Tivo Unresponsive after FEMA Altert

2378 Views 29 Replies 18 Participants Last post by Soapm, Nov 14, 2011

jasonfox

Discussion Starter · Nov 9, 2011

Thought I would throw this up here as it had me pulling out my hair for the last couple of hours.

After the FEMA alert all three of my Tivos (2 HD and 1 Premiere) became locked to The Weather Channel and did not respond to remote commands (you would see the yellow response light but Tivo did not respond).

In the past when I have experienced this with a single unit a reboot would solve the problem. In this case rebooting would make the Tivo responsive for a few minutes then it would become unresponsive again.

After trouble shooting online and finding no help, I called Tivo Customer Service. While on the phone and CS being just as perplexed by the problem as I was, my father (who had been working with one of the Tivo HDs in another room) popped in and said pushing Clear on the remote a few times fixed his. After 3 or 4 'clears' my Premiere again became responsive and so far (20 mins alter) seems to be fixed. The same fix seems to have worked on the 2nd HD as well.

Not all sure why this worked and would love insight from someone more experienced, but wanted to post it here just the same.

I hope this helps if anyone else experiences this problem.

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bobster954

· #2 · Nov 9, 2011

I came home and tivo unresponsive. stuck on one channel.
will try and do that when it finally comes up.

I worked at home late last night and fema alerts were happening about 3 every half hour for a couple hours (around 3-4 am).

reboot takes forever with tivo...will let you know if I can ever get it working again

edit: reboot worked though it took like 10 minutes or so to do.

sad.

Turtleboy

· #3 · Nov 9, 2011

Same here.

Stuck on one channel and pushing any button gets the Angry Bong sound.

jsmeeker

· #4 · Nov 10, 2011

weird.. Mine was just fine. Maybe I never got the alert..

jay_man2

· #5 · Nov 10, 2011

No issue with my two Elites.

Soapm

· #6 · Nov 10, 2011

jsmeeker said:
weird.. Mine was just fine. Maybe I never got the alert..

I got the alerts because I can see it during McHale's Navy but all appears to be working fine. Maybe it only happened to the people who complained about the test???

dlfl

· #7 · Nov 10, 2011

I think it's got something to do with those black helicopters!

Turtleboy

· #8 · Nov 10, 2011

It happened to both of my tivos.

steve614

· #9 · Nov 10, 2011

I wonder if it might be a cable vs. OTA thing.

I'm OTA only and didn't experience any problems.
Anyone who had this problem OTA only?

jsmeeker

· #10 · Nov 10, 2011

Turtleboy said:
It happened to both of my tivos.

you must hate obama.

Karma, baby.

cannonz

· #11 · Nov 10, 2011

What models were these? Looks like all were series 3 or newer.

mr.unnatural

· #12 · Nov 10, 2011

My S3 seems to be working fine.

c3po33

· #13 · Nov 10, 2011

Happen to both of my Series 3 but not my Series 2.
Both of my Series 3s were stuck on channel 4 and pressing the remote did nothing (I did not try the clear button). I had to unplug both Tivo's and restart then.

Everything that was scheduled to tape did but on Channel 4 instead of the channel it was suppose to. My wife will be really upset when she find out tonight Americas Top Model did not tape instead whatever was on CBS (4) at that time did. At least Survivor that was on channel 4 taped for her.

Turtleboy

· #14 · Nov 10, 2011

c3po33 said:
Happen to both of my Series 3 but not my Series 2.
Both of my Series 3s were stuck on channel 4 and pressing the remote did nothing (I did not try the clear button). I had to unplug both Tivo's and restart then.

Everything that was scheduled to tape did but on Channel 4 instead of the channel it was suppose to. My wife will be really upset when she find out tonight Americas Top Model did not tape instead whatever was on CBS (4) at that time did. At least Survivor that was on channel 4 taped for her.

Yes! Me too! Both TiVos (HD and Premiere). Pressing ANY button on the remote got the Tivo to light up and recognize the button press, but gave me the "Angry Bong" sound. Clear didn't work either. Only yanking the plug.

And we're both in SoFla too.

LoREvanescence

· #15 · Nov 10, 2011

Turtleboy said:
Yes! Me too! Both TiVos (HD and Premiere). Pressing ANY button on the remote got the Tivo to light up and recognize the button press, but gave me the "Angry Bong" sound. Clear didn't work either. Only yanking the plug.

And we're both in SoFla too.

Wonder if there was some signal that was sent out to lock the boxes to a channel where a news alert or presidential address could be seen but it never cleared?

dlfl

· #16 · Nov 10, 2011

hmmm.... some Tivo's locked -- others didn't. What theory would fit that evidence? Could it be ..... wait for it

...... different cable systems?

Although I think soapm has some good theories too.

Turtleboy

· #17 · Nov 10, 2011

dlfl said:
hmmm.... some Tivo's locked -- others didn't. What theory would fit that evidence? Could it be ..... wait for it ...... different cable systems?

Although I think soapm has some good theories too.

Clearly it is different cable systems.

But I'm concerned that my cable company could send a signal to my TiVo (through its cable card, obv) that would cause my Tivo to lock on one channel, reject button presses, and continue to record thinking that it was changing channels.

dlfl

· #18 · Nov 10, 2011

Turtleboy said:
Clearly it is different cable systems.

But I'm concerned that my cable company could send a signal to my TiVo (through its cable card, obv) that would cause my Tivo to lock on one channel, reject button presses, and continue to record thinking that it was changing channels.

Just another of the many ways they can screw up operation of your TiVo, which are intrinsic to CableCARD and have resulted in many thousands of war stories on this forum. We've always been at their mercy.

jrtroo

· #19 · Nov 10, 2011

Clearly, this lock up should not happen. However, results like that are the reason that tests are run.

dlfl

· #20 · Nov 10, 2011

jrtroo said:
Clearly, this lock up should not happen. However, results like that are the reason that tests are run.

You mean so the problems can be detected and fixed, right? But problems that affect only TiVo's probably won't receive much attention. Wonder if any STB's or Cable Co DVR's also experienced the lockup?

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