broken Tivo

[brookman]

I got a Hughes model HDVR2 from my cousin. He talked to support for a while and they determined that the HD took a dump. When you turn it on it sits at a screen that says clearing hard drive - this will take an hour. It never leaves this screen.

What options do I have?

Thanks

[PlainBill]

I got a Hughes model HDVR2 from my cousin. He talked to support for a while and they determined that the HD took a dump. When you turn it on it sits at a screen that says clearing hard drive - this will take an hour. It never leaves this screen.

What options do I have?

Thanks

How long have you left it on this screen? I would let it run for at least a day before trying anything else. Once you reach that point, you have several options. I would suggest pulling the drive and hooking it up to a pc so you can run the manufacturer's diagnostics on it as a first step. The next step would be to download a copy of the software. It's on the eD2K network. Download the eMule client from www.emule-project.net, install it, and do a search on HDVR2. Expect to wait a day or so to download it.

After that, install the software, either on the original drive (if it was good) or on a new drive (a 120 Gig drive will cost about $60 after rebates). After you have done that, you can decide if you want to add some of the hacks that enhance your TiVo's usefullness. Look for TiVoScripts.

PlainBill

[brookman]

OK I got the file I think I need. It has an .mfs extension. Now what do I need to do. Sorry to sound retarded but I am new to the TiVo world.

Thanks

[PlainBill]

OK I got the file I think I need. It has an .mfs extension. Now what do I need to do. Sorry to sound retarded but I am new to the TiVo world.

Thanks

No problem - the stupid questions are often the ones that aren't asked.

Resources you need: A computer with a FAT32 C: drive, a CD burner. Make a directory called tivo on the FAT32 drive and copy the tiVo image you downloaded into it.

Download the TiVoScripts iso image (Check the TiVoScripts support thread for a download site), burn the image to a CD. Hook up the TiVo drive as Secondary master in your computer, then boot from the CD.

At the menu hit Alt-F2, Enter to activate the console, then type in the following command:
mfsrestore -zpi /cdrive/tivo/tivofilename.mfs /dev/hdc .

IF you are using the original 40 gig drive. If you are using a 120 Gig drive, use
mfsrestore -s 60 -xzpi /cdrive/tivo/tivofilename.mfs /dev/hdc . It will take less than 15 minutes to restore the image to the hard drive.

Now take the hard drive, install it in the DirecTivo, and you're ready to go. If you get an 'Error 51', run Clear and Delete Everything.

If you want to hack the drive, read the TiVoScripts support thread for information.

PlainBill

[captain_video]

I don't think that's going to work unless you mount your FAT32 partition (i.e. C drive) first. The tivoscript boot CD doesn't do it automatically unless you're entering either the backup or restore phases of the monte hack. Get a copy of Hinsdale's How To for info on restoring a Tivo backup image to your drive.

[PlainBill]

I don't think that's going to work unless you mount your FAT32 partition (i.e. C drive) first. The tivoscript boot CD doesn't do it automatically unless you're entering either the backup or restore phases of the monte hack.

Sorry to tell you this, but you're wrong. I've verified TiVoScripts automounts cdrive before it gets to the main menu.

PlainBill

[captain_video]

That's interesting. :o I'll have to scroll back through the boot info to see where this occurs. I must admit I haven't looked all that closely at the prompts that occur during the backup and restore phase but I seem to remember that the FAT32 drive gets mounted during that portion of the process.

[PlainBill]

That's interesting. :o I'll have to scroll back through the boot info to see where this occurs. I must admit I haven't looked all that closely at the prompts that occur during the backup and restore phase but I seem to remember that the FAT32 drive gets mounted during that portion of the process.

I prefer the emperical test:) - boot from the CD, at the main menu hit Alt-F2, enter, then try and access cdrive. It works. The script also mounts cdrive for both backup and restore, but it's already mounted.

PlainBill

[tytyty]

That's interesting. :o I'll have to scroll back through the boot info to see where this occurs. I must admit I haven't looked all that closely at the prompts that occur during the backup and restore phase but I seem to remember that the FAT32 drive gets mounted during that portion of the process.
/etc/fstab will show you whats being automounted, theres alot of functionality on the tivoscripts cd that is unused.

[captain_video]

That's good info to know. It will certainly make things a lot easier using a boot CD with an automount feature. And to think I've been doing it the hard way all these years!

[PlainBill]

And to think I've been doing it the hard way all these years!

Wasn't it Mae West who said "A good man is hard to find - and vice versa."?
:eek:

PlainBill