There's a FROG in my TIVO

At least that's how my wife describes it. Tivo unit makes noises
whether you call it a "rib bit" or a "chirp", the noise is there and is
quite distracting (especially when the tivo unit is in the bedroom). I
cannot find anything in the newsgroup or in the Tivo manual or on the
Hughes and DTV websites. Has anyone else had the same problem? Is
there a solution to getting rid of the noise?

The time between rib bits ranges from a few seconds to 15-20 seconds.
Could this be a bad hard drive? Haven't tried to fix this yet, just
looking for a solution...WAF (wife acceptance factor) is getting lower
by the day, which means no HD Tivo for me.

Your help appreciated.

In article [email protected],
RSanders wrote:

At least that's how my wife describes it. Tivo unit makes noises
whether you call it a "rib bit" or a "chirp", the noise is there and is
quite distracting (especially when the tivo unit is in the bedroom). I
cannot find anything in the newsgroup or in the Tivo manual or on the
Hughes and DTV websites. Has anyone else had the same problem? Is
there a solution to getting rid of the noise?

The time between rib bits ranges from a few seconds to 15-20 seconds.
Could this be a bad hard drive? Haven't tried to fix this yet, just
looking for a solution...WAF (wife acceptance factor) is getting lower
by the day, which means no HD Tivo for me.

Your help appreciated.

Likely is the Hard Drive. Is it the original Hard Drive? If so how old
is it? One simple thing to try is to (for a day or three) turn the whole
unit upside down. If its the Hard Drive the flip may redistribute
lubrication in the Hard Drive. Sometimes it helps a lot, sometimes not
at all, but it costs nothing to try. Set the unit to STANDBY before you
turn it.

"Jack Zwick" wrote in message
...
In article [email protected],
RSanders wrote:

At least that's how my wife describes it. Tivo unit makes noises
whether you call it a "rib bit" or a "chirp", the noise is there and is
quite distracting (especially when the tivo unit is in the bedroom). I
cannot find anything in the newsgroup or in the Tivo manual or on the
Hughes and DTV websites. Has anyone else had the same problem? Is
there a solution to getting rid of the noise?

The time between rib bits ranges from a few seconds to 15-20 seconds.
Could this be a bad hard drive? Haven't tried to fix this yet, just
looking for a solution...WAF (wife acceptance factor) is getting lower
by the day, which means no HD Tivo for me.

Your help appreciated.

Likely is the Hard Drive. Is it the original Hard Drive? If so how old
is it? One simple thing to try is to (for a day or three) turn the whole
unit upside down. If its the Hard Drive the flip may redistribute
lubrication in the Hard Drive. Sometimes it helps a lot, sometimes not
at all, but it costs nothing to try. Set the unit to STANDBY before you
turn it.

Jack,

The noise you describe sounds almost exactly like the noise that my
smoke detector makes when the battery is getting low.

You don't happen to have a smoke detector anywhere in the same
room or near to the room with the Tivo?

Larry Hazel

Jack Zwick ) wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
One simple thing to try is to (for a day or three) turn the whole
unit upside down. If its the Hard Drive the flip may redistribute
lubrication in the Hard Drive. Sometimes it helps a lot, sometimes not
at all, but it costs nothing to try. Set the unit to STANDBY before you
turn it.

If he does this, it may very well cost him a *lot* to try.

Unplug the TiVo before you flip it, since setting to standby does *not*
stop the hard drive from spinning. Flipping the unit while the hard drive
is spinning is *not* advised, and if done too suddenly can cause all sorts
of nasty things to happen to the hard drive.

You can unplug the TiVo at any time, but it's best to do it more than about
15 minutes before it is supposed to start a scheduled recording, since it
takes some time to reboot.

--
Jeff Rife | "As we sit here and idly chat, women--female
| human beings--are rolling around in strange
| beds with strange men, and *we* are making money
| from that."
| "Is this a great country, or what?"
| -- "Night Shift"

"Jeff Rife" wrote in message
...
Jack Zwick ) wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
One simple thing to try is to (for a day or three) turn the whole
unit upside down. If its the Hard Drive the flip may redistribute
lubrication in the Hard Drive. Sometimes it helps a lot, sometimes not
at all, but it costs nothing to try. Set the unit to STANDBY before you
turn it.

If he does this, it may very well cost him a *lot* to try.

Unplug the TiVo before you flip it, since setting to standby does *not*
stop the hard drive from spinning.

Putting the unit in standby *does* stop the hard drive if the unit in
question is a Directv Tivo, and wouldn't you know it - it is. If it's not a
Dtv unit, I really doubt the OP would have been looking at both the Highes
and the Dtv websites for info.

Kenneth ) wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
If he does this, it may very well cost him a *lot* to try.

Unplug the TiVo before you flip it, since setting to standby does *not*
stop the hard drive from spinning.

Putting the unit in standby *does* stop the hard drive if the unit in
question is a Directv Tivo

This is absolutely 100% not true. It does stop the TV buffering, but the
hard drive keeps spinning *and* the heads are *not* parked, because TiVo
does various maintainence tasks at all times.

Again, if you have to radically move any kind of TiVo (and turning it
upside down is pretty radical), then unplug it first.

--
Jeff Rife | "I don't have to be Ray Liotta: movie star,
| anymore. I can be Ray Liotta: Maya's boyfriend.
| All I want to do is regular, boring, ordinary
| couple things."
| "Then you, sir, have hit the soul-mate lottery."
| -- Ray Liotta and Nina Van Horn, "Just Shoot Me"

In article , Jeff Rife wrote:
Jack Zwick ) wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
One simple thing to try is to (for a day or three) turn the whole
unit upside down. If its the Hard Drive the flip may redistribute
lubrication in the Hard Drive. Sometimes it helps a lot, sometimes not
at all, but it costs nothing to try. Set the unit to STANDBY before you
turn it.

If he does this, it may very well cost him a *lot* to try.

Unplug the TiVo before you flip it, since setting to standby does *not*
stop the hard drive from spinning. Flipping the unit while the hard drive
is spinning is *not* advised, and if done too suddenly can cause all sorts
of nasty things to happen to the hard drive.

Oh comeone now. Modern hard drives can handle in excess of 8g's!!!!


You can unplug the TiVo at any time, but it's best to do it more than about
15 minutes before it is supposed to start a scheduled recording, since it
takes some time to reboot.

GMAN ) wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
Unplug the TiVo before you flip it, since setting to standby does *not*
stop the hard drive from spinning. Flipping the unit while the hard drive
is spinning is *not* advised, and if done too suddenly can cause all sorts
of nasty things to happen to the hard drive.

Oh comeone now. Modern hard drives can handle in excess of 8g's!!!!

Have you *seen* how they get those numbers? Here's an example from
Hitachi:

================================================== =============
The drive will continue to operate, at the stated "performance,"
when subjected to a 5 G half sine wave shock pulse of 11 milliseconds
duration.

No permanent damage will occur to the drive when subjected to a 10 G
half sine wave shock pulse of 11 milliseconds duration.

The shock pulses are applied in either direction in each of three
mutually perpendicular axis, one axis at a time.
================================================== =============

Then, consider just how easy it is to get to 20x gravity deceleration when
you drop something...it basically stops in a couple of millimeters.

Carefully flipping a TiVo won't cause any problems...it's all the problems
that are caused when things go wrong with that "careful flip" that I
caution against. Since simply pulling the plug avoids all those problems,
why not do it?

--
Jeff Rife | Coach: What's doing, Norm?
|
| Norm: Well, science is seeking a cure for thirst.
| I happen to be the guinea pig.

Jack Zwick wrote:
In article [email protected],
RSanders wrote:


At least that's how my wife describes it. Tivo unit makes noises
whether you call it a "rib bit" or a "chirp", the noise is there and is
quite distracting (especially when the tivo unit is in the bedroom). I
cannot find anything in the newsgroup or in the Tivo manual or on the
Hughes and DTV websites. Has anyone else had the same problem? Is
there a solution to getting rid of the noise?

The time between rib bits ranges from a few seconds to 15-20 seconds.
Could this be a bad hard drive? Haven't tried to fix this yet, just
looking for a solution...WAF (wife acceptance factor) is getting lower
by the day, which means no HD Tivo for me.

Your help appreciated.


Likely is the Hard Drive. Is it the original Hard Drive? If so how old
is it? One simple thing to try is to (for a day or three) turn the whole
unit upside down. If its the Hard Drive the flip may redistribute
lubrication in the Hard Drive. Sometimes it helps a lot, sometimes not
at all, but it costs nothing to try. Set the unit to STANDBY before you
turn it.
Guess I'll give it a try. It's a new unit...about 3 months...my
thoughts go towards the HD as well.

Homer L. Hazel wrote:
"Jack Zwick" wrote in message
...

In article [email protected],
RSanders wrote:


At least that's how my wife describes it. Tivo unit makes noises
whether you call it a "rib bit" or a "chirp", the noise is there and is
quite distracting (especially when the tivo unit is in the bedroom). I
cannot find anything in the newsgroup or in the Tivo manual or on the
Hughes and DTV websites. Has anyone else had the same problem? Is
there a solution to getting rid of the noise?

The time between rib bits ranges from a few seconds to 15-20 seconds.
Could this be a bad hard drive? Haven't tried to fix this yet, just
looking for a solution...WAF (wife acceptance factor) is getting lower
by the day, which means no HD Tivo for me.

Your help appreciated.

Likely is the Hard Drive. Is it the original Hard Drive? If so how old
is it? One simple thing to try is to (for a day or three) turn the whole
unit upside down. If its the Hard Drive the flip may redistribute
lubrication in the Hard Drive. Sometimes it helps a lot, sometimes not
at all, but it costs nothing to try. Set the unit to STANDBY before you
turn it.


Jack,

The noise you describe sounds almost exactly like the noise that my
smoke detector makes when the battery is getting low.

You don't happen to have a smoke detector anywhere in the same
room or near to the room with the Tivo?

Larry Hazel


There is a smoke detector in the hallway, but it makes a much different
noise when the battery is low.