TSN misaligned between refurb Roamio and Tivo Account. Mini will not connect unless.

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First post, long time reader.
So much thanks for the information that is here.
I grow more and more fond of this forum every call I make to Tivo CS…..


Background:

Its hard to get Tivos in Canada: Best buy, Tivo.com Amazon.com, wont ship it. Amazon Canada is *NOW* sold out (i got one of the last).

Roamio OTA 846000 Lifetime:

I *finally* got my hands on a Roamio 846000 (lifetime unit, no cable cards - which don’t work in Canada anyways) unit off some business who basically buys skids off amazon and re-sells whats inside, toys, electronics, baby clothes, anything. Unforatunely, this unit had a hard drive failure. I took it back and got full refund, and ordered one off amazon.ca. The fresh one from amazon failed!! Amazon took it back fine.

***Note this is the only proof of purchase I have for ANY Roamio 846000***

Doing some forum research (THANKS!), I realized how easy it is to fix the Roamio OTA HD failure. I went back and bought the bricked Roamio, again, swapped the hard drive, and finally, I have a Roamio OTA with lifetime!!! I did the guided setup and everything is dandy.

Tivo Mini V1:

Deciding to expand, I kept my eyes out for Minis in Canada. Found a Mini V1 and a Roamio 500GB, bundled, which had both been tied to a monthly subscription. (I really only wanted the mini but had to buy both). When activating the Mini, it wouldn’t connect. It had its old Roamio partner stored, and could "see" my current Roamio over the ethernet network. It did not connect.

I am told that since it was on a monthly before I got it, it needs 49USD to become lifetime…. I paid. It still doesn’t connect. Weeks of daily attempts and calls. I did the guided setup and now it is basically stuck on a screen asking me to call Tivo. It lets me select country, name of box etc, but always stops at a screen telling me to call Tivo.

Whats happening:

After 15 calls or so…..someone finally mentioned an oddity.
My main Roamio has a matching TSN on the unit itself, and, within the software menus, but this number DOES NOT MATCH what is online on my Tivo account !! Completely random TSN i see online than what i see on my box.

Whoever returned the broken unit that i am now using to amazon, didn’t deactivate it (it broke, right). Then it got into my hands, I fixed it, and now there is an issue with the TSN mis match...
This is why the Mini wont connect. Well, latest reason anyways..

Situation now:

I've called to ask them to correct it. The unit I have was disconnected in late 2017, when the original owner bricked it. Strange because the unit was made in 2017….. I activated it in March 2018, no issues. This is the date on my account, and I think its good I've been using it for months, not a day or two (Tivo CSR was surprised by this). All I did was plug in new hard drive, connect it to the internet, and i guess Tivo assigned a new TSN number to my account, not matching the box label or tivo internal software. I tried to change my TSN online just now but there seems to be no option to proceed once I have selected this Roamio


They basically want some proof that I purchased - which I don’t have ***for the Roamio 846000 that I am using currently***


I really want to have the whole home Tivo experience (I know there are other ways sling etc), have invested alot of time, but the mini really is key to making my household happy. Also, if I can get this TSN issue aligned then I think the 49 USD to synch the mini was unnecessary...

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Does anyone have any suggestions or similar experiences?

Would Tivo get upset if they think I am messing with them?

Shut down my one working lifetime Roamio OTA if they think I am faking a proof of purchase, etc?

 

Unfortunately not.. I dont think he would either, he is basically a liquidator. Ill try and contact him.

I have the box? That may be of some use.

Also note that ive switched out the hard drive, and done a few clear and delete everything's. Just read this one

TiVo Premiere lost TSN after hard drive replacement

 

Thanks for the replies. Sorry krkaufman, i didnt see the second half of your comment in paranthesis.

The amazon one didn't work, past the few few screens. its been a few months, but I am 90% certain that it didn't get registered. I am pretty sure the first time i ever saw the tivo home screen (meaning I went through the whole guide) was when I did The hard drive swap with the broken unit (because it felt really really awesome).

Would the Tivo system assign a random TSN?


EDIT:


Wow this is crazy. I just did some looking back thru emails

Bought 1st bricked one, returned it March 14th
Bought an amazon one, returned it March 30th
Bought 2nd bricked one, fixed it April ##th

Tivo account has been open since March 15th....

This means the first Tivo unit opened my account? The thing was doing the Welcome...starting up, Almost there, loop for days straight !?

Thats insane to think that because the Ethernet was plugged in, it somehow registered..

I am so confused..

Would that Tivo register its TSN to my IP address, even though it didnt get set up. It was definitley plugged in to the ethernet. It seems like it sent a gnal to the mothership, even though it wasnt setting up, to register that units TSN to my account. I dont see how my account could have been open since March 15th any other way....

Note: I dont believe the two bricked units are the same, he had a few and people were dong what I did. Ive contacted him to see if he has heard any similar issues.