Series 2 SA problem

[ktulu909]

Have a series two stand alone that does nothing when plugged in other than light up both LEDs on the front panel.

I opened it up and the HD is not spinning at all.I unplug the IDE cable while it is powered on the HD spins up and the screen very briefly flashes 'welcome powering on" and then goes black with some on screen interference.

Is this more than likely a motherboard issue or a HD issue?

Any suggestions?Thanks in advance.

Blaine

[Narf54321]

I would bet its the hard drive. You can never be completely sure, but the HDD is the component most prone to failure.

The fact that your Tivo gets as far as "Welcome powering up" means its probably at the point where its looking for the boot kernel on the hard drive and not finding it.

[ktulu909]

Well,the only time that I get the "welcome,powering up" is when I unplug the IDE connector.The second I unplug the IDE connector,the HD comes to life and starts to spin.Without unplugging the IDE connector the TIVO sits there and does NOTHING except all the front panel lights coming on and staying on.

[cokekid]

I think that means you have your IDE cable plugged in backwards. Plug it in the other way, otherwise I would get a new cable.

I know with some computers if the hd doesnt spin up and you pull the ide cable, then it spins up means that the cable is reversed.

Try that.

[ktulu909]

Its a keyed cable.You cant plug it in backwards.It is the original cable as well.

[cokekid]

Try a different cable then. I imagine something is wrong with that one.

Some IDE cables I have had were not key'd (Make sure both are key'd. ie. Motherboard side and hd side)

[pentium101]

Try replacing the power supply.

IIRC, the Tivo series 2 SA model TCD140060 would do that with a bad power supply. I had to order a new supply from weaknees to repair the SA unit that I had.

I'm not sure, but I believe that someone from here had discovered a bad capacitor on that particular ps and had repaired their ps by replacing just the cap.

[cokekid]

Could you use a computer power supply just to power up the HD? Just to see if its a power supply problem?

[ktulu909]

With PC power supply the lights on the front panel light as before only and does nothing noteworthy except the HD spins now.

Replaced IDE cable with same results.

[PlainBill]

That's not good. It sounds like the IDE interface on the main board is fried.:(

PlainBill

[pentium101]

Did you examine the caps on the ps?

I'm sure that you'll discover that at least one cap will look faulty (has a bulging top instead of being flat.)

With a bad filter cap, the MB will receive noisy, unfiltered dc power which will cause many strange problems.