tivo wifi connection

srsenate · 09-10-2004, 05:01 PM

please help cannot get my tivo to talk to my
wifi home network.
the network connection setup screen indicates that
it has found my network SSID and sig strengh is excellent 98 percent
but when i set the TCP/IP config for automatic it cannot locate
my DHCP on the network.
I get "Failed unknown error Message"
The Mac address of the Belkin AP is shown on screen

Using Tivo series2 sw ver 4.0.1b
wifi AP belkin f5d6050
wifi toshiba router attached to cable modem
router acts as DHCP client
ip address dynamically assign

bedelman · 09-10-2004, 05:45 PM

To clarify -- the Belkin is not an access point, it is a wireless USB adapter. Your Toshiba router is a wireless router, right?

Do you have any security enabled on your wireless router? Things like WPA, WEP, or an Access List.

WPA isn't supported. If you're using WEP, you'll need to use the "hexadecimal key" for the password instead of the human-readable pass phrase. If you have any entries in the Access List in the wireless router, you will need to add the MAC address of the Belkin adapter to the list.

Note if the Access List in the router is empty, that's OK. It just means that you don't have an Access List in effect.

srsenate · 09-11-2004, 01:23 PM

Bob

yes you are right Belkin is a wireless adapter. Wep is enabled on my router
and tivo accepted the wep key it just cannot seem to find the router(gateway) and DHCP client. What is the DHCP client id?
Why does the wep need to be in hex?
thank u for your help

bedelman · 09-11-2004, 05:12 PM

WEP needs to be in hex because your adapter and your wireless router are from different manufacturers and different algorithms are used to generate the encryption key (which is the hex value).

Go into the wireless router configuration and see what is the hex key equivalent for your current pass phrase. Then use that hex key in the TiVo's configuration.

In most cases the DHCP client ID isn't needed although it can be used to "label" a machine if you ever look at the attached device table in the router.

srsenate · 09-12-2004, 03:49 PM

Bob
Thank u very much for your help and guidance. Once i changed the WEP Key to a hex value every thing fell into place,including the Tivo publisher
server on my pc.
once again thank you.
srsenate

Ian · 09-21-2004, 11:16 PM

Bedelman... just bought a router and wireless adapter and was about to rip out my hair until I found your post about entering the WEP key as Hex.

THANKS!

-Ian

Wildcat_1 · 03-30-2005, 10:01 AM

I'm having this issue too but this did not resolve mine. My wusb11 when plugged into a PC picks up wireless networks a plenty but in the TIVO it cannot lcoate my WLAN even when it is broadcasting SSID .any help wouldb e appreciated

windracer · 03-30-2005, 11:43 AM

What version of the WUSB11 are you using? I don't think all of them are supported. I'm using the WUSB11 v2.6 on my 60hr unit without any problem. Is the TiVo getting an IP when the adapter is plugged in?

MikeyB · 03-30-2005, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wildcat_1

I'm having this issue too but this did not resolve mine. My wusb11 when plugged into a PC picks up wireless networks a plenty but in the TIVO it cannot lcoate my WLAN even when it is broadcasting SSID .any help wouldb e appreciated

Does your TiVo show the adpater's MAC address? This indicates whether or not the TiVo recognizes the network adapter at all.

Wildcat_1 · 03-30-2005, 12:33 PM

Absolutely it recognises the MAC but when I try and manually enter TCP/IP it tells me that (on occasion) network adapter is not present check cables.

Either way the wireless will not pick up my SSID even when broadcast or any other wireless networks in my area. If however I place the WUSB11 which is version 2.6 on my PC all works great

windracer · 03-30-2005, 03:36 PM

Have you tried it on both USB ports? Maybe there's a problem with one of them.

I've also read reports of the TiVo dropping the wireless connection a lot with 7.1. There are other threads on this, but usually re-plugging the adapter solves the issue. Sounds like you're not even getting that far.

Wildcat_1 · 03-31-2005, 01:05 AM

AN UPDATE

Okay all I am still notable to see any WLAN but id extensive testing an wanted to post so not only those who are trying to help but those in future that may see this issue have this documented.

FIRSTLY THE SETUP
SMC Wireless Router - Barricade G 2804WBR
Samsung 120HR (originally) DTIVO Modded with 4.01 SWare
Linksys WUSB11 Wireless B USB Network Adapter V2.6 (confirmed)

INITIAL TESTING

1) Okay I first had a newer WUSB11 V2.8 which I plugged in and sure enough was not recognized so I then went on the hunt and found a V2.6 which as soon as I plugged it in I got the message that it had found an Ethernet adapter. With this info in hand I plugged away setting up the WLAN on the TIVO which at the time was completely closed with WEP 128 and no broadcast SSID (BSSID) on chan 8. The TIVO responded with cannot locate this network. Also worth pointing out MAC filtering was enabled at this time but I had already added the MAC address. Wireless signal read none.

2) With the above in mind and the fact that I am using a Linksys and an SMC I decided to change my WEP key to 64 HEX and rename my SSID to something simpler (no special characters) and try again, this still did not work. Wireless signal read none

3) After this I disabled all firewall settings on the router, removed WEP security and enabled BSSID and still it could not locate the network and the wireless signal read NONE.

4) I decided to try again the same as step 3 but this time physically carted my TIVO upstairs and sat the WUSB11 on top of the router (was thinking about drawing an arrow on paper to show the data flow to the adapter  ) but still absolutely nothing.

5) I now wanted make sure the adapter was not faulty so I removed it from the TIVO and plugged it into one of my laptops and boom straight away not only did it pick up my WLAN but 4 others (as expected) in my neighborhood.

So what did this initial testing prove, well in summary it proved the adapter works and seemingly has no interoperability issues with an SMC router running or not running WEP. This also proved that BSSID was in fact enabled as the adapter could see it. It also proved that there was no other issues router side that were blocking the TIVO from successfully connecting.

After completing the initial testing and spending days scouring the web for insights I also tried changing channels to non overlapping ones like 6, 11 etc but still nothing and that is when I had a little bit of a brain wave. I thought maybe if this USB adapter was dumb and held its settings in VRAM that I could plug it into the PC and configure it that way first then transport it back. Sure enough if you use WLAN monitor to setup your default profile it writes that info back to the adapter and saves it (confirmed through advance networking setup/configure adapter). So, in the end I now had a complete config on the adapter that worked flawlessly when plugged into the laptop. I plugged this into the TIVO and…………… NOTHING, same problem.

That is where I am right now. Two things I noticed on the site survey completed by WLAN monitor though was that when WEP is configured on the router and even in the Linksys profile the WLAN monitor shows WEP as disabled on the router and indicates the BSSID as the WLAN mac address of the router instead of by ASCII name.

So, I don’t know if this will help but at least it is documented for everyone. I am picking up a WRT54G tomorrow to test with to ensure once and for all that there are no hidden flags or interoperability issues between different manufacturers. Maybe the TIVO is that dumb it cannot be flexible in any way to the change in possible WEP configurations from device to device (even though it is a standard).

Oh well, hopefully we will get there because being an IT Infrastructure Manager by trade this thing is really bugging the crap out of me

WC

windracer · 03-31-2005, 10:30 AM

You mention above you have a DTivo. I'm not the expert here, but it was my understanding that the USB ports on the DirecTiVos didn't work, or were not meant for networking. Maybe a DTiVo person can chime in here.

joeaksa · 07-28-2005, 08:24 PM

Need to hop on this thread. I have a Series 2 Tivo unit with a Netgear approved WiFi adapter. I get around 80% signal on the unit and most of the time it shows connected.

Tried to connect to the internet to download new content and it gives me a "no connection, your server cannot connect to the DHCP server" error message. Called Tivo and they say its all in my Netgear WiFi hub. The hub works fine with my laptop and other devices but not with the Tivo unit.

They say to open ports TCP 2190, VDP 2190, TCP 8080 to 8089 and to turn my firewall off. Aint going to open this to the whole world, so the firewall stays.

Does anyone have any ideas on this? No one I have been in contact with knows how to open these ports, its not in the setup from Netgear (WGR614) and am out of ideas.

TIA,

Joe A

windracer · 07-28-2005, 09:02 PM

I have the same router (Netgear WGR614v3) and did not have to open any ports to allow my TiVos to phone home to the mothership.

Can you ping your DVR from your PC, confirming it's actually on your wireless LAN?

joeaksa · 07-28-2005, 09:23 PM

Thanks much for the reply. When I look at the "attached devices" on the Netgear wifi hub, its not there. When I look at the tivo unit, its getting a good 80% signal and assigned a IP address.

Not sure how to "ping" but did find a "Respond to ping on internet port" box on the WAN settings on the hub. Can you pls tell me how to do this? Am pretty good with building computers but not so much on networking and things like this.

Thanks,

Joe

windracer · 07-28-2005, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeaksa

Thanks much for the reply. When I look at the "attached devices" on the Netgear wifi hub, its not there. When I look at the tivo unit, its getting a good 80% signal and assigned a IP address.

Not sure how to "ping" but did find a "Respond to ping on internet port" box on the WAN settings on the hub. Can you pls tell me how to do this? Am pretty good with building computers but not so much on networking and things like this.

What's the TiVo's IP address? It doesn't start with a 169. does it? If so, that means the DVR couldn't find a DHCP server (your router) on the network so just picked a private address ... so it's not really on the network at all.

To ping your DVR, go to a DOS prompt in Windows (Start -> Run -> type 'cmd' and press OK) and then use the ping command:

ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

Where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the IP of your TiVo. If you get "request timed out" it means your PC can't see the TiVo.

Are you using MAC filtering or anything like that on your router? If so, you need to add the MAC address of your Netgear adapter to the router so it knows it's a permitted device.

How about WEP? If you're using encryption, did you enter the right network password when you went through the network setup on your TiVo?

There's a lot of little things here to check, I know ... also, this might help:

http://customersupport.tivo.com/know...ic/tv2066.htm?

joeaksa · 07-29-2005, 12:28 AM

Thanks for the info, ran out of time to troubleshoot. Am heading out on the road early Friday until Sunday, and will work on it when I return.

Appreciate the help... Will get this figured out eventually!

Joe A

windracer · 07-29-2005, 08:29 AM

I'll be here when you get back.

classicsat · 07-29-2005, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by windracer

You mention above you have a DTivo. I'm not the expert here, but it was my understanding that the USB ports on the DirecTiVos didn't work, or were not meant for networking. Maybe a DTiVo person can chime in here.

They aren't, and getting them to work is not what the help forum is for.
This Help forum is for more or less stock TiVos.

gmb1 · 07-30-2005, 11:19 PM

All -

I'm having problems with MAC filtering on my wireless network. I have a TiVo series 2 connected by 802.11b and it has worked fine for months. I've activated MAC filtering on my router (and even cloned the MAC address for the TiVo that showed up in the access log). With MAC filtering on, the TiVo screen displays (none) for signal strength. I've triple checked the MAC address on the TiVo and the wireless adapter. When I disable MAC filtering, the TiVo recovers the connection. With MAC filtering, it immediately drops it, even after restart. My laptop connects perfectly when MAC is turned on. Any ideas? Thanks!

windracer · 07-30-2005, 11:31 PM

Are you sure you've correctly entered the MAC address of each TiVo adapter into your router? When you check your router's "connected devices" screen after enabling MAC filtering, do the TiVos appear as permitted devices?

joeaksa · 08-07-2005, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by windracer

What's the TiVo's IP address? It doesn't start with a 169. does it? If so, that means the DVR couldn't find a DHCP server (your router) on the network so just picked a private address ... so it's not really on the network at all.

To ping your DVR, go to a DOS prompt in Windows (Start -> Run -> type 'cmd' and press OK) and then use the ping command:

ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

Where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the IP of your TiVo. If you get "request timed out" it means your PC can't see the TiVo.

Are you using MAC filtering or anything like that on your router? If so, you need to add the MAC address of your Netgear adapter to the router so it knows it's a permitted device.

How about WEP? If you're using encryption, did you enter the right network password when you went through the network setup on your TiVo?

There's a lot of little things here to check, I know ... also, this might help: ( had to remove the link you gave me as my post was restricted.

Windracer,

Back at home now and trying to get the Tivo on the network.

You were correct, the IP on the Tivo is 169.254.113.38

MAC is the same number on the wireless adapter, so that’s good.

Its showing that its seeing the “JoeA” network and that’s my wireless adapter hooked up to the network and internet. The signal is 80-86%, which is good.

Went to the TCPIP page

It’s using “auto find an IP”
DHCP client is showing “JoeA”

Then went to the Network settings.

Went through the settings and its set for “connect to a closed network” and then showing connected to “joea” …

I am using WEP 128 encription and the correct encryption key is entered. When I do a test it gives me the error message of: “failed. No dhcp server”

I tried pinging the Tivo unit using the IP address above and it keeps timing out.

Also, under the Tivo server properties in the Tivo desktop program its showing under the config tab a network identification of my computer name, and says that “this address is used by Tivo DVR’s to access my computer” and showing 192.168.0.2 (nvidia nforce mcp networking controller driver) if that means anything. I tried pinging this and it worked, giving 4 replies with 0% loss. Assume that this is the Netgear switch?

Appreciate any help on this as the signal is good at the Tivo but for some reason I cannot see the Tivo unit on the network.

Thanks,

JoeA

windracer · 08-07-2005, 10:16 PM

Ok, as you've seen, the DVR has a 169 address, which means it's set to use DHCP, but can't find a DHCP server on the network, so it chose that 169.xxx.xxx.xxx as a default. Since the rest of your network is on 192.168.0.x, it won't be able to see the rest of the network (including TiVo Desktop on your PC) and they won't be able to see it (that's why you can't ping it from your PC).

192.168.0.2 is the IP of your PC, not the switch. If you've got a Netgear switch, most likely its default address is 192.168.0.1 (try pinging that).

It sounds like either your Netgear router is not set up to hand out DHCP address, or MAC filtering is set up and the MAC of your TiVo's network adapter is not in the authorized list.

Go into the web based setup for your router (try pointing your browser to 192.168.0.1). If prompted to login, check your documentation for the default login (usually Netgear is 'admin' and 'password'). Now, I have a Netgear router, so I'm using the screens/wording for my WGR614v3, yours may be different.

Go to the LAN IP Setup screen on the left-hand side. Make sure "Use router as DHCP server" is on.

Go to the Wireless Settings screen on the left-hand side. Click the "Setup Access List" button. If "Turn Access Control on" is checked, you're using MAC filtering. Make sure the MAC of the adapter connected to the TiVo is listed. If it's not, add it.

Hope this helps.

joeaksa · 08-08-2005, 12:23 AM

Thanks much. Tried pinging the 192.168. address and it came back fine.

A bit familiar (not that I understand it but know where it is) with the web based Netgear setup. The "use router as a DHCP server" was already checked and its using 192.168.0.2 starting and ending at 192.168.0.51.

Went to the wireless settings and found two devices there. One is my laptop using the wireless and also found the MAC address for the Tivo unit. Added both
to the list and hit apply. The laptop works fine using WiFi and these settings.

Went down to the "Attached devices" and did not find the Tivo, but the laptop is there. I have manually put the IP 192.168.0.25 in the Tivo and when it tests the address shows that its good but when I do a connection test no luck, still showing no server found.

Trying the Netgear under attached devices its still not shown there. Went down to the LAN IP page and added the Tivo address under Address Reservation but it did not help.

Really appreciate the help, feel that we are close but one or two settings. Am really lucky to find someone who knows networking and the Netgear system!

Thanks,

Joe

joeaksa · 08-15-2005, 09:50 AM

Anyone have any other ideas on how to get my system talking with each other?

TIA,

Joe

windracer · 08-15-2005, 11:30 AM

Sorry, forgot about this thread and must have missed your last update to it.

What kind of wireless adapter are you attaching to your DVR? Is it on the supported list?

dgt2n · 08-15-2005, 01:46 PM

I don't mean to butt into this thread, but my issues seem to be very similar. I have a Netgear wireless router next to my DVR, which is connected via ethernet cable. My PC has a wireless card that connects to the router. With Tivo Desktop, my DVR does not show up, nor does my PC show up on the DVR.

This is where I get confused. When I enter the TIVO's ipaddy in the address bar and enter the User/PW, my Tivo appears along with my saved programs, so both devices can obviously access each other. Which settings do I need to change to make it work with Tivo Desktop, and also to bring up Music/Photos on the DVR?

TIA.

windracer · 08-15-2005, 02:20 PM

Are you running any sort of firewall software on your PC? A firewall could be blocking the traffic between your PC and DVR (although it wouldn't touch your browser traffic, which is why you can connect through the https interface).

Try temporarily disabling any firewalls (Norton, ZoneAlarm, Sygate, etc.) and see if TiVo Desktop works then. If it does, you just need to configure your firewall to allow TiVo Desktop traffic through.

dgt2n · 08-15-2005, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by windracer

Are you running any sort of firewall software on your PC? A firewall could be blocking the traffic between your PC and DVR (although it wouldn't touch your browser traffic, which is why you can connect through the htp interface).

Try temporarily disabling any firewalls (Norton, ZoneAlarm, Sygate, etc.) and see if TiVo Desktop works then. If it does, you just need to configure your firewall to allow TiVo Desktop traffic through.

I do have McAfee Personal Firewall, but I have tried allowing access to all TIVO related programs with no luck. I also tried disabling MPW completely. Could it be a router or XP firewall problem? I'll work on it more when I get home....I'm just happy to have factored out network problems (I hope).