Tweet
Two questions:
1) How can I tell a bad hard drive from a bad software installation?
2) Will the same hard drive/software work in two different Series 2 TiVos?
Here's the background:
I have two different Series 2 boxes, one a TCD130 and the other a TCD540. Both have gone bad, probably from hard disk failures. I pulled out the drives drives from both units, tested them using Seagate's SeaTools for DOS, and sure enough, they both report errors.
Next, I used MFS Tools to try to recover the system software from the TCD130's drive, and this apparently succeeds. I now have a backup from one of the systems.
I find a newish 200GB drive I've got lying around, use MFS Tools to restore the system software to it, and plug it into the TCD130. No joy. It usually hangs at the gray "Welcome. Powering up..." screen, although occasionally (10%) it will get to the "Almost there" screen before rebooting itself after about 4 minutes.
Finally, I try the same hard drive in the other TiVo. It also fails, getting to the gold "Welcome. Powering up..." screen before rebooting after about 45 seconds.
So... my question is, do I have yet another bad hard drive, or am I chasing a software problem? How do I know the system backup/restore went correctly? And is the same drive even supposed to work in two different TiVos, or is that doomed to failure and I shouldn't bother trying?
1) How can I tell a bad hard drive from a bad software installation?
2) Will the same hard drive/software work in two different Series 2 TiVos?
Here's the background:
I have two different Series 2 boxes, one a TCD130 and the other a TCD540. Both have gone bad, probably from hard disk failures. I pulled out the drives drives from both units, tested them using Seagate's SeaTools for DOS, and sure enough, they both report errors.
Next, I used MFS Tools to try to recover the system software from the TCD130's drive, and this apparently succeeds. I now have a backup from one of the systems.
I find a newish 200GB drive I've got lying around, use MFS Tools to restore the system software to it, and plug it into the TCD130. No joy. It usually hangs at the gray "Welcome. Powering up..." screen, although occasionally (10%) it will get to the "Almost there" screen before rebooting itself after about 4 minutes.
Finally, I try the same hard drive in the other TiVo. It also fails, getting to the gold "Welcome. Powering up..." screen before rebooting after about 45 seconds.
So... my question is, do I have yet another bad hard drive, or am I chasing a software problem? How do I know the system backup/restore went correctly? And is the same drive even supposed to work in two different TiVos, or is that doomed to failure and I shouldn't bother trying?
Comment