which occurs during your tivo booting, everytime you boot, before completing booting. ie, before you see "tivo central" your tivo reboots.

This does not apply to rebooting which occurs at random times, ie your tivo boots up fine, runs for 10/15 minutes, and then reboots. If your tivo has this behaviour, it is probably a hardware fault, and most likely caused by the powersupply failing.

This also does not apply to GSODs that do not complete. This is probably caused by one of two things, your disk is seriously damaged/dying, or you do not have sufficient swap space for the GSOD to complete. Fixing the problem of none, or not enough swap is described in FixSwapIssues.

Darren King
21-10-2006, 05:31 PM
I would not be throwing any suspicion on motherboard or power supply fault until you have either reimaged the current hard disk, or tried imaging a test hard disk (anything from around 4GB and up will do) and seeing if you have the same problems on a virgin install to eliminate any software glitches.

Cods
22-10-2006, 07:08 AM
No worries Darren - I'll image a spare HDD this week and give that a go... rap on the knuckles accepted!

:)

Darren King
22-10-2006, 07:52 AM
No worries. And no apologies required. I am happy to look at hardware issues but the test with another hard disk and a fresh image is the best route of diagnosis to save on unnecessary shipping :)

Cods
25-03-2007, 06:49 PM
After roughly four months of using my work laptop for everything, I got up off my bum and fixed my home PC (new motherboard needed) so that I could image a couple of HDDs and get the TiVo working again. In the meantime, a new image (ozTiVo_installer_Philips_1.6.2_20061106) has hit the streets, which is nice.

The same day as I fixed my PC, a mate (also in Brisbane) called me to ask if I might be able to help him - his TiVo was rebooting constantly... sounded familiar... same symptoms as mine exhibited when I started this thread.

A long story short, re-imaging has fixed the rebooting problem for both of us. Yay.

So kids, follow the destructions, and don't second-guess the process until you've done everything in the troubleshooting guide. That way you don't do what I did, and annoy the helpful folks until there's a real problem to solve.

Cheers,

petestrash
25-03-2007, 08:35 PM
Glad to hear you have it working. If you haven't already, make sure you use the update command to bring the image up to the latest spec.

Improvement are done regularly and there have been many since the ISO was released, in fact the last update I did was today to add some logging for the daylight savings changes.

Peter.

Cods
29-03-2007, 12:48 PM
... now I feel like some sort of whiny problem child.

I got around to checking a bunch of the recordings made since the re-imaging of the TiVo on the weekend, and the problem that I noted in my posts in this thread (TiVo Losing Sound (http://forums.oztivo.net/showthread.php?t=660&page=2&highlight=palmod)) has reared its ugly head again.

That is;
- the problem occurs on any channel - not just ABC (although so far I've seen the problem on ABC and Channel 10)
- the first recording made on channel X is OK, as long as the TiVo has had to change from another channel Y, to channel X to start recording
- any and all subsequent recordings made on channel X have no sound
- changing channel makes the sound come back

What I've done:
- obviously, last weekend I re-imaged the TiVo HDD
- after noting the sound loss problem, I went through the process (detailed in the HowTo here (http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/view/Howto/UpgradingPalmodforLinuxNewbies)) of specifically uploading the latest palmod.o and palmod_config files to the TiVo

Unfortunately the problem still occurs.

As you can see at the original thread, last time this occurred, upgrading palmod fixed it. Not this time, it seems, although I've followed the palmod upgrade instructions to the letter (twice actually!).

Apart from re-imaging the TiVo on the weekend, nothing has changed - same TV antenna (a very good one), same quad-shielded cable all through from antenna to walls, same antenna orientation etc. According to the antenna installation dude, I have extremely good signal strength on every channel - I should have, too, as I can see all of the Mt Coot-tha transmitters LOS, and am only about 5 kilometres away.

Should I be tweaking something in palmod_config? Would it help if I posted a data log of some description?
Any suggestions (besides "bugger off, Cods, you're annoying!")?

Cheers,

Darren King
29-03-2007, 01:52 PM
Any suggestions (besides "bugger off, Cods, you're annoying!")?

So does the sound only disappear when a secondary recording is made on the same channel and this only happens for recordings made through the PAL tuner?

And to add to that: This problem does not happen part way through a recording and/or happen randomly while watching live TV?

petestrash
30-03-2007, 01:55 AM
Also are you still using the same drive as in your original messages, or is this physically a new/different drive?

Peter.

Cods
02-04-2007, 01:47 PM
Darren, to clarify:

I did some test recordings on the weekend, setting the TiVo up to record two consecutive programs on the same channel, then switch to the next channel and record a pair of consecutive programs, etc ad nauseum.

The problem has occurred on ABC, Channel 7 and Channel 9. I mostly notice it on ABC, as I have set up a whole host of Season Passes of kids shows for my son - and many of them are on, back to back, on the ABC in the mornings. As mentioned before, I now have excellent TV reception, a (possibly over-specced) new antenna, quad-shielded cabling and F connectors throughout the entire house. I have LOS every one of the Mt Coot-tha transmitters, the furthest of which is ~5km away.


...this only happens for recordings made through the PAL tuner?
Yes - the only source I have is PAL tuner. I don't have a set-top box or anything else.


So does the sound only disappear when a secondary recording is made on the same channel...
Yes - if (to execute the To Do List) the TiVo has to change channel, then the first recording on that channel is always fine. Second and subsequent recordings on that channel (mostly) have no sound. Once or twice the problem hasn't happened as expected, but mostly (95%) the sound goes.


This problem does not <snip> happen randomly while watching live TV?
Correct - if just watching live TV, and nothing is being recorded, then there is no problem whatsoever.
If, however, I am watching TV, and the TiVo goes to record something automagically - then the potential for a problem occurs. If I'm watching Channel X, and TiVo goes to record a show on Channel X, I lose sound - I've seen it happen. If I was watching Channel X, and TiVo goes to record on Channel Y, then there is no problem for that first recording, however see my previous point - again, I've observed this behaviour.


This problem does not happen part way through a recording ...
I think the answer to this is yes - if a recording starts OK (ie: with sound) then it is OK for the whole recording. If a program starts with no sound, then it's stuffed.

Cheers!

Darren King
02-04-2007, 02:30 PM
Well unfortunately I am now out of ideas for three reasons:

1. You don't use an A/V input and therefore cannot verify that it is not happening on the A/V input so I cannot ascertain whether this is a problem with the general audio circuitry or just a problem with the PAL tuner sound detection routine. When I set up images I always include the generic A/V input as a second source anyway as it is a handy feature to have.

2. You are unsure whether or not it happens mid-way through a recording. You could try a long manual recording overnight and see what happens.

3. I was sure this issue of "Pal-tuner-losing-sound-only-on-second-recording-from-same-channel" bug was squashed with the updated palmod released late last year which identified and fixed the bug, and the subsequent release of it on R1.6.2 as standard (and that since this software fix nobody else has reported a problem).

:(

Cods
02-04-2007, 03:28 PM
Bugger.

Perhaps I'll start from scratch and try everything again this weekend.

Thanks anyway Darren!