Tivo Bolt - Can't Watch Live TV Now error and won't do anything else

I wonder if it's some kind of Tuner Hardware issue...does rebooting the TiVo clear it up?

-KP

 

I've had Verizon FiOS as long as there have been Bolts and I have never had this happen on a Bolt.

 

TiVo is always logging. You can cause a "place mark" with "777Clear 911Clear". Hit Clear quick or it will change channels. To view the logs, in SI, enter clear-clear-enter-enter-0.
No, nothing is documented.

 

If the yellow LED is still working, try the HDUI reset before pulling the plug:

Thumbs down, thumbs up, play, play.

 

<tangent> Ooh, cool! Is a Golden Ticket hidden there somewhere? </tangent>

 

You get a medal if you document all the log files. To see some indication of what they do, perform an Network Diagnostics/Internet Diagnostics first. That logs all the stuff that happens during a Service Connection without doing the actual connection. There is one item that bugs me though. I see this "BILLBOARD" all over the place. I wish I knew what it meant.

 

<tangent> Lol, too far above my pay grade. Lots of "BILLBOARD" errors here as well. One of the only things that I could figure out is, the date/time stamp follows Greenwich, England time. </tangent>

 

Having the same issue as OP on a new (to me) refurb Bolt+ running Hydra, also on Verizon FIOS. The yellow LED was responding but the HDUI reset didn't work. After waiting for several minutes (5+), the box acted as if it finished whatever it was digesting and went through a number of screens in quick succession, as if it was finally responding to all the remote commands it had received. This has happened twice today.

This box is a replacement that I just received last week. Does anyone think that this may be a hardware problem?

 

According to a 11/8/18 call to Tivo Customer Support, the "Can't Watch Live TV Now V86" issue is a software issue affecting numerous users and will require a software update to correct. I noticed this issue with my refurb Bolt, Spectrum cable, on 11/7. I initially thought it may be my DVR Exapander so I attempted to unmarry from my Tivo. The Tivo would not let me unmarry the DVR Expander. In addition, I am unable to rewind live TV very far or at all. According to customer support, these issues are all driven by the software issue. Tivo Customer Support could not provide an estimate for when this would be fixed....which is very frustrating. They stated I could call back in a week to check the status.

 

Thanks for posting this. I'm a bit surprised that support at Tivo actually had some information on this. It must be pretty widespread.

 

Same issue here, new TiVo Bolt, FiOS cablecard. TiVo freezes for a minute or so, then pops up the "Can't Watch Live TV Now" error. If you've clicked away on the remote while it was frozen, it runs through all those clicks, causing you to flash thru menus, etc., as mentioned above. Very annoying, makes the TiVo unusable.
With our older TiVo's, you could always choose to have Live TV override a recording that is in progress.

 

This just worked for me. Many thanks.

 

I have had a similar problem (see my post on Feb 17) with 6 tuner Bolt temporarily losing the channel then eventually going blank. The upstairs mini's will say the TiVo box is busy, can't watch live TV. Problem will go away after doing a warm restart on the Bolt but will come back in a matter of hours or days. From earlier in your thread, I read where TiVo Help told you it is a software issue. I guess I had better let them know I have the same problem.

 

TiVo Support told me the signal strength was too high and that I needed to request an attenuator from the cable provider. The system diagnostics showed an SNR of 45 dB and signal strength on 100% on the tuners.

 

If you have a DOCSIS Modem, you can log in to it and probably find more detailed Signal Strength Information.

It is possible that signal levels can be too high...

-KP