My HD Tivo is possessed!

[KevinL]

Maybe you guys can help? My HR10-250 all of the sudden became possessed today and i can't fix it. All of the sudden the remote became unresponsive and then the Tivo started changing channels, scrolling, etc. on it's own uncontrollably. I will hit the up or down button once and it will register dozens of times before it stops and I can't do anything about it. I have tried several remotes and have removed the batteries in the remotes after i hit the button yet it still keeps going. I have reset the Tivo 3 times with no resolution. Anyone have any ideas?

[stevel]

Got another remote wedged in a sofa cushion or under some books? It's happened...

[KevinL]

Got another remote wedged in a sofa cushion or under some books? It's happened...

Nope, no remotes in the couch. Completely possessed. There has been an update though. As of last night about 5 hours after it had started doing this it miraculously stopped doing it and is now fine. There are no other remotes anywhere and no explanation. Hopefully it will continue to work properly as I really don't want an HR20 to replace my Tivo.

[TonyD79]

Nope, no remotes in the couch. Completely possessed. There has been an update though. As of last night about 5 hours after it had started doing this it miraculously stopped doing it and is now fine. There are no other remotes anywhere and no explanation. Hopefully it will continue to work properly as I really don't want an HR20 to replace my Tivo.

Well, ignoring the last remark....

Do you have an RF repeater or anything like that for your remote? There may be some other RF device causing an issue. When I had one of them, my old TV would occaisionally try to change the volume, but since I had the speakers turned off, it would just pop an error message up. I moved the RF receiver away from a power cord and it stopped.

[KevinL]

No RF repeaters either. Seriously, the Tivo was doing this on it's own. Even when I controlled it from the buttons on the box it would do this too! I work in Television production and I know my way around electronics and I think this was a software or hardware glitch. Luckily it went away, hopefully never to return.

[robomeister]

How about new florescent bulbs or lamps being installed? These can affect and generate odd IR signals.

[KevinL]

Nope, nothing new in the surrounding area or the entire house for that matter. No new equipment either.

Very strange.

[jtlytle]

You have a ghost in the house. :eek:

[robomeister]

Maybe your neighbor got a new TiVo and is pointing their remote out the window? :) Sunspots?

You got a weird one there. :D

[KevinL]

Well, so far so good. The Tivo possession has not reoccurred and I will not be recording The Exorcist in the near future to make sure i'm ok!

I'll post again in this thread if it comes back.

[TyroneShoes]

Well, ignoring the last remark...
Except that you didn't ignore it. On the contrary you went out of your way to point it out and thereby state your position.

[Mark Lopez]

Nope, no remotes in the couch.

Still bet it was another remote

As of last night about 5 hours after it had started doing this it miraculously stopped doing it and is now fine.

Yep, about the same time the other remote's batteries died. :)

[KevinL]

Still bet it was another remote



Yep, about the same time the other remote's batteries died. :)


Not a chance. The only other remotes that can control the Tivo live with the batteries out of them and are strictly for back up. I did install batteries in them just to test them during my "possession" and they made no difference in the way my Tivo acted.

I will chalk it up to the unknown and unexplainable but i appreciate all your input. I was hoping this was something that had been experienced by others but perhaps I am the only one.

[HofstraJet]

Please let us know if you do find the explanation of it.

[KevinL]

Please let us know if you do find the explanation of it.


Will do! ;)

[Stainless Steele]

I had this happen with my Pioneer Elite 1 time..never figured out what happened..I do have 4 other tivo's so it could have been the remote in the couch but who knows.

[TonyD79]

Except that you didn't ignore it. On the contrary you went out of your way to point it out and thereby state your position.

Tyrone, buddy, you got no sense of humor?

[michad]

This happened to my two hr10-250's Saturday...also a coworker told me about his acting like this Saturday. So that's three...not an remote issue at his house and I dont think so at mine.

[KevinL]

This happened to my two hr10-250's Saturday...also a coworker told me about his acting like this Saturday. So that's three...not an remote issue at his house and I dont think so at mine.
Ahaa! So I am not the only one. Good to know. I knew it was a problem with the box itself, let's hope it doesn't happen again.

[SubMan337]

Actually guys, this is a hidden bit of software coding... "Ignore all Inputs, randomly, for a random period, then reset." 8=)) We used to have this on a mini-computer that I had the misfortune to maintain (many years back) and never no one was able to explain it. Sometimes it would happen twice a week, sometime it would be OK for several months. One engineer-type was positive it was a seldom used air-search radar nearby, but he couldn't prove it. All of us were glad to see that particular machine dismantled and taken away!

[Mark Lopez]

I will chalk it up to the unknown and unexplainable but i appreciate all your input. I was hoping this was something that had been experienced by others but perhaps I am the only one.

Actually this has been posted about before and it was another remote with buttons being constantly pressed. As I recall, it wasn't even a tivo remote, but the interference with the tivo remote caused the Tivo to wig out.

[KevinL]

Well bad news. My Tivo is now again possessed. Now it's not doing the same thing as before but rather it only accepts remote commands randomly. Sometimes you have to wait 5 seconds or so in between presses and sometimes the thing won't respond for several minutes at a time. I really don't want to have to go to the HR20 but I may have to if this crap keeps up.

[TyroneShoes]

Tyrone, buddy, you got no sense of humor?Why would you want to prolong the agony? :eek:

I have a sense of humor. I just didn't sense and humor in that. Artie Lange makes me laugh. Ellen DeGeneres doesn't. Norm MacDonald makes me laugh. Dane Cook doesn't. When someone tells me what they're not going to do and then goes ahead and does it anyway, no I don't find that all that laughable. I guess some humor just doesn't make any sense.

[jwillie44]

It sure sounds like RF interference from a source outside your house. There are so many devices of varying types using the same RF spectrum these days that it's amazing that the problem so are experiencing doesn't happen more often.

Look outside for the solution to your mystery.

[KevinL]

No new equipment outside. Tell me where I can get a pair of RF revealing sunglasses. ;) Or do I have to buy a different pair of glasses for every frequency block in the rf spectrum. :eek: I suppose I could rent a rf scanner from Location Sound but I don't think my remote is in the broadcast rf spectrum.

Seriously guys. It is random and I believe it is a software or hardware issue with my Tivo. Am I the only one having this problem? If so it must be a hardware issue. Too bad as it's only a year old. Oh well, I want the new mp4 channels anyway. Question is, do I want them badly enough to have to deal with the horrible HR20 interface?

[stevel]

The TiVo remote is IR, not RF. There was a problem some versions ago with remote key presses appearing to "stick", but that's been long gone. I doubt it is a hardware problem.

Try unplugging the TiVo for 30 seconds and plugging it back in.

[mrdbdigital]

If you have a camcorder with a CCD pickup, you can use it to look around the room for infrared signals from "unknown" sources. An IR signal will make a bright dot in most CCD camcorder viewfinder screens. Try standing in front of your Tivo and pan around the room and see if you get any "hits".

[KevinL]

The TiVo remote is IR, not RF. There was a problem some versions ago with remote key presses appearing to "stick", but that's been long gone. I doubt it is a hardware problem.

Try unplugging the TiVo for 30 seconds and plugging it back in.

Ah yes, after the rf discussion I confused my Tivo remote while posting with my HR20 remote which is an rf remote.

I have done the unplug and reset thing a few times. Everything is fine again strangely enough so we will keep our fingers crossed.

[Sir_winealot]

Before my hd failed, I had remote problems ...acting like I had a remote button stuck ...and then it would go back to normal for a while.

What was happening is that the TiVo wasn't responding to any of our button presses so we'd keep pressing them, and then suddenly it would respond to all of them in one fell swoop thus looking like it was going nuts on its own.

My guess, your hd is on the way out (ours did this for over a month, and then I tried a Clear Program and To Do List and it never recovered).

[KevinL]

Good to know. I was hoping someone else could relate to my Tivo woes and prove I was not the only one with this problem. I may move my HR20 down to the living room for awhile to help out my situation. Hopefully DTV will re-sign with Tivo and I can get a new unit before this one totally bites the dust.

[stevel]

I would not hold my breath for that one...

[KevinL]

I'm not. Just wishful thinking/hoping. I really dislike my HR20.