S3 only works without cable input; pixellation and lag post 9.1 [Text View]

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RickStrobel

10-13-2007, 11:02 PM

My TiVo Series 3 is essentially unusable now. It works fine if I disconnect the incoming cable line. Here's some of the details:

Wednesday Oct 3rd: message that I've gotten a new Service Update

Friday Oct 5th: HD channels on my Series 3 were nothing but a pixellated mess:
http://home.insightbb.com/~rickstrobel/tivos391.jpg
A manual reboot cleared the problem.

Thursday Oct 11th: Same pixellation issue as before. Reboot seems to clear it up again.

Friday Oct 12th: My Now Playing list had HORRIBLE lag. I timed one button press - it took one minute 15 seconds to execute the command! After I got the show to play it seemed to be OK. Called TiVo support. They acknowledge the pixellation problem and the lag as known issues with 9.1 and submit my information to engineering. They say there's nothing wrong with my box and I'll need to wait for a fix. This sounds OK as I may not mind rebooting every now and then to get by.

Saturday Oct 13th: SYSTEM IS TOTALLY UNUSABLE... Pixellated, laggy, etc. Rebooting doesn't help. In fact it gets worse. Eventually the machine goes into a reboot loop. Try Kickstart 57 procedure. Return home hours later and the TiVo Central screen is on. But, it's totally unresponsive.
On a hunch I pull out the cable TV line from the input. The unit is now responsive! Everything works like normal again, except of course that I can't watch or record anything new.

- Nothing has changed related to the incoming signal as far as I can tell. I might try bypassing the splitter. But that seems pointless as this thing has been working flawlessly for one year on that exact connection.

- If I remove the Cable Cards will it be a bitch to get them running again? I'm thinking I could take them out and be OK with my 2-99 analog channels and be able to get by until it's all sorted out. But, if it's going to require another visit from the cable company to get them running again I don't want to mess with them.

- What's wrong with my TiVo? Will TiVo want to repair or replace it now? I'm still under warranty. I'd prefer to not have to have it repaired if possible because I've got a couple of recordings that I was hoping preserve when TTG is released. But, it's not the end of the world if I don't.

- Was kind of hoping this would make a good opportunity to upgrade the internal drive to a really big one. But, not sure it's a good idea to do that now while I'm still under warranty.

richsadams

10-14-2007, 01:46 AM

That's terrible! If it's any comfort, you're not alone.

There are a number on posts of various threads here that point up the exact same problem. Some were posted prior to the latest software upgrade, so it's not new...but there are more reports about it now. Basically the S3 either becomes sluggish or completely freezes up but returns to a normal state when the cable is disconnected.

It's obviously a signal processing problem and it may be TiVo's fault or it's remotely possible that your cableco has done something to your incoming signal...it may be too weak or it may be too strong - both are bad. You could try removing the splitter to see what happens. There are TiVo diagnostic screens you can view if you want to become familiar with what they can tell you as well.

But I think you've tried everything excpet for one. After a reboot, have you tried running the Guided Setup again? IIRC that worked for someone else.

Your cable cards are paired to your unit and if you remove either one or both while TiVo is on they will have to be re-paired and re-hit by the cable company (truck roll). If you just want it to work w/o the CC's you can pull them without doing any damage (unplug TiVo first). You'd need to run Guided Setup if you remove the CC's (and/or add an antenna).

If it's still under warranty you can certainly get a replacement. In fact, at this point if you can't get it resolved and don't mind losing whatever shows you have recorded, I'd get a replacement. If you don't get the answers you want from the TiVo CSR, press them and you'll get someone else that will usually take care of you. It'll mean having the cable company come back out. Ours (Comcast) charges $14.95 for a service call...and it would probably be worth it.

Best of luck and let us know what you find out.

RickStrobel

10-14-2007, 10:32 PM

I tried running Guided Setup again as you suggested. That didn't have any effect.

Also tried removing all Recently Deleted, Season Passes and Wishlists. Again, no effect.

Earlier today I talked to TiVo support for a long time. They want to have the signal level checked. Insight is coming out Friday (today is Sunday) to test the signal levels.

Sigh...

richsadams

10-15-2007, 01:32 AM

RickStrobel

10-15-2007, 02:16 PM

I'm getting a new (refurbished) TiVo.

Last night before I went to bed I decided to unplug the TiVo. Today I plugged it in and it gets stuck on the "Welcome! Powering Up..." screen. All the LEDs on the front panel are on. No cable TV line was plugged in.

Hopefully all will be in excellent working order by this time next week.

IJustLikeTivo

10-15-2007, 02:39 PM

Your cable cards are paired to your unit and if you remove either one or both while TiVo is on they will have to be re-paired and re-hit by the cable company (truck roll). If you just want it to work w/o the CC's you can pull them without doing any damage (unplug TiVo first). You'd need to run Guided Setup if you remove the CC's (and/or add an antenna).

That's not true. They'll still work depending on the copy protection status. I transferred mine on Thursday from my old Series 3 to the refurb they sent and the cards work fine. Of course I just got the 8.3 software on that machine. I hope they don't sent 9.1 until they fix it.

richsadams

10-15-2007, 03:12 PM

That's not true. They'll still work depending on the copy protection status. I transferred mine on Thursday from my old Series 3 to the refurb they sent and the cards work fine. Of course I just got the 8.3 software on that machine. I hope they don't sent 9.1 until they fix it.Really? That's good to know. I know there are several other posts that state the just the opposite, but it may be dependant on the cableco, etc.

Keep you fingers crossed! ;)

njplasticman

10-15-2007, 03:22 PM

My tivo has been acting up like this..... down to the "t"! I'm glad that i'm not going crazy (like Tivo is leading me to believe). All this since 9.1! I had posted on a different thread.

Comcast just left and they say it is a tivo issue-- tivo kept on crashing when the cable line was plugged that it didn't give us a chance to try new cable cards.

Am on hold with tivo to get my replacement. Let me know how the new tivo works, and if it still works when it automatically updates to 9.1

chetk

10-15-2007, 03:30 PM

I have the problem with pixelation, laggy and rebooting. It only happens when i switch to a hd channel. Called tivo rep said that they are having problem with s3 hd he thinks its tivo hardware problem, so he is sending a new unit out. My suggestion is to any with same problem get a new unit from tivo. :confused: