Running out of guide data despite daily service connections [Text View]

KillTheGrimace

04-20-2009, 05:50 PM

Hello, I have read all threads on similar problems and I believe this is something new. Basically, our 2005-era Series 2 TiVo keeps complaining that we're running out of guide data (and it really is running out), even though it is making successful daily connections to the TiVo service. I have confirmed this by checking the system information and the last connection status is always within the past day, but the date for current guide data is only a couple days from now. Also, I have forced connections to the TiVo service several times through the settings menu, and this always succeeds, but it is not updating the guide data.

Our other TiVo (a 2003-era Series 2) is not having this problem.

Here's some background, including things I've done/checked:

We are Comcast subscribers in the Portland, OR area. On both TiVos I ran through the TiVo setup wizard to set them up to use the Comcast digital adapter/set-top box. I have chosen 'Comcast Tualatin Valley Region' as our cable provider on both TiVos.
I have tried using the 'Comcast Portland' provider listing when re-doing the TiVo setup wizard, but it does not appear to be any different.
Both TiVos connect to our WiFi network using official TiVo USB WiFi adapters. (Again, the network connection itself seems solid.)
We have never had this problem before on either TiVo unless there was an actual connectivity problem (before the TiVo wireless adapters came out sometimes the 3rd party adapters would require a re-connect).
Running through the TiVo setup wizard appears to make the problem go away for a week; in fact I thought I fixed it last week but we just started getting the warnings again yesterday. This tells me that we are downloading guide data during the setup process, but it stops getting the guide data after that.
Looking at the TiVo site now, and account is in good standing on both TiVos.

Any ideas? I really don't want to run through the setup wizard every week, as that takes a long time and seems to disrupt our to-do list and Kidzone settings.

TiVoJerry

04-20-2009, 06:27 PM

Please send me a private message with your service number and I'll see what I can find.

KillTheGrimace

04-20-2009, 11:19 PM

I'm at home now and have some more detailed information from my TiVo settings screen:

Cable provider: Comcast Tualatin Valley Regional
Cable lineup: Digital
Account status: 3 - account in good standing
Service level: c - 051609
Last successful: April 20 2009
Program info to: April 24, 2009

So, it connected today but I only have 4 days of program guide left...

KillTheGrimace

04-24-2009, 03:36 AM

Well the one thing I hadn't tried until now was rebooting the TiVo. We did so today at Jerry's request and it appears to be downloading guide info now. :)

[NG]Owner

06-09-2009, 03:13 PM

I'm resurrecting this thread because my TivoHD is exhibiting similar behaviour. My TivoHD will successfully connect each day, but the Program Info To: date will not increment. It stays put at the last date the unit was rebooted.

I have been able to deal with the problem by rebooting the TivoHD every week or so (or as soon as I start getting the guide data running low messages), but I'd like a more permanent solution, as in a fix of some kind.

TivoJerry, any suggestions?

Would a kickstart code solve/correct the problem? If so, which one?

[NG]Owner

TiVoJerry

06-09-2009, 06:11 PM

The issue you mention is not something we encounter regularly enough to have troubleshooting for. I would expect KS57 to help only if you saw an actual failure during indexing or loading (S03), but you indicate that your connections are succeeding.

A few questions:

What model DVR is this?
Has it been modified in any way?
Before you reboot the DVR, what happens if you browse through the guide to future dates? Is the result consistent across multiple channels?
Are you able to search beyond the date listed in System Information?
Does your To Do List display anything beyond the date displayed in SysInfo?
Do you have any channels in your channel list that were added manually (i.e. don't have a network identifier next to it)?

[NG]Owner

06-09-2009, 08:54 PM

The issue you mention is not something we encounter regularly enough to have troubleshooting for. I would expect KS57 to help only if you saw an actual failure during indexing or loading (S03), but you indicate that your connections are succeeding.

It appears I was wrong. The connections do not complete. Nor are they initiated, based on what I saw tonight (The next connection time listed had passed, and no connection had taken place). I do recall that if I manually forced a connection, that the Program Info To: date did not change afterwards. I still received the guide data running out messages.

A few questions:

And here are the answers.
What model DVR is this?
TivoHD
Has it been modified in any way?
Yes. Twice. First to a 500 GB drive, then to a 1TB drive. The last upgrade occured towards the end of April. I upgraded two units using WinMFS at the same time with two of the same model hard drive. Only this one unit is having a problem. Truth be told, this issue only began to manifest itself after the April upgrade, not before. I cannot be certain that the upgrade did not intiate this behavior. Immediately after I brought the upgraded unit online, I realized I forgot to supersize this unit's drive. Additionally I may have played with this unit's swap file size, so just tonight I ran WinMFS again on this drive using both the "supersize" and "fixswap" commands. I just brought this unit back online 30 minutes ago. Perhaps this will fix my issue.
Before you reboot the DVR, what happens if you browse through the guide to future dates? Is the result consistent across multiple channels?
I will wait a few days to answer this question as there is a chance that the two things I did tonight may solve the problem.
Are you able to search beyond the date listed in System Information?
I will wait a few days to answer this question as there is a chance that the two things I did tonight may solve the problem.
Does your To Do List display anything beyond the date displayed in SysInfo?
I will wait a few days to answer this question as there is a chance that the two things I did tonight may solve the problem.
Do you have any channels in your channel list that were added manually (i.e. don't have a network identifier next to it)?
No. I have only deleted channels from the channel lineup. I have not added any. I was not even aware that channels could be added manually when the Tivo has a Cable Card installed. And a Tuning Adapter, if that makes a difference.

[NG]Owner

[NG]Owner

06-10-2009, 09:03 AM

Even after the two changes I made tonight, I can confirm the following:

1) Daily connections do not take place. This despite resetting the network DHCP parameters and also setting a static IP. I know this because the Next Connection date and time have already passed. And the Last Successful Connection was a date and time prior to the the Next Connection date listed. This unit will no longer initiate on its own a connection to the mothership.

2) Forced connections and test the connection both work and complete correctly. There are no error messages whatsoever for either of these activities.

3) If I force a connection, upon successful completion, the Program Info To: does not increment. It is currently at Monday, June 22. The only thing I have found that will cause the date to increment is a system reboot.

I will wait on a reboot until I receive the messages about guide data running low. At that time I will conduct the other tests to obtain answers to the remaining questions above.

With this new information, would it be advantageous to run a kickstart? If so which one?

[NG]Owner

TiVoJerry

06-10-2009, 01:21 PM

Please send me your TSN via private message so I can enable logging. The situation you are explaining now is drastically different from that which I was originally addressing.

[NG]Owner

06-10-2009, 02:06 PM

Give me 24 hours on getting you that TSN, Jerry. I've got some more information. I went home for lunch and took another look at the System Information screen. The plot thickens ....

Low and behold the Last Successful Connection date and time changed! The unit called the mothership around 11AM Central and successfully completed that daily call. Why it called in at that time I do not know. This morning when I checked, the Next Connection date and time referenced a time that had passed.

Another interesting change, the Next Connection time and date has now changed to be sometime tomorrow. Hmmm.

However, there was no change in the Program Info To: entry. That date did not change. It is still listed as Monday June 22. The date did not increment.

I also commenced a Kickstart 57 disk check after learning all this, but prior to reading your post Jerry. I will check tonight to see if the kickstart sequence solves my problem. If not, expect my TSN via PM tomorrow midday.

[NG]Owner

TiVoJerry

06-10-2009, 03:22 PM

You might also want to do a KS54 to see if you can run the SMART diags on the disk you are using.

peggylenox

06-10-2009, 05:19 PM

I'm having the same problem on my Pioneer 810H. I ran a Guided Setup, which seemed to be successful, but now, several hours later I still get the message across the bottom of the screen that "Program info will run out on Sat 6/13. I also received a message from Tivo saying info would run out in three days and to connect to Tivo service. I've done that several times. Also, I just tried to find something to record by channel and time and was said there were no programs. What do you think I should do next>??? Thanks, Peggy

peggylenox

06-13-2009, 08:41 AM

Hi: Just wanted to report that I ran the Guided Setup one more and now all is well. Hooray! Someone on the Tivo board had suggested that maybe there had been a change in the cable company that somehow wasn't being picked up. I wondered if maybe it had something to do with the digital cable conversion. Don't know, but I'm thrilled that it's working again without having to change the hard drive. Yippee!!

[NG]Owner

06-16-2009, 01:40 PM

I am still having the date incrementing issue. I also have answers to the other questions below.

Before you reboot the DVR, what happens if you browse through the guide to future dates? Is the result consistent across multiple channels?
If I go to future dates beyond the Program Info To: date, program information appears across all channels.
Are you able to search beyond the date listed in System Information?
Yes.
Does your To Do List display anything beyond the date displayed in SysInfo?
Yes.
It appears that I have the guide data, but the Program Info To: date is what generates the warning messages. I wonder why its not incrementing. Odd.

[NG]Owner

kentfuka

06-17-2009, 04:55 PM

Hi,

I'm having the same problem with a Series 3. My daughter in Flagstaff just reported having the same problem on her HD.

I have an external Cisco Tuning Adapter, two Motorola CableCards, and an external eSATA drive. My daughter has none of these, and also has the problem, so I doubt that any of these widgets are related to the cause.

Rebooting the Tivo does not fix the problem. Repeating Guided Setup appears to fix the problem (for now).

Symptoms: Programming Download succeeds. Programming To date updates. You can successfully page through the guide through future dates, but the To Do list shows no new programs to record, and Searching by Title shows no titles.

TiVoJerry

06-17-2009, 05:47 PM

kentfuka, what you are reporting is almost the exact opposite of what this thread is covering. Please contact customer support to see if one of our agents can assist you. I'm guessing that it is possible your DVR is selecting an incorrect lineup.

Unfortunately I'm slammed with too many issues to take this on directly.

kentfuka

06-17-2009, 08:19 PM

Hi TivoJerry,

Thanks for the reply. I'll contact Tivo Support if the problem re-occurs.

Kent

oc_hiker

03-12-2010, 12:33 AM

I'm having the problem that I've seen in the TiVo Community discussions, where my TiVo tells me that program info will run out, even though it successfully connects and downloads program info every day.

I have a TiVo XL with a tuning adapter and cable card. I have not modified it.

I have two weeks of program data, but I get a message at the bottom of my screen that says "Program info will run out on Sun 3/14!"

My TiVo last connected today, and it connected successfully. But, on the System Information screen, it says "Program Information To: Sunday March 14, 2010".

This line never gets updated unless I do a cold boot.

I called TiVo, and they say it's probably a hard drive problem, and they want to swap out my box for a refurbished one, and charge me $49, because I'm a few days past warranty. But, I hesitate to do that, because this doesn't sound like a hardware problem.

Is there something I can do short of swapping out my box?

Thanks.

CrispyCritter

03-12-2010, 07:33 AM

This line never gets updated unless I do a cold boot.

I called TiVo, and they say it's probably a hard drive problem, and they want to swap out my box for a refurbished one, and charge me $49, because I'm a few days past warranty. But, I hesitate to do that, because this doesn't sound like a hardware problem.

Is there something I can do short of swapping out my box?
It is probably a database corruption problem (if TiVo knows there's a problem with the show database, it won't attempt to add any more shows to it), which in turn is probably a hard drive problem.

However, you can attempt to directly attack the database corruption problem with one of the kickstart procedures. Search for the instructions on how to do it; I think it is kickstart 57 but I'm not sure.

Alcatraz

03-12-2010, 12:01 PM

You might also try "clear program information & to do list" to let it download the data all over again. also, if you're going to consider an exchange you might as well wipe out everything {last resort} with "clear and delete everything", but try clearing just program info first.

oc_hiker

03-13-2010, 04:04 AM

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll try the Kickstart 57 first, because it sounds like that will keep my saved programs and season passes. If that doesn't work, I'll try "Clear program and to do list". If that doesn't work, I'll try "Clear and Delete Everything". If that doesn't work, I'll swap the box.

oc_hiker

03-19-2010, 01:15 PM

The kickstart 57 didn't work. It updated "Program Information To:" once, but then, although program info was successfully downloaded every day, "Program Information To:" again never updated.

I don't understand why people think this is a hard drive problem. It sounds like a software problem. Can anyone offer another solution? I don't want to lose all the shows I've recorded.

Thanks.

Alcatraz

03-19-2010, 01:48 PM

As long as you haven't EVER modified it, call Tivo and push to get customer support to escalate the issue to engineering. They should be able to turn on logging and see what might be wrong. From what I've read they don't do this very often, so you may have to push for it.

CrispyCritter

03-19-2010, 02:27 PM

I don't understand why people think this is a hard drive problem. It sounds like a software problem. Can anyone offer another solution? I don't want to lose all the shows I've recorded.
It's obviously not a pure software problem, since there are tens of thousands of people running exactly the same software as you on the same TiVo model as you, and they don't have your problem. The only two possibilities are your hardware, or the signal/info being transferred to your particular TiVo. If it's hardware, it's probably the disks (way above 90% of the time). It could be your signal - your internet connection being flaky and getting a corrupt download every time, but that seems very unlikely.

How do you figure it can be software?

nocturne1

03-19-2010, 07:03 PM

My TivoHD started doing the same thing immediately after I added a tuning adapter. This issue must absolutely be related to that, as every case I've seen on here has reported a tuning adapter as well.

If it were a hard drive issue, why would it be triggered by a TA?

FYI, I'm using a Motorola TA here from Cox.

bongoherbert

03-19-2010, 08:23 PM

This happened to me a few weeks ago. Called TiVo, they had me reboot and do a forced connect immediately when it came up. This fixed it- for a few weeks- it happened again this morning. A reboot and forced connect has cured it again, but I wonder. I've got a tuning adapter too... lots of 'different' things started happening once I got it. Suggestions, programming, etc.

nocturne1

03-19-2010, 08:28 PM

For me, a reboot ALWAYS fixes the problem. Until a week later, then I get a message that I only have a week of data left. It obviously has the guide data - immediately after the reboot, the guide data to field is updated.

oc_hiker

03-20-2010, 03:36 PM

Yes, I also have a tuning adapter, and yes, the problem starting happening after the tuning adapter was installed. So, I'd have to be out of my mind to accept TiVo's suggesting of replacing my TiVo unit with a refurbished unit, and lose all my saved programs and season passes, if the problem is likely to happen again with the replacement unit, as it has for others who also have a tuning adapter installed.

I did escalate to engineering, but they didn't turn on logging. That sounds like a good idea.

[NG]Owner

03-22-2010, 10:27 AM

If you look up the page, you'll see that I had this original problem. This issue is most defininately tied to the TA. This is what you have to do to get it to work right again.

Pull the power cord from the Tivo.
Pull the power cord from the TA.

Leave both unpowered for ~10 seconds.

Plug the power cord back into the TA.
Plug the power cord back into the Tivo.

You do not have to wait until the TA fully powers up to plug in the Tivo. Plugging in the Tivo right after you get the TA plugged in is fine. Let them do their thing.

It's been my experience that the guide data running out problem is fully resolved until the next time the TA hiccups.

[NG]Owner

nocturne1

04-04-2010, 10:59 PM

For those who suggested it's a hard drive problem - I just replaced my drive the middle of last week. Checked it now? It only has 1 1/2 weeks of guide data available according to the information screen.

As expected, the hard drive has nothing to do with it. Absolutely a Tivo software bug. Seeing that they have their hands full on the Premiere series..... I doubt this will get attention any time soon...

oc_hiker

04-09-2010, 02:58 PM

Thanks [NG]Owner for your suggestion. I unplugged both the tuner adapter and the TiVo, as you suggested, and the guide data running out problem went away for about a week. But, now the problem is back again! Arghhhh!!!!

And thanks to you, nocturne1, for sharing your experience with replacing the hard drive. Your experience will spare me and others from fruitlessly replacing our hard drives and losing all our saved shows, just to have the problem pop up again.

Finally, TiVoJerry, thanks for suggesting that I escalate to Engineering and request that they turn on logging. I did that, and they said they would, but it's been three weeks, and they haven't called me back yet!

At this point, I'm seriously considering asking TiVo for my money back for the XL and the lifetime subscription, and renting a cable company DVR. That's way to much money to spend for something that works so shoddily.

[NG]Owner

04-09-2010, 04:26 PM

nocturne1

04-09-2010, 06:13 PM

Owner;7875457']IMO, that just means that your TA hiccuped again. Maybe a bad TA?

[NG]Owner
I don't think that's it. Even though the devices are pulling down the guide data, the system never updates it's "guide data through" field. It always stays on 2 weeks after the reboot. And the warning messages will only start when it thinks there's a week of data.

I think the bug is triggered by the presence of a TA, but it's not a TA hiccup. The warning's like clockwork for me...

[NG]Owner

04-12-2010, 12:49 PM

Try this:

Disconnect power from both devices.

Disconnect the TA's USB connection from the Tivo.

Turn both devices back on.

Wait for the Tivo to come fully back up.

Plug in TA's USB cable into the OTHER USB port on the Tivo.

See if that solves the problem.

[NG]Owner

nocturne1

04-12-2010, 02:03 PM

Owner;7879091']Try this:

Disconnect power from both devices.

Disconnect the TA's USB connection from the Tivo.

Turn both devices back on.

Wait for the Tivo to come fully back up.

Plug in TA's USB cable into the OTHER USB port on the Tivo.

See if that solves the problem.

[NG]Owner

Tried before, no change in behavior...

ferrumpneuma

04-12-2010, 02:29 PM

..... I doubt this will get attention any time soon...

That's only if you go by TiVo's previous track record on bug fixes. They might fix this one quickly.:up::up::up::D

good luck

oc_hiker

04-13-2010, 01:31 AM

The real question is how to we get TiVo to even acknowledge that there is a software problem that needs to be fixed. Their support people insist that the problem is in my hard drive.

VinceA

04-13-2010, 10:45 AM

I've had this problem through three different drives. The original 160GB, then two different 1TB drives. I originally upgraded to the 1TB drive because I thought the 160GB had an issue causing the guide data date not being updated. After a fresh load things go fine for a few days but eventually it goes back to the same problem. Had it before the tuning adapter was added. I got an error S03 on the first 1TB drive so I pulled it after a Kickstart 57 did nothing useful, ran the WD diags on it and destructively tested it. No errors were reported. So, I InstantCaked the drive and did a fresh Guided Setup. Four months later, another error S03, so I pulled the drive and replaced it with a fresh 1TB WD10EVDS drive (identical model to the first 1TB drive). I'll test the first 1TB again when I've got the time but I doubt there's any hardware issue with the drive. It almost looks like the TiVo is too busy to update that date since I've got 60+ season passes on the affected TiVoHD. Initially suggestions will be created and recorded but eventually those go away also.... like the unit is too busy to process the thumbs data against the guide data. Garbage collection occurs very infrequently, possible another symptom of a busy machine. Pure speculation on my part but I've observed this issue for a while.

oc_hiker

04-14-2010, 12:21 AM

I also observed that around the time the "Program Information To" stopped updating, my TiVo Suggestions dropped to zero. I don't think this was because the TiVo was too busy. I think it was because the drive was getting full, and there was no room to record TiVo suggestions. So, my guess is that once the drive gets full, and TiVo suggesions go down to zero, and recorded shows start needing to be erased, this is when the TiVo stops correctly updating its "Program Information To".

This should be valuable information to the TiVo engineers to help debug the problem. My only issue is whether anyone at TiVo is listening. I'm still waiting for them to call me back about my case, after three and a half weeks. Hello, hello, is there anybody in there????

VinceA

04-14-2010, 12:44 PM

Hmmm, I'll check if deleting shows makes a difference if the problem recurs.

oc_hiker

04-24-2010, 04:06 PM

I deleted some saved shows, so that the TiVo would again begin recording TiVo Suggestions. And guess what? Lo and behold, all of a sudden the TiVo began updating "Program Information To"!

Well, this lasted a few days, until more shows were saved, and the hard drive became full again, with no room for TiVo Suggestions. So, it seems that either I have to (1) Reboot the TiVo once a week, or (2) Manually delete shows to make room for TiVo suggestions, or (3) remove some of my season passes to avoid filling up the hard drive. Of course, none of these are optimal.

Again, I hope someone at TiVo is reading this. I would hope this provides enough information so that the problem can be debugged, and hopefully TiVo will come out with a software update with a fix.

VinceA

04-26-2010, 09:13 AM

I've been making sure to empty out the Deleted Items folder every day or so. Seems to be helping or at least things are working as they're supposed to...

atomarchio

04-26-2010, 09:41 AM

Guess I had this wrong. You just delete the show or delete the show from the "deleted items" folder.

Is there a way to delete the entire "deleted items" folder at one-time? That's going to take me quite a while if I have to do this show by show.

Please let me know. Thank you.

VinceA

04-26-2010, 09:11 PM

To be sure to free up space I delete stuff from the Deleted Items folder. So far I haven't found a way to mass delete the Deleted Items folder items.

atomarchio

04-26-2010, 09:13 PM

Deleting them one-by-one takes quite a while, does'nt it?

atomarchio

04-27-2010, 06:55 AM

I deleted a bunch of shows which worked until this morning. Then the same message Program guide will run out on 5/2 appears.

VinceA

04-27-2010, 10:25 AM

Yes, it does take a while.

In your case, I'd reboot the box to get the Info Date updated this once and see if the box deals with it from here on out after you clear up some space.

nocturne1

04-27-2010, 03:24 PM

Interestingly enough, the last TiVoHD update changed the behavior slightly. I no longer get the message when it thinks only 1 week of guide data is remaining. However, I get the warnings when it thinks 2-3 days are remaining, and then of course, when it thinks it's all out. Yet, I amazingly have 2 weeks of data when I actually look at the guide....

atomarchio

04-28-2010, 06:41 AM

The reboot must have more of an effect than just deleting files. When I deleted files, the message came back the next day. However, when I rebooted the message is gone.

How can I tell if my program guide data is back where it should be again?

VinceA

04-28-2010, 09:29 AM

Check your To Do list to see if it goes out about two weeks and check your Program Information date.

VinceA

05-19-2010, 10:25 AM

Been keeping the Deleted Items folder emptied out and, so far, the System Info date has been updating on its own every two or three days. Generally it seems to update when Garbage Collection happens. Suggestions, though, only generate after a reboot and only for about five or six days into the future.

atomarchio

05-19-2010, 10:32 AM

My situation must have been related to the Tuning Adapter cable card. Once Time Warner came back and replaced the TA, I no longer have this problem.

alanhoyle

05-28-2010, 12:02 AM

I have been experiencing the same problem with my Series3 on TWC with a Cisco tuning adapter, two Scientific Atlanta CableCards, and the WD MyDVR Expander 1TB SATA drive.

The guide and the todo list go into the future. The "Last Attempt" is always recent (past day or so) with "Last Status: Succeeded" displayed.

I have plenty of space left: I have 115 "Suggestions" on the system.

This feels like a software issue to me.

atomarchio

05-28-2010, 06:51 AM

Check your Tuning Adapter. The light should be solid and not blinking. Had this issue several times now it's been related to this item each time.

alanhoyle

05-28-2010, 09:30 AM

Check your Tuning Adapter. The light should be solid and not blinking. Had this issue several times now it's been related to this item each time.

Tuning adapter light is solid.

[NG]Owner

06-02-2010, 08:06 PM

Yeah, this is happening to me again on one of my two otherwise identical TivoHDs. And none of my fixes from above seem to help. A reboot solves the problem, but it has returned now three times.

Program Info is scheduled to run out on 6/8. Though my To Do List runs through until 6/15, just like it should. I'm going to not reboot anything. I'm going to try doing nothing and see what happens when we get to 6/8. I'll report back and let everyone know.

[NG]Owner

alanhoyle

06-04-2010, 10:34 AM

Started happening again on my Series3 yesterday. Last reboot was on the 27th. It's telling me my info will run out on the 9th. It just isn't updating the date. Guide info goes further into the future than the dates say it should. Tuning adapter is solid green. Last connect date is this morning. Sigh. It's just annoying.

crusin_x1

06-08-2010, 07:39 PM

I also am having the same problem, it says the guide info will run out. I have verified that the guide does indeed have the full two weeks of data. I've had the tunning adapter for over a year and this is the first time having this pob. The TiVo is connecting properly. Other then that I have done no trouble shooting yet, haven't rebooted or anything yet. Just sharing.

[NG]Owner

06-08-2010, 09:00 PM

Owner;7969268']Program Info is scheduled to run out on 6/8. Though my To Do List runs through until 6/15, just like it should. I'm going to not reboot anything. I'm going to try doing nothing and see what happens when we get to 6/8. I'll report back and let everyone know.

[NG]Owner

Well, it's 6/8. The Tivo is telling me that the program information has run out, and that no further programs will be recorded. I think it was message #60.

The Tivo is happily recording two shows right now and has a To Do List that's fully populated for the next two weeks. So I'd say for now just ignore the messages and the nag screens at the bottom of the menus and carry on.

It's a glitch somewhere, but it doesn't seem to adversely effect the Tivo's operation yet. And the occasional unplanned reboot will solve the nag screen problem.

[NG]Owner

[NG]Owner

06-10-2010, 12:08 PM

Very interesting. The Tivo properly reset itself without a reboot sometime yesterday. All the nag screens are gone and the Guide Data To field updated without a reboot. And I know it was without a reboot because the DVR diagnostic screen shows the number of seconds since last OOB something or other was at 1.7M seconds or so.

So I guess that means just let it go and once the date passes, the Tivo will ultimately reset itself and the date will increment. I'll report back to say whether the date continues to increment daily, or if it fails to.

[NG]Owner

[NG]Owner

06-14-2010, 10:04 AM

Owner;7982420']I'll report back to say whether the date continues to increment daily, or if it fails to.

The Guide Data To date is properly incrementing again.

[NG]Owner

crusin_x1

06-14-2010, 10:46 AM

My TiVo also corrected itself without restarting. No nag screens for a few days now.

[NG]Owner

06-24-2010, 02:29 PM

And it stopped incrementing again, nag sccreens are back .... :(

[NG]Owner

VinceA

07-06-2010, 01:00 PM

Have you emptied out your Deleted Items folder?

cwerdna

07-06-2010, 01:58 PM

Strange, I've owned a TiVo since 2001 (but have no experience w/tuning adapters as I've never lived in an SDV area) and have never had running out of guide data problems other than due to: loss of connectivity due to phone line being unplugged so TiVo couldn't dial or a cable lineup switchover/change and me not having switched to the right one.

IIRC, if one has the wrong lineup chosen and hits the running out of guide data warnings, you can force calls (connections) all you want, but it won't help.

I'm now on TiVo HD and don't use POTS (don't even have a landline) and have never run out of guide data. I think the deleted items folder has little or nothing to do w/things. Heck, the Deleted Items folder didn't even exist until software version 6.x. Series 1s never got it since they dead-ended at software version ~3.1.

CortJstr

07-09-2010, 07:53 PM

This just happened to me. Live Chat had me hard boot the Tivo which updated the date. While waiting for that I found this thread.

I just moved and had to switch from Comcast to Cox and having been using a TA for about 10 days. We'll see if it keeps happening but based on this thread it doesn't look promising.

VinceA

07-11-2010, 11:05 AM

atomarchio

07-21-2010, 10:39 AM

Looks like I am in big trouble. I've had this problem for months now but reboot always fixed.

Now I am getting the error that I am running out on 7/24. I rebooted the Tivo and TA as suggested.

I am running the guided setup again as suggested but I can't get past "preparing". Looks like I'm in big trouble here. Any ideas on what I can do? Please help.

chemosh6969

07-21-2010, 12:34 PM

I don't have the wrong lineup chosen since there's only one for Cablevision's digital cable system.

I didn't have this issue until after my TiVoHD hit v11 or so I think.

I do have a TA on it, the STA1520 from Scientific Atlanta / Cisco

I haven't had it run out of guide data yet but both of my tivos have started saying it can't find my lineup even though there's just the one Charter system in my area.

On my series 3, if I try to change the lineup through the message, it says I can disregard it since I haven't chosen to use cable. Thing is, I am using cable. That's what the two cable cards are for.

On my premiere, I went ahead and let it do the guided setup. What happens as soon as I finish doing it? A brand new message saying it couldn't find my lineup and that I should do the setup again.

Optics

08-02-2010, 08:20 PM

Has anyone found a cause/resolution to this problem?

I've tried:
- rearranged first few entries in Season Pass
- emptied "Recently Deleted"
- rebooted Tuning Adapter

Service Connections are all successful every day.
Guide Data seems to get loaded for full 2 weeks.

The "Program Information To:" date in System Information still does not increment after guide data is loaded, even though there is Guide Data past the "To:" date.

The date only increments when the TiVoHD reboots.

VinceA

08-04-2010, 08:10 AM

I've been keeping the Deleted Item folder empty and watching more stuff since it seems the fuller the drive is, the less likely it is for the date to advance.

[NG]Owner

08-05-2010, 02:31 PM

Fact is, don't worry about the nag screens about running out of data. I let it go without rebooting until after the date passed. Nothing happened. Business as usual.

The data is there, and the unit keeps recording. It will reset on its own after it "runs out" of guide data, either by a spontaneous reboot, or just because.

It's a ghost in the machine, nothing more.

[NG]Owner

VinceA

08-06-2010, 08:25 AM

... but it's an odd ghost in the machine. I'm glad that I'm not the only one having the problem but sad that the problem exists at all.

alanhoyle

08-09-2010, 09:45 AM

I got a TiVo update not too long ago and was hoping that this bug was fixed. It didn't make a difference. I still have annoying nag screens, while the system regularly and successfully connects and has guide data running off well past the expire date.

MarkL

08-10-2010, 10:24 AM

My Series 2 started doing this last week. Update connections were made fine, but no updates actually occurred. A reboot has temporarily resolved the issue, but based on what others' experience, looks like it will recur.

So you can rule out the Tuning Adapter as the proximal cause .. I don't have one. Just straight analog cable into my unit.

pbakers

09-02-2010, 02:35 PM

I posted the following somewhere else before I was directed to this thread. Just wanted to add this as another one seeing this problem. Note I have a TivoHD with 1 TB MyDVR Expander and am on Time Warner with MCard and Motorola TA for SDV (TA has been installed for about 2 months now). I never saw this this problem on the HD until the TA was installed. But I did see this a few years ago on an old series 2 once but it never returned after I rebooted. Just to add my 2 cents from earlier post:

Does anyone know why this keeps happening? Today I get a warning that the Guide data will run out in five days. I checked the network connection (hard wired Ethernet) and it says the last attempt was successful. I tested it and the test ran fine. I forced a connection and it reported it was successful as well but the guide info is still not updated.

I recalled a similar issue on a older series 2 I had a few years ago. Also searching on the Web I found reports of this dating back 5 or 6 years. I was able to easily fix it by doing a hard reset (pulling power cord) and rebooting. After the reboot, bam the guide was updated instantly with usual 2 weeks of data, no net connection was necessary so obviously the Tivo had the info but just refused to display it or schedule recordings. If hadn't noticed this I would have started loosing recordings in a few days [I assumed this but after reading this thread I am inclined to let it go and see if it continues to record normally even though it is throwing this warning message - but then again the new season is starting and the wife will kill me if I miss recording her favorite show! :eek:].

It is an admittedly rare issue [again I assumed this but after reading this thread maybe not], but why is this still happening after all these years? That's a long time for a bug to remain lurking around IMHO.

CortJstr

09-02-2010, 03:04 PM

I've also noticed that when the Tivo says it's out of guide data the To Do list appears normal and it continues to record my season passes normally but I can't search for programs. If I hit Tivo+4 it just takes me to the "no data" message. I left it like this for a few days before I finally gave in and rebooted it.

Seeing as at least once a week my TA brings up a solid grey screen I'm inclined to believe it's the problem.

ScratchFury

09-03-2010, 12:08 AM

After I got my TA, I started having this issue. I did one step above Clear and Delete Everything. I had to re-enter all my Season Passes. Everything worked perfect... for a week. I rebooted and unplugged my TA overnight, and it is working again. Not sure what steps fixed it. I will have to experiment more when it happens again. I used AutoHotkey and telnet commands to delete 400 old shows in Deleted Items before I erased my stuff. It didn't help.

VinceA

09-08-2010, 06:22 AM

OK, so a common factor here seems to be having a Tuning Adapter. How many of you also have an upgraded drive? I've got a 1TB drive in my TiVoHD

pbakers

09-08-2010, 01:36 PM

OK, so a common factor here seems to be having a Tuning Adapter. How many of you also have an upgraded drive? I've got a 1TB drive in my TiVoHD

Mine is a stock TivoHD with a 1 TB MyDVR Expander. All un-modified. After I rebooted the first time this happened, it has not returned yet and the Guide Cache data is incrementing as expected. So far so good here.

ari14850

09-13-2010, 10:11 AM

This problem has been plaguing me for months. And I finally found a solution.

I have a tivo HD hooked up to a netgear wndr3300 router via ethernet cable. This router is connected via a motorola sbg6580f cable modem to road runner. Tivo on time warner with tuning adapter and WD dvr expander.

My TIVO has NEVER been able to get a DCHP address from the netgear. It just fails (n13) and then I try manual assign, and that fails too.

The only way it will set up a network connection is to use "let tivo assign itself an address". I've called tivo several times about this (because I want to assign this thing a static ip so it plays well with all the other items on my network) and they just say "there is no difference between the 3 methods, and we don't know why 2 of the 3 don't work, but just leave it alone.

The problem is, by leaving it alone

a) I'm having ip address conflicts since the tivo is taking a ## that the router also tries to assign

b) I often get "guide is about to run out" message. Even though it connects and gets the guide info (with self assigned ip), the guide info is somehow corrupted. I've had lots of weird symptoms such as guide data download but an empty "find programs" directory, messages that say the guide is up to date, but then show the index as being in the past. Index to dates months ahead in the future.

So last night I hooked up a blu-ray netflix player and it too could not get a DHCP address. But it's error message was more descriptive (ping error) so I started researching that. My netgear router had all the firewalls open. So I tried to run ping on my Mac (on a mac go to utilities/terminal and type "ping w w w.google.com" (spaces added so post allowed on forum) on windows go to command line and use the same command)

What I found was very strange. I could not ping ANY outside computers. Anything in my house (192.x.x.x) would respond, but outside addresses didn't. (I also pinged numeric equivalents in case you were wondering if my DNS was bad). As a matter of fact, I could not even ping the gateway that the router was connected to (the motorola cable modem). So I knew something was up.

Called time warner, told them I thought the motorola was blocking wan ping. They did some tests, and then changed the block wan ping setting (unless you can get into the modem's settings, which I can't because they changed the password from the default, you cannot change these on your own) .

And lo-and-behold, my wan pings started working. I ran to the tivo, tried to get it to get a DCHP lease, and -drumroll- success! The blu-ray player also connected to netflix.

So the moral of the story is, try a wan ping from your computer if you are having dhcp or n13 or guide data problems with your tivo. If it does not succeed, call the cable company and get them to fix the setting.

P.S. The guide data also turned out to be corrupt (perhaps because of all the failed connection attempts due to the ping block). TiVo support suggested re-running guided setup, first with the WRONG zip code to clear out all the data, then with the right zip code. This did indeed fix the indexing issues I had been having.

So there you have it. Hope this saves you some time. I wish I knew this a few months ago...

Alcatraz

09-13-2010, 07:15 PM

I wonder if they helped unblock some of the ports or IP addresses Tivo says should be opened.

http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/402
The following ports (whether inbound or outbound) must be open to allow your TiVo box to communicate with the TiVo Servers, other TiVo boxes, and your Macintosh or Windows PC:

* TCP port 37
* TCP port 80
* TCP port 443
* TCP port 2190
* TCP port 4430
* TCP port 5222
* TCP port 5223
* TCP port 5254
* TCP port 5354
* TCP port 7287-7297
* TCP port 8000
* TCP ports 8080-8089
* TCP port 8101
* TCP port 8102
* TCP port 8181
* TCP port 8200
* UDP port 37
* UDP port 123
* UDP port 2190
* UDP port 5353

If your TiVo box is having issues connecting to your home network, use one of the following procedures to check if required ports or IP addresses are blocked.

1. Make sure that ports 80 and 8080 are not being blocked by your router, firewall, or Internet Service Provider (ISP).

2. Verify that the following IP addresses are not being blocked by your router, firewall or Internet Service Provider (ISP):

* 208.73.180.0 through 208.73.183.255

* 204.176.49.0 through 204.176.49.127

* 206.112.115.0 through 206.112.115.255

3. If the ports and IP addresses are configured properly on the router and firewall, but the box is unable to communicate with the TiVo service or another TiVo box, some ports or addresses may be blocked by your Internet Service Provider. Contact your Internet Service Provider for assistance.

scole250

09-18-2010, 10:08 AM

Any updates to this problem? I re-ran guided setup a month ago which straightened it out for a little while, but it occurred again. I'm not aware of any network problems though. Are failed connection attempts the reason for getting corrupt guide data? Any way to see a log?

VinceA

09-29-2010, 07:14 AM

wtherrell

09-30-2010, 02:00 PM

OK, so it's not tuning adapter linked as a problem. How many Season Passes does everyone that has this problem have on their unit? I've got more than 70 currently. Just wondering if there's some sort of limit being reached where the unit doesn't have enough time to process everything it has to do.

15 season passes plus some video on demand passes. Tivo should have addressed this problem long ago. It should not be happening still. Tivo has too many issues of this kind where things don't quite work properly and they seem to do nothing. I currently have 3 S2 and a TIVO HD 1 Terabyte. They keep wanting me to buy a Premiere but I will not do so because of Tivos history of ignoring these problems. Besides, I already have the best set-up for MRV. I can transfer almost anything from the S2s to the HD but not the other way around. Sigh. Tivo, you coulda been a contenda!

VinceA

09-30-2010, 04:04 PM

OK, so that's not a factor.

So far, we've removed the following possible causes since not all the cases have them in common:
- too many SPs
- tuning adapter
- drive expansion

pbakers

10-12-2010, 01:57 PM

After more than a month, the Guide Data running out nag message is back. It says it will run out on 10/18, but when I look in the Guide and the To Do List, I see programming and shows scheduled to record all the way out to 10/23. I am just going to let it run through without restarting to see what happens. I think this is just a bug in how the nag message is displayed and not a real issue that will cause any shows to be missed recording. We will see what happens.

jwbelcher

10-13-2010, 12:01 AM

I started having this issue again about 3 weeks ago (all the typical symptoms as documented in this thread). The first time this happened to me was last year after hooking up a tuning adapter. I was sure it was related, as some others reported, but as it turned out, it was just a coincidence. The first time it was able to be fixed by performing a clear and delete everything. This lasted for about a year until it just started occurring again. This time it was right after hooking up the Bluetooth slide remote! It was very weird that each time after adding a USB devices the issue appeared. Again, I think just a coincidence. This time I tried first clearing suggestions, followed up with clearing program info, and lastly cleared and deleted everything. To my angst, none of these worked for me this time. Actually this time, after performing the various resets, the Tivo got progressively worse. After clearing the guide data, which should delete season passes, they were left intact, but would not actual record any shows. Also, after performing clear and delete, the newly downloaded program guide data was not searchable. At this point, I was convinced of file system or database corruption and more than likely a hard drive going bad as the root cause. I finally ended up taking the drive out and replacing with a new WD caviar black. After putting the new drive in the Tivo, using winmfs for backup and restore, the Tivo went into GSOD!! I guess this was good, although it had me worried, but after 2+ hours it had repaired itself. My guess is it discovered the corruption and reinstalled itself. After it completed, I cleared program information, and immediately did a service connection call to get guide data. Its been running since Sunday and both the Program Information To and GC timestamps are updating normally once again. I'm hopeful my issues are resolved and maybe this information maybe helpful to the others out there experiencing the same issue.

jwbelcher

10-13-2010, 10:23 PM

So... It looks like daily calls are working again, but was pretty slow today. Guide data downloaded at 2:53, but Indexing didn't complete until 9:42. Garbage Collection ran at 10:20. Program Information To timestamp didn't update until the GC completed.

VinceA

10-14-2010, 01:12 PM

Garbage Collection seems to be the key to the whole problem. On my TiVoHD, GC won't run unless there's a lot of 'free space' and possibly free time (not recording, etc)

wisny

10-19-2010, 02:51 PM

/subscribe

[NG]Owner

10-26-2010, 11:12 AM

Garbage Collection seems to be the key to the whole problem. On my TiVoHD, GC won't run unless there's a lot of 'free space' and possibly free time (not recording, etc)

A few days after the 11.0j software update, my nag screen returned on one of my two TivoHDs. Sigh. Interestingly enough, the one that it returned on is definitely the one that is more active recording-wise.

What is garbage collection? I've never heard that in regards to a Tivo before.

[NG]Owner

wisny

10-26-2010, 11:52 PM

I was having this problem. TiVo said to delete the messages, they said sometimes the error message just gets stuck :confused:. Deleted the messages, and after the next connection, the error message went away. :up:

VinceA

10-27-2010, 09:30 AM

Owner;8201967']A few days after the 11.0j software update, my nag screen returned on one of my two TivoHDs. Sigh. Interestingly enough, the one that it returned on is definitely the one that is more active recording-wise.

What is garbage collection? I've never heard that in regards to a Tivo before.

[NG]Owner

It's the date/time indicated on the System Info screen with GC:

Not sure exactly what Garbage Collection is doing on the unit but I know it exists. There's a little discussion here:
http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1127867

drugrep

10-31-2010, 02:26 PM

Just found this thread.

I have a Series 2 Dual Tuner with Lifetime.

Daily connections are successful but I will run out of guide data on 11/7.

I scrolled down the to do list and all ends on 11/6.

fire_horse

10-31-2010, 04:22 PM

Drugrep, I'm in Downers Grove - we probably have the same channel list provider (Comcast Elmhurst). My guide data also runs out on 11/7. I manually connected, and it was successful, but the date didn't move out. I also manually rebooted my TiVos and that didn't change anything either.

I've seen some other threads discussing this problem and it's suggested that re-running guided setup is the thing to do. I have seen lots of problems reported by people who did that, so I think that's a last-resort option.

Just found this thread.

I have a Series 2 Dual Tuner with Lifetime.

Daily connections are successful but I will run out of guide data on 11/7.

I scrolled down the to do list and all ends on 11/6.

lstone19

10-31-2010, 08:27 PM

drugrep

10-31-2010, 10:56 PM

I hope so, I just made it worse, now only have data until 11/2. I repeated guided setup, and went from data until 11/7 to 11/2. Lost 5 days!!!! <grin>

smgord

11-01-2010, 10:58 AM

dfreybur

11-01-2010, 11:28 AM

We're also in the Comcast-Elmhurst service area and having the same "no guide data after 11/7" on all three of our TiVos. Since it's clearly not local to a specific TiVo, I would not bother with rebooting, repeating Guided Setup, or anything like that. Report the issue to TiVo and wait for them to fix the issue. I expect it will clear up in a day or two.

We are also in Comcast-Elmhurst and it's the first time I've seen this problem. I see it on our Series-2 Humax 400 and on our Series-2 HD unit so I knew it was not hardware. Our Series-3 updates to 11.0j recently but our Series-2 has been at I think 9.3.2b for many months without an update so I also knew it was not software/firmware.

Maybe TiVo lost contact with this Comcast office.

Last night I rebooted the Series-2. I am busy tonight so I'll check tomorrow evening if they started downloading. If not I'll log a service request with TiVo.

Comcast raised their prices yet again. This time they declined to offer a replacement package so their prices remain over $200 per month. Sigh. I need broadband to work from home while I am on call but I don't need movie channels and such. I've been asking around and the major options seem to be the 1) Keep the TiVo with dish for TV and some DSL provider then run some VoIP gadget for the land line, or 2) Drop the Tivo and switch to AT&T Uverse for TV plus broadband plus land line. We have our mobile service through AT&T so we're asking around if the neighbors do okay with Uverse.

OhFiddle

11-01-2010, 11:35 AM

I'm having the same issue with Comcast-Elmhurst-Digital as my service. A reboot did nothing. On another thread about this it said to check on zap2it.com because it uses the same guide service where the Tivo gets it's guide data from. It said sometimes they change the name of your cable service and it isn't updated properly. When I put in my zipcode on zap2it, Comcast isn't even listed as an option. I think I'm going to contact customer support to let them know. I don't want to rerun guided setup.

sydwi

11-01-2010, 01:24 PM

Another comcast-elmhurst with the same problem. I'm glad I'm not alone! And I'm also glad I checked here before trying a guided set up.

I tried logging in to My Tivo and checking if I could tell it to record things after 11/7 - it didn't even recognize that television shows air in my area.

lstone19

11-01-2010, 08:07 PM

lstone19

11-02-2010, 07:33 AM

Zap2It seems to know again that Comcast-Elmhurst/Oak Park serves my zip code again so hopefully, this will push through to TiVo in a day or two (one of our TiVos did an update an hour ago and did not get new data so will check again this evening).

Corran Horn

11-02-2010, 08:57 AM

TiVo support responded with the completely useless suggestion of rerunning Guided Setup and selecting "Comcast-Elmhurst/Oak Park" instead of "Comcast-Elmhurst/Maywood" they say I am using. Wrong! I am on "Comcast-Elmhurst/Oak Park" unless System Information is lying.

But, I think the problem is with Zap2It. From what I can tell, "Comcast-Elmhurst/Oak Park" has disappeared from their listings. For my zip code and all others around here that should be "Comcast-Elmhurst/Oak Park", they think the only cable provider is AT&T U-verse. I've sent a message to Zap2It as well as a reply to TiVo.

No doubt if I did rerun Guided Setup, it would not list any Comcast options for my zip code and then I'd just be worse off.

Had this exact same problem last night. Talked to support via chat and they looked into it. They said something about the data not being populated and they would contact their lineup specialists to remedy it. (I have the exact details in my chat transcript at home.)

This is what support told me...

It appears that the lineup for Comcast no longer has any information associated with it, so our lineup specialists will have to contact them directly to populate a list for the customers that are effected.

They did somehow contact my tivo and see that the guide data past Saturday was blank for non-local HDs, which I thought was a cool verification on their end.

Shortly thereafter they asked me to re-run guided setup for Comcast-Elmhurst/Oak Park (I noticed that since I ran it first years ago U-verse is now an option to choose) and I went through the normal steps. Everything worked fine and I now see guide data past Saturday. (which was my drop-off point)

I recommended running guided setup. Sure, it'll screw up the channels you receive if you'd pruned them previously for relevance, but oh well.

dbthornton

11-02-2010, 02:05 PM

Also in Comcast Elmhurst, and had the same problem on my Pioneer 810 but not the TivoHD.
Reran Guided Setup last night and it seems to be fixed.

drugrep

11-02-2010, 06:29 PM

I can say that running Guided Setup did change me from Comcast Elmhurst to Comcast Elmhurst/Oak Park and now I have guide data through the 16th.

bob61

11-02-2010, 06:33 PM

Another Comcast/Elmhurst customer here with program guide update issue. I have even tried to manually connect to update the program info, noted when I did that after it connected it never loaded anything (the "Loading Info" just completed instantly).

I went into the Channel line-up and pressed "Enter" (it's noted on the bottom if the channel line-up is wrong to press enter). I then went through the channel set-up. I selected my provider info, Comcast Elmhurst/Oak Park. It then forced my Tivo to go an update the Program Info once again, the "Loading Info" showed "Organizing" for over 10 minutes. I went into "Find Programs" and there's a message "Still getting more program info". Hopefully when it's done this has fixed the problem.

**Update** After a couple hours the program info has updated and my guide info is now back to 2 weeks. If you are having similar problems I'd recommend resetting your channel line-up and let your Tivo update run through it's update. Hopefully this keeps on updating now.

emstrom

11-02-2010, 08:49 PM

I'm having the same issue, but it's kind of strange. I'm in Evanston, and according to Comcast, I'm in their Chicago North/Northwest area, not Elmhurst. My Tivo has always shown Chicago North before, but a few days ago starting showing Elmhurst instead. I don't know why. And now when I try to go through guided setup again, my zip code results in only the Elmhurst location as a choice, not Chicago North. Has anyone seen that happen?

OhFiddle

11-03-2010, 12:19 AM

Got a reply from Tivo customer support saying the channel lineup had been deleted and that it was now fixed and to re-run guided setup. I checked on zap2it and it did show Comcast - Elmhurst/Oak Park as an option again.

I tried manually reconnecting to the Tivo service after the line-up was restored to see if it might work without re-running guided setup....but it didn't. So I re-ran the setup and the correct line-up was already selected so I just confirmed it. It did its thing for about half an hour and now I have full guide data back. Now I just have to go through and remove all those junk channels from the guide again.....uggh.

lstone19

11-03-2010, 07:38 AM

wzntme

11-03-2010, 10:20 AM

New to the group. Figured I'd post what I received back from Tivo Support:

Thank you for contacting TiVo Customer Support. I would be happy to assist you today. This is an issue that is effecting you and many of your neighbors, Comcast decided to get rid of that lineup and did not inform our lineup specialists so you are running low on program guide data. However, there is a solution. You will need to repeat guided setup with a different zip code (60016, 60018, 60025) to get a new lineup which will give you a Comcast Elmhurst/Oak Park lineup that will be correct. We are sorry for the trouble but this should resolve all your issues. Have a great day!

We were able to use 60016 and select Elmhurst/Oak Park, and it seems to work OK.

smgord

11-03-2010, 02:19 PM

I found that selecting Enter in the Channel List did not help. It repeated the provider selection portion of Guided Setup but when all was done, still no more guide data even after forcing an additional service connection. I then did a full Guided Setup and all seems to be correct now (after forcing an additional service connection).

But still not happy. This never should have happened and I suspect come 11/7, there will be a lot of complaints about this.

Hitting Enter in the Channel List did work for me ... it took about 20 minutes to load the new data, and even so, it didn't immediately populate guide data ... BUT, instead of saying data would run out on 11/7, it said it was still processing. Even after the processing message went away, my to do list didn't populate immediately. But today (I did all this last night), my to do list is fully populated for the next two weeks. Also, I did not have to re-set my favorites, they remained the same. So, for me, this is now resolved.

foamy909

11-04-2010, 08:45 PM

I just wanted to thank everyone here as I just got a call from my non-tech savvy mother, who lives in Lombard, due to the same message. After going through the normal trouble-shooting, I checked here and saw the Elmhurst Oak Park issue. I was able to walk her through the Channel list option, which prevented either her from running guided set-up or me having to make a house call.

thanks again

dfreybur

11-05-2010, 04:52 PM

I went into the Channel line-up and pressed "Enter" (it's noted on the bottom if the channel line-up is wrong to press enter). I then went through the channel set-up. I selected my provider info, Comcast Elmhurst/Oak Park. It then forced my Tivo to go an update the Program Info once again, the "Loading Info" showed "Organizing" for over 10 minutes.

Thank you bob61 in particular and everyone else in this thread as well. A couple of days ago I ran through this process on my Series2 then left for the evening. It was still in setup mode when I got back. I had to manually connect to the TiVo service again a second time, which took a long time to load the data. Bingo my To Do List is populated again.

Last night during dinner I started the same process on my Series3. It took about 30 minutes longer than dinner to finish set up mode. Then I connected manually and the load ran in background much of the evening. Handled.

tomm1079

11-06-2010, 04:44 PM

wow gotta love this forum. Just got this issue on all my tivos and im in elmhurst area. About to rerun guided setup.

tomm1079

11-06-2010, 05:53 PM

updated all 4 of my tivos. Looks like guide data is appearing again.

Thanks!

eman31

11-06-2010, 09:22 PM

Had the same problem here in Downers Grove. Had tried a couple of other fixes before I found this thread. Thanks for the help and info!

pekingduk

11-08-2010, 10:24 PM

Had the same problem this past week in Oak Park using the Comcast Elmhurst set up. All channels were showing up with no program information available. The guided setup solution seems to have fixed the issue!

VinceA

01-15-2011, 06:07 AM

Through a series of random events I may have found another piece of the puzzle with the original issue discussed here. Some time during December I had to reset my tuning adapter (Cisco). After I did that my TiVo started working as designed - guide data would download, system info date would update on its own, garbage collection would happen daily, etc. I recently had to reset the TA again due to missing channels and the problem came back.

Is anyone at TiVo collecting data points for this issue or has it not been reported?

pbakers

02-01-2011, 08:15 AM

This is new one. About once a month I have been getting the "Program info will run out on XXXX date" notice at the bottom of the menus. I just ignore it as I always have successful connections, the guide is full and the to do list goes way past this date. The date comes and goes and the notice disappears, all is good, no lost recordings.

However today I got something different. I got an actual Tivo message (like what you get when there is a channel lineup change or SW update) saying the guide would run out and recordings will stop unless I make a successful connection. But still the guide data & to do list go way past this date and the network status is OK with a successful connection just a few hours ago.

This is getting annoying, surely they can fix this. (And stop calling me Shirley!) Arrrrg :mad:

VinceA

02-07-2011, 02:21 PM

strejcek

02-08-2011, 05:56 AM

When this happened to my Premiere XL, I had to, from within the channels settings menu, hit enter, and then redo the guided setup for my cable and OTA. After that, I have never had this issue crop up; although I don't have a SDV, this seemed to work by forcing the TiVo to re-download and re-cache the guide information.

cogx

02-08-2011, 10:51 AM

I've never had any messages come up telling me of any guide data problems, but now after 4+ years, my S3 is having what appears to be a nervous breakdown. Last night, I found that only some of my channels had guide data past this morning AM. I forced a connection to try to get the cache to catch up for all of my channels, but it didn't add any new data, so I went through the channel lineup setup again and after that long process it finally had guide data out two weeks for all of my channels.

However, I now see something I've never seen before. Although the channels (such as USA, FX, TNT, etc.) have guide data out two weeks, the find programs search and upcoming episodes lists for my season passes on those channels can't find anything to record! For example, my season pass to Justified on FX doesn't list any episodes to record, even though I can now find those episodes under the Record By Time or Channel menu. I did a TiVo restart before going to bed, but the situation remains the same this morning. Somehow the guide data is in the system, but the search and season pass functionality can't "see" it. What in the world?

Update: Monday afternoon, my S3 connected to pull down updated guide data and it fixed the problem, so I'm once again able to find upcoming programming when doing a search by title. My TiVo is a TiVo again.

VinceA

02-09-2011, 09:26 AM

See if you can create a new Season Pass for one of those programs. I had a situation once where my channel map must have gotten screwed up and I had to recreate all my Season Passes. It was weird thing to see two Season Passes for the same program on the same channel. One worked, the other didn't.

alyssa

02-09-2011, 02:13 PM

I'll see your nag screen problem & raise a double folder issue. I've got a S3 with a Cisco TA.

Mid Summer last year, the nag screen 'running out of data' started appearing. I restarted the machine but it only stopped the nag for a couple of days. This went on for a few months. I clearly has data.

I then noticed I was getting two folders for season pass shows. One folder was ancient & the second current. It is as if there are two "Now Playing' lists.
An example of the two folders; Nova(9)-first recorded show of 10.24.10 & last recorded show on 1.30.11. The second Nova(11) has the first recorded show of 4.20.10 & last recorded show 7.27.10. The nova season pass is set to keep 10 episodes.

I finally called tech support. I was told it was due to the upgraded HD. :rolleyes:
But the tech did give me a work around that clears the nag screen for a good two weeks,
clear all thumbs & restart.

pbakers

02-09-2011, 05:27 PM

You've also got an SDV TA like me. Is it a Cisco (Scientific Atlanta) one? Also, if you keep your Deleted Items folder mostly empty, does Garbage Collection (GC) happen regularly? You can find that date on the System Info screen.

Sorry, no, my TA is a Motorola. And I have never deleted things out of the deleted folder. Too much trouble, I assumed they would automatically be deleted to make room for new recordings as necessary. Seems GC is working, last done today in fact. To resolve the last issue, I simply did a restart from the Tivo menu and it cleared right up. Usually I don't do anything at all and the warning message just goes away as the date it says the guide data will run out passes by. I have never missed a recording, so this is more of a irritation than anything else. This last time was just more unusual in that I got an actual Tivo Message in the message center rather than just the warning on the menu screen. First time that has ever happened.

But it is true that I ran for almost a full year before I got the TA and never had this issue. And have seen it 3 or 4 times in the last 4 or 5 months since I got the TA. So it could be related, but couldn't say for sure.

VinceA

02-10-2011, 04:46 AM

Your problem sounds like a less severe case than mine. I find that the guide data date doesn't advance unless I either restart the machine or keep the Deleted Items folder relatively empty. If I do the Deleted Items thing, GC happens about every three or four days and all is well.

Odd thing though, around mid-Dec I restarted my TA since it was being cranky (missing channels, etc) and my TiVoHD started acting normal. Guide data updated normally, suggestions recorded, etc. A month later I had to restart the TA again and the unit went back to the behavior I described.

So, I've chalked it up to a TA interaction thing since everyone with the issue so far seems to be using a TA.

VinceA

02-10-2011, 04:50 AM

alyssa

02-10-2011, 09:45 AM

I had the issue before I upgraded my hard drive so chalking it up to the drive is a tech support smokescreen.

Did/do you also have the 'two folder' issue?

Yeah, I know is a smokescreen. I just bought a premiere which will replace the 'two folder' tivo as soon as it becomes stable & I watch the recordings on it. I'm on TW so I can't transfer them off.

VinceA

02-10-2011, 01:05 PM

I had it a long time ago when I still had my stock 160GB drive but I ended up just deleting & recreating all my season passes and deleting any programs that were in the old folders. So, the problem 'went' away.

alyssa

02-10-2011, 02:41 PM

Do you think the two problems (nag screen & double folder) are related?

VinceA

02-12-2011, 04:56 PM

Possibly but they weren't in my case.

Morfious

02-14-2011, 09:57 PM

Just adding more points of data to the growing list.

Tivo Series 3 1GB updated internal drive
Software 11.0j-01-2-648

I have been plagued with the "guide data will run out" message for the last 2-3 months as well. I have a series 3 with an upgraded HD (set to supersize). FYI this guide data stuff would happen with the orig drive as well. It usually resolves itself without incident (may require a restart). I have had an issue where I got the mail message on the tivo saying guide data would run out. I waited a few days (until the guide data actually ran out) and could not search for items to record. Actual data was there, but would not search. I re-did the guided setup and restarted the Tivo, which seemed to fix things for a while. I now have the issue every 2 weeks or so pop up. I have noticed that the issue seems to be tied to garbage collection (GC). For whatever reason it seems NOT to update even though the Tivo makes successful connections to home. Running the guided setup and the restart seemed to force the GC to run and everything was fine, for 2 weeks, after that was done.

Today is 2/14 and the last time GC was done was 2/7. I will try the clear thumb ratings to see if that helps. Any other info on getting this resolved would be appreciated.

VinceA

02-16-2011, 11:28 AM

Do you have a tuning adapter attached to your TiVo? Also, does GC happen more often if you keep the Deleted Items folder empty?

Morfious

02-28-2011, 08:12 PM

Tuning adapter is connected to the tivo. My deleted items folder is at about 120 shows or so. I have not tried deleting them all to see if that helps. As with earlier posters, the actual guide data is there, the Tivo just thinks it isn't. I have also noted that after a restart the Tivo will run the getting guide data info screen.

Forcing a restart will prevent the messages from showing for a week or 2.

Deleting thumbs and running guided setup will clear messages and also work for 1-2 weeks until the messages turn up again. This takes a lot more time and user input than forcing a restart and gives you no real benefit.

(Things not tried: Deleting everything from deleted items folder, delete and re-create all season passes ( I have over 70 so I'm trying to avoid this).

VinceA

03-01-2011, 06:58 AM

I've just been deleting the Deleted Items stuff every day or two and my HD does a GC (Garbage Collection) about every three days which advances the Guide Data date in System Information without a restart. I think all the other things (clearing thumbs, recreating season passes, etc) aren't necessary.

I really think this has something to do with Tuning Adapters since most, if not all, of the people I hear with this issue have one.

alyssa

03-01-2011, 09:26 AM

In my case the clear thumb ratings & suggestions then restarting did clear the nag screen for a couple of weeks.

I haven't check my nag screen S3 tivo for a couple of weeks so I was very surprised to see NO nag screen.

VinceA

03-02-2011, 03:30 AM

I think the restart may have had more to do with it than anything else.

alyssa

03-02-2011, 07:35 AM

restart by itself only cleared the nag for a couple of days. Clear thumbs & delete with a restart cleared the nag for a couple of weeks.
That said, it's weird that I don't have a nag screen now since I haven't touched the S3 in a month. I had the nag for at least six months prior.

VinceA

03-02-2011, 03:41 PM

I had a time when all worked well all by itself until the next time the tuning adapter had to be reset. Maybe your unit is having the same run of good luck.

VinceA

03-29-2011, 03:31 PM

On a whim I reset my TA on Sunday and my TiVoHD is acting like a normal unit. It's GCing once a day, getting guide data, updating the Guide Data date, recording suggestions, etc.

This keeps pointing to the problem being TA related,

Duke

05-03-2011, 03:48 PM

VinceA

05-04-2011, 11:37 AM

I have to permanently delete items in my deleted folder every few days in order to get my TiVo Series 3 HD to do GC, which in turn keeps the guide data date current.
Do you:
- have a tuning adapter? If so, which model?
- have a upgraded hard drive?

Still trying to track down what causes this bug. Seems to be related to the tuning adapter since I've been able to get my TiVoHD to react normally sometimes by restarting the tuning adapter manually after the TiVoHD has restarted.

eaayoung

05-04-2011, 09:43 PM

I'm getting the nag screen as well. I have an S3 with updated 1 TB drive and connected to a Cisco TA. Never had this problem before. Deleted 1/2 of the shows in the Suggestions folder plus rebooted both the Tivo and TA and the nag message went away.

VinceA

05-05-2011, 04:27 AM

If it's the same problem you should be able to check your System Information everyday and see:
- guide data is retrieved everyday successfully
- the Guide Data date doesn't advance

Also few or no suggestions are recorded.

dpalmi

05-06-2011, 10:54 AM

Wow - I also am having the nag screen as well for the past few months. A forced re-boot always fixes it for a week or two. I have an S3 with external WD 1TB MyDVR drive, Cisco TA and Time Warner. I will have to try clearing my deleted folder to see if it helps....

dpalmi

VinceA

05-06-2011, 12:06 PM

The most important question I have for you is... did you update your internal drive or are you using the original drive? The biggest issue I've had is that TiVo won't 'help' on a machine with a user upgraded drive.

aymanme

05-18-2011, 03:03 PM

I've got a prom-modded S3 with an upgraded internal drive. I have 2 scientific atlanta cards and the cisco TA. I have the same issue. Basically, after so many days I'll get a message that the data will run out in XXX days. I reboot the unit and then it is good for a couple of weeks (I want to say 2, but it could be longer). Then I get the message and reboot again. I've tried the various things in this thread but haven't seen any change. My original drive died so I can't put it back in, but it was NOT happening with that drive.

aymanme

05-23-2011, 10:59 AM

mxc

05-25-2011, 09:05 AM

I have the same problem: I get a message about program info running out despite successful daily connections. I too have have a tuning adapter. Unplugging the TiVo fixes the problem for about a week. I wiped out my season passes. That fixed the problem for a week. I had a Charter tech come over because I wasn't receiving all the channels I was supposed to and he redid the channel lineup. TiVo tech suggests it's a hard drive problem but judging by these posts that's unlikely. What am I supposed to do?

VinceA

05-25-2011, 09:08 AM

After your machine has been up for a day or two, check to see if the GC date is advancing. If it isn't reset the TA, give it a day and see if that fixes the problem. If not, try resetting it again. It took me about three attempts to get things right again. Currently my TiVoHD is acting nice & normal, updating guide data, recording suggestions, etc.

mxc

05-26-2011, 11:39 AM

What is interesting is that the program guide as well as the to-do list show programming two weeks into the future. The message now says that program info will run out 5/27 (which is tomorrow). I'm waiting to see if the machine will keep recording.

VinceA

05-26-2011, 11:49 AM

If it doesn't just restart the machine. That would reset the System Info date on my TiVoHD when I have this problem.

mxc

05-26-2011, 12:30 PM

Yes, restarting the machine fixes the problem, but only temporarily. After seven days i'm back where where i started from.

VinceA

05-26-2011, 12:35 PM

Yes, restarting the machine fixes the problem, but only temporarily. After seven days i'm back where where i started from.

Now that you've got a full load of data, try the TA reset stuff.

folly

05-27-2011, 01:49 AM

VinceA

05-27-2011, 02:08 AM

Nope, we're talking about a tuning adapter which you need to tune SDV cable channels on a CableCard TiVo, typically a Cisco 1520

a68oliver

05-27-2011, 11:43 AM

When you people talk about TA, are you referring to something like the DTA which comcast supplied to its customers during the analog to digital transition? Could it also refer to a digital cable box? I have the same symptions being discussed in this thread, but I don't have a DTA ( or TA?) attached to my series 2 unit. I do have a digital cable box attached to one of the 2 channels. Or am I just missing the point altogether?

What VinceA said. Also, if I understand it correctly, unlike a DTA or cable box, a TA or tuning adapter does not actually tune anything. The Tivo tells the TA that you want to watch a particular program/channel. Then the TA sends a signal upstream to tell the headend that you want to watch that particular Switched Digital Video program/channel. The headend places the program on one of several different frequencies and tells the TA what channel that is. The TA then tells the Tivo which channel to tune to.

I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

mxc

05-28-2011, 02:23 PM

Resetting the TA didn't change anything. The message i get now says the program info has run out. Yet the program guide gets daily updates. When i go to Find Programs, i get the message about program info having run out. Also, when looking at a particular program, Get a Season Passion option is not available.

aswhitey

06-03-2011, 05:22 AM

I'm having the same problem. It has been super annoying. I too have restarted my TiVo and this works for a week before I get the message again. I have also reset my TA and this hasn't seemed to help. This started happening to me about 2 months ago. I've had this TiVo and TA for over a year and this has never happened until now. This seems like a TiVo update that wasn't good. I've run into those before. TiVo, please help. I need a permanent solution not a workaround. I've looked around and see that others are having the same problem. Please help.

VinceA

06-03-2011, 05:29 AM

How many times have you reset your TA? I had to reset it three or four times with a day or so between each reset to get things to work 'right'. Bothersome? Yes... but things stay OK for a long while afterwards so it's sort of worth it.

Should TiVo do more research into this? I think so.

pbakers

06-07-2011, 10:32 AM

My TIVO has been doing this for over a year now, and I just ignore it. The date it says it is running out of guide data comes and goes and the TIVO just keeps on going like nothing happened. The message goes away for a week or two, then comes back. I do not reset my TIVO or TA and I have never missing a scheduled recording or seen any bad effects from this. Yes the message is annoying, but I have learned to just tune it out and everything still records with no problems. I just chalk this up to a minor annoyance, IMHO.

VinceA

07-14-2011, 05:07 PM

Had a blackout last week and the problem has returned. Still trying to get the TA reset to work.

Morfious

07-18-2011, 10:14 PM

I must have done the dance just right. Seems like my TiVo is doing the GC thing maybe 1-2x a week. And so far 3+ weeks without the your guide data message. I have been keeping my deleted items list as small as possible. I am also convinced that it is the TA that is causing the problems.

I will have a good test to see if it's the TA. I will be moving in a month and already have the FIOS scheduled for install on day one. Goodbye TA. I will see if the switch to FIOS will take care of the messages.

marspinball

07-19-2011, 12:06 AM

It is the TA causing all the issues. My theory is when it is first installed TiVo either accepts the TA or Tivo gets corrupt somehow.

Last February I upgraded my three Tivos (1 premiere and 2 HD's) with 2TB hard drives (WD20EURS). All worked perfectly prior to the upgrade and never had any guide data issues. Additionally all had suggestions turned on and they all recorded suggestions daily.

For over a month they all worked flawlessly. In March we got a message from Cox (San Diego) that we will need tuning adapters. Ordered three TA’s and installed them. Two of my Tivos continued to work perfectly. The third Tivo, an HD, continued to give me messages for a couple of days that a tuning adapter was installed and asked me confirm like it did when the TA is initially installed. After that stopped I thought everything was OK but then noticed that this Tivo stopped recording suggestions even though suggestions was still turned on. Nothing I could do would get suggestions to start working.

Then about 2-3 weeks later I started to get the running out of program data error on this unit. The only way to get this message to go away was to reboot it. This continued till June.

In June I took the hard drive out and copied the original drive info back from drive that came with the unit like I did when I upgraded it. I then hooked it back up without the tuning adapter. The Tivo booted up and started working right away, it upgraded itself with the newest version of software and since June I have not had one guide data error and it's been recording suggestions daily. The unit has been working 100%. At this moment I don't need the TA since I don't watch any channels that require it.

So at this time I have two Tivos with TA’s working with no issues and one problematic Tivo working 100% after I re-imaged the drive and without the TA installed.

a68oliver

07-19-2011, 03:19 AM

After that stopped I thought everything was OK but then noticed that this Tivo stopped recording suggestions even though suggestions was still turned on. Nothing I could do would get suggestions to start working.

The cable company can disable speculative (suggestions) recordings if you use a tuning adapter. You can search the forum for more info on this "feature".

VinceA

07-19-2011, 05:51 AM

Yes, but would that feature stop the System Info date from advancing or Garbage Collection from happening?

eaayoung

08-06-2011, 10:48 AM

Can't remember the last time I posted about this problem, but my S3 is doing it again by telling I need to update the guide. Tivo suggestions are not being recorded (yes..., it turned on) and the delete folder is up to 136 and dates back to 7/26/11. If I recall, I had to reduce the amount of suggestion or the delete folder to get the S3 back to normal. Will reboot and delete items from the deleted folder. Wish Tivo would fix this issue. Mine is connected to a Cisco TA. I really don't it part of the problem since I've experience few problems with TA once the initial were worked out.

tootal2

08-06-2011, 01:49 PM

Had to reboot mt tivo again today to fix this problem, why wont tivo fix this problem

Teeps

08-08-2011, 10:05 AM

Had to reboot mt tivo again today to fix this problem, why wont tivo fix this problem

Mine has been doing the same thing since early July 2011.
A hard reboot or restart system command seems to make it happy, for a while.

So, is this a "TiVo" or tuning adapter problem?

James285

08-08-2011, 03:26 PM

Hi,
I am also getting a running out of data message (the last day was yesterday).
I have a Series 2 machine (Tivo Model TCD24008A with a second HD installed years ago). The box has been offline for over one year.
I connect to the service and download data but, it does not update. It appears that I have a S03 error, it fails in the loading stage.
I ran the smart tests and I only got pass the Initial State. Both my Primary and Secondary Pass. However, when it goes to the Short Test, the SMART test shows NoRead for both the Primary and the Secondary.
My guess is that the test cannot read the drive.
I also observed that I cannot delete anything but, I could do a recording (this was before I discovered I had a problem).
The box boots up and I am able to change channels and also look at shows I have previously recorded years ago (2004).
My original problem was that when the Tivo remote is changed to a channel that I do not subscribe, Tivo gets stuck on that channel. It thinks it is changing channels when you use the remote but, they are not changing. If I use the Sat remote to change the channel to a subscribed channel and change Tivo to that channel, everything is fine. The Tivo remote will work until it reaches a unsubscribed channel again.
I have a Dish Network receiver (322) and I use a wireless network connection to get to Tivo.
I'm thinking I may need to get a replacement hard drive.
Does anyone have this problem? In all your successful connections, are you experiencing a failure to load the data after it is downloaded?

VinceA

08-09-2011, 09:02 AM

Mine has been doing the same thing since early July 2011.
A hard reboot or restart system command seems to make it happy, for a while.

So, is this a "TiVo" or tuning adapter problem?

It's a combo issue. It seems to be interaction between the two. I seem to be able to get the problem to go away by resetting the TA a few times.

sushikitten

08-19-2011, 12:23 PM

We've been getting this error ever since we got a TA with Time Warner. Beyond frustrating. (Just wanted to add my data point.)

VinceA

08-19-2011, 12:50 PM

Is it a Cisco TA?

sushikitten

08-19-2011, 11:13 PM

Is it a Cisco TA?

Yes.

And it took 20 minutes on chat with a rep to get our channels back. And he/she (what kind if name is Sabre?) was awful. What a mess.

VinceA

08-21-2011, 06:17 AM

Have you upgraded the hard drive in your TiVoHD? Just trying to find someone with an unmodified unit so TiVo might take this issue more seriously...

sushikitten

08-21-2011, 10:51 AM

Have you upgraded the hard drive in your TiVoHD? Just trying to find someone with an unmodified unit so TiVo might take this issue more seriously...

Yep. But it worked flawlessly...up until we needed the tuning adapter.

Teeps

08-22-2011, 06:06 PM

A new twist(?) to the story.

Mine was ok until I noticed on Saturday 20Aug11, that GC was stuck on 18Aug11. Guide data good until 28Aug11. There were successful service connections each day, including a forced connection, yesterday.

This morning I contacted TiVo support (via chat) about the guide data and GC.
The agent reviewed my account settings (their side) and said that my channel lineup was set to "Primary" and that it sould be set to "Digital."
So.... I followed this instructions* to fix the channel line up. Not sure how long it took for this to happen. But, as of right now (4hrs later) GC is updated to today's date and guide data is good to 5Sept11.

I suppose changing the channel line up, is similar to guided setup. But never specifically selected "Guided Setup."

*INSTRUCTIONS:
go to messages & settings>
settings>
channels>
channel list>
press enter button?
from there I was on my own but I chose to fix the line up and selected "cable."> (I use both cable and ota.)

The TiVo did the rest...

As a side note: I had permanently deleted all "deleted" files before doing the above.

VinceA

08-23-2011, 08:25 AM

Keep us updated on how things go for the next few days.

Eccles

08-23-2011, 04:36 PM

Glad I found this thread. I too am experiencing the guide data warning problem on my TiVo HD with an MCard and a Cisco TA. Restarting the TiVo gets rid of the warning for a while, but it returns after another couple of weeks or so. Even that I could live with, but eventually, after doing this little dance a dozen or so times, I get an S03 error and even rebooting won't help.

This has happened three times now - the first time I wound up re-imaging my drive, but the last couple of times I've "got away" with doing a Clear and Delete Everything. While this doesn't require TiVo surgery, it's still a major PITA since it loses all my SP's, WL's, and ignored duplicate channels in addition to all the recorded content, But perhaps the worst impact is that it causes the CableCARD to become unpaired, and TW Austin insists on a truck roll to re-authorize it. Last time, we were without any digital channels for almost a week until the earliest available appointment.

Right now, I've just restarted it for probably the third time after the latest S03. I hadn't noticed the GC date, but now that I look at it, it's showing July 24. The theory that GC is getting overwhelmed by the amount of work might also explain why this tends (correct me if I'm wrong) to affect folks with larger drives to a greater extent. I had over 60 items in my Recently Deleted folder, which I cleared before restarting this time after reading this thread.

I'll keep a close eye on the GC date - although manually cleaning up the deletions is a hassle, it's nowhere near the pain of having to recreate my SP's and WL's and explain to the wife that her archive of cooking shows has been lost (again).

Eccles

08-24-2011, 03:33 PM

Quick question: Given that GC seems to be reliant upon both idle time and free space, would disabling Suggestions help?

VinceA

08-24-2011, 04:05 PM

I leave them on since the generation of new Suggestions is another indication that things are working as they should.

trackie999

08-28-2011, 01:00 PM

I am adding my notes here also. (I started a thread on this back in Nov, 2009 http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=436562)

So now, I have 3 Tivo HDs (652)

All of them have exact same set up: Tivo + Cisco TA + MCard.

Issue details:
- Each unit will successfully connect to Tivo Service and download guide data
- System Information screen does not get updated with new date
- Eventually unit will run out of guide data, message shows up "running low" then "ran out"
- However, if I go to guide it shows 2 weeks of guide data, even though on other screens it is telling me that guide data ran out
- If I reboot Tivo, System Info screen updates date and shows 2 weeks of data
- At this point tivo works again as expected

- After a while (6+ months) guide downloads start failing
- I get the S03 error message
- Kickstarts don't help

But I can "magically" fix S03 problem by:
- clear guide data from settings menu
- repeat guided set up
- Download data wait 24, etc (To do list still shows no upcoming episodes)
- Delete and reenter all season passes
At this point tivo is working fine again, downloading guide data again (date is not changing in system menu, so I still need to reboot daily)

*Side effect: When I do this fix, I end up with 2 folders for the same shows. 1 from before guided set up and 1 after redoing guided set up. (It's like the show ID changed is corrupt)

.. and tivo works again for 6+ months until it is giving me S03 error again. So for now, I have tivos on timers that cycle power to them at 5am, when tivo boots up it has current guide data.

I think this is Tuning Adapter related, because I did not have this issue prior to getting TAs.

tootal2

08-28-2011, 01:27 PM

Deleteing all my season passes and todo list seems to have fixed this problem on my tivo

I am adding my notes here also. (I started a thread on this back in Nov, 2009 http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=436562)

So now, I have 3 Tivo HDs (652)

All of them have exact same set up: Tivo + Cisco TA + MCard.

Issue details:
- Each unit will successfully connect to Tivo Service and download guide data
- System Information screen does not get updated with new date
- Eventually unit will run out of guide data, message shows up "running low" then "ran out"
- However, if I go to guide it shows 2 weeks of guide data, even though on other screens it is telling me that guide data ran out
- If I reboot Tivo, System Info screen updates date and shows 2 weeks of data
- At this point tivo works again as expected

- After a while (6+ months) guide downloads start failing
- I get the S03 error message
- Kickstarts don't help

But I can "magically" fix S03 problem by:
- clear guide data from settings menu
- repeat guided set up
- Download data wait 24, etc (To do list still shows no upcoming episodes)
- Delete and reenter all season passes
At this point tivo is working fine again, downloading guide data again (date is not changing in system menu, so I still need to reboot daily)

*Side effect: When I do this fix, I end up with 2 folders for the same shows. 1 from before guided set up and 1 after redoing guided set up. (It's like the show ID changed is corrupt)

.. and tivo works again for 6+ months until it is giving me S03 error again. So for now, I have tivos on timers that cycle power to them at 5am, when tivo boots up it has current guide data.

I think this is Tuning Adapter related, because I did not have this issue prior to getting TAs.

trackie999

08-29-2011, 08:02 PM

tootal2:

Cool, your method saves me from repeating guided set up. I will try it next time one of my 3 Tivo HDs gets S03 error.

Deleteing all my season passes and todo list seems to have fixed this problem on my tivo

Eccles

08-31-2011, 06:18 PM

Glad I found this thread. I too am experiencing the guide data warning problem on my TiVo HD with an MCard and a Cisco TA.
[snip]
I'll keep a close eye on the GC date - although manually cleaning up the deletions is a hassle, it's nowhere near the pain of having to recreate my SP's and WL's and explain to the wife that her archive of cooking shows has been lost (again).
Well it's been a week now, and despite cleaning out the Recently Deleted folder and disconnecting and reconnecting the TA every night, and even a couple of manual restarts, my GC date is still firmly stuck on July 24th.

Am I expecting too much too soon, or should it have moved by now?

trackie999

08-31-2011, 09:13 PM

Morfious

08-31-2011, 10:02 PM

Not that it helps you guys, but I think the problem is definitely related to the tuning adapter. I previously had the tuning adapter and had the running out of guide data. I also had the S03 error (had to restore the HD to fix).

I have recently moved to a new house and therefore a new cable company. They do NOT use a tuning adapter. I have been running for 2 weeks now and GC takes place every other day and the guide data is updating as it should. The tivo was unchanged since the move. The day I left I was getting the guide data will run out. After repeating guided setup at the new home, no issues or problems.

TiVo + Tuning adapter = problems. Tivo and cisco really need to get their hardware to work together.

tootal2

09-02-2011, 11:29 AM

DO NOT REPEAT the guided setup with a s03 error. you will get stuck in the guied setup with no way out

tootal2:

Cool, your method saves me from repeating guided set up. I will try it next time one of my 3 Tivo HDs gets S03 error.

tootal2

09-02-2011, 11:36 AM

I think you need to run clear program infomation & to do list to fix this problem.

Well it's been a week now, and despite cleaning out the Recently Deleted folder and disconnecting and reconnecting the TA every night, and even a couple of manual restarts, my GC date is still firmly stuck on July 24th.

Am I expecting too much too soon, or should it have moved by now?

Eccles

09-02-2011, 12:00 PM

Here's a thought... Since GC is apparently requires some "quiet time" to do its stuff, and since my TiVo is usually busy throughout the night recording reruns of Law and Order, etc, just so it can roll the older ones off into Recently Deleted, I wonder if it would help if I put the TA on a timer that powered it off between, say, 1 and 5 am every night. That might serve the dual purpose of routinely disconnecting the TA, and also make for less recording activity overnight.

Speaking of which, does anyone know the window during which when GC is actually supposed to run?

Eccles

09-02-2011, 05:57 PM

For folks with GC dates firmly stuck in the past, try this procedure (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=8686427#post8686427) to force a manual Garbage Collection. It worked for me today.

dinkymink

09-03-2011, 01:09 AM

Please send me a private message with your service number and I'll see what I can find.

I am having problems with the guide data every month and when I try to update it, when it gets downloading the the info, after about two minutes of downloading it gets interupted and quits downloading. I have reset the tivo numerous times and the phone network works. If this is not corrected soon I will cancel my plan.Service number649-0001-8085-9931. My account is in good standing. Carol Minnaert.

tootal2

09-03-2011, 01:14 AM

I had that problem before but forget how i fixed it. I think i used another number some how.

I am having problems with the guide data every month and when I try to update it, when it gets downloading the the info, after about two minutes of downloading it gets interupted and quits downloading. I have reset the tivo numerous times and the phone network works. If this is not corrected soon I will cancel my plan.Service number649-0001-8085-9931. My account is in good standing. Carol Minnaert.

HerronScott

09-03-2011, 10:56 AM

I had this issue briefly on one of my S3's. It would update correctly via phone line though. The problem resolved itself after a couple of times of having to connect via phone line.

Scott

trackie999

09-13-2011, 09:11 PM

I have decided to make some noise with Tivo Technical Support. I think if all of us starts calling in on a regular bases we will get Tivo's attention :)

Week to date I have called twice. They have acknowledged the issue today and asked me to give them a week to nail down a fix before I call back.

I will be nice and even give them 10 days before calling...

So, if you have some spare time to call / chat with Tivo support please do!

My call to Tivo today was rather disappointing...

Per Level 2 Tivo Helpdesk:
1) Run Clear Program Information & To do List- I told them that I run this on a regular basis and it works as a temporary fix
2) Told me to run Kickstart 54 and select S.M.A.R.T test and call back with pass / fail results.

I will run KS 54 and call Tivo back... My calls (even at minimum wage) will start adding up...

bmints

09-17-2011, 08:39 PM

Teeps

09-18-2011, 10:56 AM

Same issue here with my TiVoHD and Cisco TA with Time Warner Cable. Program data runs out, and then the warning message comes up. Used to be able to force the connection, but now that isn't even working. Re-booting the box doesn't work either. Going to try unplugging the TA and re-booting that, also going to clear the program data. I have an external 1-TB Western Digital My DVR expander. So ready to ditch TiVo after being a loyal customer since 1999! I've owned 4 or 5 boxes and this has been the worst experience with TiVo I've ever had. So frustrating....

Scroll up this page to post #179.
Performing those instructions; should get you good to go, for today.

And, do make a trouble ticket with TiVo; I've done mine by "chat" and "email."

Far as long term goes, though the "fix" I mention above gives immediate relief. So far it has not been a permanent fix.

and please include your city and state in your profile, thanks.

trackie999

09-18-2011, 05:30 PM

Teeps

09-19-2011, 06:34 PM

Teeps' instructions in post #179 work like a charm and used it several times.

However, the time it takes can vary wildly. It can take as little as 30 mins or may take 10 hours! Which sucks since you have to hit continue at the end before Tivo starts recording shows.

I guess the longer it's been since last GC the longer this procedure will take...

Please complain to TiVo about your problem.
You can do it by phone, chat or email.
I suggest the email option, as you will have a written transcript of the exchange.
Log on to TiVo Central, click support tab near top then select "my support."
Log your complaint there.

trackie999

09-19-2011, 07:51 PM

I did some research in lieu of Tivo... I have been pulling the hard drives from my TivoHDs mounting them via MFSLive CD and searching through the logs.

in /var/log/tvlog and /var/log/Otvlog (this is the previous log) I have found entries for Garbage Collection and Indexing. Based on my research, both of these tasks are performed by dbgc-mcp program. It can take various flags such as -fg-index, fg-gc, fg-indexsoon? (don't recall exact name)

Here's some data from log (time stamps appear to be in UTC)
Sep 18 18:43:08 (none) DbGc[3560]: got INDEX_SOON
Sep 18 19:08:44 (none) DbGc[3654]: fEnableIndexingM=1 fEnableGcM=1
Sep 18 19:12:16 (none) dbcache[3654]: Creating dbcache in program dbgc-mcp, size = 10
Sep 18 19:12:16 (none) DbGc[3654]: SetState(): eVirgin --> eBefored
Sep 18 19:12:16 (none) DbGc[3654]: SetState(): eBefored --> eMarkingActive
Sep 18 20:58:30 (none) DbGc[3654]: SetState(): eMarkingActive --> eMarkingReactive
Sep 18 20:58:30 (none) DbGc[3654]: SetState(): eMarkingReactive --> eTryingToInstallGcMask
Sep 18 20:58:30 (none) DbGc[3654]: SetState(): eTryingToInstallGcMask --> eInstallingGcMask
Sep 18 20:58:31 (none) DbGc[3654]: SetState(): eInstallingGcMask --> eSweeping

... Then every 6 hours:
Sep 19 01:10:34 (none) TmkActivityStats[3654]: DbGcClientActivity-->(Pri:0 Time Sample: 6 h 0 min)
Sep 19 07:11:03 (none) TmkActivityStats[5377]: DbGcClientActivity-->(Pri:0 Time Sample: 6 h 0 min)
Sep 19 13:11:31 (none) TmkActivityStats[6687]: DbGcClientActivity-->(Pri:0 Time Sample: 6 h 0 min)
Sep 19 19:11:59 (none) TmkActivityStats[7723]: DbGcClientActivity-->(Pri:0 Time Sample: 6 h 0 min)

... A total of 24 hours passed by ...
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGc[8108]: FsDibs::FGcRunning() && !FsDibs::FOkToGC()
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGc[8108]: Attempt to stop GC because eFsDibsSaidStop
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGc[8108]: Forced HandleStimulus
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGc[8108]: SweepOne: whyStoppingM = eFsDibsSaidStop
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGc[8108]: SetState(): eSweeping --> eFinished
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGc[8108]: DbGc::Sweep failed (eFsDibsSaidStop), rescheduling soon
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGc[8108]: Sweep done (eFsDibsSaidStop) -- rescheduling marking in 60 sec

... bunch of stats including these:

Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: msec MarkActive: 6365668
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: msec MarkReactive: 267
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: msec Indexing: 15388380
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: msec InstallGcMask: 1410
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: msec SweepOne: 14742
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: sec Sweep State: 85673

When you convert this into minutes, MarkActive took 106 minutes and Indexing took 256 minutes. That's 6 hours between those two. (I assume this is in processor time and not in ellapsed time)

This seems to repeat on a daily basis:
1) Schedule Garbage Collection and indexing
2) 6 hr check -> Still running
3) 6 hr check -> Still running
4) 6 hr check -> Still running
5) 6 hr check -> Still running
6) Damn, you hit the magical 24 hour limit and you must quit.
7) Let's schedule it again soon
8) Go to 1

The problem appears to be that there's too much stuff to index and tivo can't finish in 24 hours. After 24 hours, the process is stopped. Then it is kicked off again, but there's even more data and again will not be able to finish.

A couple ways for Tivo to fix these:
- Increase the time out to 36 - 48 hours?
- Give some priority to garbage collection

For us to try:
- Faster hard drive with larger cache.
- Prune channels received to bare minimum. Because:

Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: Type #InMemory #Queued #Collected
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: Program 29838 13595 16
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: Series 15948 0 2
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: Station 1114 0 0

I will weed my 1114 channels, and see if this will reduce the # of programs, series that go into the database.

Please check your logs and share if you're up to the task.

edstewbob

09-19-2011, 10:59 PM

I have the same problem with my Tivo HD, Motorola TA, Charter, Mcard, 1GB external hard drive. Have had to do restart Tivo every couple of weeks for several months and called Tivo with no satisfactory response.

VinceA

09-21-2011, 08:53 AM

I wonder why resetting the TA a few times just makes things work. Of course, I think I'm missing a few channels now but I'd rather that than not have everything else work right.

sushikitten

09-23-2011, 04:00 PM

Well, it finally happened. I had the black error bar saying we were COMPLETELY out of guide data and even though I could still see advance guide data (if I went to a SP, I could see upcoming episodes), I could not search for anything. Setup said I was connecting successfully daily but the guide data date was at the end. I was ready to admit defeat and try some of the drastic measures in this thread, when I decided to reboot the Tivo just one last time to check. Just in case. (I have avoided doing it because it always screws up the tuning adapter and it requires a 15-minute conversation with a Time Warner rep to get it working again.)

So I rebooted. And waited. And watched my toddler prance about the room saying TiVo! TiVo! TiVo! while the TiVo guy was on the screen. Then I got the message about needing a tuning adapter. So I unplugged it for a minute, then plugged it in. Then I got the Acquiring Channels screen. Then live tv came up and I was checking to make sure we were still getting our HD channels (which we never did with a reboot) and then it blanked to the Acquiring Channels screen again. Oh no. But when it came back up, everything was A-OK. And I was stunned and amazed.

Until hubby reminded me that we had our tuning adapter switched out the last time it got wonky...so likely we just had a bad TA and now we had one that worked properly.

So of course this doesn't help with the main issue of Tivo reporting that we're out of guide data, but I just wanted to share the story in case anyone else is having the same type of TA issues (loss of channels on rebooting)--and let you know a replacement TA might be the trick.

Eccles

09-23-2011, 05:04 PM

Well, it finally happened. I had the black error bar saying we were COMPLETELY out of guide data and even though I could still see advance guide data (if I went to a SP, I could see upcoming episodes), I could not search for anything.
[snip]
But when it came back up, everything was A-OK. And I was stunned and amazed.

Don't do your happy dance just yet - you may be out of the woods, but until you see the GC date advancing normally, you're not yet out of the forest.

If your GC date is still stuck in the past, then you still have work to do else the error is simply going to return in a couple of weeks. See Teeps' instructions in post 179 (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=8669368#post8669368) to force a manual garbage collection process. There's no need to actually select a different line-up - you can select the same one you have now and just accept the defaults for all the following prompts and it will retain all your selected, deselected, favorite, and premium channels.

Teeps

09-24-2011, 11:04 AM

Don't do your happy dance just yet - you may be out of the woods, but until you see the GC date advancing normally, you're not yet out of the forest.

If your GC date is still stuck in the past, then you still have work to do else the error is simply going to return in a couple of weeks. See Teeps' instructions in post 179 (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=8669368#post8669368) to force a manual garbage collection process. There's no need to actually select a different line-up - you can select the same one you have now and just accept the defaults for all the following prompts and it will retain all your selected, deselected, favorite, and premium channels.

To add:
TiVo kept insisting that MY TiVo's problem was because "IT" was not using the correct channel lineup.
So on 21Sept2011 (Wed) I finally got TiVo on the "Digital Cable" lineup, TiVo support said it should be connected to. They even sent an email saying that "they" could see the correct lineup in my records... but, alas as of this morning the GC is still indicating 21Sept2011.

The dance will continue.

Sushikitten,
If you have not done so yet; please file a complaint with TiVo support.
For this problem email is probably the best avenue. Just log on to TiVo's web site and go to support, then My support.

Teeps

09-24-2011, 11:13 AM

trackie999,
You're scaring me here.
But this is something TiVo has to fix for sure...

Note:
My TiVo's problem started soon after the SDV in Torrance (TW) went live (July 2011) and the Cisco Tuning Adapter was installed.
At that time My TiVo had a replacement 250GB internal drive with a 1TB external drive.

I did some research in lieu of Tivo... I have been pulling the hard drives from my TivoHDs mounting them via MFSLive CD and searching through the logs.

in /var/log/tvlog and /var/log/Otvlog (this is the previous log) I have found entries for Garbage Collection and Indexing. Based on my research, both of these tasks are performed by dbgc-mcp program. It can take various flags such as -fg-index, fg-gc, fg-indexsoon? (don't recall exact name)

Here's some data from log (time stamps appear to be in UTC)
Sep 18 18:43:08 (none) DbGc[3560]: got INDEX_SOON
Sep 18 19:08:44 (none) DbGc[3654]: fEnableIndexingM=1 fEnableGcM=1
Sep 18 19:12:16 (none) dbcache[3654]: Creating dbcache in program dbgc-mcp, size = 10
Sep 18 19:12:16 (none) DbGc[3654]: SetState(): eVirgin --> eBefored
Sep 18 19:12:16 (none) DbGc[3654]: SetState(): eBefored --> eMarkingActive
Sep 18 20:58:30 (none) DbGc[3654]: SetState(): eMarkingActive --> eMarkingReactive
Sep 18 20:58:30 (none) DbGc[3654]: SetState(): eMarkingReactive --> eTryingToInstallGcMask
Sep 18 20:58:30 (none) DbGc[3654]: SetState(): eTryingToInstallGcMask --> eInstallingGcMask
Sep 18 20:58:31 (none) DbGc[3654]: SetState(): eInstallingGcMask --> eSweeping

... Then every 6 hours:
Sep 19 01:10:34 (none) TmkActivityStats[3654]: DbGcClientActivity-->(Pri:0 Time Sample: 6 h 0 min)
Sep 19 07:11:03 (none) TmkActivityStats[5377]: DbGcClientActivity-->(Pri:0 Time Sample: 6 h 0 min)
Sep 19 13:11:31 (none) TmkActivityStats[6687]: DbGcClientActivity-->(Pri:0 Time Sample: 6 h 0 min)
Sep 19 19:11:59 (none) TmkActivityStats[7723]: DbGcClientActivity-->(Pri:0 Time Sample: 6 h 0 min)

... A total of 24 hours passed by ...
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGc[8108]: FsDibs::FGcRunning() && !FsDibs::FOkToGC()
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGc[8108]: Attempt to stop GC because eFsDibsSaidStop
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGc[8108]: Forced HandleStimulus
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGc[8108]: SweepOne: whyStoppingM = eFsDibsSaidStop
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGc[8108]: SetState(): eSweeping --> eFinished
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGc[8108]: DbGc::Sweep failed (eFsDibsSaidStop), rescheduling soon
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGc[8108]: Sweep done (eFsDibsSaidStop) -- rescheduling marking in 60 sec

... bunch of stats including these:

Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: msec MarkActive: 6365668
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: msec MarkReactive: 267
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: msec Indexing: 15388380
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: msec InstallGcMask: 1410
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: msec SweepOne: 14742
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: sec Sweep State: 85673

When you convert this into minutes, MarkActive took 106 minutes and Indexing took 256 minutes. That's 6 hours between those two. (I assume this is in processor time and not in ellapsed time)

This seems to repeat on a daily basis:
1) Schedule Garbage Collection and indexing
2) 6 hr check -> Still running
3) 6 hr check -> Still running
4) 6 hr check -> Still running
5) 6 hr check -> Still running
6) Damn, you hit the magical 24 hour limit and you must quit.
7) Let's schedule it again soon
8) Go to 1

The problem appears to be that there's too much stuff to index and tivo can't finish in 24 hours. After 24 hours, the process is stopped. Then it is kicked off again, but there's even more data and again will not be able to finish.

A couple ways for Tivo to fix these:
- Increase the time out to 36 - 48 hours?
- Give some priority to garbage collection

For us to try:
- Faster hard drive with larger cache.
- Prune channels received to bare minimum. Because:

Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: Type #InMemory #Queued #Collected
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: Program 29838 13595 16
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: Series 15948 0 2
Sep 19 20:46:24 (none) DbGcStats[8108]: Station 1114 0 0

I will weed my 1114 channels, and see if this will reduce the # of programs, series that go into the database.

Please check your logs and share if you're up to the task.

ravingfans

09-28-2011, 02:14 PM

I'm posting this in all the S03 threads I found, since it is so frustrating:

Through a LOT of trail and error, I've discovered increasing the swap space to 2000 or 2GB allows TiVo to connect to the TiVo Servers and process the large program guide data update. I don't know if you can do this on an existing disk--seems doubtful to me. I used WinMFS on a new disk and have had no problems since. On the same disk I had the trouble with smaller swap partitions, especially the default.

trackie999

09-28-2011, 09:05 PM

I sure hope you found the solution, but have a couple concerns.

In Linux, if both RAM and swap space is full, the kernel would panic, die & restart. My tivo doesn't randomly reboot...

How can some people manage to get garbage collection going? Less guide data to process?

If you don't mind, give us a little more information.

ravingfans

09-28-2011, 09:23 PM

Those are good points for certain, my solution is admittedly empirical, but I just had to believe logically there was a reason that over time S03 started cropping up for a lot of us recently all of a sudden.

My theory was that the guide data must have gotten bigger and bigger over time, and since I live in Dallas, maybe we have more than most? After trying a variety of drives and following guidelines for swap space, it occurred to me that the TiVo was able to connect and download the guide data, but couldn't process it once downloaded. My guess is somebody at Tivo actually wrote an error check to see if there was room enough in swap to process the guide data and when there isn't, simply exited and reported the mysterious S03 error avoiding a kernel panic/reboot. Just a guess obviously, since I didn't go through an extensive debug session.

I'm very interested if others can verify similar results, but after 2 months of testing I've seen no more S03 errors with 2GB of swap...

terryjamison

10-06-2011, 12:44 PM

I too have the same problems as many of the above. I have the following:

TiVo HD upgraded to 1 TB connected via the Internet
Cox San Diego, North County, set to Digital
a Tuning Adapter

I would get the program data will run out black message banner. Initially, a restart would make he message go away. Eventually, restart no longer worked, resulting in an S03 error.

When this first happened, I made the mistake of repeating Guided Setup. Big mistake- The connection error continued in Guided Setup and I was stuck in a never-ending Guided Setup loupe. Re-imaging the drive got me back up and running. But, I lost all of my season passes.

Now, after a couple of months, program data has completely run out. Restart does not work due to the S03 error. The date on GC Reads August, over a month out of date. There are over 400 programs in the Recently Deleted folder.

I have now done the following:

-Cold re-boots on both the TA and TiVo
-Manually deleted all of the Items from the Recently Deleted folder
-Re-loaded the channel lineup through Settings>Channel List>Enter
-Deleted all duplicate channels and channels that I do not watch from the Channel List

What I did not do:

I chose not to Clear program informaton & To Do List
( I did not want to lose my Season Passes)

Everything is now back to normal. The TiVo connects with no error messages.
The GC date is now two days old and does update.

How long will this last?

I imagine that I will have to re-do this in the not too distant future.

trackie999

10-08-2011, 06:23 PM

My last S03 was early August, since then I execute "Channel Line Up Fix" every 1-2 weeks to make GC Date Current.

Would you explain what you mean by below 2 steps?

-Re-loaded the channel lineup through Settings>Channel List>Enter
-Deleted all duplicate channels and channels that I do not watch from the Channel List

Btw, Clear and Delete Program Info retains your Season Passes.

a68oliver

10-08-2011, 08:27 PM

I do not have the S03 error, however, my sister does. She is using an S2 on Dish Network so she has hundreds of channels in the guide.

The proposed solution that she and I found was to unplug the Tivo from the network and let it continue to process the database info it already had. The advice was to leave it unplugged 3-5 days, as I recall. The theory is that the Tivo will purge the outdated info from the database, making it small enough to accept new scheduling info.

We have not yet completed this test. What results have others here who have tried this had?

Did it fix the problem?
Did the problem come back?
How soon?

I fail to see how deleting channels from the channels I receive list will help. I believe All Channels from the provider package are still downloaded and indexed. If they weren't then when you switch from viewing the Channels I Receive guide to the All Channels guide, the extra channels would be TBA and not filled in with data. Right?

What have others experienced?

terryjamison

10-10-2011, 12:53 AM

My last S03 was early August, since then I execute "Channel Line Up Fix" every 1-2 weeks to make GC Date Current.

Would you explain what you mean by below 2 steps?

The two are two separate and distinct unrelated actions on my part. The first is simply the channel lineup fix. Once on the Channel list page, there is a note on the bottom of the screen that says press enter if this is not the correct lineup or something a long those line. I press enter which prompts me re-select a cable provider. I simply select the same cable operator and lineup that I already have. TiVo downloads the program data resetting my GC.

As far as manually deleting programs from the Deleted Program file, I honestly do not know if this makes any difference. It is something that was mentioned in more that one thread. Since I, like others with this problem have an upgraded larger drive, this allows for many more programs to remain in the Deleted Program file. I actually had in excess of 400 deleted programs. I figured it couldn't hurt to clean the folder. Since then, it has been a pain to keep it

Some people have speculated that the Tivo cannot finish indexing the downloaded data prior to the next scheduled network connection and program data download. So, that is why I may have mentioned unplugging the network cable after a download.

Btw, Clear and Delete Program Info retains your Season Passes.

I honestly have not yet tried this option. I have only read others say that it does wipe out the Season Passes. Some have suggested taking a digital picture to help in the re-construction. This seems to contradict what you're saying. No offense, but I'd prefer not to have to reconstruct the over 100 Season Passes that the wife and kids have amassed.

terryjamison

10-10-2011, 01:09 AM

I fail to see how deleting channels from the channels I receive list will help. I believe All Channels from the provider package are still downloaded and indexed. If they weren't then when you switch from viewing the Channels I Receive guide to the All Channels guide, the extra channels would be TBA and not filled in with data. Right?

The above makes sense. I checked it for myself and the program data is there for all programs that I receive, including the ones that I deleted from the channel lineup. So, I would assume that this is not beneficial.

MC Hammer

10-10-2011, 02:02 AM

trackie999

10-10-2011, 08:25 AM

I think, you are referring to "Clear and delete everything". Check around on this site for info on "Clear Program Information"

Steps I take to resolve "Guide running low":
- Check last connection status
- If S03, Clear Program Information, to eliminate S03 error.
- If not S03, e.g: Successful, run Channel Line Up Fix (Otherwise, you end up in guided set up loop)

If you opted in (check your system info screen) your season passes are uploaded to tivo.com and you can see them under manage season passes.
Once in a while I go there to copy & paste my season passes into Excel when I want to optimize recordings across 3 tivos.

If I have to rebuild my season passes, I enable network remote on the tivo then use wmcbrine's tivo-remote to type in the show names (copy / paste from excel)

I honestly have not yet tried this option. I have only read others say that it does wipe out the Season Passes. Some have suggested taking a digital picture to help in the re-construction. This seems to contradict what you're saying. No offense, but I'd prefer not to have to reconstruct the over 100 Season Passes that the wife and kids have amassed.

wtherrell

10-11-2011, 05:54 PM

I honestly have not yet tried this option. I have only read others say that it does wipe out the Season Passes. Some have suggested taking a digital picture to help in the re-construction. This seems to contradict what you're saying. No offense, but I'd prefer not to have to reconstruct the over 100 Season Passes that the wife and kids have amassed.

In my experience with this: The season passes still show up in the season pass list but they are not functional. They will not record anything. If you click on one of the entries and click view upcoming episodes you will get notice that there are no upcoming episodes. I had to go to each one and reenter it then delete the old one. PITA. Next time I will use the Tivo site to transfer to another unit then transfer back and see if that works. I can transfer to and from my Pioneer 57H and THD but not with my old standalone S2.

trackie999

10-11-2011, 06:04 PM

You are correct. I had the same issue with season passes.
My solution was to go to tivo.com and copy/paste list of season passes into excel. Then reenter them using wmcbrine's tivo-remote (you need to enable network remote on tivo)

Another glitch with this solution is that you end up with duplicate folders. A folder that has shows recorded with old season pass and a folder with shows recorded with new season pass.

But at least you retained your shows...

In my experience with this: The season passes still show up in the season pass list but they are not functional. They will not record anything. If you click on one of the entries and click view upcoming episodes you will get notice that there are no upcoming episodes. I had to go to each one and reenter it then delete the old one. PITA. Next time I will use the Tivo site to transfer to another unit then transfer back and see if that works. I can transfer to and from my Pioneer 57H and THD but not with my old standalone S2.

terryjamison

10-12-2011, 12:08 PM

You are correct. I had the same issue with season passes.
My solution was to go to tivo.com and copy/paste list of season passes into excel. Then reenter them using wmcbrine's tivo-remote (you need to enable network remote on tivo)

Another glitch with this solution is that you end up with duplicate folders. A folder that has shows recorded with old season pass and a folder with shows recorded with new season pass.

But at least you retained your shows...

I do not have this problem if I re-load the channel lineup thru:

Messages & Settings>Settings>Channels>Channel List>Press ENTER

The above operation repeats some portions of Guided Setup, including connecting to the TiVo Service for new program information.

terryjamison

10-12-2011, 12:16 PM

It has been one week since my last sucessful GC. It has not changed since I performed a channel lineup fix. The unit is sucessfully connecting, downloading and indexing.

How often should the GC update?

If the GC has not changed, should I try disconnecting thek box from the Internet?

terryjamison

10-12-2011, 12:28 PM

You are correct. I had the same issue with season passes.
My solution was to go to tivo.com and copy/paste list of season passes into excel. Then reenter them using wmcbrine's tivo-remote (you need to enable network remote on tivo)

Another glitch with this solution is that you end up with duplicate folders. A folder that has shows recorded with old season pass and a folder with shows recorded with new season pass.

But at least you retained your shows...

Did you force a connection/verify that GC took place after unchecking those channels? My guess is no.

It's been a week since my last and one and only GC. In that time I have forced more than one connection after deselecting those channels; yet, their program data does still appear in the guide data and the GC date has remainec unchanged. Each connection, forced and otherwise, has happened sucessfully and indexed with no errors.

TiVo HD upgraded to 1 TB
Ethernet connection
Cisco TA
COX San Diego

trackie999

10-12-2011, 12:41 PM

Duplicate folders & non working season passes happens when you do a "Clear Program Information & ToDo List"

I do not have this problem if I re-load the channel lineup thru:

Messages & Settings>Settings>Channels>Channel List>Press ENTER

The above operation repeats some portions of Guided Setup, including connecting to the TiVo Service for new program information.

You are correct. I had the same issue with season passes.
My solution was to go to tivo.com and copy/paste list of season passes into excel. Then reenter them using wmcbrine's tivo-remote (you need to enable network remote on tivo)

Another glitch with this solution is that you end up with duplicate folders. A folder that has shows recorded with old season pass and a folder with shows recorded with new season pass.

But at least you retained your shows...

sushikitten

10-12-2011, 01:52 PM

This weekend hubby gets to read through this thread and attempt fixing it. I just don't have the patience.

terryjamison

10-13-2011, 12:32 PM

I have two HDs, one stock and one upgraded to 1 TB. Both have the exact same setup to include CC and TA. Yet, only the upgraded one has the guide data/S03 error problem(s).

Is there something that I should have done differently through MFS?

ravingfans

10-28-2011, 09:38 PM

is this thread still active? not seeing an update since Oct 13th...

unitron

10-28-2011, 10:12 PM

sushikitten

10-29-2011, 08:35 AM

Well, I had to change service zip codes, connect, let it run, then switch back to our zip code, connect, and let it run. It seems to have done the trick--SPs that were missing upcoming episodes now have episodes...but I did need to go into each SP to "check" them since some eps weren't set to record. It seemed like once I went into the SP I just had to "save" it again and it started working properly.

Who knows. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

unitron

10-29-2011, 08:38 AM

tm501

10-30-2011, 07:23 PM

I have a Phillips series 1 with lifetime. The last few days the daily call wouldn't go through. It kept saying call interuppted (no one was on the phone) Today I had the time to sit down and go through guided setup thinking that would clear it up. BAD idea! I've been at it over 6 hours now. It keeps getting stuck on the 2nd phone call- program call. It goes to downloading then says downloading failed call interrupted. There is no way someone was on the phone because I was the only one here. I can't even watch tv unless I pull teh Tivo box off. Does anyone have any suggestions? Since I'm stuck in guided info is there a w ay for me to get to the clear programs & to do list screen?

unitron

10-30-2011, 07:46 PM