I'll bet it does - but please post back after you install it.

I installed it, and it seems to be working fine again. Thanks for the help!

Excellent! Glad to hear it.

My Tivo Series 3 has worked perfectly for 5 years. I plugged in an unpowered Belkin usb hub (not the Tivo specified one) into the unit in the mistaken belief that I would need a hub to connect a Western Digital hard drive expander (found out about the eSata port too late). After disconnecting the usb hub and all other cables and manually restarting my Tivo, it would power up but then reboot somewhere near the THX screen. I ran the kickstart 54 test and found no hard drive problems. After exiting the test, Tivo continued the startup process and finished. Everything worked perfectly. I then installed the WD hard drive expander and restarted Tivo. It again would restart when reaching the THX screen. I did the kickstart test and Tivo booted up normally. Tivo continues to function normally. I really do not think I have a hard drive or power supply problem. Could it be an HDMI cable issue? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Sounds like the external drive is pretty clearly the problem, no? Is it brand new? Have you tested it?

We *constantly* hear of problems with that WD Expander. We use similar internal drives, so we suspect that case is causing problem.

I have the exact problem described in the original post: my Series3 TiVo (TCD648250B, I think) behaved fine for years, then we had a power outage. Ever since, it's been freezing or restarting unpredictably.

I tried the CableCard-related steps in the original post but it didn't help.

Points that may nor may not be relevant:

*The TiVo was in the middle of processing the results of connecting to TiVo at the time the power went out. I was sitting there watching it process the data (last step). It's connected & completed many times since, though.

*I have a WD external expander. Everything works fine though, watching & recording and navigating - generally the freezes and restarts happen when I'm not watching.

*Sometimes the reboot sticks on the "waiting to power up" and I have to unplug/replug to get it to start up successfully. Then it starts up fine.

*When it freezes rather than rebooting, there is often a weird tint to the screen.

Any ideas on the best next step for diagnosing the problem?

You should try the kickstart 54 tests. Everything you've said leads me to believe one or both of your hard drives are failing:

http://www.weaknees.com/54

Ok I ran the S.M.A.R.T. tests and the first four all said "Passed." The last test (Off-line scan) said "No Start" for primary and "Done" for secondary. I'm not sure how to interpret that.

I ran the overnight test next. It ran fine for a couple hours, then I went to bed. In the morning the TiVo was stuck trying to restart. Should I just run that again?

Sounds like the primary drive is bad - I'd try to run the test again.

I tried twice more to run the overnight test, it crashed both times. Should I run the S.M.A.R.T. test again, or is it just time to replace the internal drive?

I really think you should just replace the internal drive at this point.

SMART Testing Now ... Next Steps

This site has been amazing. Thank you all ...

My issue... Series3 (648-0001-8026-xxxx) began spontaneously rebooting last night (in service since 01/2007 -- all original, no secondary drive, case has never been opened). No power event, no other obvious external issues. I am a TWC customer with two cable cards and a tuning adapter. TiVo would restart, boot and then restart before coming all the way up.

After quite a few attempts to leverage the Kickstart codes, I finally was able to get Kickstart 54 running via the pause button on the TiVo itself (could not get the timing correct with the remote). I am currently in the middle of the 90-minute "Extended test" -- first three tests have passed.

I was hoping to get some troubleshooting tips to eliminate known-goods as a means to have some confidence in the root cause.

Assuming the Kickstart 54 completes with "Pass" on all tests, is it fair to assume that this issue is NOT my HDD?

Is there some value is seeing if the unit boots normally with one, or both of the cable cards (and tuning adapter?) removed? Will that be indicative of a failing power supply?

I know I could remove the case and perform a visual inspection of the drive and capacitors, but the unit is wired into a cabinet and is not easily removed... I'd prefer to leave physical removal and case opening till last, if possible.

Any other things I can try to better narrow the field of issues?

Thoughts?

Troubleshooting isn't always convenient...but you need to inspect your power supply. See also:

http://www.weaknees.com/bps

My Series 3 TiVo is also sick and suffering with this reboot issue.

4 months ago, I started getting some partial recordings. after talking with TiVo, they gave me some steps to try involving removing and reinserting the CableCards. I found I could reliably get the Cablecard in slot 1 to work, but if I put a card in slot 2 then the TiVo would not complete booting. When booting, the first TiVo screen appears, but when it should change to "just a few minutes more", it reboots.

I didn't have time to deal with the issue then, so I kept using just 1 Cablecard until Mother's Day when it would constantly reboot as described above if ANY Cablecard was in the slot. Somehow in talking with FiOS, the first cablecard was working again, but still not the 2nd, so they sent me a new cablecard.

The new cablecard is also not working. I have been getting bounced back and forth between FiOS and TiVo and have no resolution. And in all the things they have tried, the first cable card was not working again.

I found this post last night and followed the directions from the first post. I was able to get the first cablecard to work again, but still not the second. As of this morning, it is now constantly rebooting (with just the 1st cablecard inserted). From one of the other posts that seemed similar, I also took the cover off to check the power supply and it looks just fine.

One other detail...not sure if this is an issue or not, but when I insert a cablecard (either one) into the TiVo, the TiVo immediately reboots.

Any ideas where I go from here?

Sounds like a bad power supply to me - see this page for more info:

http://www.weaknees.com/bps

We've been seeing more and more reports of CableCARD problems that are linked to problematic power supplies in TiVo HDs and Series3s.