It's the weirdest thing! After not doing anything with the Tivo all day, my dh picked up the Tivo remote to try it again, and wihout knowing what happened Tivo Central was displayed on the screen. It's since been working the same as before. We didn't do anything that changed anything.
Does this latest event give any more clues as to what could have been (or may still be ) the problem, and whether this is going to repeat itself ? Wouldn't this mean that the drive can't be gone, or could it mean that the drive is 'going'? Or is that something that happens suddenly and doesn't come back? To answer your question, MZ, it doesn't stay stuck on 'Welcome' for more than a few minutes.One thing that I'm wondering about having any bearing on anything is that the HD channels are always pixellating ...could this be caused by the Tivo not working right or would this cause the Tivo not to work right? Thanks, San First thing is to check all of the connections to make sure nothing has come lose - especially the video connection. You might try one of the other options too, just to make sure the cable, or the connector on the TiVo or TV, didn't go bad - you have composite (RCA), S-Video, and component to choose from. (RF (coax) on the DVD units is only pass-through.) Since the front panel lights up and you see the 'Welcome' message, it sounds like the unit is getting power and the main board is probably OK, since that much comes out of the PROM and not the drive. You don't say - does it just stay stuck on 'Welcome' forever? Normally it will eventually change as the unit boots. And once it has booted it displays different things depending on what you do - going into Now Playing, the DVD area, etc. If the screen stays on Welcome permanently, or of it doesn't but it doesn't change in response to remote (or front panel) input, then odds are the drive is dead so the unit cannot fully boot. What you do then depends. Does the unit have lifetime? If it has lifetime then it is definitely worth repairing, as lifetime is very valuable. If it doesn't have lifetime, and you pay monthly, then you might just get a 'new' refurbished box to avoid the hassle of a repair. TiVo has a couple: http://www.tivo.com/2.1.1.0.ws.asp As do WeaKnees.com http://www.weaknees.com/dvd-tivo.php And if you search sites like Froogle or PriceGrabber.com for 'Humax DRT400' or 'Humax DRT800' you'll find more. You don't have to get a Humax either - the Toshiba RS-TX20 & RS-TX60 and Pioneer DVR-57H and DVR-810H are similar DVD burning TiVo units. Of course, you might also decide you don't need the DVD burning and get a plain Series2/2DT/3 unit. Now, if the unit has lifetime, or if you just want to repair it anyway, it is most likely the drive. You can call Humax, but if it is out of warranty (90 days) then there will be a fee to repair it. And they really just send you another refurbished box. You can also have it repaired by companies like Weaknees.com and DVRupgrade.com. If you're comfortable with PC hardware, or know someone who is, you can replace the drive yourself. WeaKnees.com and DVRupgrade.com sell ready-to-run drive replacements. You open up the unit, swap the drive, and close it up. At the same time, you can get a larger drive to have more capacity. Another option is supplying your own drive and imaging it to work in the TiVo. The best way to do that is to buy an Instant Cake CD from DVRupgrade.com. The CD has both the TiVo software and the tools needed to image a drive. You just connect the drive to a PC, boot the CD, and follow the wizard prompts. http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/instantcake_nomodel.cfm Supplying your own drive and using Instant Cake is less expensive then buying one of the ready-to-run drives, just more work. -MZ -- <URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org> Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me. "A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-852-2171 <URL:http://www.megazone.org/> <URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/> Eris
