First Phone call problems

[Diana]

I installed a new hard drive from Weaknees (VERY EASY!). Now I can not record any shows because I cannot finish the "Final Setup Steps" phone call. The phone test succeeded but I get "try another area code there are no dial in numbers for my area code" and then it just goes into a loop of phone calls and messages. We live in an area that requires us to use 1 and the area code for all our calls. I have tried entering the 11 digit phone number in the dialing prefix, also the ' ,#096,, ' and I also talked to TIVO tech support.

I know one fix would be to connect the TIVO to a network but I would really like to get the phone connection working. Has anybody managed to solve this problem?

[WK-Michael]

There is currently a known issue with DirecTV TiVos attempting to access DirecTV's servers. Unfortunately, there is no workaround. We must wait until DirecTV resolves the problem.

More information about the problem is here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb....php?p=8089576

[scott429]

Directv says 48-72 hours!

I just got off the phone with directv (Saturday, noon ET) because of No Local Access Numbers (Samsung SIR4040, new hard drive, thanks Weaknees!). She dug around and eventually discovered that the problem's been documented and they expect to have the toll-free Guided Setup working in 48-72.

We'll see...

[WK-Michael]

If that turns out to be the final resolution, great! Let's hope your rep really found good info. We're hearing from a LOT of people about this problem.

[Diana]

It's working

My Tivo is working! It updated early this morning. I can now set up season passes and record. It still can not find any numbers in my area code. I did enter the local phone number and the 1 - area code into the prefix dialing but I don't know if that helped. It was scheduled to call for an update the last three nights, but none of those worked until this morning.

Thanks Michael for suggesting that I wait a few days before sending the new hard drive back to you.

Diana

[WK-Michael]

Huh. That's great! I just don't really get it, although we've seen one other report of that.

I wonder if just having it connected to SAT lines does the trick - maybe DTV is sending down authorization that way in recognition of the problem. Or maybe it is making a call and learning something.

Hopefully, we'll get some more data points and find out what's going on.

[xykotik]

service restoration must be from sat...

Nearly two weeks ago, directv told my wife to purge our series2's cookies (from discussion with her, it sounds like it really needed a reset over the sat via the website because of blank guides. happens once every few years). Once it was a blank slate again, it couldn't find a dial-in number, and several calls to dtv techs ended with "we'll escalate it to tivo" and no follow-up. Once I was back in town and heard of her tivoless woes, it took me just five minutes of searching to find that this is a known issue for at least as long as she was having problems. Thanks for the honesty, dtv.

Yesterday morning I tried one last time to manually make the "initial call" with no success. When I got home last night, it seems to be working. (Good thing too, I was going to call Comcast this morning. tired of waiting for directivo-hd)

According to system info, I still have not chosen a prefix or AC, so I assume they pushed something over the sat. Last night, the only connection timestamp that had changed since the morning was "Service Connection" at 3:23pm (pacific) and was successful.

I thought I would check back here to see what fixed it before I attempted to pick a local number, and potentially start this mess over again. I think I will wait awhile until they nag me to death about not making a phone call in awhile.

[WK-Michael]

We're getting scattered reports that this fixes the problem.

So just to give your unit the best chances of overcoming this hurdle while we all figure out what makes it work:

-Leave your unit connected to your phone line

and

-Leave your unit connected to SAT inputs

And, obviously, leave it running.

[forgetg]

Great forum...I have a Hr10-250 which is having the "the 305 area code has no dial-in numbers" issue as well, Live TV works well and I do have the guide.. its been hooked up for 3 days now and no luck getting past the DVR set-up...I will leave it alone for a while but should I leave the prefix blank..I have a standard telephone line with no additions
Thanks in advance

[WK-Michael]

OK - please post back if your unit gets service!

[scott429]

my latest

Still no local access numbers.

Customer Service (after a couple of minutes of "let me check just one more thing") asked me for my Service Number (found under System Information) to forward to TiVo. She said that in 3-4 days my receiver should have another toll-free dial in number to use for setup and ongoing calls.
First time they've offered to contact TiVo for me, or asked for any info from the receiver.

Does this sound like another ploy to keep me away from them for another few days?

[WK-Michael]

Huh. They wanted your service number? I can't imagine why. That doesn't really make a ton of sense unless they're investigating the issue and maybe TiVo asked them for some samples.

[scott429]

Directv "Exec. Customer Support"

I escalated this, using a link to Our Company at the bottom of the home page, then to Executive Team.

David went through his sources and agreed with sending the Service Number to TiVo. After 2 or 3 days he said that TiVo would update the receiver with a proper call in number.

[forgetg]

I also contacted Directv's office of the President, you can only email them, but they called within 8 hours...they in turn said that they will contact Tivo and have them send my unit a 800 number to dial..within 4 hours my unit and DVR service is up and running...I don't know if it was the 800 or it just made a call on its own..I would suggest a email to the office of the President..I did not put any prefix in ..it was all blank
http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global...0016#h:594.391

[scott429]

Success!

My receiver made a successful Service Connection call, so I can record and set Season Passes.

It hasn't yet done a good Service Data Download but it hasn't tried since the Service Connection call.

There's still no phone number listed in the phone settings page, but Exec. Cust. Svc said it should be okay.