Tivo Black Screen and Reboot

cconnell · 11-02-2007, 08:48 AM

After working with Tivo Support and Time Warner I have much information but little understanding.

Problem: Starting with 9.1 (I now have 9.2j) my Series 3 would produce no video. The screen would be black. No menus, no tv, just black. This would happen about once every 2 days. If I pushed a buttons on the remote about 35 times it would reboot. Otherwise the Tivo runs fine and gets all channels.

Tivo Response: I called Tivo and they had me look at the cable card information screen. The support person said that the CCI Byte of 0x00 was incorrect and combined with the fact that many of the other values on the screen were 0 that it was a cable card problem and I need to call TW. (After further research I am not so sure the support person knew what they were talking about)

TW Response: Service man came out. Ran signal strength tests and determined that my Transmit was too high. Rewired, generally cleaned (?) stuff up so the amplifier was not needed. Transmit is not too high anymore. He told me that signal strength is good on all channels. Using the Tivo the signal strength is above 90% for all but a couple of the channels. Two channels look fine but have a signal strength of 60%. TW said that his meter said all signal strength was fine and the Tivo as wrong.

I still have the problem. My next step is to take my CC's to TW and swap them out. Any other thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

nau10 · 11-02-2007, 09:20 AM

I have the series 3 HD, and I'm seeing the same problem. The video blacks out, and it either spontaneously reboots, or I power cycle the unit to get it back.

I currently have SW Version: 9.1-01-2-648. After talking with TiVo support, they're going to fast-track me to 9.2, but it doesn't sound like that's going to solve my problems.

I am using two cablecards, and my cable service is Comcast.

Tivo has claimed that if the software update doesn't fix it, they may send me out a new unit. Hmm. I don't know if that's the right track to take.

montz · 11-02-2007, 09:33 AM

I had a similar but slightly different problem. I started transferring a video via TTCB from my mac, and immediately the background went black. All the menus worked fine, but the Live TV feature and trying to play any shows on the TiVo didn't work. After a reboot, all was well. This has happened to me twice in a month. I have a TiVo HD with OTA only.

SCSIRAID · 11-02-2007, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cconnell

After working with Tivo Support and Time Warner I have much information but little understanding.

Problem: Starting with 9.1 (I now have 9.2j) my Series 3 would produce no video. The screen would be black. No menus, no tv, just black. This would happen about once every 2 days. If I pushed a buttons on the remote about 35 times it would reboot. Otherwise the Tivo runs fine and gets all channels.

Tivo Response: I called Tivo and they had me look at the cable card information screen. The support person said that the CCI Byte of 0x00 was incorrect and combined with the fact that many of the other values on the screen were 0 that it was a cable card problem and I need to call TW. (After further research I am not so sure the support person knew what they were talking about)

TW Response: Service man came out. Ran signal strength tests and determined that my Transmit was too high. Rewired, generally cleaned (?) stuff up so the amplifier was not needed. Transmit is not too high anymore. He told me that signal strength is good on all channels. Using the Tivo the signal strength is above 90% for all but a couple of the channels. Two channels look fine but have a signal strength of 60%. TW said that his meter said all signal strength was fine and the Tivo as wrong.

I still have the problem. My next step is to take my CC's to TW and swap them out. Any other thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

If Tivo locks up and you have no menus then chances are very low that its a cablecard or cable company issue. Sounds like a bad Tivo to me.

cconnell · 11-02-2007, 11:34 AM

If it is a bad tivo I have these questions:

1) Could it be my exernal hard drive? If maybe how do I determine?
2) Could it be my power supply? If maybe how do I dermine?
3) Most importantly how do I convince Tivo that it is the Tivo that is the problem?

Thanks.

SCSIRAID · 11-02-2007, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cconnell

If it is a bad tivo I have these questions:

1) Could it be my exernal hard drive? If maybe how do I determine?
2) Could it be my power supply? If maybe how do I dermine?
3) Most importantly how do I convince Tivo that it is the Tivo that is the problem?

Thanks.

It could be either of those problems.

Removing the external drive and seeing if that eliminates the issue would be one thing. Diagnosing the power supply is probably outside most folks capability.

Then I would call customer service back and play CSR Roulette and see if you can get one with a brain....

pmiranda · 11-03-2007, 08:18 AM

I started seeing the same problem with 9.1 and 9.2 made it worse. It's not the cablecards, and it's probably not any hardware at all. Look at the other threads in this forum. For me, I work around it by not using standby.

jetboy_jones · 11-03-2007, 02:35 PM

Add me to the list of people whose Series 3 is locking up since 9.1. And I don't have an external disk drive or any cable cards. My unit is a year old and had been working beautifully until the 9.1 upgrade -- obviously a serious bug has slipped past QA in 9.1.

cconnell · 11-03-2007, 02:38 PM

I don't use Standby so I don't think that is the problem. I have been reviewing the previous posts and I have not been able to find the exact behavior. What I find that is different is that I get no menus, video, anything, it is just black (though it may be successfully recording something.) I do have SA Cable Cards which I know is a problem for some but they have different behavior.

Have you seen anything that looks related? Thanks in advance.

pmiranda · 11-03-2007, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cconnell

I don't use Standby so I don't think that is the problem. I have been reviewing the previous posts and I have not been able to find the exact behavior. What I find that is different is that I get no menus, video, anything, it is just black (though it may be successfully recording something.) I do have SA Cable Cards which I know is a problem for some but they have different behavior.

Have you seen anything that looks related? Thanks in advance.

Yep, when I try to come out of standby, there's basically no signal to the TV since it throws up a blank screen with the "DVI" text at the top to indicate the input in use. I also have SA cablecards, but have never seen the cablecard info screen (grey border, black field) in association with this problem, and it happens regardless of whether TiVo is recording anything, so I doubt the cablecards are part of the problem (for once).

c3 · 11-03-2007, 10:43 PM

If you use HDMI, this is the thread:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...d.php?t=369334

cconnell · 11-04-2007, 01:44 PM

Thanks for everyones help. I am pretty sure that it is the HDMI handshake problem at this point. I still do not have a good fix (other than use component video) but the problem seems common enough that Tivo is aware. Hoping for 9.2K (or whatever is next) soon. Thanks.

missiontortilla · 11-04-2007, 08:22 PM

I also have this issue. I have 9.2J, no cablecards, no eSATA. It is extremely frustrating. My TiVo is over a year old, just started doing this within the last month or so.

tomers · 11-06-2007, 03:16 PM

I just got a TiVoHD a few days ago and I've had the black screen & freeze up described in post #1 happen once and the black screen but with menus described in post #3 happen twice.

My TiVoHD is running 9.1. I just had the CableCards installed today (Cablevision of Warwick) and while browsing around in some random menu after the installers left, I hit the LiveTV button and the screen went black. Pressing the buttons on the remote did nothing - TiVo didn't even acknowledge with its orange LED that I was pressing the buttons. I had to unplug it to reboot.

When I first hooked it up a couple of days ago without any CableCards installed the issue described in #3 happened to me. I think I was browsing through the guide at the time when the TV channel shown in the background went dark. I closed the guide and tried changing channels, but everything was black. Even the colorful backgrounds of the menus weren't displayed - the backgrounds were just black. I rebooted via the menu.

This same thing happened while the cable guy was installing the CableCards today. He was browsing around the menus while installing the CableCards when the backgrounds of the menus disappeared and were replaced by blackness. A reboot brought everything back.

ToddNeedsTiVo · 11-06-2007, 09:19 PM

My month-old TiVo HD just did something similar to this. I went to start playback of a recording, and it went black with no playback. I hit "left" or perhaps the TiVo button and it gave me the keep/delete prompt normally seen at the end of playback. The menus seemed normal, but the colored graphics normally seen beneath them were absent. Tried a couple other playbacks with the same results.

I initiated a reboot from the menu and now it seems to be working fine. It came back up and resumed the two scheduled recordings.

Not sure what to make of that. Hope it doesn't happen again. Using HDMI, OTA & analog cable (no CableCARDS).

tomers · 11-07-2007, 07:52 AM

I discovered that the problems lies with HDMI/HDCP when your menu backgrounds go black, but the menus themselves still work. I checked the System Information screen when this problem happened again moments ago and in the HDMI Status field it normally says "HDCP enabled" but for me it was simply blank.

A reboot of the TiVo fixed it, but someone in another thread mentions that changing to an analog channel and then cycling the power on your TV will also fix the problem. Haven't tried this solution yet.

ToddNeedsTiVo · 11-07-2007, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomers

I discovered that the problems lies with HDMI/HDCP when your menu backgrounds go black, but the menus themselves still work. I checked the System Information screen when this problem happened again moments ago and in the HDMI Status field it normally says "HDCP enabled" but for me it was simply blank.

A reboot of the TiVo fixed it, but someone in another thread mentions that changing to an analog channel and then cycling the power on your TV will also fix the problem. Haven't tried this solution yet.

If recordings were underway while this menu-on-black glitch occurs, would they be disrupted or would they just carry on properly but not be viewable until a reboot?

tomers · 11-07-2007, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToddNeedsTiVo

If recordings were underway while this menu-on-black glitch occurs, would they be disrupted or would they just carry on properly but not be viewable until a reboot?

Recordings recorded, but they only recorded blackness. I rebooted in the middle of a recording and so the part before the reboot was blackness and the part after the reboot was a proper recording.

CrispyCritter · 11-07-2007, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomers

I discovered that the problems lies with HDMI/HDCP when your menu backgrounds go black, but the menus themselves still work. I checked the System Information screen when this problem happened again moments ago and in the HDMI Status field it normally says "HDCP enabled" but for me it was simply blank.

Not completely clear. It happened to me with no CableCards and only a composite output (to an SD TV).

micz · 11-10-2007, 02:00 PM

I have had a similar problem happen a few times.

The symptoms are:

1. While browsing channels at some point the output will become black or gray, and no further channel changing is possible (trying to enter number makes an error sound, the channel change keys do nothing, and the guide does nothing)

2. The menu still operates, but the usual Tivo background is not present anywhere (the red or green backgrounds) and neither are the white "frames" that appear on the menus, but the entries on the menu are there.

3. A restart of the tivo does fix the problem temporarily.

4. This is a fresh tivo, just installed a few hours ago when the Cable company installed the dual-stream cards.

Am using 9.2a

c3 · 11-10-2007, 02:19 PM

micz, I have seen that problem a couple of times, but that's a different issue.

BiloxiGeek · 11-10-2007, 03:03 PM

One thing to double check if you haven't already: Good quality coax cable feeding the TiVo making a solid connection on both ends.

That70sGAdawg · 11-12-2007, 06:16 PM

Add me to the S3 list, 8 "no video" freeze ups in the last week. Never had a problem for 6 months, added the "approved" DVR expander last month fine, for 2 weeks then- lockups on 9.1. HDMI Directly connected to the Sony TV. Running 9.2J now, still an issue. They better push out a fix soon...

Yuterald · 11-14-2007, 07:55 PM

I've had my HDTivo for about 3 weeks/ have the WD on the eSata (the Tivo authorized one) and this is the second time after watching something recorded i have no 'live tv' - just black. I can pull up the menu and guide, the fonts and colors are correct but the background is all black. Both times had to reboot by unplugging the cord from the box. Since it was taping a show i waited until the time was 'up' - unplugged it - rebooted and the show DID record.

criswell50 · 11-18-2007, 11:10 AM

I have the same problem as 20 and 24. I just got my HD Tivo up and running yesterday (took 5 weeks for a Cable Card appointment from Time Warner NYC Southern Manhattan). Now this no-live-tv-black-screen issue has happened twice. Twice since yesterday. I have to reboot, and then it's fine.

AZrob · 11-19-2007, 12:48 AM

I have a Tivo HD that's less than a week old, using component and 1 M-card. These black-outs (or gray-outs, if you chose gray as your background) happened quite a bit up until yesterday, when I did the following:

1. Called Tivo and they walked me thru the Kickstart procedure. The tech said that this might be a video driver problem and that the Kickstart procedure could possibly fix it by reinstalling the video drivers.

2. I also switched the Video Output format from Hybrid 720 to Fixed 720. This significantly reduced the 1.5 second black-background flicker that I have been seeing a lot, and since the blackout problem looks like a black-background flicker that stays frozen on the screen, I thought this might help.

Fact is that since I did these two things I have not had the blackout problem, though I have tried to bring it on by switching around a lot from Live TV to Tivo Central and so on.

Both of these changes assume the problem is a video driver issue, not a signal strength/acquisition problem. So if that is so, maybe Tivo can provide a patch. The Tivo tech said that my case and others would be examined to see if this was needed, FWIW.

Rob from AZ

ccrider2 · 11-19-2007, 07:59 AM

I think I have the same problem as most above.

My Tivo is about a month old and worked fine until about a week ago. Since then 3 times, I have had to pull the AC plug to force a reboot to get the Tivo to even respond to the remote...no picture, no menus...no nothing! (One time I had video & audio static...like you get when a tuner is off-channel)

I'm OTA only, currently running 9.2a.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AZrob

I have a Tivo HD that's less than a week old, using component and 1 M-card. These black-outs (or gray-outs, if you chose gray as your background) happened quite a bit up until yesterday, when I did the following:

1. Called Tivo and they walked me thru the Kickstart procedure. The tech said that this might be a video driver problem and that the Kickstart procedure could possibly fix it by reinstalling the video drivers.
......

Rob from AZ

Can you explain the Kickstart procedure? -- thought I'd try that.
Is it something I'll need to be walked through by Tivo support?
If so, do you remember the Tech's name?

Thanks Much!

AZrob · 11-19-2007, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ccrider2

I think I have the same problem as most above.

My Tivo is about a month old and worked fine until about a week ago. Since then 3 times, I have had to pull the AC plug to force a reboot to get the Tivo to even respond to the remote...no picture, no menus...no nothing! (One time I had video & audio static...like you get when a tuner is off-channel)

I'm OTA only, currently running 9.2a.

Can you explain the Kickstart procedure? -- thought I'd try that.
Is it something I'll need to be walked through by Tivo support?
If so, do you remember the Tech's name?

Thanks Much!

It is a series of steps that you take that will reload the drivers as well as fix the disk if there are any fixable errors. I would not try it without Tivo Support walking you through it, if only to make sure they have the responsibility of working through any subsequent issues. My Tivo tech admitted this was not an "official" fix, but he thought it was worth a try.

Having said that, I believe if you search for "kickstart" on this forum, you'll find the procedure. Others are more knowledgeable about this than I am.

Rob

AZrob · 11-20-2007, 11:39 AM

The tech's name was Tom, by the way, and he is in High Def Tivo Support, which is option #2 when you call in for Tech Support. However, right now #2 only takes you to General Support, so you have to ask whoever answers to transfer you to the "High Def" support group. I did that twice and both times by chance got Tom, so maybe you'll get lucky too. If nothing else, he seemed at least half-way knowledgeable and was very professional and courteous.

Don't waste your time with the guy in HD Support (whoever he was) who told me I needed to get updated from 9.2a to 9.2J...that is not even possible since 9.2J was an initial trial release. 9.2a is the latest.

Rob

ccrider2 · 11-20-2007, 02:22 PM

Thanks for the heads-up...I'll give them a call...at least let them know that people are having a problem with the latest update.

Again, Thanks