Bad drive or bad power supply???

[EKnigmah]

I have a 10 month old series 2 model TCD540080. While watching a show, the color drained from the image. A few seconds later, the image froze. After a few more seconds, the screen turned solid green and stayed that way. The unit would not respond to the remote (no yellow light when remote buttons pressed). I unplugged the unit and left it until the next day. When I restored power to the unit, I got the green light and the night light on the front. The orange and black “powering up” screen appeared for about five seconds and was replaced by a black screen. I don't hear any clicking noises but I do hear the fan and a shuttering sound as though the drive head is racing back and forth. I don't know if the problem is a bad power supply or a bad hard drive. How do I tell one problem from the other? If it is a bad hard drive, is it possible to transfer my programs and settings to a new drive?

Thanks

[WK-Jeff]

It is pretty hard to know from those symptoms what is going on with your unit. Typically, bad drives do not cause color problems. They might cause pixellation and freezing, stuttering, but would not cause the color to wash out.

Frankly, you could also have a bad motherboard...but that too is pretty tough to know.

If you unplug the unit now and plug it back in, do you get the black screen?

Do you have monthly or lifetime service?

[EKnigmah]

I just now plugged it in and SURPRISINGLY it booted all the way up. I noticed that a few of my shows are only partial recordings. I wonder if the partial shows are an indication that my TiVo didn’t just start acting up. I have two TiVos and this is the one that I least often watch. So, based on it booting up, would you say the problem is the power supply?

Thanks

[WK-Michael]

It sounds a bit more like a hard drive issue, but your symptoms can go both ways. Probably it makes sense to try a hard drive first.

[EKnigmah]

Since it is operational for the time being, I'm going to copy the program content over to my PC. If I replace the drive, will it be possible to transfer my seasons passes and thumb settings to the new drive?

Thanks

[WK-Michael]

Not really - plus it's not a great idea to try to copy what might be corrupt to a new drive.