Oddball Update

Upon further consideration, I don’t think I am having that much luck with my 24004A TiVo Series2 box. I bought it as a Christmas gift for Apple in 2004, which means that it is almost exactly two years old. My parents contributed a Lifetime Service Agreement, which enabled us to avoid paying TiVo the monthly service fee for the rest of — our lives? No! It is, in fact, the box’s life that’s being referred to, not our own. Which means if your TiVo dies, and you’re still alive, well, your Lifetime Service Agreement evaporates.

As I explained back in February, when our TiVo’s hard drive took a dump and stranded us without a DVR only 13 months after activation, that Lifetime Service is attached, specifically, to the motherboard of your TiVo DVR. Meaning that if your hard drive goes south, with a little ingenuity you can replace it yourself — and keep your Lifetime Service in good standing. So in February, when the original Maxtor hard drive failed, that’s exactly what I did. I stuffed a 120GB Seagate into the DVR, bought an uninterruptible power supply to keep a constant source of good, clean power flowing to it, and we all lived happily ever after.

Until tonight. One minute, I’m standing at the stove, cooking rice pilaf, while Star Trek’s pilot episode merrily hummed away on the TiVo in the background. I ate dinner in front of my home theater (which is not where the TiVo sits), and then, an hour later, I take my dishes back to the kitchen — and what do you know, all of the lights on the TiVo’s front panel are off. Hmm, that’s never supposed to happen. So I went over to investigate.

The box was dead. I turned on the TV, and all I saw was a flickering white horizontal line flashing in various places on the screen. It was almost like the TiVo was continually trying to boot up, but only in split-second spurts that continued over and over. Grumbling, I pulled the plug, got a Torx #10 driver and opened up the sonuvabitch. There didn’t seem to be anything visually amiss. So I plugged it back in and took a close look (and listen).

First thing I noticed? The exhaust fan wasn’t spinning. Greaaaat. I prodded it with my finger, and it spun up — classic sign of a dying fan. Wow, and it only took a year, too. Must’ve been made by Antec, har har. (I’ve had quite a few Antec computer fans die on me within 12 months of operation, to the point where I don’t buy them anymore.) So the fan was now spinning, but I figured maybe TiVo was smart enough to not even try starting up if it detected zero fan RPMs when power is first applied. So I unplugged it, plugged it back in and saw the fan start spinning up right away. Unfortunately, the front panel lights were still off, and I heard nothing from the hard drive either. The TV screen was completely blank now, too.

A little online research led me to believe that the TiVo’s power supply is blown. I mean, literally the only thing powering up is the fan. This is interesting, because the fan derives power from a 3-pin connector on the motherboard, which means the mobo must be getting some power. The hard drive, however, is not spinning up. I would have a hard time believing that a 10-month-old hard drive has already failed, especially a Seagate, but I suppose I could run some tests on it…if I had the time. As it is, I’m already overloaded with work, and after this crisis, will probably have to be up until 1:00 in the morning tonight getting today’s swath of work done. This is for the second weekend in a row, mind you.

The good news is, I can buy a replacement power supply from a used TiVo unit for $50 online (as well as a replacement fan, naturally). The bad news is, I’m not 100% certain it’s going to solve my problem, meaning that I could spend a grand total of $80 (that’s with fan and 2nd day shipping included) to achieve absolutely nothing, except realize that I’m really fucked.

There’s also something else unfortunate: TiVo doesn’t offer Lifetime Service Plans anymore, and their monthly fees are a lot higher than they were when we bought our unit. Meaning, if I lose this TiVo box, I’m guaranteed to have to either shell out $200-$300 for 1, 2 or 3 years of prepaid TiVo service on a new one, or start paying $19.95 a month (up from the $12.95 of two years ago).

Another alternative: I could call Comcast and get a DVR cable box, which is basically like a TiVo except that the user interface looks like a spit-shined turd. Mostly the same functionality, though. That would cost $10 more per month on my cable bill, possibly with a security deposit upfront. Advantage: I wouldn’t need an infrared emitter to control an external cable box, since Comcast’s DVR is a cable box. Disadvantage: Since the cable company would technically own this equipment, I wouldn’t be at liberty to upgrade the storage capacity — which would, in fact, be half that of what’s in my TiVo right now. Going with Comcast might be the most economical choice, but it certainly wouldn’t be a choice I’d make enthusiastically.

Anyway, I’m sure Apple is going to be upset about this when she gets home. We’ve just spent a lot of money on new furniture and plane tickets to Thailand for next year, plus it’s Christmas and all that, and right now isn’t really the best time to spend yet more money on a TiVo replacement. Fortunately, all this frakkin’ work I’m doing is going to pay very handsomely, so we can obviously afford to do what it takes to get up and running again. The problem is, at the rate the scope of this project keeps increasing, the payout probably isn’t coming until January — because I’ll likely be working on it for another week or more, and we all know that accountants don’t write checks during Christmas. Doing without a DVR for a month sounds like hell, but you see, that’s how TiVo spoils you.

Too bad the new TiVo Series3 still costs a ridiculous $800, or I’d get one! But talk about overkill. (Besides, Apple’s TV isn’t even high def.)

Well, I’m wasting time I don’t really have, so I’d better be going.

Categorized as Media, Rants, Media/Television