Gray/Black Screen (No signal from cable)

I have two TIVO HD's and they both have this problem. And this happens several times per week, at different times on each unit.

The quickest way to clear the problem, for me, is to go to "TIVO / Messages and Settings / Settings / Channels / Signal Strength - Cable".

You'll see a zero strength and then a good signal.

I'm guessing that the tuners become disabled and that this resets them.

Wow - we really haven't heard of the problem or the patch. That doesn't sound great.

Can you post exactly what OS version your unit currently runs from the System Information screen?

So maybe it is a widespread problem?

What cable provider do you have?

Does this happen on antenna signals, or only cable?

What is your TiVo OS version number?

Yea I have the same problem with my brand new HD XL. I get grey screens randomly. Only when it happens the doesn't respond to the remote at all. I have to pull the plug to reboot. I'm sending it back for a new box.

jimmys -

How long have you had the box? Is it from us? Who is your cable provider and what brand are your CableCARDs?

I'm on oceanic time warner. Both Tivo's have software version
"11.0c-01-2-652". Both boxes are from Costco and are from 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 years old. I'm running straight analog cable - no cable cards.

So with no CableCARDs, you're seeing only analog cable. Are you sure that the signal is strong enough and doesn't fluctuate?

I have a similar problem.
When I change channels the screen goes black for almost 2 seconds before I see the new Channel. I think this is new since the digital change. I have a TIVO XL and have a card from Comcast. So if I push the channel up a few times, and I don't pay attention, I have no idea what channel I get as by the time the video shows up the banner is gone. My TV, is a new Sony 40' HD. I don't think this is a TV problem but I am not sure.

If I wanted to wait this long to change a channel, I would have gotten a satellite system instead.

We bought our Series 3 about 8 weeks ago. We started getting the gray screen right away, but we also were having some cable issues. The cable issues went away but the gray screens kept coming. By the time we reported it, the 30 day warranty had passed. They told us that the hard drive was apparently bad: no warranty, no return, you are stuck! It freezes at least twice a week, so I'm guessing that we will be throwing it away soon when it goes out completely. I do not want to spent another $200 or so to repair a $250 item that never worked correctly from the start. It has OS version 11.0d-01-2-652 and a has a multi stream cable card. If we would have known about this problem, I guarantee that we would have waited. Now they've just made bad customers that will report their bad experience to anyone that will listen.

Where in the world did you buy a TiVo with a 30 day warranty? I don't know of any retailer that has that policy. Was it used or something?

I stand corrected. My wife had relayed the 30 day warranty to me. When I called, they told me 30 days completely free repair/replacement. Then, 31-90 days, I have to pay to ship back to them. We bought it from Amazon. They now say that I am getting too strong of a cable signal and it's causing the unit to shut down. Whenever I check the channel signal strength, the Tivo changes from the channel I am on to channel 81. (They can't tell me why that happens.) It consistently registers 100% signal strength. To "correct" the strong signal, they want me to install a signal atenuator (an in line filter, from what I understand) to reduce the strength. Does this make any sense to you? Our problem with the unit locking up seems to have changed this last week. It now freezes the picture, but when you change the channel, it starts playing again. This causes problems when recording at night. We also have noticed that different problems have started with the cable router. We loose internet capability with all computers (wired and wireless), but the Tivo keeps working! I am thinking of wiring the Tivo to a phone jack to see if at least one problem will be corrected. Any thoughts on my Tivo troubles would be appreciated.

So confused

I stand corrected. My wife had relayed the 30 day warranty to me. When I called, they told me 30 days completely free repair/replacement. Then, 31-90 days, I have to pay to ship back to them. We bought it from Amazon. They now say that I am getting too strong of a cable signal and it's causing the unit to shut down. Whenever I check the channel signal strength, the Tivo changes from the channel I am on to channel 81. (They can't tell me why that happens.) It consistently registers 100% signal strength. To "correct" the strong signal, they want me to install a signal atenuator (an in line filter, from what I understand) to reduce the strength. Does this make any sense to you? Our problem with the unit locking up seems to have changed this last week. It now freezes the picture, but when you change the channel, it starts playing again. This causes problems when recording at night. We also have noticed that different problems have started with the cable router. We loose internet capability with all computers (wired and wireless), but the Tivo keeps working! I am thinking of wiring the Tivo to a phone jack to see if at least one problem will be corrected. Any thoughts on my Tivo troubles would be appreciated.

So is it a used unit? Is it from Amazon directly, or one of their sellers? Have you been talking to TiVo about this?

Assuming you've been talking to TiVo, you should just let them swap it out and see what happens. Then, if you have the same problems again, you'll know is the location, not the unit.

TiVo HD Grey Gray Screen

I have had this issue with Suddenlink Extended Basic cable (no cable cards) for several months now. We purchased an HD unit in March 2009 and began getting the grey gray screen occasionally, probably once a week. It seemed to go away when we would change channels and it wasn't affecting our recordings. However, in July/August 2009 it started happening very frequently, 2-3 times a day. It would be at the grey screen or have a frozen picture every time we turned the tv on.

I called TiVo and they said that it was a know problem and would send out a replacement unit. Since it was 90 days past when I purchased it, there was a $50 "labor" charge. The old unit was sent in on August 14th and the new unit received August 18th, very good turnaround time.

The new unit seemed alright at first but then in September we experienced the dreaded grey screen once. After that it seemed to be alright for several weeks, then in late October we started getting it 2-3 times a week and it was affecting our recordings more and more. I contacted TiVo on October 24th to see about getting a replacement. I wanted to do so before my 90 days was up and I had to pay the $50 labor fee to replace it. I was told the grey screen was a known issue with the HD units when connnected to analog cable without cable cards. What was strange was that I have read that TiVo originally tried to blame the problem on incompatible cable cards. We have never had cable cards or digital cable so that wasn't the issue.

I actually requested that our HD unit be replaced with a Series 2 DT since we've had one of those for a long time and never had an issue. We don't have digital cable so we're not getting HD programming anyway and don't need the HD feature. I am disappointed that TiVo cannot come up with a fix for this in the length of time it's apparently been happening but I guess that's how they work.

The unit was shipped today (Monday, October 26th) so I'm waiting to see if I get the Series 2 DT unit as replacement as I requested.