[JuanCab]

I have two Series 2 TiVos as well has having TiVoToGo on my Desktop machine. Both TiVos use TiVo's Wireless Network Adapter. The network has WEP security enabled, no MAC address filtering.

Every couple of weeks, my upstairs TiVo will suddenly refuse to see the network. It will report either "Signal: none" (although it does see the network name and the normal strength is about 90%) or it will report that no DHCP server was present. The downstairs TiVo and my laptop both see the wireless network just fine.

I have tried various techniques to coax the upstairs TiVo to reset its networking and see the TiVo:
1) Restart the TiVo ... doesn't work.
2) Unplug the TiVo Network adapter and reinsert ... doesn't work.
3) Reboot the wireless router (its a Linksys WRT-54G) ... downstairs TiVo and laptop can reconnect within about 15 seconds, no such luck with upstairs TiVo.

I have logged into the wireless router remotely and confirmed it has received a DHCP request from the upstairs TiVo (it sees the MAC address) and has given it a DHCP address. But the upstairs TiVo will report not recieving a DHCP response.

Usually I end up having to wait between 15 minutes and a few hours and the wireless networking will somehow re-establish (maybe the TiVo needs to be restarted first, I don't know). The funny thing is it is only occurring with my upstairs TiVo, the downstairs TiVo is older, but keeps humming along just fine.

Does anyone know any tricks for re-establishing a wireless network connection on a TiVo in a situation like this? Its clearly an issue with either this network adapter or this TiVo, since the other identical adapter and older Series 2 TiVo handle everything just fine.

 

[ciper]

Microwave ovens, bluetooth headsets, Cordless phones and other wireless networks on the same channel can cause this type of issue. Unfortunately standard tools (like network stumbler) cannot detect the first three interference sources so you are stuck.

 

[JuanCab]

Microwave ovens, bluetooth headsets, Cordless phones and other wireless networks on the same channel can cause this type of issue. Unfortunately standard tools (like network stumbler) cannot detect the first three interference sources so you are stuck.

Since our city has city-wide WiFi, I dealt with the channel issue when I moved in. Besides, the other TiVo does not get confused with the same setup. I do not have any bluetooth devices and my Cordless phones are all 900 MHz, so wrong band to affect WiFi. To my knowledge the microwave was off. Admittedly, I can't control the radio environment my neighbors may be contributing to, but I say again, the downstairs TiVo doesn't have these issues, only the upstairs one. That's why I was asking about restarting the networking on the TiVo.

 

[ciper]

Have you considered swapping the Tivos to see if the problem follows along?

 

[JuanCab]

Have you considered swapping the Tivos to see if the problem follows along?

Not at the moment, since I don't think its environmental. Also, my wife would kill me if I started moving "her" TiVo from the downstairs. Wireless networks are not fast enough to swap all the programming quickly.

Honestly, I am feeling fairly certain this is a problem with the newer Series 2 TiVo and how they handle networking. Admittedly, its only a feeling, but the fact my laptop and other TiVo don't show environmental issues and are located within 10 (vertical) feet [the laptop was within 2 feet] makes me think this is a software glitch... and thus the request for a way to reset the TiVo's networking.

 

[mick66]

Not at the moment, since I don't think its environmental. Also, my wife would kill me if I started moving "her" TiVo from the downstairs. Wireless networks are not fast enough to swap all the programming quickly.

Have you tried swapping just the adapters to see if that solves the problem or if the problem follows the adapter or if it stays with the tivo?

 

[JuanCab]

Have you tried swapping just the adapters to see if that solves the problem or if the problem follows the adapter or if it stays with the tivo?

Good idea, I will give that a try. It may take a few weeks for the error to occur again, that seems to be the spacing of failure events.