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Bought a Series 2 with a lifetime activation in 2003. One afternoon my playback started stuttering and skipping. I thought that maybe the cable box was just stuttering while playing the program, but the stuttering was happening when I fast forwarded, and even the background animation in the main menu started freezing. My heart sank. My trusty and loyal friend of 6 years was dying. It was bound to happen some day, but that doesn't make it any easier.
I had be laboring under the misconception that my TiVo was overheating. I pulled it out of the entertainment center, pulled the cover off and put a fan blowing directly on the motherboard. Well into the denial phase I booted my TiVo up with smug satisfaction and prepared to make a post to There I Fixed It. It soon became apparent that I had solved nothing.
My first instinct was that maybe this was a good thing. I can sell the unit on eBay and buy myself a brand new TiVo. I figured the lifetime activation would be valuable. But units as old as mine, with lifetime activations AND still working hard drives were only going for little more than $60.
After some searching I came across Hinsdale preloaded drop in solutions. Looked like exactly what I needed. I was a little put off by the ordering pages. Looked a little dodgy, but after poking around a little bit I got the impression that the lack of polish was because it was a low key customer front to a serious business TiVo modding and upgrade community.
So I took a chance and bought the biggest hard drive I could fit into my old unit. I bought a fan too because what the hell.
I received an order confirmation, but didn't receive a shipment notification or UPS tracking number. This was a little unsettling as I noticed the amount was charged to my credit card, and the initial order confirmation didn't have any contact details on it.
I emailed an address I found somewhere on the site and received a confirmation of shipment and my UPS tracking number less than a day later.
The package arrived in great condition. Every thing was securely packed, and there would be little chance for any type of damage to occur. Professional instructions were included, but weren't really necessary because the procedure is pretty straight forward. A special adapter was included to allow the new drive to fit into the TiVo. The instruction sheet that came with this adapter was a little confusing. The wording could be cleared up. There was a lot of mention about "cables" and "jumpers" that were not included in my box and made me wonder if I was missing pieces (I was not missing anything).
The drop in was simple. Unfortunately, the unit did not boot after I had everything installed. This made me rush back to confusing adapter insert and again fueled my fears that I was missing pieces.
I called my brother, who is much better at computer hardware than I am, and told him about my "missing jumper cable" problem. He said he had no idea what I was talking about and to stop calling him. I unplugged and reseated all the cables. The unit still wouldn't boot. I went to these forums and searched for posts from other people getting stuck on boot up. Most of the issues were resolved with "jumpers". I again went to the adapter insert instructions and read them carefully. I came to the conclusion that if I had any jumpers, they would be under where the power cord connected to the hard drive. In a case of "even a stopped watch is right twice a day", pulled off the little black plastic piece under the power wire connection point. "Eureka! You must be the jumper cable!" I exclaimed. I deduced that this thing must have the job of making a connection between the two pins. I flipped it upside down and put it back on, made sure all the other connections were good and tight, and finally it booted and my TiVo is working again.
In Conclusion:
Website Design: 5/10
Price: 8/10
Customer Service: 8/10
Instructions: 7/10
Would buy again: Yes
I had be laboring under the misconception that my TiVo was overheating. I pulled it out of the entertainment center, pulled the cover off and put a fan blowing directly on the motherboard. Well into the denial phase I booted my TiVo up with smug satisfaction and prepared to make a post to There I Fixed It. It soon became apparent that I had solved nothing.
My first instinct was that maybe this was a good thing. I can sell the unit on eBay and buy myself a brand new TiVo. I figured the lifetime activation would be valuable. But units as old as mine, with lifetime activations AND still working hard drives were only going for little more than $60.
After some searching I came across Hinsdale preloaded drop in solutions. Looked like exactly what I needed. I was a little put off by the ordering pages. Looked a little dodgy, but after poking around a little bit I got the impression that the lack of polish was because it was a low key customer front to a serious business TiVo modding and upgrade community.
So I took a chance and bought the biggest hard drive I could fit into my old unit. I bought a fan too because what the hell.
I received an order confirmation, but didn't receive a shipment notification or UPS tracking number. This was a little unsettling as I noticed the amount was charged to my credit card, and the initial order confirmation didn't have any contact details on it.
I emailed an address I found somewhere on the site and received a confirmation of shipment and my UPS tracking number less than a day later.
The package arrived in great condition. Every thing was securely packed, and there would be little chance for any type of damage to occur. Professional instructions were included, but weren't really necessary because the procedure is pretty straight forward. A special adapter was included to allow the new drive to fit into the TiVo. The instruction sheet that came with this adapter was a little confusing. The wording could be cleared up. There was a lot of mention about "cables" and "jumpers" that were not included in my box and made me wonder if I was missing pieces (I was not missing anything).
The drop in was simple. Unfortunately, the unit did not boot after I had everything installed. This made me rush back to confusing adapter insert and again fueled my fears that I was missing pieces.
I called my brother, who is much better at computer hardware than I am, and told him about my "missing jumper cable" problem. He said he had no idea what I was talking about and to stop calling him. I unplugged and reseated all the cables. The unit still wouldn't boot. I went to these forums and searched for posts from other people getting stuck on boot up. Most of the issues were resolved with "jumpers". I again went to the adapter insert instructions and read them carefully. I came to the conclusion that if I had any jumpers, they would be under where the power cord connected to the hard drive. In a case of "even a stopped watch is right twice a day", pulled off the little black plastic piece under the power wire connection point. "Eureka! You must be the jumper cable!" I exclaimed. I deduced that this thing must have the job of making a connection between the two pins. I flipped it upside down and put it back on, made sure all the other connections were good and tight, and finally it booted and my TiVo is working again.
In Conclusion:
Website Design: 5/10
Price: 8/10
Customer Service: 8/10
Instructions: 7/10
Would buy again: Yes