[Adam LS]

I have 2 seemingly distinct issues that are tied to me trying to use a Google Nest Wifi setup.
Background:
I have a Roamio Pro and a Bolt and several Minis. Some are connected via coax via Moca and others ethernet.
I tried to set up a Google Nest Wifi, but in doing so had to set my Comcast XB6 modem/router to bridge mode. This killed my moca network. Both the Bolt and Roamio are set as bridges and the minis as clients. I have a moca amplifier with POE where cable enters the house. First question, why does my moca network rely on Comcast? The boxes do not work when the Comcast Moca is off...my understanding is both the Roamio Pro and Bolt can create the Moca network.

Second issue (and this is weird). The Comcast router has 2 ethernet jacks. One goes direct to the Bolt, the other to a 24 port switch. With Comcast router in bridge mode I plugged the Bolt directly into the switch. This killed all wired and wifi internet. I don't understand why. If I pull the Bolt out of the switch, all is fine. Put it back in and everything drops. Tried restarting the Bolt, doesn't matter. Does having my Roamio, Bolt and minis in the same switch cause an issue? Seem crazy.

I'd like to use the Nest wifi but if I need Comcast not in bridge mode and if I need the Bolt directly hooked to the Comcast router, then XFi pods (though not my preference) should allow me to avoid changing the current set up.

All ideas welcome!

 

[krkaufman]

Second issue (and this is weird). The Comcast router has 2 ethernet jacks. One goes direct to the Bolt, the other to a 24 port switch. With Comcast router in bridge mode I plugged the Bolt directly into the switch. This killed all wired and wifi internet.

Was this before or after you disabled MoCA bridging in the XB6? The symptoms would lead me to believe that it was before: having the XB6 gateway set to bridge between MoCA & Ethernet, and having the BOLT with MoCA enabled (regardless of whether originally configured as a Bridge or Client) ... would result in a network loop if/when you simply linked the BOLT's Ethernet port to the router's LAN.

To get basic TiVo network functionality back w/ the XB6 in bridge mode (i.e. acting simply as a modem), you'd:

1. Disable MoCA in the BOLT, and disconnect its Ethernet port, if needed;
2. Disconnect the 24-port switch from the XB6 gateway;
3. Set the XB6 to bridge (modem) mode;
4. Connect the Google Wi-Fi router's "WAN/Internet" Ethernet port to the XB6 modem(!), and get the Google router functioning as your primary router; (The Google router should be the only device connected to the XB6, at this point.)
5. Link the 24-port switch to a LAN port on the Google Wi-Fi router;
6. Connect the BOLT's Ethernet port to the 24-port switch, and confirm the BOLT's Internet access;
7. Enable MoCA on the BOLT, and configure it as a MoCA Bridge.

With the BOLT now acting as the lone MoCA/Ethernet bridge, your MoCA-connected Roamio Pro and Minis should again have networking and be able to communicate with each other, the TiVo mothership and whatever Internet streaming services you use.

 

[krkaufman]

Both the Bolt and Roamio are set as bridges ...

Assuming your XB6 was acting as your MoCA/Ethernet bridge (effectively as the MoCA access point), the BOLT and Roamio Pro should simply have been configured as MoCA Client boxes. You can only have a single device bridging between the same MoCA/coax & Ethernet segments.

 

[Adam LS]

Assuming your XB6 was acting as your MoCA/Ethernet bridge (effectively as the MoCA access point), the BOLT and Roamio Pro should simply have been configured as MoCA Client boxes. You can only have a single device bridging between the same MoCA/coax & Ethernet segments.

 

[Adam LS]

The original configuration (which I've reverted back to and is working), is Comcast router Moca enabled, Bolt AND Romaio set as bridges, all minis as clients. The weird activity I see with this configuration is that if the Bolt is directly in the switch, all internet (wired and wifi) drop. However, if hooked into the Comcast router port, I'm good on all fronts (this has worked for about 1year+, since moving to this house and inhereting the set-up!). I also know that disabling Moca on the router (but keeping the Bolt AND Romaio as bridges, does NOT work for the coax connected minis). I will try to disable Moca on the router and turning 1 of the main units (Romaio?) Into a client. I'll see if that works. I'll also see if that helps with plugging the Bolt directly into the switch. If that all works, then I can re-attempt the Nest set-up. I will report back! Thank you

 

[Adam LS]

One more piece of info, the reason the last guy installed both the Bolt and Roamio is because there are 6 minis (8 total TVs so not enough tuners with 1 main DVR). Not sure if this mattered for having both the Romaio and Bolt set as bridges....

 

[Adam LS]

Update, after attempting some changes.. First, disabling Comcast Moca signal is easier said than done. After disabling, it seems to automatically re-enable within a few moments (I've read some Comcast threads about this). I didn't want to go full bridge mode (which should kill Moca for sure) in an attempt to keep the variables as few as possible. That said, Moca from Comcast remains "on".

First, I left the Romaio Pro as the moca bridge. Second, when making the Bolt a client and disconnecting ethernet, any downstream ethernet connected Tivo mini works fine (I can access live programming and recordings from both the Bolt and Roamio as the source). However, although any coax connected mini device gets programming and recordings from the Roamio as the source successfully, when trying to access a Bolt recording from the same mini, it fails. Once I reconnect the Bolt via ethernet (which seems to establish it as a bridge), I can again access the Bolt recording on the coax connected mini.

 

[JLV03]

If your Comcast modem is supplying the MoCa connection, both your Roamio and Bolt should not be bridging anything. If you can connect both Roamio and Bolt to Ethernet (turn MoCa off both), try that. Note that all Ethernet for TiVo equipment would have to receive its IP from the modem and not any downstream routers.

 

[Adam LS]

Thanks JV03. Problem is that I'd ideally want to put the Comcast modem into bridge mode (disables Moca from Comcast) in order to use the Google Nest. Here's where I now stand. Looks like removing the ethernet from the Bolt and putting Comcast into bridge worked ok from a Moca standpoint. My internet continued to work and the Moca connection seemed to hold... for a while. I had a Moca attached mini working ok but I ran through the network connection setting again, just to make sure it would hold. Then, I got this error and could no longer access the Roamio recording from any other device.

 

[JLV03]

For reference I too had to put my Mediacom modem/wireless router/MoCa device into bridge (Mediacom calls it "baseline") mode. While the modem worked fine for all 3 purposes, I noticed my Mini's MoCa connection was incredibly slow. Plus I didn't want to wipe out my ASUS router's static IP list so I was double NATing. Because of the double NATing, I had to move Ethernet cables around to get TiVos on the same network vs. the home network. It was a giant mess and nothing was working the way it was before with the old (personal) modem.

So here's what ultimately worked for me, maybe it will help you.
Modem in bridge mode -> personal router to handle DHCP.
Router to TiVo Bolt via Ethernet. TiVo Bolt is the Moca Bridge device. TiVo Mini as a MoCa client. TiVo Roamio basic and TiVo Roamio Pro connected to personal router via Ethernet.

 

[krkaufman]

One more piece of info, the reason the last guy installed both the Bolt and Roamio is because there are 6 minis (8 total TVs so not enough tuners with 1 main DVR). Not sure if this mattered for having both the Romaio and Bolt set as bridges....

Again, when the XB6 was functioning as your main gateway and MoCA/Ethernet bridge, neither TiVo DVR should have been connected or configured as a MoCA bridge (i.e. no Ethernet connection for either box, MoCA client-only, though the "no Ethernet connection" is the critical factor) ... presuming a typical physical setup of a single shared coax plant and a single Ethernet LAN.

In addition to the above steps I posted, I'd also recommend the following:

1. Disable MoCA on the Roamio Pro;
2. Disconnect Ethernet from the Roamio Pro;
3. Enable MoCA on the Roamio Pro and configure it as a MoCA client;
4. Reboot the Roamio Pro, then check its connectivity once back online.

 

[Adam LS]

Thanks all for the tips... here's where I stand in the hopes that it helps someone in the future.
1) I disconnected the Bolt ethernet, left the Romaio ethernet and disabled the XB6 Moca. The Romaio now served as the Moca bridge. [I guess I got lucky that the last guy hooked the Bolt into the router but the Romaio into the switch? Everything had been working and perhaps it was the difference in how routers and switches treat IPs(?). It was dumb luck for a while, but seemed to have been working before... net net the ethernet to Bolt was unnecessary. Didnt cause an issue until both devices were in the same switch]. Whew. Problem solved there.
2) I had some issues in getting the Google Nest working off bridge mode for the XB6. It wasn't picking up internet when hardwired to the XB6 for some reason. A hardwire from modem to the switch to the downstream Tivos also wasn't working as there was an "issue connecting to the Tivo service." A direct connection to a hardwired laptop worked (wifi disabled just to be sure). Weird.

3) I took the XB6 out of bridge mode but disabled the Moca and wifi and was able to set up the Google Nest Wifi successfully. Insert a few modem restarts in there too. When I tried the Tivos again I got a "router not found" error message... . I could watch live TV and access whatever was recorded on that DVR but not recordings from the other DVR unit (i.e. I could watch a program from the Bolt on a Bolt connected TV or a Roamio recording on a Roamio TV, but not a Bolt program from a Romaio connected TV and visa versa). The fix? Unplug and reconnect each Tivo device one by one. I assume this reset the connection and voila. I could now access programs from the other device again.

So net-net, removing the unnecessary (and problematic) ethernet cable from the Bolt which caused Moca bridge issues, a bunch of modem restarts and Tivo reboots seem to have done the trick. I'm a bit concerned that the XB6 isn't in bridged mode, but we'll see. I just hope this configuration isn't too "fragile" where I have to methodically restart and unplug/plug each device for the random power outage, Comcast services reboot or whatever. Fingers crossed and thanks again for the help all.

 

[krkaufman]

If you're leasing the XB6 from Comcast and want it run in bridge (modem-only) mode, it would make sense to just go buy your own modem.

 

[VaporDeb]

Hi. I have a slightly similar situation. I have a modem from Spectrum internet provider. I’ve been using a TiVo Bridge-Plus at my modem and was previously using an ASUS router and another ASUS router as a mesh node elsewhere in my home. I had MoCA working well between my Bolt (in Antenna mode) and a mini, until I switched out from ASUS to Google Nest, earlier today.
I rely on WiFi calling and ASUS was not living up to what I needed for WiFi calling, so I just purchased and set up Nest router with 3 Google WiFi points/nodes. Everything is working in my home other than my MoCA. My Bolt says the problem with the moca connection is that it can’t find my router. I have a moca filter where my antenna comes into my home and another one connected to where internet/cable enters my home.
I’d love some troubleshooting tips. I’m out of ideas. I’m not a major techie…only a junior techie, with a lot of good tech instincts.

 

[Hank]

You have to get an Ethernet switch and inject MOCA on the Google mesh LAN side, not the WAN side.

 

[krkaufman]

Hi. I have a slightly similar situation. I have a modem from Spectrum internet provider. I've been using a TiVo Bridge-Plus at my modem and was previously using an ASUS router and another ASUS router as a mesh node elsewhere in my home. I had MoCA working well between my Bolt (in Antenna mode) and a mini, until I switched out from ASUS to Google Nest, earlier today.
I rely on WiFi calling and ASUS was not living up to what I needed for WiFi calling, so I just purchased and set up Nest router with 3 Google WiFi points/nodes. Everything is working in my home other than my MoCA. My Bolt says the problem with the moca connection is that it can't find my router. I have a moca filter where my antenna comes into my home and another one connected to where internet/cable enters my home.
I'd love some troubleshooting tips. I'm out of ideas. I'm not a major techie…only a junior techie, with a lot of good tech instincts.

How is the TiVo Bridge Plus now connected?