Tivo recently locks up with Netflix

4458 Views 16 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Magickly, Jan 29, 2012

dgenem

Discussion Starter · Dec 16, 2011

Our series 3 Tivo has worked fine with Netflix for a long time without issues. But two days ago, Netflix vanished from it and had to manually tell it to connect to Tivo now to get it back. Since then, it is CONSTANTLY freezing for about 5 minutes, or freezes and then completely reboots.

Netflix has become next to impossible to view on this unit for past two days. Has there been some weird update or something that can be causing this? Is this our Tivo unit just crapping out or Netflix?

Anyone have any ideas on this? Did Netflix make some changes, or Tivo? Like I said, this started with Netflix just vanishing from the Tivo and forced to manually connect to Tivo to restore it.

Thanks for any help from the gurus out there.

1 - 17 of 17 Posts

dgenem

Discussion Starter · #2 · Dec 16, 2011

I should add that it seems to work if you play something without interrupting it. Rewinding, going forward, stopping and changing shows definitely triggers it very easily. We have tested just watching a show to end and then switching to another netflix show will also trigger it. In the last 3 hours, it has frozen up COMPLETELY 5 times and the last one triggered a complete reboot.

dgenem

Discussion Starter · #3 · Dec 16, 2011

Another important detail. When the video freezes under netflix, sometimes I can hit the Tivo button, the menu comes up with NO BACKGROUND and will let me select a regular show that has been recorded, but it will not play. If I go from Netflix to live TV, it will also come up black. But then it will suddenly start playing the show after several minutes and act like NOTHING happened.

BTW, this thing has has a complete reset about 3 times now since it started.

dlfl

· #4 · Dec 16, 2011

Unless a lot of others are experiencing this, you have to entertain the possibility this is either your home network or your TiVo at fault.

By "Series 3" do you mean the S3, Model 648xxxx, that debuted in 2007? There has been a relatively high failure rate of those recently due to power supply problems, frequently caused by "capacitor disease" (defective electrolytic capacitors that bulge and/or leak).

Has anything changed recently in your network? Is it wired or wireless?

How old is the hard drive? Do you use an expander drive? Run kickstart 54, selecting the most extended test.
http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-kickstart-codes.php

dgenem

Discussion Starter · #5 · Dec 16, 2011

Yes, it is that old, just realized that. Tivo Series 3 HD with THX. We have a series 1 in my daughter's room that is still working.

We have tested it with youtube and Amazon, and of course it's own videos. So far it is only Netflix that is giving it issues.

It is on a wired network, and we have made no changes.

Getting ready to run a few of the tests now. We don't have an external drive. We have thought about adding one though.

Alright, going to run a few of the tests...

dgenem

Discussion Starter · #6 · Dec 16, 2011

Running test 57. Green screen that says "DVR has detected a serious problem and is now attempting to fix it."

I guess this is what it says regardless when running this test. We'll find out in 3 hours. (Ahhhh)

dgenem

Discussion Starter · #7 · Dec 16, 2011

Well thankfully no 3 hours, continuing with more tests. No problems so far.

unitron

· #8 · Dec 17, 2011

dgenem said:
Yes, it is that old, just realized that. Tivo Series 3 HD with THX. We have a series 1 in my daughter's room that is still working.

We have tested it with youtube and Amazon, and of course it's own videos. So far it is only Netflix that is giving it issues.

It is on a wired network, and we have made no changes.

Getting ready to run a few of the tests now. We don't have an external drive. We have thought about adding one though.

Alright, going to run a few of the tests...

Is it a TCD648250, a TCD652160, or a TCD658000?

You'd probably be better off with an internal drive upgrade.

brunson

· #9 · Dec 18, 2011

My TiVo HD is doing the same. Just finished watching a movie and backed up 24 seconds to see some credits and the movie never came back. Exited to watch something else, black screen. Hit the TiVo button and got the main screen with a black background. Tried to watch something recorded and the unit spontaneously rebooted.

This has happened about four times in the past three days.

dlfl

· #10 · Dec 18, 2011

I wouldn't rule out some recent tweek Netflix may have done to their server system. Unfortunately their customer service is quite opaque -- you'll never know what they may have done. If you're suddenly having new problems and nothing in your setup or internet connection has changed, you should complain to Netflix.

dgenem

Discussion Starter · #11 · Dec 23, 2011

I forgot to update this. I *think* I found the problem. We cleared a bunch off the instant watch list. It stopped locking up and has been working perfectly since then. We had over 100 items and my wife had recently added a bunch of TV series to it.

muerte33

· #12 · Dec 26, 2011

Add me to the list, I finally gave up on Tivo watching "The Trailer Park Boys", and went to watch them on my PS3 player. Smooth as silk on the PS3.

turbobuick86

· #13 · Jan 2, 2012

on 12/31 I saw corrupted menu graphics in Netflix on 3 separate attempts. All seems okay now.

Magickly

· #14 · Jan 27, 2012

Well, it's my turn for this on my Tivo S3 THX
Same exact symptoms as dgenem

Perhaps NetFlix is doing updates to their server, and it is now rolling out
in my area?

Has everyone else resolved these issues with their S3s?
Feedback appreciated

unitron

· #15 · Jan 27, 2012

Magickly said:
Well, it's my turn for this on my Tivo S3 THX
Same exact symptoms as dgenem

Perhaps NetFlix is doing updates to their server, and it is now rolling out
in my area?

Has everyone else resolved these issues with their S3s?
Feedback appreciated

Do you mean TCD648250 or TCD658000?

anomaly7

· #16 · Jan 28, 2012

I hadn't had a problem with Netfilx causing a reboot on my series 3HD until yesterday. Yesterday I upgraded my router from an old Netgear, (connected via ethernet cable through electrical wire connection) - to a new dual band Netgear using the same connection. Now whenever I try using Netflix my Tivo reboots. I can watch Netflix on my computer, but no longer on my TV through the Tivo. I ordered a Roku from Amazon this morning. I hope that works, but now I have one more device I have to plug into the mix of AV components. Does anyone have any ideas why the new router would cause this problem?

Magickly

· #17 · Jan 29, 2012

unitron said:
Do you mean TCD648250 or TCD658000?

Unitron -- Thanks for the interest, I am the lucky owner of a TCD648250B with 2 month old 500gb internal drive.

After some troubleshooting, I discovered my (tivo usb wifi) internet connection was fine with 85% signal & after reboots, I could connect/update Tivo services quickly with no issues.
All network diagnostics ran fine.

I resolved this issue by deactivating my netflix account on the tivo, then re-activating. In my case, the key was to access the Video on Demand Netflix setup immediately after reboot & tivo service update, otherwise the Video on Demand menu would generate an error & NetFlix would not be selectable.

After reboots, sometimes my video on demand would not load & sometimes it would appear briefly, but disappear after I tried to connect to netflix.
Whenever I actually tried to play netflix, it would not load & ultimately disappear from my now playing list. hmmm

This is how I resolved:
*I unplugged wifi usb & rebooted system.
*Plugged in wifi & verified network settings & password, connected & updated Tivo Service.
*I immediately went to Video On Demand & selected Netflix > Netflix Account Information > deactivate device.
*I then went to netflix.com & added my tivo as a new device > Entered activation code on Tivo & now all is running fast & flawless for last 2days.

Anyways, hope this helps someone else.

---------------------------------------
Anomaly7 --
I find NetGear routers do not play nice with a lot of devices.
Perhaps there is a security setting blocking the tivo. If you haven't already, might be worth assigning a static IP to the tivo & enabling port forwarding in your router settings for the IP address you created for your Tivo.
I have discovered a lot of info by visiting the amazon.com item page & searching reviews for the issue, other people likely have same issues

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