HUGHES DTV TIVO, Series 1 ... Please help diagnose...

[davehazle]

My guess is that the unit either has a bad power supply or a bad motherboard.
Here are the symptoms,
1. The tivo went to bed one night and in the morning it would not turn on, no power lights on the front of the unit.
2. Left it unplugged for a day then plugged it back in, lights came back on, "powering up" ..... "Just a few more seconds" then BAM, lights out again...
3. It seems like it shut off to protect itself , but the power only comes on sometimes.


Other than that, I am not sure what else to do... any input would be helpful...


Thanks Guys

[XtremeIT]

Open it and completly unplug the Hard Dive Power Cable & Drive Cable. Then turn on he power. It should power on with "Powering UP" and stay on.
If you can power it up this way several times and it stays on then its your hard drive/software causing the problem.

If it still shuts off with the above unplugged, then yes it could be either the power or motherboard.

[davehazle]

OK, so here are the results of the test XtremeIT reccomended I do.


Unpluged the power and IDE cable from the TIVO. No lights on the front of the unit came on, but I heard a whining noise. Upon closer examination I found that the fan was still spinning. I unplugged the fan and now the unit was quiet.


Is it possible that there are 2 independent power supplies for the DTV TIVO??? Or do you guys think it is definatley the motherboard?

Thanks again for all of your help...


Best Regards,
David

[mrblack51]

Originally posted by davehazle
Is it possible that there are 2 independent power supplies for the DTV TIVO???

there is one power supply, its on the right hand side of the unit when you open it.

[davehazle]

Does this mean that it has to be the motherboard? The fan still works when it is plugged in, therefore it must be getting power right?

[XtremeIT]

Yes, only one power supply, but you have 2 different areas supplying the power. One to the mother board for the fan (which appears to be ok). And another one from the power supply directly to the Hard Drive. If this cable has 2 connections, try both on the Hard Drive and make sure the other end is plugged in tight to the power supply (unplugged power first of course before getting anywhere close to the power supply).

Next, try reconnecting the drive upside down as a green light is on the bottom of most of the TiVo Drives. Plug it in and see if the drive gets power (Again, try both power connections to the drive).

If you have a fan and the green light comes on , then you have power to both locations. The hard drive could then be causing the problem. If you have another hard drive (any size), just plug it in and see if the light in front says on.

Did you have the video connected when you unplugged everything? You should have seen "powing up" (This is from the rom and not the Hard Drive).

This is about all you can do manually without tools to test the power output at each of the above locations.

[XtremeIT]

AND make sure the little ribbon cable coming from the power supply to the motherboard is plugged in tight at both ends....