# Rebooting HR10-250. What's happening?



## rbpeirce (Feb 24, 2006)

In the past week my HR10-250 has started to freeze and get jerky. Lately, after doing this for a while, it will reboot. After rebooting it will work okay for a while, say 15 minutes to an hour, before it starts to do it again.

I was trying to record the Turkey F1 race this morning and got it in four parts because of the rebooting.

The disk seems to be okay, but I am wondering if there is a hardware failure going on. Does anybody know?

I may also have corrupt software. Is there a way to force a re-download of the software as one can do with an R15?


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Sounds like the HD going bad, probably bad sectors. Do you own/lease? Is it still under warranty? If so call DTV and get another. If not try pulling the HD placing it in a PC and run the WD diagnostics on the drive (if it's a WD drive as usual). If the diags show problems you can purchase replacement/upgrade drives from http://www.weaknees.com/hughes-hr10-250.php.

There is no re-download of software on the Tivo units.


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

This could be the classic symptom of hard disk failure, or soon-to-be failure. Can you still get it to restart when you disconnect/reconnect AC power? If so, and you value the recordings on your Tivo, you may want to act fast to replace or upgrade that hard drive. But try these tips first:

*** Note that problems like this can also be caused by AC power spikes or fluctuations. Your Tivo is essentially a computer inside, so you should seriously consider powering it with an uninterruptable power supply (UPS). Good quality 350VA UPS's are available for well below $50 and will power your Tivo for nearly an hour, plus they provide much better powerline isolation and protection than a surge protector.

http://www.staples.com/Catalog/Browse/Sku.asp?PageType=1&Sku=474045

*** Check your Tivo's internal temperature. If it's running too hot you'll sometimes see problems like this. Look in "Messages & Setup" -> "System Information" and scroll down a couple of pages to see the internal temperature. Anything under 50-deg C is usually OK. If it's higher than that, make sure you have good airflow under and around your Tivo. It's a good idea to raise your Tivo up an inch or so for better airflow. Some folks use pop bottle caps under each corner.

*** If your Tivo is a combination DirecTV+Tivo receiver, you should try re-seating your access card. Remove power, remove the access card, wait a few minutes, re-insert the access card, and reconnect power.

*** If you have a Series2 Tivo with v7.2.2 software and a network adapter, try unplugging the network adapter from the back of the Tivo. There have been reports with v7.2.2 where the network adapter causes the Tivo to hang at bootup. If it boots without the network adapter, then reconnect it and make sure it is still supported and works with v7.2.2 software.

*** If you're comfortable opening up your Tivo (which will void your warranty if you still have one), then disconnect and reconnect all the cables leading to the hard drive(s). Sometimes connections can work loose, or tarnish, and re-seating them will help.

*** If these steps don't help, then it's likely a hard drive problem. You can try a "Clear and Delete Everything" (in the Tivo's "Messages & Setup" menu). That might help the drive repair itself, but you will lose your recordings, Season Passes, and other settings.

*** Finally, if all else fails, then you might want to try connecting your Tivo drive(s) to your PC and run the disk manufacturer's DOS-based diagnostic utilities. These are usually available for download from their web site. Unfortunately they don't always detect all of the failures that can disrupt your Tivo. Some folks have reported success using the SpinRite disk repair utility available from Gibson Research at http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm or HDD Regenerator at http://www.dposoft.net/#b_hddhid

Also check out these sources of information, much of which you'll find in the Tivo Upgrade Center forum:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=25

http://www.weaknees.com/index.html

http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com/

http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to/

http://www.ptvupgrade.com/products/instantcake/

http://www.9thtee.com/


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## captain_video (Nov 22, 2005)

If you can get a copy of SpinRite you can usually fix the bad sectors on a drive and restore it to fully operational condition. I've had several drives fail the manufacturer's diagnostic program that I was able to resurrect using SpinRite. After runnning the maintenance portion of SpinRite the drive passed the diagnostic tests with flying colors. The one caveat is that SpinRite will probably cost you more than a retail replacement 250GB drive. The Weaknees drive will probably cost you more than a replacement retail drive and the SpinRite software combined. OTOH, there's always bittorrent if you'd like to evaluate the software before you buy it.


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## rbpeirce (Feb 24, 2006)

litzdog911 said:


> *** If your Tivo is a combination DirecTV+Tivo receiver, you should try re-seating your access card. Remove power, remove the access card, wait a few minutes, re-insert the access card, and reconnect power.
> 
> *** If you're comfortable opening up your Tivo (which will void your warranty if you still have one), then disconnect and reconnect all the cables leading to the hard drive(s). Sometimes connections can work loose, or tarnish, and re-seating them will help.
> 
> *** If these steps don't help, then it's likely a hard drive problem. You can try a "Clear and Delete Everything" (in the Tivo's "Messages & Setup" menu). That might help the drive repair itself, but you will lose your recordings, Season Passes, and other settings.


These are all things I never thought of and well worth trying before I call DTV. One of the problems I have been facing is I have stuff on the drive I wanted to keep. Some of it I wanted to write to DVD, but I can't keep it up long ehough to get a clean write. If one of the first two suggestions work I will be home free. If not, I haven't really lost anything since I couldn't get it off anyholw!!


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## rbpeirce (Feb 24, 2006)

rbpeirce said:


> These are all things I never thought of and well worth trying before I call DTV. One of the problems I have been facing is I have stuff on the drive I wanted to keep. Some of it I wanted to write to DVD, but I can't keep it up long ehough to get a clean write. If one of the first two suggestions work I will be home free. If not, I haven't really lost anything since I couldn't get it off anyholw!!


Resetting the card didn't work. Next step will be to reseat all the cable connectors. I won't have the time to do that for several days.

One question. I am having this problem on live TV as well as recorded material. If live TV is fed directly to the TV then this could not be an HD problem. OTOH, if live TV goes to disk first and is then read and sent to the TV this could be an HD problem. Does anybody know how this works? It might help me to narrrow things down a bit.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Everything you see on live TV is first stored in the live buffers then sent to the display. So yes, it is written to and then read from the HD before you see it. I'm still betting on a HD going bad.


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## rbpeirce (Feb 24, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> I'm still betting on a HD going bad.


I'm betting you are correct, but I am hoping you aren't. At least I am hoping I can get it to hang together long enough to get my stuff written to DVD.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Keep those toes and fingers crossed.


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