New Elite freezes / l locks up

[dwynne]

Two weeks ago:

I am a long time TiVo user. I currently have several DirecTivos in service (HR10-250) and an HD-Tivo (series 3 w/cable card). I just purchased a new Premier Elite TiVo and installed it Friday. After getting all the updates I installed an M-card cablecard and paired it to the new TiVo. Everything is working, except the TiVo keeps locking up. Live TV is frozen on the screen and the remote does nothing (on screen or on the front panel) and I have to unplug the Tivo to recover. Sometimes the box is idle, sometimes it was recording one or more shows when it hosed.

Maybe a bad spot on the hard drive?

It is plugged into the same UPS as the HD TiVo that works fine, plugged into the same Ethernet switch and via a splitter to the same Comcast cable feed. The old HD works while this one keeps freezing.

I was planning activating it with lifetime service, but that maybe I need to try to get this TiVo replaced?


I think 4 freezes in 2 days (or 2 1/2 days, actually). Each time was when the Tivo was not being watched - locked on live TV of whatever channel(s) it was on sometime when the set was off. I guess could leave it on the local weather channel with a constant clock - then I would know when it froze each time...

The power should be good, this is plugged in to the same circuit as the older HD Tivo which works flawlessly. I can try plugging it direct.

I would have to re-do guided setup to test without the cable card. Since you get no guide data w/o a cablecard I don't have it set up to do clear QAM now. I could get a replacement CC from Comcast and re-pair, I suppose.

No expander is connected.

I swapped the Ethernet and coax between the two TiVo units and it made no difference.

I think the online vendor is going to send me a replacement Elite, that should eliminate the box itself :-)

Cable signal quality:

All 4 tuners are using QAM 256 modulation.

Tuner Strength SNR RSU RSC
0 95 38 5183 3723
1 89 35 6651 212
2 89 35 6128 677
3 87 34 6624 162

I have have the new Elite next to my older HD Tivo. I swapped the coax between the two boxes and the RSC and RSU on the Elite stayed high. I rebooted and re-tuned both - RS? 0's and strength 100 on the old HD and high RSU and RSC on the new Elite. I checked the HD before the swap and reboot (and checked it the other night) and it runs mostly 100% and 0's on channels I checked. I tuned the same channels on both boxes to compare.

Note that the Elite errors are not climbing (when the box is working)- just first tune errors that Elite and XL4 boxes seem to get.

Last week:

I now have a 2nd new Elite at the house - a replacement. I have not paired the m-card with it yet, but I am seeing high error counts on this one as well.

Could the m-card be the problem?

I left the cable card out and scanned for clear QAM channels and no freeze the first two nights. Once I finally got the software update and got trial service I installed the m-card and had a freeze the first night. I pulled the card and went back to clear QAM - two freezes in less than 24 hours. I re-ran the power to another outlet - no change.

More bad news, the 2nd Elite has locked up twice sitting on clear QAM channels- no cable card. I ran the power to another outlet and it did not help. I left the Ethernet disconnected this time. Again, the HD Tivo and the cable DVR are fine. This 2nd Elite seems to lock up even quicker than the original - in fewer hours.

Any other ideas? Did they send me two bad Elites? Should just return the 2nd one and forget about 4 tuners? The cable box UI is terrible, but DVR never freezes...

[KrustyVT]

As a data point (which doesn't seem relevant to your situation as long as you have downloaded all of the software updates, but is interesting nonetheless) -

I just installed a TiVo Elite (from woot) this weekend, upgrading from a TiVoHD. I moved over my Motorola M-Stream card, from Comcast. The box came with software version 14.9 installed, which froze at least 5 times in the process of me getting it setup and downloading all of the updates (Saturday morning).

After the software was updated to 20.2.1.1 (still waiting on 20.2.1.2) I have not experienced any additional freezes (since Saturday afternoon).

So, for me at least, it appears that the software update solved my issue. Hopefully yours isn't related to hardware - it would seem strange to have the same hardware related issue with two different boxes.

[dwynne]

Both the original and replacement came with 14.9. I didn't install the cable card in either until after the update was downloaded and trial mode was working. That was the Spring 2012 update (don't have the version # with me). It took Comcast two days to get the pairing right the first time and no video (I didn't try clear QAM) = no lockups. Once the pair was done the lockups started (one every 12-18 hours?).

It took me 2 days to get the 2nd Elite updated,so I tried clear QAM. No lockups seen. Once the update was done I dropped clear QAM and installed the cable card = lockups every few hours. Back to clear QAM = lockups every few hours.

No trial mode = no 30 minute buffers? =no lockups?

Tivo support says - weak signal, too much signal (try an antenuator) , bad Ethernet, bad power.

My eperience (with lesser TiVos) says bad hard drive, but two in a row?

[gteague]

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...d.php?t=481894

[MeInDallas]

I think the more people that buy these XL4/Elites we are gonna see more people seeking answers to why this is happening. Hopefully this will light a fire under Tivo to finally do something about this and fix this issue.

Like Gteague said, see this thread: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...d.php?t=481894

[dwynne]

Good news, it has been running for 24 hours now.

I unplugged the Ethernet connector yesterday morning after I power cycled it. It was still running when I got home so it may be that. I have it wired to a 10/100/1000 switch and maybe the gigabit is messing it up, where it worked fine on the HD Tivo (which is 10/100?) ?

I went ahead and bypassed the comscope amp the cable guy installed so both Tivos are no longer on the amp and have an extra splitter for a reduced signal - in case that was it. I scheduled a bunch of recordings today to see if it can keep running. I have to decide soon to keep or not, they won't send me a 3rd Elite and have given me an RMA for this 2nd one - so I have just a few days to decide it is OK or send it back.

I assume a Premier or XL would be as solid as my HD Tivo?

[dwynne]

More good news, 48 hours without a lockup. The Ethernet cable is still unplugged and the amp is still out of the circuit. The recordings appear to have worked as scheduled, but no time to watch or check them,

[poofy]

Originally Posted by dwynne

The recordings appear to have worked as scheduled, but no time to watch or check them,

Funny I have shows from 6 months ago on my TIVO that I have not had time to watch.

[Brad Bishop]

I bought my TiVo Elite back in January. I had occasional freezes until v20.*. Since then I have not had a single freeze or reboot.

Hopefully this helps you. At this point a 'bad spot on the hard drive' might not be far off.

[dwynne]

Another day with no lockup.

I reconnected the Ethernet and phoned home, got a restart pending so rebooted the box (shows 20.2.1.2 now). I pulled the Ethernet after the boot, I want it to run now and will diagnose later.

[dwynne]

I have no hard lockups in the last 2 weeks (yeah). I have the Ethernet connected using the supplied cable - not the one I was using on the HD. I still have the amp out of the circuit to the two TiVos.

I did have one spontaneous reboot a week or so back. I was recording 3 shows while trying to watch another. When trying skip through commercials and operate any menu it was very sluggish. Finally froze skipping a commercial then after several seconds it rebooted. My recording were missing part of the shows and were all in two segments. Other than that, everything seems OK now.

[wexler2]

I am beyond the point of frustration and I am just living with this problem. My elite 4 tuner has locked up since it was purchased. The first one I had locked up and stayed that way, had to get it replaced, the new one averages 20 times a month. I have been writing down the dates and times for about 5 months, each time it locks up. I keep hoping Tivo will quit blaming the cable company or anything but it being their problem. I got tired of calling.
I may have valuable information with all of the dates and time if anyone at Tivo would be interested.

I thought I had found a possiblity when I switched power outlets but it didn't last long. I think the longest it ever went w/o freezing was 3 days and it has locked up as many as 4 times in one day.

Anyone else have this many problems?
wexler2

[dwynne]

My Elite was locking up about daily until I did the steps outline in this thread: removed the cable amp and added another splitter to lower the signal level to the Tivo and (less likely) replaced the Ethernet cable with the one that came with the Elite (it is plugged into a 10/100/1000 switch).

I would look at the signal strength and try to reduce it if it shows high (90 and up). Pull the wired Ethernet as a test, if you are using that interface.

[mattack]

Why don't you call Tivo and tell them this?