Tivo Repair

Nothing is quite as annoying as settling down to a binge of television watching only to find that your TiVo just won't work. Some of these problems can be easily fixed, usually by making sure the modem settings, power setting and television settings are all working as they should. However, some cases require more intensive help.

For modem problems, your first step should be checking the TiVo "Phone Troubleshooting" guide. If this fails, unfortunately, it looks like the modem is shot. Your options at this point are to buy a replacement or send it in for repair. Choices for both of these can be found online.

If your TiVo simply refuses to start up, this is possibly a hard drive failure, or a problem with the TiVo software. It could also be a blown power supply, or a defect in the cabling. Again, unless the problem shows itself immediately, it is probably best to have someone look at it.

If while viewing, the picture freezes or begins stuttering, this is indicative of a hard drive problem. This means, alas, that you're now in the market for a new hard drive. These, however, are not terribly expensive, and an ever-increasing number of vendors means the price is likely to fall still further. It is possible, in such a situation, that the cause is something other than a defective hard drive, but drive stuttering means a bad drive 99 percent of the time.