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Today I'm experiencing a problem with my Series 2 Tivo TCD24004A, which I upgraded a couple of years ago to a 250 GB Seagate single drive. I walked by the Tivo and noticed that the green power LED was on, and I thought I'd put the unit in standby last night. Thinking I had mistakenly left it on, I turned on the TV to put it in standby, and it had the startup screen, the one with a blank background and "...just a few more minutes. After staring at that for a few minutes, I realized nothing was actually happening, so I cycled power (it's plugged into a power strip with a power switch to make that easy). When I powered the Tivo back on, I got nothing, no power LED, nothing on-screen, and nothing happening. But I can hear the fan running, and maybe the hard drive spinning. It seems suspiciously similar to the problem reported in this forum by mvdheuvel 5-18-2010. Is there a good way to troubleshoot this problem, or to check the power supply before buying a new one?
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No easy way to troubleshoot, but it sure sounds like you need a new power supply. -
Well, your prognostication was correct. I bought a new power supply, popped out the old, put in the new, and bingo! Back up and running just as before.
I had been having trouble with that power supply before anyway. The power connection at the rear main power jack was flakey, such that when I plugged-in the power cable, sometimes it powered up, sometimes it didn't. When I took the old power supply out, and inspected it, I found out why. A solder joint on the power jack underneath had become loose, it had separated from the trace.
When I got the new power supply, I inspected the solder joint for that power jack. Sure enough, very little solder. That's gonna be a weak point, so using a solder gun and some solder, I reflowed the solder under the power jack and added some to beaf up the solder joints. I also tightened the screws that secure the jack to the power supply circuit board to reduce flexing when plugging in the power cable. Others might want to check those solder joints, and jack mounting screws, when replacing a Tivo power supply. Couldn't hurt.
Thanks so much for your excellent and wise advice. I'm a happy camper again!Comment
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OK - interesting find on the solder joint. We'll take a look at a sample here to see what we find.Been here a long time . . .Comment
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