icon256
12-01-2008, 04:07 PM
Alright,
Preface
I’m betting this might be a bigger issue and issues are starting to rise up in forums. Experiencing two hours of tech support and additional top level tech support with supervisor. Ok, so here’s my situation and solution:
Issue
Software version – completed update - 9.3.2-01-2-649 upgrade on Friday, November 28 th, 2008 was pushed down.
RMA Tivo
However it caused my Tivo series 2 DT (TCD649080) to freeze up on the screen “installing service updates…” I attempted to power cycle, change the to another wall outlet. Nothing. Same screen. On Friday morning, when I first noticed it, I left the first day for a full eight hour work day. Came back and it was still on the same screen and called tech support. Phone tech told me the same thing that just did, but for kicks for them, I did it again. On the phone, the tech mentioned that he himself came across the similar situation, and left it for twenty six hours, and it worked it self out. He describes it as it was upgrading and defragging. (I thought of this as BS, but moving on and believing whatever). Keeping what he suggested, then I power cycled and left overnight and waited twenty eight hours. You guessed it, same screen. Called tech support again. Got supervisor after being told by level tech that because of my hard drive, I would have to replace my Tivo for $149.99 (I could literally by a new Tivo, from retail or on-line; and not “refurbished”). My reason: I pay monthly service, plus the initial cost of Tivo. I was quite disappointed. Almost gave me no choice for the RMA for $149.99, and kept on repeating it over and over the whole spiel. I was determined not to pay the fee; I then, demanded a better tech and eventually got one.
Kick start
This next tech, gave me nothing more than the tech before, however, he gave me a Kick start code to do (did not work for me). After plugging in hold down “pause” (on the actual TV remote), wait for the yellow light from green. At this point, release the “pause” and (for one second each), hit “5”, “2”. Yes, 5-2 separately, yes, I confirmed this quite a bit. Do this within ten seconds of the green light turning yellow. This may take a couple times, at least for me. I understand this code works for most Tivo, including Tivo series three. Same premise with the lights.
Tivo partitions
There are two zone/partition for the operating system. When, new firmware gets downloaded, it automatically downloads to the second partition and switches to obtain the new firmware that it just wrote. The other/old firmware is backed up on the original partition. When and if it fails, this supposes to force Tivo to switch back to the other firmware and attempt again the next day. In my case, it states that is it “installing new service updates”, and freezes for infinite.
More Kick Start?
Using the Kick start code by the tech, it is suppose to force it to switch back to the backup firmware. You can confirm the code is working when the each side of the Tivo is two different colors. For mine, the green light on the left is solid and yellow light is solid. You can guess it again. It did not work for me. Tech told me because my hard drive was damaged and would cause it not to switch partition. For hard drive test follow the instructions in my summary.
More of the Spiel
Oh, no, back to spiel, however this time, the supervisor game me a “concession” discount of $79.99. Nice of him…but no. Got the case number and asked if I could use this offer at later date. Perfect. Time to take apart. By the way, you will void your warranty if you do this according to Tivo Techs.
My Solution:
Take Apart
Took apart my Tivo and moved the hard drive to my PC. When hooking it up, make sure any of your diagnostic tools do not change the format, or Master Boot Record. Also do not let windows initialize to hard drive. Otherwise you corrupt the Tivo format and will permanently damage and will not be able boot up Tivo without imaging with original software. Also if you come across bad sectors, do not repair, due to the same effects. Tivo is not similar format like FAT, FAT32, and NTSF and will ruin your format leaving you renderless. Ok moving on.
Total loss of the Hard drive
If your hard drive is damaged, replace to another drive with the same capacity or bigger. If you can’t find your particular firmware on-line, you will have to buy the firmware from http://www.dvrupgrade.com - Go to software tools, select your model, and download the Instantcake iso for your particular model Tivo. Follow their instructions to restore back the original firmware.
“Good hard drive, Good hard drive”
If you think your hard drive seems to be fine by technological stand point, try backing up with this nifty windows tool – winMFS. Or linux based, MFSLive. http://www.mfslive.org/. Use the quick guide from this site. Using winMFS, select Drive, and Backup Tivo Drive. This will not copy the shows, but just the actual firmware. Make the backup file on other drive. Hopefully you have a blank temporary drive to use quickly use. Restore the backup file to the same drive or another drive with the same capacity or bigger. When it asks you to use the expanded drive, say yes. Put the new drive in and boot up. This worked for me at this point. It will cycle and still say “installing service updates”, but move on within a couple minutes. And Tivo is back up and running. Your previous shows will exist on the list, but will not play. At this point, your choice to restore the backup file to the original drive. When you put in the original restored drive, again, most of your shows will be listed but not play. About 90 % of my shows did not play at this time. Put the screws back into your Tivo, put it back on the self, and your Finished!
Summary:
Who
Software version – completed update - 9.3.2-01-2-649 upgrade on Friday, November 28th, 2008 was pushed down.
What
Tivo series 2 DT (TCD649080) to freeze up on the screen “installing service updates…” I attempted to power cycle, change the to another wall outlet. Nothing. Same screen
Where
Kick start code to try (did not work for me). After plugging in hold down “pause” (on the actual TV remote), wait for the yellow light from green. At this point, release the “pause” and (for one second each), hit “5”, “2”. Yes, 5-2 separately. Other kick start codes are on http://www.mfslive.org/ in the FAQ section of this site. If want to use the onboard hard drive test in Tivo, hold down “pause”. Wait for the yellow light from green. At this point, release the “pause” and (for one second each), hit “5”, “4”. 5-4 separately. Use the remote to select on of the test. Most of time, short test is good enough to see if sectors are readable. If good, follow my instructions to restore original drive and or continue following.
When
winMFS - http://www.mfslive.org/
Using winMFS, select Drive, and Backup Tivo Drive and make the backup file on other drive. Restore the backup file to the same drive or another drive with the same capacity or bigger. When it asks you to use the expanded drive, say yes. Put the new drive in and boot up. Put the screws back into your Tivo, and your Finished!
Thanks
Credits (I would like to thank the following):
http://www.mfslive.org/ - I would not have been able to recover my Tivo without this using windows. And probably the most simple way to do this and free too. Also, full clone copy to another drive of the same or bigger capacity using msfcopy or msfadd for second hard drive.
http://forums.tivo.com/pe/index.jsp - A way to get started, well, at least this is the way I started to find info.
http://www.dvrupgrade.com - Instantcake to completely restore firmware. Would have saved me if need to restore a particular Tivo firmware and a complete solution for upgrade in capacity without loosing data/shows.
I hope this helps everyone. If any questions about this article, please PM me or e-mail me at Tivo@icon256.info.
Preface
I’m betting this might be a bigger issue and issues are starting to rise up in forums. Experiencing two hours of tech support and additional top level tech support with supervisor. Ok, so here’s my situation and solution:
Issue
Software version – completed update - 9.3.2-01-2-649 upgrade on Friday, November 28 th, 2008 was pushed down.
RMA Tivo
However it caused my Tivo series 2 DT (TCD649080) to freeze up on the screen “installing service updates…” I attempted to power cycle, change the to another wall outlet. Nothing. Same screen. On Friday morning, when I first noticed it, I left the first day for a full eight hour work day. Came back and it was still on the same screen and called tech support. Phone tech told me the same thing that just did, but for kicks for them, I did it again. On the phone, the tech mentioned that he himself came across the similar situation, and left it for twenty six hours, and it worked it self out. He describes it as it was upgrading and defragging. (I thought of this as BS, but moving on and believing whatever). Keeping what he suggested, then I power cycled and left overnight and waited twenty eight hours. You guessed it, same screen. Called tech support again. Got supervisor after being told by level tech that because of my hard drive, I would have to replace my Tivo for $149.99 (I could literally by a new Tivo, from retail or on-line; and not “refurbished”). My reason: I pay monthly service, plus the initial cost of Tivo. I was quite disappointed. Almost gave me no choice for the RMA for $149.99, and kept on repeating it over and over the whole spiel. I was determined not to pay the fee; I then, demanded a better tech and eventually got one.
Kick start
This next tech, gave me nothing more than the tech before, however, he gave me a Kick start code to do (did not work for me). After plugging in hold down “pause” (on the actual TV remote), wait for the yellow light from green. At this point, release the “pause” and (for one second each), hit “5”, “2”. Yes, 5-2 separately, yes, I confirmed this quite a bit. Do this within ten seconds of the green light turning yellow. This may take a couple times, at least for me. I understand this code works for most Tivo, including Tivo series three. Same premise with the lights.
Tivo partitions
There are two zone/partition for the operating system. When, new firmware gets downloaded, it automatically downloads to the second partition and switches to obtain the new firmware that it just wrote. The other/old firmware is backed up on the original partition. When and if it fails, this supposes to force Tivo to switch back to the other firmware and attempt again the next day. In my case, it states that is it “installing new service updates”, and freezes for infinite.
More Kick Start?
Using the Kick start code by the tech, it is suppose to force it to switch back to the backup firmware. You can confirm the code is working when the each side of the Tivo is two different colors. For mine, the green light on the left is solid and yellow light is solid. You can guess it again. It did not work for me. Tech told me because my hard drive was damaged and would cause it not to switch partition. For hard drive test follow the instructions in my summary.
More of the Spiel
Oh, no, back to spiel, however this time, the supervisor game me a “concession” discount of $79.99. Nice of him…but no. Got the case number and asked if I could use this offer at later date. Perfect. Time to take apart. By the way, you will void your warranty if you do this according to Tivo Techs.
My Solution:
Take Apart
Took apart my Tivo and moved the hard drive to my PC. When hooking it up, make sure any of your diagnostic tools do not change the format, or Master Boot Record. Also do not let windows initialize to hard drive. Otherwise you corrupt the Tivo format and will permanently damage and will not be able boot up Tivo without imaging with original software. Also if you come across bad sectors, do not repair, due to the same effects. Tivo is not similar format like FAT, FAT32, and NTSF and will ruin your format leaving you renderless. Ok moving on.
Total loss of the Hard drive
If your hard drive is damaged, replace to another drive with the same capacity or bigger. If you can’t find your particular firmware on-line, you will have to buy the firmware from http://www.dvrupgrade.com - Go to software tools, select your model, and download the Instantcake iso for your particular model Tivo. Follow their instructions to restore back the original firmware.
“Good hard drive, Good hard drive”
If you think your hard drive seems to be fine by technological stand point, try backing up with this nifty windows tool – winMFS. Or linux based, MFSLive. http://www.mfslive.org/. Use the quick guide from this site. Using winMFS, select Drive, and Backup Tivo Drive. This will not copy the shows, but just the actual firmware. Make the backup file on other drive. Hopefully you have a blank temporary drive to use quickly use. Restore the backup file to the same drive or another drive with the same capacity or bigger. When it asks you to use the expanded drive, say yes. Put the new drive in and boot up. This worked for me at this point. It will cycle and still say “installing service updates”, but move on within a couple minutes. And Tivo is back up and running. Your previous shows will exist on the list, but will not play. At this point, your choice to restore the backup file to the original drive. When you put in the original restored drive, again, most of your shows will be listed but not play. About 90 % of my shows did not play at this time. Put the screws back into your Tivo, put it back on the self, and your Finished!
Summary:
Who
Software version – completed update - 9.3.2-01-2-649 upgrade on Friday, November 28th, 2008 was pushed down.
What
Tivo series 2 DT (TCD649080) to freeze up on the screen “installing service updates…” I attempted to power cycle, change the to another wall outlet. Nothing. Same screen
Where
Kick start code to try (did not work for me). After plugging in hold down “pause” (on the actual TV remote), wait for the yellow light from green. At this point, release the “pause” and (for one second each), hit “5”, “2”. Yes, 5-2 separately. Other kick start codes are on http://www.mfslive.org/ in the FAQ section of this site. If want to use the onboard hard drive test in Tivo, hold down “pause”. Wait for the yellow light from green. At this point, release the “pause” and (for one second each), hit “5”, “4”. 5-4 separately. Use the remote to select on of the test. Most of time, short test is good enough to see if sectors are readable. If good, follow my instructions to restore original drive and or continue following.
When
winMFS - http://www.mfslive.org/
Using winMFS, select Drive, and Backup Tivo Drive and make the backup file on other drive. Restore the backup file to the same drive or another drive with the same capacity or bigger. When it asks you to use the expanded drive, say yes. Put the new drive in and boot up. Put the screws back into your Tivo, and your Finished!
Thanks
Credits (I would like to thank the following):
http://www.mfslive.org/ - I would not have been able to recover my Tivo without this using windows. And probably the most simple way to do this and free too. Also, full clone copy to another drive of the same or bigger capacity using msfcopy or msfadd for second hard drive.
http://forums.tivo.com/pe/index.jsp - A way to get started, well, at least this is the way I started to find info.
http://www.dvrupgrade.com - Instantcake to completely restore firmware. Would have saved me if need to restore a particular Tivo firmware and a complete solution for upgrade in capacity without loosing data/shows.
I hope this helps everyone. If any questions about this article, please PM me or e-mail me at Tivo@icon256.info.