RTBright...I'll send you a PM on the subject. Keep an eye out for it...

White screen

[QUOTE=studiostud;1379]Hello everyone. I'm glad I found this forum. Hopefully you all can help. My problem is similar to several that I've seen on this board. I have a Tivo Series 2 TCD540040. Right now it's taking the incoming signal from a regular "bunny ears" antenna because we haven't been able to justify affording cable. The output goes into an A/V receiver then to the TV. When I plug it in, the fans start spinning and lights come on in front and shows the "powering up" screen. After about 10-15 sec, the screen goes gray and stays there indefinitely until I unplug the unit. Any thoughts? Thank in advance for the input.


I have this same issue with the same model Tivo unit. I never saw where he replied with the info you asked about. Can you help me?

You have a 540040 that goes to a solid gray screen with no words? Could it be in standby? Does the light flash if you press a remote button?

Think your tivo is dead? Here's how to find out...

Correct. After the "powering up" screen is on for about 30 seconds, my screen turns solid gray with no words, . No, the light does not flash. I get no response at all when I push any buttons on the remote.

Safe to repair?

I'm having trouble with video playback jittering and then the program restarts. I suspected bad sectors on the drive, so I pulled them and ran SeaTools. Both drives are reporting bad sectors. Is it safe to tell SeaTools to repair them or will that cause other problems?

It may cause more problems, but really, that drive won't last much longer. These drives are in a fairly punishing environment, so once small problems start, they usually continue to develop quite a bit.

Help on 2 drive tivo

I have a tcd240040 which I upgraded with a second drive from weaknees couple of years ago. One of the drives is failing (I suspect the original drive). After reading these posts here am I to understand that you can't replace one of the drives? I was planning on testing the drives and replace the bad one with a replace 1 drive kit. Can it be done or will I just be able to replace 2 with 1 and end up with only 1 drive?

Thanks.....Jay

That's right, you can't just replace one and have the other one work. You'd have to test both drives and then reprogram the good drive along with the replacement. You can also replace 2 drives with just one...that isn't a problem, but you have to reprogram the 1 drive or buy a pre-programmed one.

wk-jeff
i'm a frustrated tivo lover i have a hr10-250 with segate 250 drive bought new from wk in jan. worked fine for about 6 months, now have the same problem everyone else has it will not get past powering up screen. Is It possible to send hard drive to wk to check it, if drive is ok can it be possible to format reload software and send back. that way i could eliminate hd problem or power supply. I have seen a lot of post all with the same problem could it be a software update problem?

If you're stuck on Powering Up, it isn't likely a power supply problem.

The unit should still be under warranty from us. Please email us at [email protected] and we can check our records for the order.

This may seem like an obvious warning-- but here goes.

After making your investment in your TIVO solution-- be sure and spend an extra $50-75 to plug it into a decent UPS device. An electrical surge killed my harddrive, and Weaknees recommended that I get a UPS right away. My UPS even beeps when there is a complete power outage or interruption, it allows me to put my TIVO on standby and power down completely. It's just a computer...if it isn't allowed to power-down properly, it can damage the drive. I found out my neighborhood is notorious for 5-15 minute outages every afternoon. I can hear the UPS clicking now when the current fluctuates (even if the power does not go out completely). I think this has saved my TIVO during the last year since I replaced the harddrive!

Fantastic advice; we even have a page about this:

TiVo Power Protection

Hi all, first time poster and unfortunately first time TIVO not working. I hadn't watched the Tivo for a couple of days. I sat down to watch and got the Powering Up loop. I unplugged the system figuring that it needed a reboot. Upon powering up, I got noting at all. So I took the unit apart. It's a TCD24004A purchased in Jan. 04 from WK with a 120 Gig drive upgrade. The first thing that struck me when taking the top off was the internal fan that was cooling off the mother board was definitely shot. Next I noticed that when I plugged in the unit, the fan in the back (powered off of the motherboard) was spinning, but nothing else was going on. Neither HD's were even going into standby. So I unplugged the IDE cable from the motherboard and one drive immediately started spinning-up. No data access, but the platters were spinning. Plug the IDE back into the motherboard, and the drive stopped spinning. The other drive isn't doing anything. The other thing I did was power up the unit, having everything plugged in, and pulled the power to the motherboard. When I did that the fan in the back stopped, and the one 120GB drive spun up. I occasionally get a flashing red and green light on the front of the unit. I suspect after all of this trial and error that I have a blown drive and motherboard. I was wondering if anyone has encountered these sort of symptoms and what they might mean. I know testing the HD's externally is a good thing, but we're a MAC house. Thanks in advance!

That does sound like a blown motherboard, but it could be a bad power supply. I'd say, try a new power supply and go from there:

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

I have two Tivos in my house. I had replaced the hard drive in one of the units last year when that failed and now it is working fine. Recently, the other hard drive in the other unit seemed to have failed too, cycling between the "Welcome" screen and the "Almost there" screen but never making it to Tivo Central. Well, I ordered a new hard drive, installed it, checked all the connections, and the problem has not gone away. I can't think of anything I've done wrong. I thought for sure this would fix the problem. Do I return the new hard drive you sent me to see if it is the problem?