Frustrated Newbie with Noisy Roamio + Problems Connecting a Mini

Problem Solved: I now have the setup I wanted all along--my master Roamio box attached to my bedroom TV, my two Mini boxes attached to my kitchen TV and my guest bedroom TV. I remembered that when I tried to set the two Mini units up in the summer before leaving the country for 10 weeks, there was a problem with my router. I didn't know if it was because I was trying to connect a Mini directly to it instead of the main Roamio unit or if it was a true problem with the router. The router was 4 years old, although it worked fine for everything else and would handle the amount of Internet activity I am buying. I couldn't get advice from the router people because of its age, and I didn't have time before my trip to try switching the main Roamio unit to the kitchen to be directly connected to the router. Last week, after getting the response here that I should be able to have a Mini in the kitchen connected directly to the router and the system work fine if my powerline could handle it, I reconnected it. My Tivo was showing that it was connected through the powerline to the Internet with adequate strength, but an error was occurring related to "not communicating" which reminded me of the problem with the router from the summer.

I had read some reviews recently about the Netgear Orbi, and I noticed that they had a 3-unit system on sale at Costco--a main router and two satellite units. The description saying that there was a dedicated antenna for communicating both directions between all three units and the fact that each unit had ethernet plugs available on the backs of them made me think that it might solve my problem with the Tivo setup as well as giving me a router that was up-to-date and one that would allow me to move with a mobile device from one part of my home to another seamlessly (without it disconnecting from my main router and reconnecting through a WiFi extender). Yesterday, I set up the Orbi system and got it working in all three locations where I have TVs. I left my modem in the kitchen where I already had it and put the Orbi router there. Today, I put my replacement Tivo Roamio main unit back in the bedroom where the original was located and connected it to one of the Orbi satellites by an ethernet wire. I connected the Mini in the kitchen to the Orbi router with an ethernet wire. And I connected the Mini in the guest bedroom to the other Orbi satellite with an ethernet wire. Tivo came up immediately on all three TVs and updated. It is working fine.

Thanks for all the help everyone gave me. To address a couple of other comments:

1. Yes, I suspected it was a fan, but I thought Tivo Customer Service might replace it for free since I had proof I had been out of the country for 20 weeks during the short time I had owned the box (10 weeks before I bought the Minis and 10 more weeks after I bought the Minis). I had to make a quick decision while on the phone to either send the box back to them for a replacement that would work or to try replacing the fan realizing that it might be a different problem that would require me to send it back anyway. The replacement fan for the Roamio is about $40 with me doing the labor, and the replacement box was $50 plus tax, so I went with the replacement box and Tivo paying the FedEx charges both ways.

2. Yes, I did go into my Roamio and change my connection to ethernet for the powerline setup at the very beginning of this process. And, yes, I discovered as a part of that process that it automatically disconnected the wireless which I had to reconnect to continue using the unit until I could solve my problem.

Final Note: Since the whole system is working, I have nothing from Tivo to take outside for videoing myself smashing it to pieces with a baseball bat!! It would have made a great YouTube video. But maybe I should consider doing it with my Belkin router which the Netgear Orbi replaced!!

Final Question: Most forums like this have a button to click for indicating that the problem has been solved. I don't see one here. Is there something I am supposed to do to indicate that this thread should be closed?