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DirectTivo acting dead, could it be the PS

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  • #1

    DirectTivo acting dead, could it be the PS

    I have a Samsung SIR-S4120 which I upgraded from a 120 gig to 160 gig when the drive was starting to fail. It's been good for close to a year. Recently it started freezing on recorded shows, sound stops and the picture goes to pixels for a couple seconds, then continues. This problem was getting worse.
    I swapped the unit with one from another room so I could work on this one.
    Upon plugging it back in, none of the front panel lights come on and the drive does not spin up. Nothing obvious inside the box. The fan (which is connected to the mother board) spins when it is plugged in. If I disconnect the ribbon connector from the PS to the main board, the drive spins OK, but no front panel lights of course. If I plug the ribbon cable back in, the drive won't spin, no front panel lights but the fan works. DirectTV will happily replace it for free with one of their DVR's, but I hate to lose the Tivo features after so many years. Any suggestions on how to trouble shoot this, or is it dead?
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  • #2
    You said, "If I disconnect the ribbon connector from the PS to the main board,"...do you mean if you disconnect the ribbon connector from the DRIVE to the motherboard, the drive spins? If so, then you have a bad motherboard.

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    • #3
      No, I never removed the ribbon connector (IDE cable) from the drive during any of the testing. Here are the steps I followed.
      1) Plugged in the power cord in - fan only starts up.
      2) Unplugged the power cord (back of unit).
      3) Unplugged the ribbon cable (without connectors on the ends) from the Power Supply to the main board.
      4) Plugged back in the power cord.
      5) I hear the drive spin up, but not the fan (since it gets its power from the main board).

      Hope that clarifies.
      Thanks.

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      • #4
        Basically that's the same thing...you should try connecting the power ribbon cable from the PS to the motherboard. Then disconnect the IDE cable from the drive and see if the drive spins up; if it does, you have a bad motherboard.

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        • #5
          OK, I tried as you suggested. All connectors in place plugged in the power cord.
          Fan but no drive. Pulled the IDE cable and drive started to spin. Put the cable back in, and the drive continues to spin.

          I guess that means it ready for the trash then, right?
          Of course I will keep the drive.

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          • #6
            OK, one more follow on question. Assuming the unit is brain dead, if I come across a Samsung SIR-4040 can I just remove the 40 gig disk and put in the 160 gig disk from my upgraded SIR-4120?

            Or would special configuration be required (like when expanding a disk, etc).

            Thanks

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            • #7
              You can, but you'll need to do a "clear and delete everything" once the drive is in the new unit to reserialize the drive to the new unit.
              Been here a long time . . .

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