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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
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    Murwillumbah, New South Wales
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    Tivo freezes at start up

    Hello All
    I have been using the TIVO for a few months now and it has been working perfectly however recently the power to the house went off and now the Tivo will not boot up. It gets to the "Your PTV Receiver is starting up. Please wait a moment" screen and will not progress any further.
    The HDD appears to be fine as it is recognised in Device Manager by my computer running Windows XP.
    I have tried to re-image the drive however with the latest image installer I get a "Drive Not Ready - System Halted" error from the Intel Boot Agent. If I use an older image then it works OK but I did not try to install the image as a) I need the later version and b) I would prefer not to re-image the drive as I have saved shows I would like to view. Unfortunately I do not have another drive to try.

    Does anyone know the solution to this problem? What stage of the boot process is the TIVO at when that screen is viewed? Could the problem be hardware related and not the hard drive image?

    Regards

    Phil

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Victoria
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    1,239
    Hi Phil

    The "Your PTV Receiver is starting up. Please wait a moment" screen is also known as the Boot PROM screen and is actually in a chip on the motherboard. You would even see this screen with NO hard disk connected.

    As such you are either faced with a few scenarios here:

    1. The IDE controller on the TiVo motherboard has failed. Unlikely however.

    2. The power supply in the TiVo has failed in a fashion that still allows power for kicking the TiVo into life but not fully. Possible, but unlikely.

    3. The hard disk has died. Most likely. Even if your PC BIOS can recognise it that is no certainty the drive is being read and therefore you won't get past the Boot PROM screen on the TiVo. Hard drives that are working fine and appear OK can fail after a power cycle.

    My suggestion, like I always advise, is to get another test hard disk and see if you can restore operation of your TiVo with that. It can be anything from 1GB upwards. If the TiVo still shows no signs of improvement after testing with another hard disk then you can then make a decision on what to do about getting the TiVo repaired.

    I understand you don't have a test hard disk but at the same time don't want to reimage your current one however you are going to have to do one or the other before an assessment on what the next step is. There is no other option - unless of course you have another TiVo to drop the current hard disk in which I'm tipping you do not otherwise you would have tried that already.
    Last edited by Darren King; 19-08-2005 at 06:14 PM.
    Darren King
    OzTiVo Repairs and Modifications
    If your TiVo requires repairs or modifications
    then visit: http://kingey1971.wix.com/tivorepairs

    NOW ALSO REPAIRING FETCH TOO!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Murwillumbah, New South Wales
    Posts
    26
    Hello Darren
    Thanks for the information. I sort of suspected the outcome would be I would lose all info on the drive but I was hoping there would be a positive outcome . I did not realize that the image would work on such a small hard drive. I have a 6gb drive that I will perform the test on tomorrow. If it is the Maxtor HDD then this is the second one that has failed on me now (one in the TIVO and one in my PC). I think in the future I will stick with Seagate.

    Regards

    Phil
    Last edited by Phil_C; 19-08-2005 at 08:06 PM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Victoria
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    1,239
    Hi Phil

    OK no problems. Sorry to hear you have had problems with Maxtor's as I have a TiVo running dual 120GB Maxtor units since I started with OzTiVo back in late 2003.

    Yes the OzTiVo image will work with small hard disks so the 6GB will be perfect for the test. Give it a go and let us know what happens.
    Darren King
    OzTiVo Repairs and Modifications
    If your TiVo requires repairs or modifications
    then visit: http://kingey1971.wix.com/tivorepairs

    NOW ALSO REPAIRING FETCH TOO!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Perth, Western Australia
    Posts
    3,037
    Quote Originally Posted by Phil_C
    I have tried to re-image the drive however with the latest image installer I get a "Drive Not Ready - System Halted" error from the Intel Boot Agent. If I use an older image then it works OK but I did not try to install the image
    If you are having a problem with the new installer running on your hardware, you could use your existing boot disk and just install the new image from ozTiVo_HDRX12_3.0-20050524.mfs.

    You will still have to manually setup networking etc using this method.

    Peter.
    Please search this forum and our Website for your TiVo questions before starting a new thread. Thanks!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Murwillumbah, New South Wales
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    Hello All
    I found the problem with the newer installer. The CD was corrupted. I created a new CD and reimaged the drive and all appears to be working now. I don't know why the original image locked up but I guess these things happen.
    Thanks again

    Regards

    Phil

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Murwillumbah, New South Wales
    Posts
    26
    Hello All
    Looks like I spoke too soon. I turned the TV on tonight and the TIVO said that it had overheated and had shut down. It said to turn off the TIVO and restart it which I proceeded to do. It is now at the same stage as it was in the first post. I will try the 6gb drive in it and see what happens. I am expecting a replacement 200gb Maxtor drive soon (only took 8 months for the replacement) so if this next experiment works I will install it in the TIVO.

    Regards

    Phil

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Victoria
    Posts
    1,239
    Phil,

    A TiVo will only show that message with the new image if the internal temperature got above 60C which is WAY too hot for normal operation.

    Now to give you some background, I test TiVo's all the time and as one of the things I do in my stringent test procedure I deliberately pull the plug on the fan to stop circulation and install a heat pad that gets the internal case temperature up to a stable 55C which I maintain for 24 hours of testing. A good TiVo will not stress at this test. As a comparison, without any added heat source a TiVo with no fan operationg in a "free air" environment (that is not in a cabinet) will only get to around 48C.

    I can tell you without a doubt that a TiVo running the latest image has also done a fix the thermo fan control software therefore your fan will spin faster above 35C thus drawing more cool air in. Your TiVo in a well ventilated area SHOULD NOT get anywhere near the point of shutting down due to heat.

    Given yours is, it suggests to me that your problems are stemming from poor ventilation which sounds like it has had a detrimental effect to your TiVo over a period of time. If you are lucky it should only be a dying hard disk. If not then you might be in a spot of bother.

    The reason why you have not seen this overheating message before (but nonetheless your TiVo has been SCREAMING for some ventilation) is that in the old software the shutdown threshold was 80C which was/is WAY too high for most electronic components which usually have a normal operating temperature range of 0C to 70C. This old 80C threshold for shutdown is what the default is on the USA image. Earlier this year it was discovered how to alter it and some more realistic figures were settled on and fan spin control improved.

    Yes, try the 6GB hard disk and get a new hard disk for the TiVo. But to stop future problems I would also be considering maybe a ventilated cabinet - or whatever else it is that is making your TiVo get so hot.

    Maybe you have the TiVo sitting on another bit of gear that is getting warm perhaps? The air intakes are the square holes under the TiVo at the front. Drawing already warm/hot air in through this air intake is no good for the TiVo either.

    If you are really interested in the whole cooling writeup you are welcome to look at my document here: http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/vie...CoolingS1Units

    The section on TiVo placement to assist cooling might be of benefit to you.
    Last edited by Darren King; 22-08-2005 at 08:43 PM.
    Darren King
    OzTiVo Repairs and Modifications
    If your TiVo requires repairs or modifications
    then visit: http://kingey1971.wix.com/tivorepairs

    NOW ALSO REPAIRING FETCH TOO!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Murwillumbah, New South Wales
    Posts
    26
    Hello Darren
    Thanks for the reply and the information. However there are a few things that do not add up.
    Firstly I am running the latest image and have been since I got the TIVO working after you did the PAL mod.
    Secondly the TIVO is located in an open front cabinet with plenty of air space between it and the walls. The nearest heat source is a computer monitor that is located on a shelf above it but has not been used in several months.
    Thirdly when the error message was received the TIVO was removed from the cabinet and the external case was removed.
    Finally the ambient room temperature since I have been using the TIVO has not gone over 25 degrees.
    Is there anything else that could cause the overheat message such as a software failure?

    I have imaged the 6gb drive and I will let you know how it goes.

    Regards

    Phil

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