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I have three DirecTV TiVo's and roughly a week ago, all three started rebooting periodically. It's now happening at least daily and sometimes more often.
I'll call them #1, #2, and #3.
#1 - GXCEBOTD, 284hr capacity (upgraded by friend),
software version 3.5d-01-1-031, NO PHONE LINE
#2 - Series2 R52180, 973hr capacity (weaKnees upgrade, possible lemon),
software version 6.4a-01-2-521, PHONE LINE CONNECTED
#3 - Series2 R52180, 67hr capacity (never upgraded)
software version 6.4a-01-2-521, NO PHONE LINE
(highly coincidental, same hw & sw versions as #2,
but purchased many years apart)
I often notice TiVo's #1 and #2 rebooting AT THE SAME TIME, when I actually see it happening while watching #1 and then check #2. TiVo #3 seems to reboot at a different time; I've confirmed it's rebooting, but I haven't seen it do it.
The fact that all three have started rebooting, and the fact that #1 and #2 seem to be doing it often (although not always) at the same time, suggests to me that it's not anything specifically inside, such as a disk problem. #1 reboots now perhaps as frequently as every 3 hours, and I suspect but haven't been able to confirm that #2 is doing the same. With 7 minutes down time over 180 minutes, that's 4% down time. I think the chances of #1 and #2 rebooting simultaneously by chance is just too low.
I have a 120VAC circuit with GFCI, a UPS, a power strip, and then the three TiVo's and an A/V selector box. I also have two breaker boxes, thus four phases in the house, with whole house surge protection on all four.
I bypassed the GFCI and UPS by running a heavy duty extension cord from a different plug in. I haven't confirmed but I believe that was also a separate phase. No change.
I replaced the power strip and when back to the GFCI and UPS. No change.
TiVo #2 was purchased from weaKnees within the last year, and had it's own severe problems at first. A bit of a LEMON (take note). So I wondered if #2 was doing something to pull down #1 always and sometimes #3. So I unplugged ALL connections from #2. #1 still rebooted within 3 hours.
With #2 and #3 on the GFCI/UPS/replaced-power-strip, I separately powered #1 with that extension cable, now going into a different UPS in my office. No change.
Reconnected #2.
All three TiVo's were stacked with 1/2" spacers under the feet to provide about 3/4" between them. Added additional fan blowing between. No change.
I didn't have head room to turn all of them on edge, which I did in a prior residence, but I did turn each of them up to about 70 degrees on the way to 90 degrees (more vertical than horizontal). No change. This amount of tilt should be enough. I know #1 structure inside has fan blowing from one side to the other, drawing air in and out the bottom. With the tilt, the power plug was on the high end. I don't recall which direction the fan goes inside. Meanwhile, #2 and #3 have fan grills on the back.
Now I'm at a loss. I believe I've pretty much eliminated the power and #2 being the instigator. #1 and #3 don't have phone lines. They are all connected to satellite cables and A/V selector while running. Note the satellite cables have surge protectors inline and a grounding connection to the house power ground.
No changes were made to the TiVo's when the problem started happening. I did install some INSTEON home automation devices (some dual band Power Line carrier plus RF). The rebooting has happened before at 4am when I'm certain nobody was exercising an INSTEON device. I do have three "Access Points" (repeaters) to get across some phases, but I would hope they aren't randomly talking in the middle of the night and causing this.
So, what else can I possibly do?
Please note I recently turned on auto recording of suggestions for #2 and #3, so I can more easily determine exactly WHEN they reboot and break a recording in half. I've also done Select-Play-Select-3-0-Select for 30 second jump, which seems to reset after reboot. This allows me to confirm #2 or #3 reboot even when a recording isn't broken. Number one, with older software seems to not have auto recording of suggestions. It also has the 30 second jump all the time, even after reboot. But, for Now Playing sorting, I do Slow-0-Record-ThumbsUp to turn on Sort, and this does reset every boot. So now I can be absolutely certain when a boot has occurred, and sometimes looking at a broken recording I can tell when.
So what should I try next? I can try turning off the breaker to the INSTEON devices for a part day and see if no rebooting of #1 occurs during that time. But what else can I try?
I'll call them #1, #2, and #3.
#1 - GXCEBOTD, 284hr capacity (upgraded by friend),
software version 3.5d-01-1-031, NO PHONE LINE
#2 - Series2 R52180, 973hr capacity (weaKnees upgrade, possible lemon),
software version 6.4a-01-2-521, PHONE LINE CONNECTED
#3 - Series2 R52180, 67hr capacity (never upgraded)
software version 6.4a-01-2-521, NO PHONE LINE
(highly coincidental, same hw & sw versions as #2,
but purchased many years apart)
I often notice TiVo's #1 and #2 rebooting AT THE SAME TIME, when I actually see it happening while watching #1 and then check #2. TiVo #3 seems to reboot at a different time; I've confirmed it's rebooting, but I haven't seen it do it.
The fact that all three have started rebooting, and the fact that #1 and #2 seem to be doing it often (although not always) at the same time, suggests to me that it's not anything specifically inside, such as a disk problem. #1 reboots now perhaps as frequently as every 3 hours, and I suspect but haven't been able to confirm that #2 is doing the same. With 7 minutes down time over 180 minutes, that's 4% down time. I think the chances of #1 and #2 rebooting simultaneously by chance is just too low.
I have a 120VAC circuit with GFCI, a UPS, a power strip, and then the three TiVo's and an A/V selector box. I also have two breaker boxes, thus four phases in the house, with whole house surge protection on all four.
I bypassed the GFCI and UPS by running a heavy duty extension cord from a different plug in. I haven't confirmed but I believe that was also a separate phase. No change.
I replaced the power strip and when back to the GFCI and UPS. No change.
TiVo #2 was purchased from weaKnees within the last year, and had it's own severe problems at first. A bit of a LEMON (take note). So I wondered if #2 was doing something to pull down #1 always and sometimes #3. So I unplugged ALL connections from #2. #1 still rebooted within 3 hours.
With #2 and #3 on the GFCI/UPS/replaced-power-strip, I separately powered #1 with that extension cable, now going into a different UPS in my office. No change.
Reconnected #2.
All three TiVo's were stacked with 1/2" spacers under the feet to provide about 3/4" between them. Added additional fan blowing between. No change.
I didn't have head room to turn all of them on edge, which I did in a prior residence, but I did turn each of them up to about 70 degrees on the way to 90 degrees (more vertical than horizontal). No change. This amount of tilt should be enough. I know #1 structure inside has fan blowing from one side to the other, drawing air in and out the bottom. With the tilt, the power plug was on the high end. I don't recall which direction the fan goes inside. Meanwhile, #2 and #3 have fan grills on the back.
Now I'm at a loss. I believe I've pretty much eliminated the power and #2 being the instigator. #1 and #3 don't have phone lines. They are all connected to satellite cables and A/V selector while running. Note the satellite cables have surge protectors inline and a grounding connection to the house power ground.
No changes were made to the TiVo's when the problem started happening. I did install some INSTEON home automation devices (some dual band Power Line carrier plus RF). The rebooting has happened before at 4am when I'm certain nobody was exercising an INSTEON device. I do have three "Access Points" (repeaters) to get across some phases, but I would hope they aren't randomly talking in the middle of the night and causing this.
So, what else can I possibly do?
Please note I recently turned on auto recording of suggestions for #2 and #3, so I can more easily determine exactly WHEN they reboot and break a recording in half. I've also done Select-Play-Select-3-0-Select for 30 second jump, which seems to reset after reboot. This allows me to confirm #2 or #3 reboot even when a recording isn't broken. Number one, with older software seems to not have auto recording of suggestions. It also has the 30 second jump all the time, even after reboot. But, for Now Playing sorting, I do Slow-0-Record-ThumbsUp to turn on Sort, and this does reset every boot. So now I can be absolutely certain when a boot has occurred, and sometimes looking at a broken recording I can tell when.
So what should I try next? I can try turning off the breaker to the INSTEON devices for a part day and see if no rebooting of #1 occurs during that time. But what else can I try?
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