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Series 3 slow response, freezes, reboots now stuck on Welcome Powering up Screen

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  • Series 3 slow response, freezes, reboots now stuck on Welcome Powering up Screen

    My Series 3 TIVO started having issues around March of this year. Things happened in the sequence listed below:

    1. Voice and Video out of sync.
    2. Pixilation on HD channels.
    3. The background graphics would stop moving, then start moving, then stop again.
    4. Not recording entire show.
    5. Show broken into 3 recorded segments.
    6. Rebooting on its own.
    7. Frozen on a screen (any) and would un-freeze when I unplugged the Comcast Coax Cable.
    8. Tivo seemed to perform okay until I plugged the coax cable back into the machine.
    9. Pulled out the cable cards, did not make any difference.
    10. Now, it is stuck on the Welcome, Powering up screen. (on the front panel, there are two red lights on (left of the tivo icon, which is lit up) and blue and an orange light that are on, on the right side of the tivo icon.

    I logged an issue with TIVO, they said that they are aware of issues relating to the Series 3 (after a firmware update was loaded). But had no idea as to how long it might take.
    Firm ware version on my machine is 9.3a-01-2-648 (I wrote this down back when I could get to the information).
    This is an un-modified Series 3 machine (TCD648250B).

    Today, I was able to get it to boot up (once) and then it locked up after a few minutes, not it is back to the Welcome, Powering up screen.

    In your expert opinion, does this seem to be a firmware issue, or is it a failed or failing hard drive? I have been reading other message strings that seem to point to it being a hard drive issue.

    Thanks,
    Lloyd

  • #2
    That's all classic hard drive failure. I'm 99% certain those problems will resolve with a new drive. We have them here:

    http://www.weaknees.com/s325.php
    Been here a long time . . .

    Comment


    • #3
      Hmmm 99% sound pretty certain. I appreciate your reply and opinion.

      I have gone to the link and looked at the drives listed there.
      Just for my own edification:
      1. Are the drives pretty much plug and play?
      2. How does putting in one of these drives affect the external expansion port if I want to go that route in the future?
      3. If, for some unknown reason, it does not fix the issue, what it next?

      Thanks again,
      Lloyd

      Comment


      • #4
        WeaKnees to the rescue

        I received an email advertising replacement Hard Drives and a free TIVO remote. The drives were $20 less than they normally sell for, with free shipping.

        Well, Michael was 99% sure it was the hard drive, so I took the plunge. Here is the kicker, the drive arrived today, now, that is service!
        Great instructions and tools included, it took me about 15 minutes to open the case, replace the drive and get it hooked back up to see what it would do.

        Perfect, it started as is should have and I was able to get it and the cable cards paired and running. I bought the 750 GB drive which gives me about 115 hours of HD recording. (I wanted to expand the storage, but this is not the way I was planning on doing it.)

        Thanks Michael (and WeaKnees) for the great support.

        If anyone is thinking about replacing a TIVO hard drive, WeaKnees formatted drives are highly recommended by me. Quick and simple.
        (I say this because I modified, several years ago now, a Series 1 Tivo, added a second drive, and I had to do all of the formatting in LINUX on my PC, which was a stretch for me to do)

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Deskjockytoo View Post
          Hmmm 99% sound pretty certain. I appreciate your reply and opinion.

          I have gone to the link and looked at the drives listed there.
          Just for my own edification:
          1. Are the drives pretty much plug and play?
          2. How does putting in one of these drives affect the external expansion port if I want to go that route in the future?
          3. If, for some unknown reason, it does not fix the issue, what it next?

          Thanks again,
          Lloyd
          1 - Yes, totally.

          2 - Any drive larger than 250 GB means we need to do further expansion here.

          3 - If so, post here and we'll see what changes with a new drive.
          Been here a long time . . .

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Deskjockytoo View Post
            WeaKnees to the rescue

            I received an email advertising replacement Hard Drives and a free TIVO remote. The drives were $20 less than they normally sell for, with free shipping.

            Well, Michael was 99% sure it was the hard drive, so I took the plunge. Here is the kicker, the drive arrived today, now, that is service!
            Great instructions and tools included, it took me about 15 minutes to open the case, replace the drive and get it hooked back up to see what it would do.

            Perfect, it started as is should have and I was able to get it and the cable cards paired and running. I bought the 750 GB drive which gives me about 115 hours of HD recording. (I wanted to expand the storage, but this is not the way I was planning on doing it.)

            Thanks Michael (and WeaKnees) for the great support.

            If anyone is thinking about replacing a TIVO hard drive, WeaKnees formatted drives are highly recommended by me. Quick and simple.
            (I say this because I modified, several years ago now, a Series 1 Tivo, added a second drive, and I had to do all of the formatting in LINUX on my PC, which was a stretch for me to do)
            Glad to hear it! That is a pretty good sale, I've got to say, and we're doing it through the end of the month.
            Been here a long time . . .

            Comment


            • #7
              I had the same problem with my Series 2

              I had the same problem with my Series 2. I kept powering it off as soon as I felt the Hard Disks stop and eventually it powered up all the way. I then reset the system deleting all the contents (This took longer that the hour that was stated)
              after that I had to put in all my Season passes and things I don't want to record. I do hope some of the programs I recorded will be on again

              Comment


              • #8
                Sounds like you've gotten away from the problematic areas of the drive for now, but the problems may show back up once the bad areas are used again . . . tell us how it goes.
                Been here a long time . . .

                Comment

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