That really sounds like a dead power supply. Replacements are here:

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

We don't know of any way to get the shows off without getting the unit to work again.

My problem sounds just like Tomeh's.

Series 2 TiVo, stuck in the grey "Welcome. Powering Up" screen on.
Power off overnight. Plugged it back in and got a black screen with white blocks flickering on it.
Powered off for a while. Plugged it back in and now it just a black screen with no lights on the front of the Tivo unit.

The fan, however, is running.

Does that sound like a power supply problem? Can the fan still run on a dead power supply?

Yup - we see units with bad power supplies all the time that still manage to power the fan. That does sound like a bad power supply. Power supplies are here:

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

Michael,

Thanks so much! This is just a note to say that I ordered my replacement power supply from WK, got it in a little under a week, simple install, and I'm back in business!!!

Thanks!

Excellent - glad it did the trick!

I have a Phillips DSR7000 that developed the dreaded stutter, which worsened over time until I bought a new hard drive from WK and installed it about in early Feb (5 weeks ago). Nearly all went well after that (some problem with season passes, but no more stutter, etc.) until last night, when the unit failed and tried to reboot. I have replaced the fan and made sure the connection to the new drive is secure.
Current status: fan works; on plug-in, drive seems to try for 45-60 seconds to get going; screen is gray "welcome, powering up" until that disappears to blue screen and cycle starts again. (Earlier today it got as far as "almost there" but doesn't seem to now.)
Is it likely that power supply and/or motherboard coincidentally failed so soon after HD replacement? Could the new drive be bad?

I have access to a functional TCD540080 for cannibalizing if necessary, but I'm guessing these parts are not compatible (of course!) -- any way to use this power supply to see if this is the problem? Other ideas?
Thanks! (And if this should be in a new or different thread, please advise.)

That does sound most like a bad drive - email us at [email protected] with you order number and tell us what's going on and we'll email info to get it back here for testing.

I have a Series 2 TCD540040. Last year we replaced the hard drive after the picture started freezing up, getting choppy, etc.

It started happening again recently, much to our surprise. We ordered another hard drive and just got it installed.

The freezing/choppiness is still there...especially on the network channels. (coincidence?) The fan is working.....

Power supply?

Thanks.

Could be a power supply or motherboard, assuming that you know the input cable source is fine.

If it's not the cable source, then you might consider this:

TiVo Repair - Flat Fee

I'll start by mentioning I think my issues are all a result of a power surge during a storm. We had lighting hit VERY close to the house and my landscape light timer transformer got fried. All these issues I'm having with my TiVo started this same time.....

I have a Series 2 TiVo and it recently started powering down & rebooting. it also stopped dialing out for guide info. I replaced the hard drive. Well technically I upgraded....and I'm still getting the same issues.
When I was going through the guided setup (because of the new hard drive), at it stalls at the test phone call screen, them get the gray power down screen, followed by the TiVo 'just a few more moments screen' while it reboots, and then takes me back to the beginning of guided setup.

Would this be a bad power supply? The modem wouldn't be cause this, correct? I need to know if I need to be placing an order here for a power supply or for a modem (or both).
Thanks

Sounds like you have a bad motherboard, rather than a bad power supply. I'm not sure a replacement modem would help. Do you have the ability to try networking the unit? That would bypass the modem and you can see if anything changes.

IF you do want to have the unit repaired, we have a complete repair department:

TiVo Repairs

Jeff,
How hard or easy is it to replace the motherboard? A friend of mine recently gave me their new unopened Series 2 (they've had it sitting around for a while), and I was thinking of using the parts from that if possible.

IF you replace the motherboard, you will lose your TiVo service. You really need a motherboard *repair* to get the unit repaired and keep your service.