Series3 eSATA Not Installing

[evan_silbert]

Hello,
I have just purchased a 1TB eSATA drive from you for my Series 3 (unmodified). When I plug it in and reboot, the Tivo hangs on "Welcome! Powering Up" and does nothing further. If I remove the drive and reboot, it boots fully. If I connect the drive after it boots, the External Storage option does not see the drive and says I should reboot.

Any idea what the problem is? Thanks.

[evan_silbert]

After 5 tries I decided to write that message.
After writing it I decided to try one more time before bed.

It worked! Don't know what is different now but it's working great.

Thanks for providing a great product.

[evan_silbert]

Scratch that.

I woke up this morning and it was back on the Powering Up screen and stuck :(

I could not get it to recognize the drive or boot until I removed the drive. Then it asked me to unmarry, which I did, and it is working as before, but without the new drive.

Is there something wrong with my drive or am I doing something wrong?

I am following the steps:

1. Power off both units
2. Power on drive
3. Power on TiVo
4. Wait (and wait...)

[WK-Michael]

There's no way that an external drive should prevent an internal from booting. But now that it booted, if you reconnect the drive and reboot the TiVo, what happens?

Also, what exact OS version are you running?

[evan_silbert]

When I plug the drive in with the TiVo on it does not recognize it is there at all. If you go into the External Storage menu it says it does not detect external storage and I should connect it and reboot. If I do that it hangs. If I pull it it boots.

I'll have to check the firmware tonight but I am nearly positive it is the newest. I bought the TiVo new 10 days ago and it received an update shortly after that added on the fly viewing for Amazon Unbox, TiVoToGo, etc.

Could there be something wrong with the drive?

[WK-Michael]

There must be something wrong with the drive - we'll send you an email to get it back here for testing. We've just never seen a problem like this where it keeps the TiVo from booting.

[evan_silbert]

Thanks for the super fast reply and service. I got the email and I'll UPS it to you tomorrow. How long should it take to get a working one back?

[WK-Michael]

We generally only have equipment here for a day or two, but with the holidays it could be three or four.

[evan_silbert]

Thanks. It will be with you on the 26th. I look forward to getting it back.

[WK-Michael]

OK - we're pretty curious to see it also, given the problems.

[evan_silbert]

Just thought I would let you know that after several days with the new drive, all seems to be well.

I plugged it in, rebooted, went through the setup, and it worked the first time. No problems since (fingers crossed).

Thanks for the great service.

[WK-Michael]

Great - glad to hear it! Tell us if problems come back.

[ndimauro]

Hi Guys,

I'm having a similar issue. I also have a new Tivo Series 3 HD and the eSata 1TB external drive.

1. I power down the tivo
2. Connect the external drive
3. Power up the external drive and wait at least a full minute for spin-up
4. Power up the Tivo
5. Tivo boots and runs through the introduction video
6. The "Tivo Central" screen is then presented. Note: I'm never presented with the "configure external storage" screen.
7. I navigate to "External Storage" option in "Settings" and one of two things occur:

A. The system crashes and simply reboots
B. The "External Storage" screen states that no external device has been found, etc.

[WK-Michael]

Which exact TiVo model do you have? The TiVo HD and the TiVo Series3 react differently in this situation.