Tivo Series 2 reboots when I connect to my cable box

[smartinez]

OK - I know there are some other topics like this but not exact.

The other day I noticed that my Tivo Series 2 box was in a restart loop.

I then tried to check all of the connections but that did not seem to help.

But, once I disconnected the composite cable from my cable box to my Tivo, the Tivo started working fine (though I have not tried to watch an recorded shows yet). That leads me to believe that I am not dealing with a failing hard drive but something else.

As soon as I reconnect the cables, the Tivo will restart.

Does anyone have any ideas here?

I was going to try a new composite cable to see if that might fix things.

Thanks in advance for your help
Steve

[chip_r]

Try disconnecting the RF cable from the wall to your cable box but leave the remaining cables in place. You won't get a picture but see if this fixes the reboots.

Also, with the RF cable hooked back up, connect the composite output directly to your TV and look for bad picture quality such as wavy lines on many channels.

If it's either of these, then it's possibly a grounding problem with the box or RF cable into your house. Both are cable co. problems.

It's not likely it's the composite cable itself because even a shorted cable won't bring down the Tivo down. Anyway, you'd be shorting the output of the cable box and Tivo wouldn't care.

[smartinez]

Ok - I disconnected the RF cable from the wall and the reboots stopped. Once I reconnected, they started up again - though it will go for about 5-10 minutes before a reboot rather than ~1 minute before.


So, it definitely doesnt like getting a signal from the cable box. I tried connecting to the cable box via RF, too, and the problem remained. I also tried a different cable box and that didnt solve the problem.

My next test will be to swap the problematic Tivo box with my other Tivo box that is working fine. I dont know, maybe there is something up with the signal that I am getting form the wall outlet.

anyways, if that doesnt work, then could this be a hard drive issue? Tivo runs normal as long as I am not getting a signal. I can watch movies without a problem and all of my Season Passes attempt to record but since I dont have a signal it is not recording anything.

I would hate to go through the process of replacing the HDD just to find the problem is still there

[chip_r]

It's not the hard drive. By eliminating the reboots when you disconnected the RF cable, it behaved the way I expected. It's a grounding problem between your house wiring and the cable company ground. Most likely where the cable comes into your place, the ground connection is broken. The cable company must properly ground their system to your house. Without the ground in place, you can wind up with large voltage differences between their cable ground and your house ground. Those ground differences can easy cause your Tivo to crash via the RF cable. TVs are less likely to be affected because they're simpler and at worst, the voltage differences cause video artifacts, not complete crashes.

Call your cable company and tell them that when you touch your RF wall connection, you feel a little shock. It's stretching the truth but it will flag a repair person to check for grounding. If you tell them your Tivo is rebooting, they'll just try to sell you their DVR.

You can purchase an isolation filter (~$12) to break grounding but that's the wrong way to approach the problem. Voltage differences due to improper grounding can be 10-20volts or over 100V.

[smartinez]

Ok - so I got Comcast to come out and check the grounding of my cable and they could not detect a problem.

I have 2 Tivo boxes so I swapped the problem box with the other working box and that box has worked fine for a couple of weeks.

So, there has to be something wonky with my problem Tivo box.
I have been transferring shows to the problem box and watching them without a problem so the HDD must be fine. I just cant record anything on the problem box because as soon as I hook a video source to it, it goes into a reboot loop.

What else can it be? Should I try a new power supply?

[chip_r]

So the problem follows the Tivo which is good information. I agree that the HDD isn't the problem.

Are both Tivos exactly the same model? If so, then you could possibly swap power supplies and see if the problem follows the power supply.

If not, then a new power supply is probably your best option. If internally your Tivo ground is faulty and you connect it to something else grounded differently, it can cause a big spike to the voltages supplying the electronics and hence the crashes. Home/cable system grounding is a typical culprit but if the Comcast guy did his job correctly, then that's out of the loop.

While you have the box open, look at the capacitors (cylinder shaped things) on the power supply board. Leaking or buldging is a sure sign of a failing supply. It could just be it's marginal and connecting to another device puts it over the edge.