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View Full Version : Tivo HD TCD633160 with suspected dead HDD.



Rossco
31-12-2012, 07:13 AM
Hi,

I bought myself a Tivo HD (back when they first came out) and was always too worried about warranty to open it up. Now the damned thing is stuck on the "welcome.Powering up" screen and I can't even walk into a shop and buy another one.
I've managed to read more on the different tivo models over the last 24hrs than I care to remember and was quite relieved to find this site. I'm hoping that, with a little help from the members here, I can get this thing sorted before it drives me and my wife nuts.
I love the simplicity of the tivo PVR and it would be sorely missed if I had to retire it.

Here is where I'm at so far:

"Welcome" screen is all I get. The drive makes a whir then goes tick, tick and repeats.
Contacted Tivo Aus for their advice.
Tivo finally got back to me with the old "Turn off, turn on" routine.
I have tried all the suggested remedies on the kickstart code sites.
I have the box opened up and the drive out.
The 1TB Tivo expander drive is out of it's case. I figure this drive should do.
I have winmfs sorted on my laptop.
The Tivo drives are recognised by the winmfs when connected via a spare USB HDD ( i just pulled the original drive out temporarily).
The first thing I tried with winmfs was a truncated copy ( saved to desktop) of the original 160gb Tivo drive which didn't work.
When trying to make the copy the program freezes and a dialog box appears. "GUI tools to backup restore expand fix tivo hard drives has stopped working".
I do not have an image for the new drive.

At this stage I'll take any help I can get.
It seems like all I need to do now is get a clean image onto the new HDD and I should be back in business. If anyone has one saved that would be a lifesaver.
If there are further steps to take to prepare the HDD (which is a full expander drive) I could also do with some advice there. I can't see any obvious format options this end.

Thanks
Ross.

Edit:
I also have a dodgy HDMI that needs attention. I'm not too shabby with the soldering iron and really have nothing to lose on this one. Any tips on what to look for would be greatly appreciated.

Enjoy your new year celebrations and stay safe.

Islander
01-01-2013, 06:17 AM
Have you found this: http://forums.oztivo.net/showthread.php?2588-Tivo-663320-Hard-Drive-Failure
Also Darren is the best person to ask about hardware problems. Contact info is in his posts on the above thread.

Rossco
01-01-2013, 02:06 PM
Hi Islander,
I contacted Darren and he responded straight away with all the info I needed. I'm in the process of preparing the new drive now and hopefully will have the problem resolved in a few hours.

I still can't believe how useless the tivo support response was. The members of this forum and Whirlpool have given me really sound advice.

Thanks for all your help.
Ross.

Rossco
01-01-2013, 09:20 PM
Just to update on the results using Darrens method. I'm watching TV again.
Thank you very much for all your help.