[d-dub]

We have 2 Premiers, both both with wired Ethernet connections. They constantly lose contact with each other:

• the living room TiVo, for example, will simply say that it cannot find the the office TiVo, and do we want to delete it
• When it can connect to the office TiVo, all the recordings are marked with a big red "X"
• For the former, we reboot the LR TiVo, for the latter, we reboot the office one
• That will usually work for one show... as soon as we exit the streamed show, we're back to "can't find the office TiVo" or the big red X

This has been going on for months. I'm pretty sure it's not the house network... my wife and I have been working from home 100% for three months, and connectivity is never an issue. It's not wireless, because both units are hard wired.

The software version on both is 20.7.4b.RC3-746-2-746

I haven't found anything useful via google or TCF search. Anyone have any suggestion on what the issue is?

 

[HerronScott]

We have 2 Premiers, both both with wired Ethernet connections. They constantly lose contact with each other:

What's providing the Ethernet connectivity to both? Are they directly connected to the same router or switch?

Scott

 

[d-dub]

Same router, which has two gigabit switches connected to it. The TiVos are either connected to the same switch, or to both of the switches. This was never an issue until 6-8 months ago (guessing).

 

[shwru980r]

Same router, which has two gigabit switches connected to it. The TiVos are either connected to the same switch, or to both of the switches. This was never an issue until 6-8 months ago (guessing).

I think you should reboot the two tivos, the router and the switches. Turn everything off, turn on router, turn on switches, turn on tivos.

 

[d-dub]

I think you should reboot the two tivos, the router and the switches. Turn everything off, turn on router, turn on switches, turn on tivos.

All have been rebooted multiple times. That is clearly not the problem.

 

[HerronScott]

I'd recommend running some tests to see if you can isolate any possible issue with switches or router. Connect both TiVo's to one of the switches and see if the issue occurs. If it does, try connecting both to the other switch and see if the issue occurs. It if does, try connecting both to the router directly.

Scott

 

[d-dub]

I'd recommend running some tests to see if you can isolate any possible issue with switches or router. Connect both TiVo's to one of the switches and see if the issue occurs. If it does, try connecting both to the other switch and see if the issue occurs. It if does, try connecting both to the router directly.

Scott

But this happens while a show is streaming from one to the other without any issues.

 

[HerronScott]

But this happens while a show is streaming from one to the other without any issues.

You asked for help so we're trying to give it and this first step would be basic networking 101 in troubleshooting. There's nothing on the Premiere side that you can set or change which would impact this especially since you have both hardwired (if any were wireless, I would have suggested hardwire both first for testing).

If none of these tests, "fix" the issue then we'll look for some other possible external cause (router settings or firmware update, something new connected to the network, switch models).

Scott

 

[ggieseke]

Scott is giving you good advice. Also look for IGMP Snooping options on the router and both switches and disable it.

 

[JoeKustra]

On a router its called IGMP Proxying:

 

[d-dub]

You asked for help so we're trying to give it and this first step would be basic networking 101 in troubleshooting. There's nothing on the Premiere side that you can set or change which would impact this especially since you have both hardwired (if any were wireless, I would have suggested hardwire both first for testing).

If none of these tests, "fix" the issue then we'll look for some other possible external cause (router settings or firmware update, something new connected to the network, switch models).

Scott

Yeah, sorry, I should refrain from posting when I'm grumpy

So I traced out the cables, and this was the starting configuration:

tivo1------switch1-----switch2---router
tvio2------switch3-----switch4---router

I re-arranged connections, so both tivos are on switch 4, which should take the router out of the loop

It does not appear that my router (Arris TG1682G) supports IGMP proxying/snooping - it's not on any of the menus, nor mentioned it the user manual.

After changing the network setup, I rebooted tivo1, which still could not see tivo2. Rebooting tivo2 restored the connection. I streamed a show from 2 to 1, which was fine, but as soon the show finished, I clicked on "keep this show", and the folder now showed empty (it was not). Back one level to tivo1 "my shows", and tivo2 is no longer accessible (this tivo cannot be found). It's pretty consistent that we can stream one show after rebooting both boxes, then it's broken again.

 

[HerronScott]

So I traced out the cables, and this was the starting configuration:

tivo1------switch1-----switch2---router
tvio2------switch3-----switch4---router

I re-arranged connections, so both tivos are on switch 4, which should take the router out of the loop

It does not appear that my router (Arris TG1682G) supports IGMP proxying/snooping - it's not on any of the menus, nor mentioned it the user manual.

What are the switch models? I'm assuming they are non-smart switches. Just to be sure, I would repeat the test with both TiVo's connected to one of the other switches (switch2?) or the router directly.

I'd try to eliminate the Ethernet connections themselves next (cables, wall outlets, etc) if you can move the TiVo's to a common spot and try new cables. Finally, if you are still seeing the issue, assign static IP addresses to each and connect them to one of the switches without anything else connected (or an uplink to the rest of the network) to try and eliminate something else on the network causing interference.

Beyond that you've got me. Hopefully someone else would have an idea of what could cause this.

Scott

 

[d-dub]

Sorry, busy week, and I didn't have a chance to return to this until today.

I tested by cabling both tivos to switch 3, and room transfers worked fine... I could stream one show, return to the remote "my shows" menu, select another show, etc.
Then I cabled both tivos to switch 1, and the problem returned... stream one show, and everything breaks.
There was an available network port on the wall behind the entertainment system (couldn't remember if was cable for phone or Internet), so I moved tivo1 from switch1 to the wall, which terminates at switch2, as (now) does switch3. That seems to have solved the problem, although it's a little perplexing when *almost* all network services work on a switch.

We actually saw something somewhat similar at work this week, and it was equally difficult to troubleshoot. One workstation worked fine with all network services, except suddenly it could no longer mount NFS file systems. Reboots of the workstation, server, switch, etc. had no effect. Naturally, the network guy eventually said "stop blaming the network! It's not the network!!" Guess what? Somewhere along the line, new security feature got enabled on the switch, which broke NFS but nothing else.

Anyway, thanks for the assistance, it's much appreciated!

 

[Teeps]

Just throwing this out there: how old is the router?
I experienced weird problems with connectivity of tivos (all hard wired.)
Replacing the 5 year old router fixed the problem.

 

[d-dub]

Just throwing this out there: how old is the router?
I experienced weird problems with connectivity of tivos (all hard wired.)
Replacing the 5 year old router fixed the problem.

In this case, the router was not the cause of the problem. For some reason, a WAP/switch one TiVo was connected to was causing connection issues with the other, even though shows would stream with no issues.

 

[HerronScott]

I tested by cabling both tivos to switch 3, and room transfers worked fine... I could stream one show, return to the remote "my shows" menu, select another show, etc.
Then I cabled both tivos to switch 1, and the problem returned... stream one show, and everything breaks.
There was an available network port on the wall behind the entertainment system (couldn't remember if was cable for phone or Internet), so I moved tivo1 from switch1 to the wall, which terminates at switch2, as (now) does switch3. That seems to have solved the problem, although it's a little perplexing when *almost* all network services work on a switch.

So switch 2 and 3 work but 1 and 4 do not? Yes very strange for this to have been working but then stop without some change on the switches (firmware updates or failure of some sort and for 2 to not work is interesting). You didn't mention what model(s) the 4 switches are.

Scott

 

[d-dub]

So switch 2 and 3 work but 1 and 4 do not? Yes very strange for this to have been working but then stop without some change on the switches (firmware updates or failure of some sort and for 2 to not work is interesting). You didn't mention what model(s) the 4 switches are.

Scott

switch1 is an Amped Wireless WAP with 4 switch ports
switch2 is an Allied Telesyn 8-port 1Gb/sec switch
switch3 is Netgear 4-port 1 Gb/sec switch
switch4 is a D-Link 8-port 1Gb/sec switch

The Amped Wireless WAP was the culprit here.