Any TIVO techs out there?

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Loonette · #1 Unread post by **Loonette** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 3:52 am

We have a TIVO, which has decided to freeze up on us this morning. Scan is out of town, and I don't really want to ring him up for such a trivial issue, so I'm hoping one of you fellow TIVOites can assist.

This is our third TIVO, politely replaced for free (out-of-warranty) because they can't seem to get these things to work right. It's been fine for a few months, but recently TIVO has made some changes (online), and it's been very sluggish ever since. A delayed reaction of 3-4 seconds in common for every command.

According to my son, this is what happened...
1. They were watching a program in the "Kid Zone".
2. When program was complete, he selected "delete now".
3. He forgot that he wanted to see some Lego thing that was at the end of the program. Since he can't get to "deleted" programs without a password (once in "Kid Zone" you need our password to get to the regular menu), he attempted to just jump back into the program (I already told him not to confuse the TIVO like that - he should have let it finish its deletion, and then I could have retrieved the deleted show - anyway...)
4. Once he tried to jump back into the show, it gave a message "unknown program". But it's now frozen on that screen. The TIVO won't accept any commands right now, but it will still make its annoying "bonk" sound if we try to do certain commands.

Any ideas out there? Thanks! (I really hate TIVO now - I think I'm going to go back to video taping my "Miami Ink"s).

Cheers,
Loonette

VermilionX · Sat Sep 02, 2006 3:58 am

im no expert but when our PVR is acting up... i just re-boot it or just unplug it and plug it back in. it seems to work all the time.

ZooTech · #3 Unread post by **ZooTech** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 4:02 am

Have you performed a hard reset?

Loonette · #4 Unread post by **Loonette** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 4:05 am

A what-a-what-what?! It won't shut down with the electronic command. I think I've seen Scan pull the machine out before and do something with it in the back (

) - I'll go take a look. Maybe there's a reset button on the back.

Okay - I pulled the power plug (no "reset" or "on/off" switch). It's attempting to power back up. It now says, Almost there... just a few minutes more... (that's what she said!!

). I'll come back and let you know if it worked.

Loonette · #5 Unread post by **Loonette** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 4:17 am

Yup - it's up and running now. The show is totally gone now - it's not even in the "deleted" section, but oh well. At least it's working and I didn't have to bug Scan about it. I still don't like TIVO. It costs $15/month for the service, and the machine is now so far out of warranty, I know that they won't support it anymore. If it goes south, we're on our own with a $130 piece of junk. Oh well.

Thanks guys for the simple fix ideas. I'm always wary of just yanking the power from anything even slightly computer related - I worry that it will lose its stored information. Thanks again!

Cheers,
Loonette

ZooTech · #6 Unread post by **ZooTech** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 4:34 am

Loonette wrote:Almost there... just a few minutes more... (that's what she said!! ).

Ya know, if the reset is hard enough it wouldn't take that long and you could look forward to multiple reboots.

Anyway, glad it's working. I'm surprised Scan the Computer Geek Extraordinaire hasn't converted one of your PC's to a DVR. Mine works great.

Loonette · #7 Unread post by **Loonette** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 4:42 am

ZooTech wrote:
Loonette wrote:Almost there... just a few minutes more... (that's what she said!! ).
Ya know, if the reset is hard enough it wouldn't take that long and you could look forward to multiple reboots.

Mmmmm... reboots.

ZooTech wrote:Anyway, glad it's working. I'm surprised Scan the Computer Geek Extraordinaire hasn't converted one of your PC's to a DVR. Mine works great.

I don't know about that either. He got into this kind of work because he loves tinkering with the computers, but his job has been keeping him so busy as a liaison between customers and developers, I think he's just too tired and worn out to deal with the fun stuff. Perhaps if the TIVO were met with an "unfortunate accident" he might be more inclined to try something else.

Cheers,
Loonette

NorthernPete · Sat Sep 02, 2006 9:59 am

Loonette wrote:Perhaps if the TIVO were met with an "unfortunate accident"

He just kept falling down the stairs....we kept helping him back up, but he'd fall back down again....

Kal · #9 Unread post by **Kal** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 2:23 pm

Loonette wrote: Almost there... just a few minutes more... (that's what she said!! )

Loonette!!!

Loonette · #10 Unread post by **Loonette** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 3:21 pm

Hey - I was only relaying what the TIVO was saying.

I know - I'm just a trouble maker!

Cheers,
Loonette