3.0 Spontaneously Turns TiVo Off

DaveLessnau · 06-07-2002, 06:25 AM

This has happened twice in the several months I've had version 3.0. Sometime in the middle of the night, TiVo will turn itself off. The first time, a week or two ago, I'd assumed my son (who was the last to use the TiVo the night before) had accidently hit the Standby button when shutting off the AV system. But, it happened again last night. And I was the person who shut everything down.

When I plopped down this morning to check on what had recorded last night, I noticed that no lights were lit on the TiVo and nothing was hitting the TV screen (via the S-Video/RW AV jacks). The last time this happened, I neglected to check the Standby button. So, I did so this time. Nothing. Tried changing channels, Instant Replay, Advance to End, etc.. Nothing. Pulled the plug and re-plugged (as I did last time), and everything came up fine. The last time it happened, the recording light promptly came on. There were two partial recordings in Now Playing. So, TiVo was recording (I guess like it thought it was in Standby). But, it was recording the wrong channel. I checked Now Playing this time, and several shows had recorded overnight. Prior to, and including, a 2:20am Suggestion recording of Tremors (which ran to about 4:30am) on TBS, everything recorded correctly. But, the 5:00am showing of a show that was supposed to be on the History Channel didn't change channels at all. It didn't even look like it made an attempt to change channels (I'm not sure about that -- I didn't conciously look for the cable box banner change). So, this time, it looks like the TiVo turned "off" between 4:30am and 5:00am. Last time, I believe it was sometime around midnight. Also, the last time it happened, several shows recorded while the TiVo was "off." None of them attempted channel changes either.

I never use Standby, so any problems that might be associated with it shouldn't apply here. The TiVo was operating normally (and recording) when I went to sleep last night. There's nothing in Recording History. This has only happened on the Sony SVR-2000. Both TiVos are on UPSs.

Dan203 · 06-07-2002, 11:54 AM

Weird. Although I seriously doubt it's related to 3.0, since I have had 3.0 running on all four of my TiVos for several months and I've never seen this issue. Do you have your TiVo connected to a UPS? If not then it could be a power hicup causing the TiVo to glitch.

Dan

DaveLessnau · 06-07-2002, 05:48 PM

Both TiVos are on UPSs. Even if it had been a power glitch, I can't see any way that a TiVo could end up in a quasi-Standby mode. It would either stay totally powered down (which it wasn't) or come back up normally (which it didn't).

Dan203 · 06-07-2002, 06:41 PM

I was thinking more along the lines of a brown out, those can cause electronics to do all sorts of weird things. Although since you have a UPS that can't be it.

Do you have any kind of IR transmitting equipment, like a wireless transmitter, video distribution system, etc...? It could be picking up interference and putting out IR that is confusing the TiVo.

Dan

DaveLessnau · 06-07-2002, 08:23 PM

Nope. No IR stuff at all. The only remote that's out is the TiVo remote. And it was sitting on the table where I left it with nothing capable of pushing the buttons.

No real need to reply on this. It's only happened twice in the last couple of months. I was just reporting it in case anyone else sees it.

DaveLessnau · 08-30-2002, 07:13 PM

An update to this. On 08/30/02 at 6:45 pm (today, about 15 minutes ago), I noticed my Philips TiVo had no lights on. The cable box was on, and some kind of (normal) whirring sound was coming from the TiVo (either the fan or the drive (or both)). Nothing on the remote did anything (specifically, not the TiVo button, the Advance to End button, or the Instant Reply button). I unplugged the TiVo and plugged it back in. It came up fine. In Now Playing, the last scheduled recording had been from 4:30 - 5:00 pm. It was fine. The last recording was a Suggestion from 5:00 - 6:00 pm. It, too, was fine. Unfortunately, I don't know when the LED went out. Because of one of the similar instances below, I checked the phone call. The last call status was "Failed. Unknown error" and was from 3:23 this morning (which agrees with a symptom noted in one of those threads). Garbage collection and Indexing both last ran prior to that failed phone call. As before, everything is on an UPS, I'm running 3.0, and I'm connected to my digital cable box via S-Video plus L/R RCA jacks (ditto to the TV). But, this time, I'm using a TurboNET card connection instead of a phone line.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...threadid=65273

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...threadid=67909

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...threadid=73647

MJGunn · 08-31-2002, 02:30 AM

Dave, this same thing just happened to me! Check my post here

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...threadid=74057

Just like yours, my last call status is listed as "Failed. Unkown error" I'm not using turbonet or anything, though, I have added a second harddrive

MJGunn · 08-31-2002, 02:41 AM

I've been reading a bunch of those other threads you linked to Dave, and I've seen more than a few people mentioning the power supply. I don't have my tivo hooked up to a UPS, but I do have it on a power strip. This This morning (was about 20 hours ago now), my power did on/off at least once. I don't know if that might have anything to do with this.

BTW, I don't know if 3.0 has anything to do with this, but, as others have said, I haven't had a single problem with my tivo before it, and in addition to this new (and pretty disturbing one), I've noticed my tivo, amongst other things, to be quite sluggish at times now. Like I'll hit FF, nothing will happen, I'll wait a few seconds, hit it again, and then again, and then, out of nowhere, like 10 seconds after I hit it the first time, it will suddenly do all 3 commands at once. Not all the time, but often enough to make me wish I was still running 2.5

DaveLessnau · 08-31-2002, 07:47 AM

For the sluggishness, it could be that TiVo is processing a download, doing garbage collection, or indexing at that time. The next time it happens, check Messages & Setup -> System Information for when those things last happened. While you're there, check the temperature.

Regarding the main problem, were you watching the TiVo in the wee-small hours when it happened (your original post was for 0222 hrs)? It looks like most of these things have happened overnight following a "Failed. Unknown error" call (though not all).

In my case, we had no power glitches here (that I noticed). Also, someone in those other threads mentioned problems with the swap file and that we should check the logs. But, I forgot. At this point, there's too much stuff in the logs for me to see if there was a problem (glancing through them, I didn't see anything).

MJGunn · 08-31-2002, 12:15 PM

Yes, I was watching a show when it happened, the tivo stopped responding to all remote commands, and the lights went out. When the show ended, the options came up for if I wanted to keep the show, or delete it. The tivo was still unresponsive, and after a few minutes automatically chose to keep the program, and went back to the now playing screen. At that point, I pulled the plug, and it booted back up just fine.

I went to the system status screen, and did make a point of checking the temperature, cause it was a bit warm in my room at that point (it was running at 40c). I noticed then that it had made a failed call, within the hour of the tivo flipping out (I can't remember right now exactly when the tivo made the failed call, or when the problem happened.....it was late). I went to the phone options screen, and told it to make a call, watched to make sure it downloaded the data ok, and then, when it started processing it, went to sleep. Woke up this morning to find that it was able to successfully complete the call, and everything seems to be normal.

disco · 09-07-2002, 09:43 PM

Okay...this seems to be a real problem (I didn't just make it up!

), is TiVo aware of it and working on a fix?

kclements · 09-13-2002, 10:50 PM

I've just read this thread and the others referenced. I've experienced a similar problem twice since the upgrade to version 3; once last night. Symptoms and environment are:

(1) No LEDs lit on the front (no green, no red,... none)

(2) Black screen, no audio. Remote still works. I can still change channels, see the description text at the top of the screen, in the blue capsule. Can still access Now Playing and watch previously recorded programs. But Live TV shows a black screen and has no audio.

(3) Not in standby accidentally.

(4) Failed call attempt reported.

(5) Rebooting restores normal functionality.

(6) No extraneous IR sources.

(7) Cable signal still present (TV's tuner still works when I switch over).

I use direct coax input (no cable box); RCA video and audio output.

Last night, it happened right before my very eyes, late at night; right around the time the Tivo normally makes its call. I was changing channels on Live TV when the screen suddently went black. At first, I assumed there was a problem with that channel. But as I continued, I realized that all of the channels were black. Rebooting restored function. The first time it happened (a couple of weeks ago), I just assumed there was some minor glitch. Now it's happened again and I'm pretty disappointed. Seems like it may continue to happen until the next forced upgrade. I certainly hope the good Tivo folks are aware of this problem and are burning the midnight oil to fix it. I'm off to their site right now to e-mail a report.

--Kevin

bedelman · 09-19-2002, 08:01 PM

I wonder if this is what I've been seeing lately.

I have a SONY stand alone, completely unmodified. I noticed that it recently has begun to record shows on time but the signal to change the channel on the digital cable box is coming late (once as late as 20 minutes)

I did some checking on the forums and found this "late" behavior can be due to spurious IR signals (the TiVo waits until it's "quiet" on the IR traffic before it issues a change channel command). Since I do have my TiVo distributing its signal to seven televisions and their are IR repeaters involved, I thought this could be the problem. I rearranged some of the IR repeaters near the TiVo (it's in a closed cabinet, but with ventilation) and that does seem to be better for the last day or so.

However, the other night I was watching the TiVo go to change a channel on its own. As soon as the channel changed, the screen went black! I couldn't get it to respond to any commands from the remote.

I *think* I still had lights showing on the front panel of the TiVo though.

Software version 3.0.01-1-010 with backdoors enabled

JPriller · 09-20-2002, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by disco904
Okay...this seems to be a real problem (I didn't just make it up!), is TiVo aware of it and working on a fix?

Same thing happened to my Series 1 a few days ago - came home from work, both LEDs out, remote buttons did nothing, power cycle fixed it. I was so relieved not to have a dead TiVo I didn't look at any system information, and for the last few days it's behaved itself. Mine's on a UPS too, so it wasn't a power problem.

robertj49 · 09-20-2002, 06:01 PM

I've had problems since version 3 with failure to complete download. Sometimes restarting corrects it for a week, then it happens again. I hope TIVO comes out with version 4 soon. Version 3 seems to be a real Turkey.
Can they give me back version 2.5?

snoop · 10-26-2002, 10:00 AM

Did any of these tivos recur the problem and if so was there any permanent fix to it? Mine just did the same thing last night.

312 with two recently installed (four months ago) hard drives, tivonet (8 months ago), in a cool room (running about 27c), and on an apc ups.

Exactly same symptoms: black screen, both green and red lights out, unresponsive until power cycle, failed daily call (unknown), continued to record but without channel changes.

The ONLY thing I can correlate with the failure is that I had changed the tv over to the dvd player and watched a dvd that morning. I watch dvd's about once in a blue moon so its an unusual event. Perhaps something the dvd remote sent annoyed the tivo.

Maybe it was just jealous.

JPriller · 10-28-2002, 06:19 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by snoop
Did any of these tivos recur the problem and if so was there any permanent fix to it? Mine just did the same thing last night.

Mine hasn't done it again so far. Still no idea what caused it in the first place.

snoop · 10-28-2002, 08:10 PM

Troubling. I was hoping it was something simple like a failed power supply since I have spares of those. Occurred to me that the power supply spits out 4-5 different voltages and the front panel lights, the IR receiver/transmitter/serial control might be one of those voltages.

DaveLessnau · 10-29-2002, 07:36 AM

Snoop: are you getting repeats of the problem? From my own experience, and from what I can see from others', it looks like it's a fairly rare problem. I've only had the three occurences I've documented here (1 probable and 1 definite on the Sony and 1 definite on the Philips). It doesn't cause too much trouble. But, then, I HAVE modified my behavior to always check that the green LED is lit on both machines first thing in the morning.

Ruth · 11-07-2002, 10:41 PM

Lots of threads on this, so I just randomly chose one to revive. Just wanted to report another instance of this. My TiVo reports "Failed. Unknown Error." at 11:20 last night. It was taping a show on Channel 5 at 11:00, and it taped the whole thing just fine. But every scheduled recording afterwards was on Ch. 5, too -- It did not change channels after the severe error occurred. When I got home from work today both lights on the TiVo were out, and I could only see the black screen. I unplugged it and it seems to work fine now.

This happened at least once before, about six weeks ago. (There are some posts of mine kicking around related to it, as well as some other problems I was having; I put a pretty complete description in the survey thread, if you're interested.)

Does anyone have any new updates/information about this problem?

mrmike · 11-11-2002, 10:38 AM

Add me to the list, both my Series 1 boxes did this in the last week.
Both had failed calls, both seem fine after a reboot.

-MM

DaveLessnau · 11-11-2002, 05:18 PM

I finally got around to officially reporting this. Everyone who has experienced this should probably do so, too. Just go to www.tivo.com and enter the Customer Support area. There's a link in the middle of the left-hand column to "Contact Support." I basically summararized the problem and referred them to this thread.

Zirak · 11-12-2002, 01:30 PM

If you search the forum for "event bug" you will find other situations where the tivo stops responding to the remote. The symptoms are not exactly the same (leds stay on, but "locked" and picture continues, generally), but could potentially have the same root cause, namely a problem in the tivo event server. The cause is speculation only, clearly labeling it as such.

The event bug seems to occur most frequently on hacked units, running something that is monitoring tivo events, but it is important to note (Tivo Inc.) that it has been reported on completely unhacked units.

I have been looking at this "remote freezing" problem extensively since 3.0 came out. If anyone from tivo reads this thread and is interested in my observations, I will be more than happy to discuss it. I have recently been able to (frequently) "fix" the problem when it occurs, but I can't cause it at will. Pounding on the remote when the tivo is relatively "busy" seems to cause it more frequently than when the tivo is not so busy. Please note that the observations and fixing the problem relate to shell access to the tivo -- nothing you can do on an unhacked unit.

This never happened on 2.5, or at least so rarely that I didn't notice.

I have never seen the lights go out and the screen go black. The problem I describe isn't the exact one described here, but may very well be related.

fljoe · 11-12-2002, 08:19 PM

I have a Series2 80 hr SA model and the same thing happened to me yesterday. My wife wanted to see her soaps and found that TIVO had not recorded them. There were menus, but the screen behind was blank. I could select "Now Showing" but could not play anything. I couldn't even watch Live TV.

Turning the power OFF and back ON seems to have fixed the problem.

Did TIVO update any software to cause this to happen?

Seen this behaviour of frozen cable boxes on Time Warner cable when they have updated software before.

DaveLessnau · 11-14-2002, 06:34 AM

Not that I really expected anything different, but here's the response TiVo's Customer Support sent me:

"We apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced. Unfortunately, we are unable to troubleshoot this technical issue by e-mail. Each hardware manufacturer provides their own support for the TiVo product. Please contact your TiVo DVR manufacturer for more help. To contact Sony Support, please call 1-877-585-SONY (1-877-585-7669)."

In other words: don't bother us. [sigh]

snoop · 11-15-2002, 03:29 PM

Nope, mine hasnt repeated yet. Just that one time. Wish it was something that was repeatable so I could fix it rather than hope it doesnt come back and wipe out a whole day or two worth of recording.

Philosofy · 11-29-2002, 05:48 PM

I've got two TiVos, both Philips standalones. Today, one of them was not responding to IR commands. I changed the channel on the Dish reciever, and the channel changed, so the TiVo is passing the signal through. There was no light on in front, red or green. I've got a universal remote, so I thought maybe the TiVo reset itself to respond only to a remote set at code #0 (instead of 1.) No dice there. I rebooted the TiVo, and it started working normally, responding to the #1 remote code. Any ideas?

DaveLessnau · 11-29-2002, 06:15 PM

If your TiVo wasn't in Standby and didn't even have the green power light on, then it sounds like the problem noted here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...threadid=62228

Philosofy · 11-29-2002, 07:26 PM

Hmmm, I was on the phone today, and (I'm assuming) one of my TiVo's tried to pick up. I can't remember if it was before or after this problem, but I think it was before. Could that be the cause? (PS: Moderator, you could merge this with Dave's thread.)

solomita · 12-06-2002, 01:50 PM

And I'm another one with the identical symptoms. This is a very strange confluence of symptoms (no channel change, lights out, video out, bad call, yet TiVo thinks it is functioning).

Given how long this thread has been around, is it safe to assume that TiVo has read it and is ignoring the problem? Or do they not normally chime in when a dozen people report the same problem?

Thanks to Dave for spotting my first post.
-- Ethan