Tivo HD lockup, black screen, does not respond to remote

[mczolton]

I have a problem that is becoming increasingly frequent. I have a refurbished Tivo HD that is 10 months old. It has the original hard drive and the 500GB Western Digital MyDVR Expanded connected via eSATA. There are two CableCards installed and I am not utilizing any OTA transmissions. The Tivo is connected to my wireless network via the Tivo branded wireless G adapter.

The problem is, the Tivo HD will lockup at some point during the night. There is no video output (component) and the Tivo HD will not respond to commands from the remote. It doesn't even acknowledge the commands are being sent.

The only solution I have is to pull the power cable and wait 15 to 30 seconds and plug it back in. At this point the Tivo HD boots normally and all is well for several days until it locks up again.

I have read numerous threads suggesting one of the hard drives is at fault - either the internal drive, or the expander. However, more often than not, these threads indicate the Tivo unit has rebooted itself or is in a sort of reboot loop. This is not the case here.

I have also read that the cable signal strength could be too high but this is usually accompanied by a green screen, not a black screen. I can try to attenuate the signal if need be.

I have checked all connections on the Tivo unit including the eSATA cable and it appears sturdy.

I am considering one or more of the following:


Attenuate cable signal.
Replacing the eSATA cable.
Kickstart on the existing hard drives.
Replacing the internal drive (keeping the DVR expander).
Replacing the internal drive (using a larger drive and ditching the DVR expander).


Suggestions are welcome. I would certainly like to get to the bottom of this as my wife is about to kill the Tivo :)

[rcarberry]

What I get is after watching a recording and deleteing it I go to the Now Playing List and it is blank.

I've treid rebooting and that worked, But Last night,I hit the TIVO button and if I waited long enough the screen came back and the unit repsonded again.

This seems to happen about every 2 to 5 days.

[TiVoSteve]

I am having the same troubles recently as well. Ran hard drive tests (see http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/308) and found that the Expander was bad. Still under warranty ... but so sad to lose all my shows.

[mczolton]

I ran the HDD tests on both the internal drive and external drive and they both passed. I tried the quick, and long tests on both drives, and the sequential test on the external drive (I didn't have time to run the sequential on the internal drive). Of course I ran this after running a Kickstart 57. I don't know if that makes a difference.

[sasmps]

Is there a cablecard? Do you have HD channels? Take note of what channels the Tivo is parked on before you go lights out in the evening. If you find that you live on the HD channel line up, try parking the tuners on the lower bands overnight and see if the problem goes away.

I suspect that when the disk is ruled out as the problem, you may have an issues with the tuners (the HD tuners in the Tivo are sensitive, parking on channel 9 and 10 use the analoge tuners). Just tune to channel 9, then use the channel up button on the remote to go to channel 10.

[mczolton]

I suspect that when the disk is ruled out as the problem, you may have an issues with the tuners (the HD tuners in the Tivo are sensitive, parking on channel 9 and 10 use the analoge tuners). Just tune to channel 9, then use the channel up button on the remote to go to channel 10.

There are two CableCards including analog, digital, and HD service.

I will give this a shot. If it locks up on one type of channel and not the other, what would be the next course of action?

For what it is worth, I actually saw the Tivo lockup for the first time. My wife and I were watching a recorded HD program when the picture froze momentarily, there was a high pitched whine from the television speakers for a split second, and then the picture when black. The Tivo did not respond to the remote at all - no menus, no amber LED telling me that a remote command was sent, nothing. Just the green power LED (not flashing).

Also, I checked the signal strength for one of the CableCards and it reported 100%. I have read that this may be too high. I will try to attenuate the signal if the unit locks up again.

Thank you for the response. I appreciate it.

[sasmps]

If you park on the analoge tuners, and you do not lock up, it is probably the HD Tuners or the motherboard in the Tivo that has a problem. You want to rule everything else out first, because the fix for the above is another rebuild.

Have you replaced the cable cards? Sounds like you have two single stream cards, easy enough to pick those up at the front desk of your cable provider. Pop out the old ones, swap them, then call the number displayed on the cablecard set up screen on the tivo, and ask them to activate the new ones.

[mczolton]

Have you replaced the cable cards? Sounds like you have two single stream cards, easy enough to pick those up at the front desk of your cable provider. Pop out the old ones, swap them, then call the number displayed on the cablecard set up screen on the tivo, and ask them to activate the new ones.

I have not replaced the CableCards.

I am sure you've seen numerous stories about how the cable company wants to send a technician out to install the CableCards. Since this is such a hassle, I wanted to rule everything else out first.

Thank you for the advice.

[sasmps]

Understand.... in my neck of the woods, you can just pick them up at their field office and then just call to activate. Takes 5 minutes on the Tivo HD.

[milo99]

i've had this exact same problem, where it was happening about once a week. I called Tivo tech support and the guy told me to unhook the coax, let it sit, reconnect and reboot. hasn't happened in about a month.

he said if it keeps happening frequently, i may want to look into an attenuator or quality surge suppressor that has coax in/outputs and regulates the coax signal or something like that (I think, i can't remember exaxtly.. something about the signal on the coax getting screwed up). Basically he said something to look out for is a large number of RS Uncorrected figures in your DVR diagnostics- that's a sign that your signal is getting f-ed up.

A bad sign would be if the RS uncorrected is in the multiple thousands if it sits on a channel for a while.

[mczolton]

Basically he said something to look out for is a large number of RS Uncorrected figures in your DVR diagnostics- that's a sign that your signal is getting f-ed up.

Thank you for the advice. Would you happen to know where to look for the "RS Uncorrected figures"? I am not sure if I have seen that before.

Thank you.

[milo99]

Thank you for the advice. Would you happen to know where to look for the "RS Uncorrected figures"? I am not sure if I have seen that before.

Thank you.

in settings -> DVR diagnostics

you'll see tuner 0 and tuner 1. every time you change the channel though, those numbers reset. I've seen it up in the 600something range after having a channel tuned over night or for a day or so and it's been fine. I didn't have a chance to see it when it was all screwed up, so i can't tell you for sure if this is a cause or not. I just know that after unhooking the coax and reconnecting, it's been fine.

[kemcg]

Hi mczolton,

I wanted to see if your problem is fixed. I have having the exact same problem. Did unplugging the coax fix it?

Thanks!

[mczolton]

You know what. I haven't had the problem in a long time. I did a full scan on the hard drive which turned up zero errors. Then, I unplugged the coaxial cable and power cable, let it sit there for a minute or two, and then I plugged it back in. Now, whether this worked, or a software update has made it more stable, I cannot say.