# Mini can't connect to Roamio



## NickTheGreat (Aug 31, 2015)

**Problem solved now. Thanks to everyone for all the assistance

Hello Friends,

i've had my Roamio up and running for a few weeks now, and finally got around to try to set up my mini on Saturday. Wife and baby were gone--time to pull some wire! 

So I pulled a brand new Cat-6 to my Roamio. Using an existing connection to the Mini in the theater, right next to my server rack. The Mini did it's download/setup thing fine. Until it came to the restart and the connect to Roamio step.

The Mini cannot find the Roamio on my network. The new Cat-6 seems to work fine. I checked for internet connectivity on a laptop, and the Tivo network diagnostic stuff seems to check out too. 

My wiring "schematic"

Cable Company DEMARC to splitter
Splitter 1 RG6 to modem.
Splitter 2 RG6 to coax splitters . . . 
Surfboard Modem Cat-6 to ASUS router/wifi. 
Router Cat-6 to switch. 
Switch to Roamio (via patch panel and keystone behind Roamio)
Switch to Mini, direct from switch to mini, no connectors.

Since everything seems to work okay with the Roamio, I'm assuming my new cat-6 and its ends are okay. I read in a thread on here about switch issues. I haven't tried taking the switch out of the equation just yet; will try that tonight, hopefully. I have some management options with my switch which I'll look into also.

Any other thoughts? Thanks for any help/advice/encouragement! :up::up::up:


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## NickTheGreat (Aug 31, 2015)

Also, I did search, but couldn't find much the helped in particular. Sorry if I broke a rule


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

NickTheGreat said:


> Also, I did search, but couldn't find much the helped in particular. Sorry if I broke a rule


No rule I can think of. Did the Mini access the internet ok? You should still have the ability to do things that don't need a Roamio, like Amazon or Pandora. Also, the Mini should appear on your router's list of connected devices (if it has that).

How many times have you done a power cycle on the Mini? Did you buy both from TiVo at the same time? Since the Mini downloaded the updates, it must be authorized.

Those are my guesses.


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## Chuck_IV (Jan 1, 2002)

If you didn't buy directly from Tivo, it takes a while for the mini to be set up on Tivo's end, once you do the registration at the Tivo site. Also, you need to force a connection on the MAIN TIVO so it knows you now have a mini on your account. What you can do is continue to force a connection to the server on the mini and main Tivo. After a few times it should eventually register and see each other.

However, since this was Saturday, the mini should be ready to go by now. However, if your main Tivo still hasn't done a connection since Saturday, that may be the issues. I would try forcing a connection on the main Tivo(and mini to be safe).


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## NickTheGreat (Aug 31, 2015)

JoeKustra said:


> No rule I can think of. Did the Mini access the internet ok? You should still have the ability to do things that don't need a Roamio, like Amazon or Pandora. Also, the Mini should appear on your router's list of connected devices (if it has that).
> 
> How many times have you done a power cycle on the Mini? Did you buy both from TiVo at the same time? Since the Mini downloaded the updates, it must be authorized.
> 
> Those are my guesses.


Thanks Joe. The Mini hasn't been able to go past the "Connect to Roamio" point in time. Or I didn't try to get past that point.

I should try to power cycle the Mini. I was scared to, since it was going through the updates.

It did seem to authorize okay. I registered it online, as I bought from Amazon.

I was in a hurry to get this going by the 7pm kickoff Saturday night. I had to watch on the upstairs TV like some sort of animal  Lost the game anyway, so it didn't really matter . . .


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## NickTheGreat (Aug 31, 2015)

Chuck_IV said:


> If you didn't buy directly from Tivo, it takes a while for the mini to be set up on Tivo's end, once you do the registration at the Tivo site. Also, you need to force a connection on the MAIN TIVO so it knows you now have a mini on your account. What you can do is continue to force a connection to the server on the mini and main Tivo. After a few times it should eventually register and see each other.
> 
> Unfortunately, this isn't an instantaneous process. I don't know why Minis take so long to work, but they do.


I did the forced connection on the Roamio on Saturday. Maybe it just needed some time. I like it when electronics fix themselves . . .


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## NickTheGreat (Aug 31, 2015)

Well I should have just kept my mouth shut. It worked fine last night when I tried it out. We had a power outage, which restarted the thing. So I walked thru the setup, it took about 90 second to do everything. And it worked. Simple as that.

Thanks for listening to me and for the help. :up:

Now I might go buy another Mini and see about a second cable up to the MBR. from the very bottom floor to the very top floor of a 5-way split level


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## bob61 (Apr 23, 2002)

NickTheGreat said:


> Well I should have just kept my mouth shut. It worked fine last night when I tried it out. We had a power outage, which restarted the thing. So I walked thru the setup, it took about 90 second to do everything. And it worked. Simple as that.
> 
> Thanks for listening to me and for the help. :up:
> 
> Now I might go buy another Mini and see about a second cable up to the MBR. from the very bottom floor to the very top floor of a 5-way split level


The secret is to force Romio to make a connection after you have registered your mini. Once on your account the Romio will authorize the Mini to connect to it.


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## NickTheGreat (Aug 31, 2015)

bob61 said:


> The secret is to force Romio to make a connection after you have registered your mini. Once on your account the Romio will authorize the Mini to connect to it.


I actually did that on Saturday evening, but it still hadn't worked at that time. I'd probably only had the Mini plugged in for an hour, and messed with the Roamio a bit, to no avail.

I suspect it would have worked later that night, especially since kickoff was at 7pm and I got my wires pulled and terminated at about 5:30 . . .


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## bob61 (Apr 23, 2002)

I wonder if TiVo had a temporary system outage, all 5 of my minis have connected without an problem by following the process I mentioned. Gotta love technology....


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## NickTheGreat (Aug 31, 2015)

bob61 said:


> I wonder if TiVo had a temporary system outage, all 5 of my minis have connected without an problem by following the process I mentioned. Gotta love technology....


Sounds good to me. Anything to shift blame from me or something I did


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

bob61 said:


> The secret is to force Romio to make a connection after you have registered your mini. Once on your account the Romio will authorize the Mini to connect to it.


One additional tip is to activate your Mini via TiVo.com* as soon as it hits your mitts, using the TSN info on the outside of the box. I usually give the TiVo servers an hour or so to then think about it before forcing the service connection on the TiVo DVR to which the Mini will connect.

---
* Hmmm... Anybody know if there's an "Activate new TiVo device" option within the TiVo iOS/Android apps? And wouldn't it be handy if it could use a bar or QR code on the device or box to expedite activation? (And, really, TiVo should be up on QR codes, since they could/should be using them as a simple login alternative for smartphones.


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## bmwbiker (Sep 3, 2015)

I'm having trouble visualizing your setup. But I'll ask anyway, do both the roamio and mini have a path the DHCP server on your router. Or more directly how are the IP addresses being assigned.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

bmwbiker said:


> I'm having trouble visualizing your setup. But I'll ask anyway, do both the roamio and mini have a path the DHCP server on your router. Or more directly how are the IP addresses being assigned.


I'm not sure to whom you're directing your question. From what I can tell, everyone w/ issues above have resolved their problems (or the problems simply went away).


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## NickTheGreat (Aug 31, 2015)

krkaufman said:


> One additional tip is to activate your Mini via TiVo.com* as soon as it hits your mitts, using the TSN info on the outside of the box. I usually give the TiVo servers an hour or so to then think about it before forcing the service connection on the TiVo DVR to which the Mini will connect.
> 
> ---
> * Hmmm... Anybody know if there's an "Activate new TiVo device" option within the TiVo iOS/Android apps? And wouldn't it be handy if it could use a bar or QR code on the device or box to expedite activation? (And, really, TiVo should be up on QR codes, since they could/should be using them as a simple login alternative for smartphones.


I activated the Mini first thing. But I did not wait 2 hours. The quick guide said to wait 15 minutes. I did the force on the Roamio also

But it is all fixed now.


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## NickTheGreat (Aug 31, 2015)

bmwbiker said:


> I'm having trouble visualizing your setup. But I'll ask anyway, do both the roamio and mini have a path the DHCP server on your router. Or more directly how are the IP addresses being assigned.





krkaufman said:


> I'm not sure to whom you're directing your question. From what I can tell, everyone w/ issues above have resolved their problems (or the problems simply went away).


Yep all fixed now.

I have a simple setup, all my Cat-6 (ethernet or otherwise) going to a switch. I'm not manually setting IP's or anything like that.

I think it was just a case of rushing things too much. And not realizing that Tivo needed hours to get things going.


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