# Help!!! Need advice on problem HR10



## Nolzman (Aug 29, 2003)

Help. I think my HR10-250 just died, and would like to know my options.

I currently have two HR10-250’s (both on 6.3a) and one R15. Last night my main (older) HR10 starting to spudder while watching a recording. It then became unresponsive and eventually rebooted. After it came back up it was still unresponsive or at least VERY slow, like 5 minutes to react. I unplugged it and let it sit a while, then let it boot back up. It did come up, but is still unresponsive. I did this a couple of times and it always comes up, but completely unresponsive.

Is this a Hard Drive failure, or possibly something else?

If I still want to keep the HR10’s for awhile, can I replace the Hard Drive? I have never opened the HR10, but I am an IT professional, so I don’t think it would be too hard. How do I go about doing that? Where can I get the DVR software?

Is there somewhere I can download the DVR software?

Is there any Hard Drive brand or speed or size limitation, beyond being an IDE drive? 

I know I will eventually need the get the HR20, but was trying to hold off until it was more stable and I was more in need. I live in the Atlanta area, so we have all the HD locals off the satellite, but I have near perfect OTA reception. So, until more mpeg4 channels are introduced I have no real need. 

Can I get DTV to replace both my HR10’s and upgrade to the Slimline dish for free or minimal cost???


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## hiker (Mar 1, 2006)

This will reimage your drive InstantCake.
You can also buy preimaged hard drives on eBay, Weaknees, PTVupgrade, etc. Make sure you get a quiet drive if noise is a problem. Also call D* to see what they will do for you but they will probably replace the HR10 with a HR20.


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

This could be the classic symptom of hard disk failure, or soon-to-be failure. 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.

*** 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.

*** 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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## Nolzman (Aug 29, 2003)

Update:

Well... the DVR appeared to come back on it's own the next day (yesterday). Then last night it started acting up again, and then again this morning. I had to unplug it several times. 

So I decided to "Clear and Delete Everything". Well....that's been running for over 12 hours!!!!

How long can a "Clear and Delete Everything" take. I've this box for over two years and never had to do this. As a matter of fact, I never any problems until the 6.3a upgrade. 

Since 6.3 I have experienced the partial and missed recordings, the audio drops, and re-boots. Now it appears to have killed by Tivo.

I think DTV owes me something. I paid $1000 for this box.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

It's the hard drive. C&DE doesn't take 12 hours. You can buy a new HD yourself and do as mentioned above and reimage with InstantCake, or if it's still under warranty (HR10s have a one year warranty versus 90 days with the HR20) get DTV to replace it, or if you have the DTV protection plan they will replace it free of charge. If you paid $1000 for it I'd guess it's more than a year old, so you options are probably fix it yourself or get DTV to replace it under the protection plan. In which case you will probably get a HR20.

That's also assuming you're tired everything else litzdog911 mentioned.

6.3 didn't kill your Tivo.


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## Nolzman (Aug 29, 2003)

Update 2:

Well…. The DVR is definitely dead. The good news is that it was an HR10-250 that I bought from Value Electronics and it was under the 5-year warranty. So I should be able to get it replaced, but only with an HR20.

So I called DTV, and they said they could replace my HR10 with another one. I really don’t believe that I would receive a HR10. Has anyone got an HR10-250 replaced with another recently??

At first, the DTV CSR said they would upgrade my bad box for $299.00… yea right. So I complained and said I was told that the HR10 would be replaced with the HR20 for free. She eventually said she could upgrade one of my two HR10’s with a HR20, new 5 LNB dish, etc… for $99. So the last offer from DTV was for a replacement HR10-250 and to upgrade my other HR10-250 with an HR20 for a total of $99 plus shipping.

But since I should be able to get an HR20 for the dead HR10-250 under the warranty, I could end up with two HR20’s, with the dish, etc…. for $99.00. One from DTV and one from the warranty company. Or I could simply get DTV to replace the dead HR10-250 for free ($19.995 S & H) and keep my current set up.

What should I do????  Should I simply have them replace the HR10-250 (supposedly) and keep my current set up or go ahead and do the complete upgrade? By the way, I currently get near perfect reception on my OTA, so I have no pressing need for the HR20. I love my TIVO, but I know that I will eventually have to upgrade, most likely sometime next year, so I am leaning on getting the full upgrade now.


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## Nolzman (Aug 29, 2003)

Update 3:

The Saga continues. As I said earlier in the thread. My HR10-2500 "apparently" died over the weekend. After trying several reboots and resets, I ended up performing a Clear and Delete Everything". The process didn't finish even after 48 hours, so I gave the receiver up for dead.

I unplugged it, and swapped it with a R15 I had in another room. Just for grins, I hooked it back up in the other room and left it. Low and behold, my son went into the room last night, turns on the TV and the receiver is asking to go through Guided Set Up. :eek2: I went through the set up process, and it appears to be functioning normally, at least for now. 

The Clear Everything process took at least 72 hours and maybe more to complete??? It took at least 24 hours after I unplugged it during the process and moved it. 

What gives??? Has this ever happened to anyone. Has anyone ever been this patient with the box.  

I assume that it will die again sooner rather than later. All I can do is wait and see.


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## Nolzman (Aug 29, 2003)

Bump.

Has anyone ever had their HR10 come back from a 3/4 day Clear and Delete Everything (CDE)????  This DVR has been VERY active for over two years and I have never performed a CDE before.

It's been couples days now since the resurrection  , and it "appears" to be functioning normally. 

Should I expect it to start failing again?? Does the Clear and Delete Everything perform some sort of Scan disk, which would isolate any bad sectors????


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

I'm not sure what a C&DE does, but on Tivos there are two complete sets of partitions which the unit can run from. hda3/hda4 and hda6/hda7. There's also hda9 which is mounted as /var for tmp files. It's possible that a C&DE rebuilds the non-used set and flips the bootpage to use that new set. That would result in a clean filesystem and if your HD has a bad sector in the old set you wouldn't be seeing that problem once the bootpage was flipped.

But this also means that once your system were to upgrade to 6.3b it would flip back to the original partition set and you may encounter problems again. You may want to pull the drive and run manufacturer diags on it.


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## wmhar (Dec 15, 2006)

Nolzman said:


> Update 2:
> 
> Well&#8230;. The DVR is definitely dead. The good news is that it was an HR10-250 that I bought from Value Electronics and it was under the 5-year warranty. So I should be able to get it replaced, but only with an HR20.
> 
> ...


Yes, I had two HR10-250's crap out within the last month, and they replaced both with refurbished units for the $19.95 shipping cost.


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## Arod (Dec 18, 2006)

Nolzman said:


> Bump.
> 
> Has anyone ever had their HR10 come back from a 3/4 day Clear and Delete Everything (CDE)????  This DVR has been VERY active for over two years and I have never performed a CDE before.
> 
> ...


I had the exact same problem with my HR10-250, but it did not pull out of the Clear and Delete after about a week. My old Series 2 DirecTivo took many days to do a Clear and Delete a few months ago, but eventually pulled out of it and has been working fine since then.

DirecTv offered to replace my stalled HR10 with a leased HR20 for $20 in shipping costs. But when the new unit arrived, it was a refurbished HR10. I'm still debating whether to complain, or be happy that I again have a functioning TIVO, which my kids are used to operating and love.


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