Update: Well the Tivo passed the overnight automated test. I tried watching a recorded show again and it restarted within a few minutes. I allowed it to restart, but when it did; the external drive was no longer detected. I unplugged both, restarted them and it recognized it this time. I tried to watch another show and again, as soon as I fast forwarded the show, it froze. Now after 5 restarts, the external drive is no longer detected no matter what I do. I don't have a spare e-sata cable around, only one for internals, so it looks like I'm going to wait until I can try a chemical I use at work for enhancing computer contacts. I'll update everyone when I try the new cable.
Bob

Thanks Michael. I'm going to see what I get for the results of the overnight automated test. I'm also going to try to transfer a few more shows to the computer. At that point, I guess I'll have to disconect the external drive and see how it works without it. If it works, I'll buy a new external drive, unless you recommend a new internal, I'm just worried about any warranty I may have with Tivo once it's modified. I've heard stories about Tivo not even wanting to talk to you if you don't use their parts. The external seems perfect for me but I was worried about some verbiage on your website. Under the infor for "add/replace" it states that "When we make "ADD" kits, we use a different set of upgrade tools to prepare the drive. Years ago, some claimed that these older tools can cause some performance slowdown in very large capacity TiVos. After many years in the business, and with countless TiVos upgraded with second drives, we do not consider this claim to be accurate." Isn't this add on drive (external) the same (similar) as the Tivo WD Expander? I definitely don't want to slow down my Tivo if I add a Weaknees 1TB external.

Thanks again! Bob

That all does sound exactly like a bad Expander. You could remove the Expander (you'll lose most shows) and see if the problems disappear.

It's so long ago that I can't really tell what the diagnosis was, but we swapped out the unit, and the customer has been happy since.

Hi Jeff,
What did you ever find out about pninen's Tivo that he sent in to you for repair? repair number he listed was R207441. Just curious to know what you found.
Thanks!
Bob

Constant restarts as well.......

I'm in a similar boat with Twich. I have a Series 3 with WD Expander and Charter cable cards. The expander has been in use for about a year and a half. I've never had one problem since I bought my series 3 a month after it was released for sale to the public. About three weeks ago, the Tivo started freezing then restarting. I've tried to find a pattern/trend to this, but so far have been unable to. It occurs at any given time, though it occurs more frequently when I'm fast forwarding my recorded shows. It's so bad that the Tivo is pretty much unusable. The picture is clear with no missing pixels or haziness. The picture is crystal clear. I called customer service and they weren't much help. He said that they hadn't heard of this problem. I asked him about the kickstart 54 procedure and he said to try it and call them back with the results. I performed some of the procedures and here's what I've found so far: The short automated tests passed. The Hard drive S.M.A.R.T. tests had these results: Initial state - Primary and secondary passed, Short test - Pri & sec passed, Conveyance test - Primary passed, Secondary said no start. Extended test - Primary passed, Secondary said no start, Off Line Scan - Primary passed, Secondary said no start. When trying the "Test/dev/hda" quick test sequence, it passed. However, when I tried the same test on dev/hdc it restarted during the test. I then waited a day and tried it again. It restarted again.
Is this indicating that I have a defective expander? Also, all of the hdb tests stated that they failed due to "drive not present or not responding". Is this because there is no hdb drive on my Tivo?
I'm running the "Overnight Automated Hard Drive Performance Test" today and should see the results when I get home this evening.
I've tried to back up my recordings onto my networked PC using the Tivo desktop, but wasn't fully successful. The Tivo seemed to restart constantly during this. Only 40 of the 300 shows transferred 100% properly.
Sorry for my "newbie lack of knowledge". I just want my Tivo to work again and found that this forum is the place to go for answers. Any help would be greatly appreciated and I'll respond back with any results, positive or negative that I achieve.

Thank you! Bob

You've really got it right - if the restarts continue with a replacement, then it's likely that the problems are with the internal.

You should also consider swapping out the eSATA cable. We've seen some that can cause some problems.

I have TivoHD with the WD Expander for just over a year. It too has been freezing and randomly restarting over the last week. Sometimes during recorded shows, sometimes during Live TV. I've tried KickStart 54 - but the machine just freezes when I try to run the SMART Hard Drive Tests. So, I cant test the drives. I suspect that something is wrong with the Expander. In fact, I originally had an Expander for a week or two when I first bought the TivoHD and it crashed (wouldnt even start up) - so I returned it. This one has been working just shy of a year and given my past experience - I think its the culprit. I've already RMA'd the drive with WD and am waiting for the new one to arrive before sending my current one back. In no rush to loose all my programs, but this is very annoying. Any thoughts from anyone on my theories or similar experiences? Anyone else not able to run the Kickstart 54? I figure if the restarts continue once I've added the new Expander - then its likely the internal drive. Any help, thoughts, advice appreciated. Thanks.

Michael,

Thanks. I think I'll just stay with the 250GB replacement to avoid the pairing you would have to do. My external is plenty big enough.

Floyd

You'd need to send the external in before we shipped out the new internal.

Jeff,

Thanks for the info - one last question (I think). I was thinking of going to the 500GB internal drive, so your statement "we would have to get the external to pair it with the new internal" comes into play. Does that statement mean I would need to send the external to weaknees, or is the pairing of the external with the new (larger) internal drive something I could do?

Floyd

It's the My DVR Expander...

Michael, Thanks for all the help and advice so far. I've continued my research, and discovered the kickstart codes - TiVo reported "failed to start" for the external drive a minute or so into the SMART test.

I'm now trying to copy the data from the DVR expander onto a new drive to see if it will "stay married", as hoped.

I'd still like to get a 1TB internal drive replacement and attempt the copy/combine of the original pair, but I can't find 1TB drives for sale on your site, other than preprogrammed (and I plan to overwrite it). I fell into the trap of buying the WD10EACS, which apparently cannot be used as an S3 internal drive, so I am still hopeful of learning how to buy the 1TB bare drive from "the TiVo experts".

1. If you get a 250gb replacement, then the external will work as it did when you first got it, but you will lose everything that was on it. If you get a larger internal, then we would have to get the external to pair it with the new internal.

2. You can leave the cards in.

Well, after a couple of weeks with pixelization and random rebooting problems on my Tivo Series 3 HD DVR, I am pretty convinced it is time to buy a replacement internal hard drive. Less than a year old, too.

What convinced me was attempting your cable card trouble shooting described at the top of this thread and not even being able to get the Tivo to reboot once he cards were out. It would come up to the main Tivo screen, and, after a while and much hesitation, allow me to select "Messages and Settings". Then, no matter what I picked under M&S, the box eventually rebooted again. So, I don't think it is the cable cards, but more likely the hard drive.

Now that I have reached that conclusion (and the corresponding action - buy a replacement internal drive from weaknees), I have a couple of questions.

1. I already have an external (from weaknees) hard drive. Once I replace the internal drive, will my unit need to be put through any special paces to re-recognize the external drive? I assume I will loose all of my recorded stuff (internal and external), but will the external drive have to somehow be cleaned so that is doesn't start out with pieces of stuff on it?

2. Are there any special gotchas when I bring the unit back up after installing the new internal drive? Should I have the cable cards in at that point or out?

Thanks for any guidance you can provide.


Floyd

Well, I don't know what's causing the problem in your case, but I'm just shedding some light on the connection between OS updates and TiVo problems. Many people assume, as you did, that it's related to buggy software in the update, and while that can happen, it's very, very rare, and much more common is the situation I described above.

But, in any event, certainly a one-drive solution is prone to fewer problems, and it's something we recommend. You could remove both of your drives and just install one new, larger drive, and run that like, and it should fix any problems.