Sick TiVo — Healed

January 25th, 2007

Like most people that have one–I love TiVo. It’s hard to imagine watching television without one. Record the shows you want, watch them anytime, fast-forward through commercials. Sure it is mostly like a VCR of old, but it is so easy to incorporate into your life: ease of programming, season passes, no tapes, etc. A 1-hour show like American Idol can be watched easily in less than 30 minutes. See my review of TiVo from last year.

Since we had not be living in our house for the past 9 months, TiVo was packed away in the basement. Without TiVo, I watched very little television during that period and found I really didn’t miss it that much. But now that we have moved back in, a priority was to setup the TiVo. It was great in the first few days as we were without cable and Internet–all of the shows that had been recorded (mostly kid shows) were still there and watchable. My trouble started once the cable and network were back up and I needed to connect back to TiVo’s home base.

Since the TiVo had been dormant for so long, it had some catching up to do. There was a system update, and of course I needed to load the channel programming information. Things seemed to be fine, but I noticed that the programming was incomplete as it had been failing. In retrospect, perhaps the TiVo’s hard drive (80-hour series 2) was full and didn’t have any room to process these updates.

After reading about this problem (error S03) and possible solutions at a popular TiVo forum, I decided to try a fix by using a special remote-control button combination at TiVo start-up sometimes referred to as a “kick start.” After trying this, I got the expected “Green Screen of Death” (GSOD), and after waiting the suggested 3 hours, the unit restarted. However, the GSOD returned again and then continued in an unexpected endless loop of green screens and restarts.

Green Screen of Death

There is not much to a TiVo. It is basically a hard drive with media software, and everything I read seemed to indicate some kind of hard drive failure. I really wasn’t too concerned for any of the content I had on the drive, I just wanted a working TiVo.

There were a few options:

1. Buy a new generation TiVo
2. Buy a refurbished similar TiVo
3. Buy a preconfigured replacement hard drive
4. Buy a TiVo software program and configure a new hard drive

My TiVo was over 2 years old and out of warranty. I had purchased the lifetime service from TiVo which seems is no longer available. If I got a new TiVo, I would have to change my service plan to a much more expensive, non-lifetime plan. It seems having a lifetime plan is very valuable now, but not if your unit is not working.

I decided to give TiVo service a call to see what my options were. I spoke to a very helpful technician who indicated that the “green screen is very bad,” confirming my conclusion. He told me about choices 1 and 2. The new generation TiVo was quite expensive (HD, dual-tuner), and the new service “special” was also costly. This option seemed to add up to about $1,000. Very steep.

Option 2 was to send my TiVo back and get a similar refurbished model. For $149 I would be back to normal. Seemed like a safe option.

However, I did some research, and option 3 and 4 seemed viable. A replacement hard drive kit seemed the easiest. A new hard drive comes with TiVo software installed. You simply open your unit and replace it using the included torx wrenches. Simple for anyone who has every worked inside of a computer. For $139 I could get a 173 hour hard drive. $10 less than a refurb, and pver double the capacity! Sounded very good. I asked the TiVo technician about this option trying to understand the “official” position on this 3rd-party solution. After being placed on hold, presumably to ask others what was supposed to be said, the tech and I concluded that it was certainly worth a try. I had nothing to lose, for if it didn’t work, I could always send the TiVo, with the original drive, back for a refurbished unit.

I considered the $20 solution of downloading software, making a boot-able CD, plugging in a new hard drive into a PC, booting from the CD, and transferring the software, but it seemed like too much work and had potential for mistakes. If I was in a more daring mood, I might try it.

I ordered the replacement drive from weaKnees.com which seems to be the preferred supplier by my research. I used UPS ground shipping, and in less than 1 week, got my new drive. In the box: drive, instructions, 2 torx wrenches.

My 3-year old helped me unscrew the case. A few more screws to free the ailing hard drive. Unplug power cable and ribbon cable. Reverse operation using new drive. Done.

I reconnected the TiVo to the television and started it up. After a few minutes, a setup screen appeared as if the TiVo was brand new. Success!

The serial number of the TiVo is not part of the hard drive, so my lifetime service is still valid and I did not need to go through a reactivation of the unit. It’s as if nothing had happened, except now I have a higher capacity TiVo with a brand new hard drive.

If you have an broken TiVo and you have lifetime service, you should consider having it fixed, and I can highly recommend a replacement drive from weaKnees.

Entry Filed under: Digital Living, Technology

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