Have you tried running it without the CableCARDs?

Do you have a Wifi adapter plugged into it? If so, try unplugging that.

Next, you should try a replacement power supply:

http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-power-supply.php

I just replaced the hard drive in my tivo series 3 with two cable cards and the rebooting continues. Usually when I try to access something from the hard drive, but also at random times when I was not actively using the unit. What next? I really want to salvage this tivo since it has the three hundred dollar lifetime activation.

The most likely source of rebooting really is drive failure. So it may make sense for us to test the drive.

Other possibilities are a bad power supply, a bad motherboard, problematic CableCARDs (rare) and a bad cable signal (also very rare).

Try the drive in the replacement unit - that'll at least eliminate the power supply and motherboard possibilities.

You'll need this info when you move the drive to the new unit:

http://www.tivopedia.com/error-51-hardware-error.php

Upgrade and Rebooting

Michael - I recently purchased a 1TB upgrade from you for my Series3HD. The unit had previously an external WD500GB. At that time, it was frequently rebooting and freezing. Tivo replaced the box, and while I was waiting for it to arrive, I got the 1TB from you. Upon arrival, I installed the 1TB HD, powered it up for the first time, went through all of the setup. Performance seemed ok. BTW, the box has a Comcast M-series cable card. After calling Comcast to re-authorize the box, I was up and running. And then, the random reboots started again. And, scheduled recordings would be several partials. I called Tivo, and they are again replacing the box; it has just shipped, and I expect it next week. Question - is it likely I had a faulty replacement box last time? Is the 1TB drive faulty? How to further T/S once the replacement box #2 arrives? I did notice that the cable card is rather old, mfg date of 2007 - would that possibly be a factor?

Thanks -

Thanks wkMichael. I just have to ship this baby off now. I'm glad I found this forum!

I'm guessing you might have a bad hard drive. The symptoms do sound a bit like hard drive problems, but the issue is that when the CableCARDs are in the unit, then the unit can receive, record, and buffer HD. HD puts a lot more stress on a hard drive because it's 8 to 10 times the data rate. So it may be that where the drive can handle standard definition streams, it just falls apart under the load of the HD streams.

Oh, and before all this trouble, my Tivo S3HD worked fine for the past two years? Almost three!

I tried this and it worked until it decided it didn't.
Took out the cards, rebooted and repeated Guide setup, okay done.
put in one card, and it worked okay. Channels were all there except for premium channels.

Tried putting in the second card, and when testing channels, there weren't any available, yet when I went to Live TV it worked okay. (Except again, no premium channels)

Then, thought wow, cool! I only have to replace the cards. Talked again to Cable company and they tried resending the signal but still no HBO.

Everything was fine, and then it rebooted itself. Bummer!

Then when it came on again, there was no response to the remote. But when I remove both cablecards, the response to the remote works just fine. Everything works fine, except there's only basic cable left, and hardly any channels are visible. Also the reception is very poor.

So with both Cablecards removed it works just fine. So is it a harddrive problem? A Cablecard slot problem?

The Cable company says the problem is with the Tivo, and Tivo says it needs to replace the Tivo too. What do you think?

It's been quite frustrating dealing with this. I've had six calls to Tivo, and will have had four visits by the Cable company. They're coming tomorrow to put a Cablecard into the TV while I wait to send back the Tivo S3HD and get the new one. So at least we can watch TV while things are in transit.

Right - tests that show failed drives, clearly mean drive problems.

Tests that show drives passed do NOT necessarily mean the drives will work perfectly. The drive tests are not as harsh on the drive as the everyday operation of the TiVo. So drives that pass the tests may still not work perfectly - we see that all the time.

As far as trying a replacement drive option first, I'm often stuck thinking about the quote "to a hammer, everything looks like a nail." We sell drive replacements first and foremost, so we do think they fix most problems, and they really do fix the majority. But there are other problems with TiVos. Still, something like 90% of TiVo problems involve bad hard drives.

S3 Pixelation and Reboots

I recently had an issue with pixelation and eventually rebooting with my Series 3 TIVO. After almost 3 years of flawless service and heavy daily recording, I started getting pixelation - mainly on HD channels. After rebooting, I could get by without problems for about half an hour initially, but eventually I started to get repeating unsolicited reboots. I had an external WeaKnees drive attached, so quickly removed but still had the problem. If I removed the cable from TIVO, the reboots stopped. This allowed me to run through the TIVO internal tests, which all passed (including 54). I could also watch recorded material (HD) in this configuration without incident. This led me to believe the hard drive wasn't bad, and that I had other problems. After a couple of calls with TIVO tech support, they convinced me I needed a replacement unit. Upon arrival of the replacement S3, I took a day off just in case the cable card pairing didn't go well - which it didn't. After twelve hours with Insight Communcations techs (I'm convinced they tried everything the knew how to do), we couldn't pair the cards with the replacement box. After another two hours on the phone with TIVO, they finally took the unit back and refunded my money. They also reinstated my dead S3, which has a lifetime contract. This still didn't address my problem, which brought me to this forum. Long story short (too late) - I replaced the internal hard drive with a Weaknees replacement 250 gb drive and now I am back up and running with no problems (cable cards paired in well under an hour). I have yet to hook up the external drive again - I'll give things another week or so before proceeding to this step.

Two things of note for people struggling with this problem:
1. The TIVO internal tests don't appear to be 100% accurate. I'm sure these tests are very useful for diagnosing problems, but the passing results were clearly inaccurate (and confusing) in my case.
2. If I had it to do over, I would have tried the hard drive replacement option first - before going for a replacement unit. I'm kicking myself for the time I burned trying to get this problem sorted out.

Sounds to me like one of the drives is failing. We'd recommend a larger internal replacement - and then not re-using the external drive.

Replacement drives are here:

http://www.weaknees.com/s325.php

TIVO HD series three slow freezing grey screen etc.

After about a year of flawless tivo 3 performance, I was just about to buy a second unit for the bedroom to replace the HD cable dvr, but all of a sudden the tivo started doing all kinds of weird things. turn on the tv and get a grey screen where the remote doesn't work. yellow light going on signifies it is getting the signal from the remote. So I rebooted it by unplugging the cord. Then it started getting really slow in response to the remote. then it would just freeze. hitting the remote would result in 3 or 4 minutes before it would move the tivo.
I have read some of the posts and it is not the cablecards, since this has nothing to do with the cable service.
The disk is quite full and has been since I got it. I have the external hard drive which is brilliant. It deletes programs as needed.
I don't see how increasing the RAM would make a difference since it has been this way since I got it.
The configuration has been exactly the same since I set it up, so interference would not be a possibility.
Tivo cust svc doesn't open for another two hours or so, I have to wait.
Help.

Those machines aren't hugely different, save for the drive space. If the unit you're getting is brand new, and if they aren't charging for the swap, that doesn't sound like an unreasonable deal.

Series 3 replacement machine

After 3 replacements for my series 3, tivo said they would replace the latest problem machine with a tivo hd. They would not let me replace it with an hd xl. Did I complain to the wrong person?

No - that model doesn't have inherent drive issues.

Information on testing your drive is here:

http://www.wkforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9

Just be aware that drives that pass manufacturer's tests can often fail under the stress of the video environment. The manufacturer's tests just aren't as rigorous as a TiVo.