Was the screen green? I recall that TiVo had the green screen of death when something terribly wrong happens.

If all you're wating for is the HD DirecTivo, I can lend you my backup DSR6000R until then. Probably the only drawback is that you will need to buy an access card (~$40 I think). Or maybe you can use your card? I'm under the impression you can't swap cards between Tivos. I am probably wrong though.