Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Series 2 stuck on Welcome Powering up, event after HD replacement

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 1
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous template Next
  • #1

    Series 2 stuck on Welcome Powering up, event after HD replacement

    I have a Series 2, TCD240080, that has just become stuck on the dreaded gray "Welcome. Powering up..." screen. Its stuck on that screen even after replacing the HD. Details below.

    A couple of years ago (Nov 2014) I purchased an replacement HD kit from weaKnees. At the time another Series 2 I had, TCD240140, was having trouble and I suspected the HD. I purchased the replacement kit, rs500tv12, but never installed it.

    A week or so ago my sick Series 2 crashed and would not boot up. Stuck on the gray screen. When I applied power I could hear a few clicks from the HD, but then nothing. The fan was working fine and it's video was outputting the gray welcome screen. Front panel green LED was on. I let it sit for days with power applied and I let it sit for days with no power. I tried to power cycle many times, including changing outlets many times, but it acted the same.

    I was totally convinced that it was the HD. So today I installed the replacement HD from the kit I punched two years ago. I felt like the physical changing of the HDs went fine. The instructions pretty matched my intuition and experience on what needed to be done so I think I got it right. But now that I'm typing this, I am going to go back and recheck everything after I submit.

    I powered the thing up and it's acting the same. Gray welcome screen. Fan working. Green LED on. And after the initial HD clicking, nothing.

    I was so convinced that it was the HD and this would work. Now that I'm reading the weaKnees troubleshooting page more carefully, it sounds like it could be a power supply problem. I would not have guessed that since so much of the device seems powered up and working. I'm a SW person, not an EE so I'm saying that as someone who knows, just intuition.

    One thing I'm wonder about is that the HD replacement kit was originally purchased for a TCD240140, but I put it in a TCD240080. I don't remember why I thought that was ok, but maybe I'm wrong about that.

    Anyone taking the time to read this probably has already guessed that the Tivo has a lifetime subscription, and up till how has worked perfectly, so my preference is to get it working.

    Any help or thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks, Lee
    Tags: None
  • #2
    That kit should work in your unit. Those two models are the same for purposes of the kit.

    I'd guess it's your power supply. Very likely. We have replacements here:

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

    Comment

    • #3
      Thank you for the info and quick reply. I was on the replacement power supply page, and even had one in my cart, but thought I probably should add this one symptom before I buy. I didn't mention it before because I kind of forgot about it.

      What I want you to tell me is that either this does not effect your "guess" or that it helps confirm it.

      About two weeks ago, just shortly before the Series 2 crashed, I was having trouble with my home DSL modem/router. It kept rebooting. I went around and around and eventually figured out that it was my Series 2 that was the problem. By that I mean that when I unplug the Series 2 from the router, the rebooting problem stopped. It was shortly after that that the Series 2 crashed and never woke up.

      The Series 2 was connected to the router via cable (Series 2 to USB to a Linksys USB200M adapter to Ethernet cable to router). I do not remember where I got the USB to Ethernet adapter since I've been it for so long. I may have purchased it from Tivo, but I might be confusing that with the WiFi adapter. That setup had been working for years.

      Any more thoughts, and thank you, Lee

      Comment

      • #4
        I've got to say, neither I, nor anyone here, has seen a TiVo and/or an adapter that causes a router to reboot. So I don't know that I have an answer.

        As an outside, unlikely thought: any chance they are on the same power circuit, and maybe the power drag of the TiVo was causing the voltage to be lower for the router?
        Been here a long time . . .

        Comment

        • #5
          They were both (router and Tivo) plugged into the same UPS. They were both plugged into the battery backup side of the UPS, not the surge protector only side.

          Once I figured out the resetting the router problem, I have not tried to reconnect the Tivo the router. So all of my descriptions of gray screen and no HD clicking etc.... have been without this connection. I've also tried using a plug not associated with the UPS.

          I'm really close to just going ahead and ordering a new power supply, even though the odds of that fixing my problem seem to be dropping. I have another Series 2 and having a backup PS wouldn't hurt. Yes, I know it's 2016 and Series 2s are ancient history, but they do serve a nice non-CableCARD required purpose. It's a question of whether it's worth the money given the risk of it not actually fixing the problem when I can apparently buy a similar unit on eBay for a similar amount of money.

          Thanks again, Lee

          Comment

          • #6
            You can always try that other power supply in this TiVo, as long as they are the same (or close) model numbers. 240 power supplies work in any 240 unit.
            Been here a long time . . .

            Comment

            • #7
              Troubleshooting wise your suggestion makes total sense. The thought never crossed my mind because I'm just too scared of breaking something with the working one to even think of it.

              I'm not sure how I'm going to proceed. Like I said before, I'm leaning toward buying a replacement power supply and hope for the best. If that doesn't work, then that's where it gets strange (money and effort to keep something so old functional).

              Comment

              • #8
                I've tried a couple more experiments, without breaking into my working Series 2.

                First, I took the old, original Series 2 HD that I look out today and put it into an external HD enclose that I can connect to my PC via USB. The PC did detect the fact that some sort of USB adapter was connected, but it never registered it as a storage volume. I tried this with two different Windows PCs and it acted the same. I have no idea how those HDs are formatted, so I don't even know if the HD was working perfect if it should have shown up as a storage volume to Windows.

                Second experiment, I took the cover of the broken Series 2 off and applied power. There were a couple of different responses. The most interesting one is that I noticed that the adapter board that came with the replacement HD kit I purchased two years ago has two LEDs on it. A red one and a green one. The green one comes on and stays on. The first two times I tried this, the red one starts off, and after a few moments produces two short blinks, then one long blink, then goes off and stays off. After my first two tries, the green one comes on like before, but the red one never comes on. Then I gave up.

                I'm thinking that those green and red LEDs must mean something. The red one blinking like that looks like some sort of error code.

                Comment

                • #9
                  You shouldn't connect TiVo drives to Windows PCs, typically. Some versions of Windows overwrite important TiVo partitions.

                  Next, I do think, more and more, that you have a bad power supply. Your power supply can't supply enough voltage for spin-up of the new drive, which is why the activity light stops.
                  Been here a long time . . .

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Done deal. Power supply ordered. It was still in my cart from this morning.

                    I'm thinking that my plan when the new supply gets here is to install it with the old HD. The old HD is smaller than the new HD, but it's already configured.

                    I hope I didn't damage the old HD (data wise) by connecting it to my PC.

                    Is there any advice regarding running tools like SpinRite on a Tivo HD? As long as I've already got it out and I can't use it for a week or so anyway, it might be nice to "clean it up". SpinRite over USB is really slow, so it may take a week.

                    And finally, I take if I'm reading you right, that red LED is the access indicator and not an error code like I had said.

                    Thanks again, Lee

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      I truly can't remember what the LEDs mean on each version of the adapter, but I don't think it's a problem.

                      We've found that drives that are "fixed" with SpinRite don't really last much longer . . .
                      Been here a long time . . .

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        I feel like I need to document the final resolution to this for future generations of Series 2 owners.

                        I replace the power supply and it works fine now.

                        I did have a couple of hiccups along the way, but it was so long ago I can't remember in detail. The hiccups were not related to the power supply. The system did not pickup right were it left off after the original power supply failed (I used the old HD). Something on the HD must have been corrupted. I think in the end I had to totally reset the Series 2 as if it were new, but it took multiple resets. The initial resets didn't seem to totally work, but the next reset seemed to reset a little more. Yes, I know that sounds crazy. It felt like every time I did a reset, the menus would be just a little bit different. I was getting some sort of database error along the way. Eventually, one of the resets did the trick.

                        Comment

                        Previous template Next
                        Working...
                        X