Roamio tuning issues

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About a month ago, Roamio reported V52/53 errors and either 65-70% or a "-" for signal strength on all tuners. SNR is 24-27DB across the board as well.

Side note: throughout this ordeal, and starting a few weeks before the tuning issues, I've had sporadic cable modem outages (pings drop, but modem doesn't log any signal problems).

Charter came out and said everything was fine, so I called TiVo. TiVo said call Charter. I waited a few days, forced network connections, did multiple hard reboots, and ultimately things magically got better.

Fast forward a few weeks. I had Charter come out to look into the sporadic Internet outages. Aside from cleaning up two noisy lines (something behind the wall plate - can't say I believe it had any impact), the tech added a -7db splitter between the line in and my 8-port powered amp (4 ports in use). He said the signal was actually too strong ("15"?) for the modem, so he knocked it down.

Immediately after the tech left, the TiVo tuning issue was back. "It's the splitter!" you say. Nope, I removed that and put everything back the way it was and TiVo was still angry. Same signal strength and SNR with or without the recently added splitter on the line in.

I suspected the splitter installation or cable maintenance might have caused signal issues at the TiVo, so I had Charter out again. The tech confirmed that signal to TiVo was "40" with an adequate SNR. He also confirmed the signal to my modem was solid as well (+/-2). He said things couldn't be more perfect.

So after a loooooong chat with a TiVo supervisor last night (sorry, Jack), they suggested I have Charter out again, but to also have them call TiVo to get their super-secret proprietary specs to measure the signal right (can someone explain this to me?).

One last thing to add to all this is that I started having MoCa issues. I'd never had a problem with it, but after the tech left after installing the splitter, the coax light on my MoCa adapter does not stay consistently lit. I plugged a mini directly into the adapter and it did light, so the hardware doesn't seem to be the problem.

I checked MoCa diagnostics on my Roamio and I noticed the nodes bouncing from three to four to three every five seconds. After tracking the MAC that kept falling off, I found it was one of my minis. I powered off that mini and seemingly everything is fine MoCa-wise now.

Alongside all of this, I emailed TiVo Margret and she provided an update to RC21, which I installed this morning to no avail.

To summarize, my problems are:

1. TiVo reports no or low signal, but Charter says the signal is perfect.
2. Internet connection is intermittently down (5-15 minutes every few days). I know this forum isn't for that, but this is still something that could help point to a solution.
3. MoCa has been unreliable - possibly due to a Mini having issues.

Help!

 

I suspect as much, but what's being done about it? TiVo Margret gave me RC21, but it did nothing. The tech I spoke with last night (and his four friends, he said) knew nothing of these issues.

What recourse do I have?

 

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Antronix VRA900. Modem is on the -3.5 port on that. I suggested the additional splitter at the modem thing, but they said it was fine the way it was. Not believing them, I put everything back the way it was and still had the same issues.

 

Trying that today. Powered it off before I left the house for work. Charter did look for noise the other day and found a couple lines to improve, but didn't mention anything about the Mini having issues.

 

My problems are on multiple channels/tuners and this started at the same time (12/10ish) the update was rolled out.

There are terminators on all unused ports.

It's a black label amp which was working up until this week (i.e. the amp's been there for months). I can see if Charter has a MoCa compliant one (MoCa goes 1500mhz+, right? Most splitters go to 1002), but I suspect they're not up to speed on MoCa at all. There's no POE filter at my line in, which is why I thought I saw the node count fluctuate, but I haven't seen that at all since powering off the questionable Mini.

Cable modem is a Moto/Arris 6121.

The tech had some confusing response on why the splitter went before the amp, and I don't remember the details (or necessarily buy into it). I agree that the split should be at the modem itself.

 

Quick update: swapped one mini for the other, didn't work. Swapped ports on the amp: worked on both minis. Plugged both minis back in, now the originally-working one doesn't work and it's doing the three-four-three fluctuating re: number of MoCa nodes.

Insane.

 

Emailed Margret right away this morning saying that.

Charter was here and removed the amp, found signal to be just as good, and MoCa seems better. TiVo's the same.

TiVo support told me there are no special specs for techs to ask for and that the guy I talked to last night didn't seem to know what he's doing (thanks Jack!).

They're RMA'ing me a box ($50, but I'll fight for that back later).

I'll keep on them about this being a software thing. Who knows what the replacement box will bring.