# Do kickstart codes still work on HR10-250?



## HaRrrgh20! (Jan 22, 2007)

I have an aging HR10-250 that I'm trying to keep alive. It has been stuttering/freezing/rebooting. The last time this happened I was able to run the MFS disk repair using the Tivo Kickstart code 58. I also did a clear and delete at that time.

This time I can't seem to get the kickstart code to work. Has the sequence changed or has the functionality been removed?


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## Stephen M. Smith (Feb 25, 2004)

They still work for my HDVR2 w/same 6.4a software as HR10-250. I know b/c it had same prob.


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## HaRrrgh20! (Jan 22, 2007)

Thanks. I still can't seem to get it to work, though. Did you continuously hold the pause button? What lights were on when you entered the code?


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## Stephen M. Smith (Feb 25, 2004)

I do recall it being tricky to get them to work. Here's the info I grabbed from various places at the time:

Kickstart 57 – TiVo Diagnostics:

7. While the system is restarting, during the initial screen, press and hold the PAUSE button until only yellow light(s) illuminate.
8. Release the pause button and immediately type in the numbers 5 and 7 on the remote (you have about 10 seconds to do this step).
9. TiVo will reboot and the GSOD screen will come on saying TiVo has encountered a serious error. It will then run the disk management tool. During this time it will look for and correct configuration problems as well as isolating any bad sectors on the hard drive so they can no longer be used.
10. TiVo will automatically reboot after the diagnostic program has completed. This may take a few minutes to a few hours.


"Kickstart 58" is another of TiVo’s diagnostic programs. It runs fsfix with an additional option that causes it to make multiple passes over the inodes, re-hashing them and clearing collision bits.
Kickstart 58- TiVo Diagnostics:

7. While the system is restarting, during the initial screen, press and hold the PAUSE button until only the yellow light(s) illuminates.
8. Release the pause button and immediately type in the numbers 5 and 8 on the remote (you have about 10 seconds to do this step).
9. Put the remote down and wait. The system will proceed to the diagnostic program.
10. TiVo will reboot after the diagnostic program has completed. This may take a few minutes to a few hours.


“Kickstart 52” is an "emergency reinstall" of the software. It will reinstall the existing software on the alternate root partition.

Kickstart 52 – Reinstalling TiVo Software:

7. While the system is restarting, during the initial screen, press and hold the PAUSE button until only the yellow light(s) illuminates.
8. Release the pause button and immediately type in the numbers 5 and 2 on the remote (you have about 10 seconds to do this step).
9. After a time (generally a few minutes) TiVo will automatically reboot.

Kickstart procedures generally leave Season Passes, Wish Lists, etc. intact, however data and recordings that used any bad sectors may be lost.


Kickstart code 5 1 - software upgrade
Kickstart code 5 2 - emergency reinstall
Kickstart code 5 3 - BER testing
Kickstart code 5 4 - HDD test
Kickstart code 5 5 - Tuner/AFT test
Kickstart code 5 6 - software install
Kickstart code 5 7 - force MFS check
Kickstart code 5 8 - perform MFS cleanup
Kickstart code 6 2 - initialize E-SATA drive - S3 only


kickstart

While booting the power light will change from green to yellow as the line 'checkpanic' in the rc.sysinit gets executed. This happens a few seconds before the screen changes from the startup image to "almost there" and it's your cue to hold down a button (use pause) on the remote to trigger a panic. When the record light changes yellow, key in one of the following sequences:

0 - emergency call to tivo, touchtone dialing
1 - emergency call to tivo, pulse dialing
9 - emergency call to tivo, touchtone w/ 9 prefix
-- I suggest not doing any of these unless explicitly instructed

52 - emergency reinstall
-- this will act like you've received new software but will reinstall the existing software on the alternate root partition and boot it, particularly useful so you don't have to go trolling for backup images when your hacks fail.

56 - software install

57 - mfs check
58 - perform mfs cleanup
-- both of these will cause the green screen and various mfs checks


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## HaRrrgh20! (Jan 22, 2007)

Steven,

Thanks for posting the detailed info. Those are pretty much the instructions I had - and I've done it before - but for some reason I can't get it to work this time. I'm going to try again this weekend... wish me luck!


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## Stephen M. Smith (Feb 25, 2004)

It took me multiple tries before I finally got it to work. If I recall, the trick is the power light turning yellow -- you got to get your kickstart code typed in the split second after you see the yellow light.

There also wasn't any indication to me that the kickstart code was accepted. HDVR2 would continue to boot normally and only at the end of the boot process would the green screen appear.


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## HaRrrgh20! (Jan 22, 2007)

Thanks, I'll give it another shot.


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## vyachts (Sep 5, 2008)

My HR10-250 is having the same symptoms - stuttering/freezing/rebooting. I've already gotten a new HR21, but have lot of recordings on the old DVR I'd like to be able to watch. 

Thanks for the info on the kickstart codes. Will either 57 or 58 wipeout all of my recordings? Guess I'm about ready to try those to see if I can make it functional again. 

Thanks!


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## Stephen M. Smith (Feb 25, 2004)

Nope, no affect on recordings unless the chkdsk finds a bad sector on the disk that is used by a particular recording. Then the recording disappears I think.

The Kickstart codes did not fix my disk problems though. I had a hard drive that was just at the end of it's life. But, it was ridicuously easy to clone the bad drive to a new drive using directions at WinMFS for ddrescue'ing it to a blank drive. No recordings or anything at all lost in the process.


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## vyachts (Sep 5, 2008)

I tried about 1/2 dozen times to execute the kickstart 57 code the other night, but my HR10-250 always started up normally. I'm assuming you press the pause button during the DTV "almost there screen, not the first "powering up" or the last "acquiring satellites" screens? I tried entering 57 as soon as I saw the yellow lights.

Thanks for any other tips you can offer.


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## Stephen M. Smith (Feb 25, 2004)

It those lights that matter. As soon as they turn yellow, you type the kickstart code. Have you tried some other kickstart codes to see if they work?


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## vyachts (Sep 5, 2008)

I still have not been successful with the kickstart codes. During the "Welcome, Powering Up" screen, my power light goes from green to yellow and the record light turns on red at the same time. But I cannot get the record light to turn yellow as mentioned above. I've tried a bunch of different timings to enter the codes, but with no luck. 

Has anyone does this successfully recently? Thanks again for your help.


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## vyachts (Sep 5, 2008)

Bump - Anyone have any success on an HR10-250 lately? Thx



vyachts said:


> I still have not been successful with the kickstart codes. During the "Welcome, Powering Up" screen, my power light goes from green to yellow and the record light turns on red at the same time. But I cannot get the record light to turn yellow as mentioned above. I've tried a bunch of different timings to enter the codes, but with no luck.
> 
> Has anyone does this successfully recently? Thanks again for your help.


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## JohnDG (Aug 16, 2006)

vyachts said:


> I still have not been successful with the kickstart codes. During the "Welcome, Powering Up" screen, my power light goes from green to yellow and the record light turns on red at the same time. But I cannot get the record light to turn yellow as mentioned above. I've tried a bunch of different timings to enter the codes, but with no luck.
> 
> Has anyone does this successfully recently? Thanks again for your help.


Ancient thread. I'm seeing the same thing: cannot get the 57 entry to work. Can anybody confirm this works on the DirecTV HR10-250?

Jdg


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