# Mini Epic Fail



## mbonaparte (Mar 22, 2014)

I have been trying to get my Mini to find my Roamio for three weeks. I have spent HOURS on the phone with tech support. The Mini has been replaced. The Roamio has been replaced. My tuning adapter has been replaced. My account has been closed down and then all equipment transferred to a new account to force Roamio to update the MAK. Both the Roamio and the Mini are connected to the same router via ethernet. Equipment has been power cycled 50 times at least. I STILL get DVR not found. I have a Stream connected to the same router that works perfectly. I am thisclose to returning everything and canceling my Tivo service to get something else. I have until tomorrow to return the Mini to Best Buy.

If anyone has any suggestions I will listen until the last possible moment as I truly want this to work. Thanks.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

I am sorry you have had such a difficult time. Honestly if you have gone through all that trouble and still can't get the Mini to connect, then you should just return it before the deadline. There's no sense in keeping something that might never work for you. If you feel up to giving it another try in a month or two, you can always buy another one and give it another shot.


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## DigitalDawn (Apr 26, 2009)

The only left to try is a new router, or perhaps you could update the firmware in your current router?


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

Can each box see the internet on its own?


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## mbonaparte (Mar 22, 2014)

Yes, each box can connect to Tivo service. I updated the router tonight, went and bought a $220 Motorola Surfboard. SAME PROBLEM. DVR not found.


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

Can you post your router model? There are routers that sometimes do not pass mDNS packets correctly; that's the discovery protocol that TiVo uses in general to find TiVos on the local network. (Not a high probability of being the answer, but you've already looked at all the high probability answers!)


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## mbonaparte (Mar 22, 2014)

Motorola Surfboard Extreme model SBG6782-ACH.


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## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

I second the motion that the OP return the Mini, if there is still time, as opposed to letting that time run out.

I got a Roamio that worked perfectly, but couldn't tune channels above 900Mhz, while the other two I had could do those channels easily.

I almost missed the problem, and had to do an 11th-hour return, when I realized I had a defective TiVo.

The replacement worked great.

Point: Defective products happen, and TiVo is not immune to a bad solder joint, or other manufacturing defects.


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## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

mbonaparte said:


> Motorola Surfboard Extreme model SBG6782-ACH.


That's an all-in-one Modem/Router/Wireless model.

I've had nothing but problems with those, especially with TiVo devices. Did you read any reviews anywhere before buying? If there were no reviews, that usually means a product is too new to have any reviews yet (and you are taking a chance buying it).

You can't have updated the router. Its internal router and wireless are locked-down to whatever functions/features/options/menus your cable provider gives it, if they even support it. It also has terrible reviews.

Trust me, when I say: If you keep that all-in-one, it will always be the first thing your cable company blames, and TiVo support won't like it either.

I had to figure out that it has a oddly named "bridge" mode, that turns it into just a cable modem, and then I used a well-liked, well-supported, Netgear router with extra TiVo-specific features built into it.

I just bought this:
MOTOROLA SB6141 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825390001
The reviews on this modem are ridiculously positive, while any version with the router/wireless built in tends to be ridiculously negative.

As well as this:
Netgear N900 Dual Band Gigabit Wireless Router with 3.5" Storage Bay (WNDR4700)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122487

What I used to have was this (all in one, but awful router/wireless):
MOTOROLA SBG6580 SURFboard Wireless Cable Modem Gateway
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825122014
I had to return two, just to get one with working wireless at all, only to turn the router/wireless off.

My old router, which worked well with TiVo, had extra TiVo features:
NETGEAR WNDR3800-100NAS N600 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Open Source Router - IEEE 802.11 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AJ0UN1661


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## mbonaparte (Mar 22, 2014)

My previous router, the one I&#8217;ve been using for the past three weeks of hell, is a Belkin model f7d8302. Three weeks of &#8220;DVR not found&#8221; with that one, with both the Mini and the Roamio hardwired into it. Both connecting to Tivo with no problem, but not seeing each other. I returned the Best Buy mini today, the 14 days were up. I still have the Mini I got from Amazon and that&#8217;s what I&#8217;m struggling with now. I don&#8217;t think I got TWO bad Minis, and TWO bad Roamios.


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## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

mbonaparte said:


> My previous router, the one I've been using for the past three weeks of hell, is a Belkin model f7d8302. Three weeks of "DVR not found" with that one, with both the Mini and the Roamio hardwired into it. Both connecting to Tivo with no problem, but not seeing each other. I returned the Best Buy mini today, the 14 days were up. I still have the Mini I got from Amazon and that's what I'm struggling with now. I don't think I got TWO bad Minis, and TWO bad Roamios.


I agree with that, now that I know the details. I wouldn't have posted my earlier recommendation, if I knew what I know now. You really didn't provide a lot of details, then you added some while I was replying, or right after I did.

You're going to have to give a more detailed description of what settings you have been in, and what you have changed.

I still stand by "trust me" on that all-in-one modem/router/wireless gateway.

If you've been stuck in one of those situations where one hardware manufacturer blames your other hardware, and the other hardware manufacturer returns the blame, with you stuck in the middle (like what often happens with TiVo and cable companies), you really should do yourself a favor and not use what is built into the modem for your router & wireless.

If you are stuck with it, then I'd recommend finding out how to bridge it into "DOCSIS MODE", which is Motorola's idiotic name for cable modem-only.

There's a lot of advice around the forum. I don't think anybody will disagree about all-in-ones. Unless the all-in-one is one you actually lease from your cableco, it seems like they do their best to make your "I bought my own" life miserable.

I forget where all the good info is. I'll check back later, and maybe have some links to some threads that pre-date yours, which have a lot of good advice.


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## mbonaparte (Mar 22, 2014)

I appreciate any help! My headache is that I&#8217;ve replaced every single piece of equipment. Roamio, Mini, Router, Modem and Tuning Adapter. I&#8217;ve set it up so that the only pieces of equipment attached to my router are the Roamio, Mini and Tuning Adapter. Mini and Roamio access Tivo with no problem, but when doing guided setup on the Mini the final result is &#8220;DVR not found&#8221;. I&#8217;ve been at this for three weeks!!


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## jayerndl (Aug 20, 2003)

I'll state the obvious but since I didn't see this listed. Try using known good Ethernet cables and put all the devices(roamio,mini, router. I don't think you need the tuning adapter to setup the mini) next to each other in the same room. This eliminates any potential problems with in-the-wall cables or other Ethernet switches, etc. I've even had bizarre problems caused by individual ports on a router or switch that were fixed by using a different port. Good luck. 

Jay


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## mbonaparte (Mar 22, 2014)

They are in the same room. The Roamio and Mini are within a foot of each other. Ive swapped out the ethernet cables for the mini but not the Roamio as that is snaked around the back of a large piece of furniture, but I can remove it at the Roamio end and try a new cable. Ill try anything, I am at my wits end. Tivo says there is no earthly reason these devices do not see each other. One tech advisor says ghosts, as in poltergeist. Id laugh if i wasnt so frustrated.


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## twylie (Apr 6, 2014)

This may be too obvious of a suggestion, but when I first hooked up my Mini (I have a Roamio Basic and Steam also on the network), I was getting the DVR not found message. I rebooted both devices at least 3 times without any success. 

The only way I was able to get the Mini to see the DVR was by forcing the Roamio to "phone home". I'm not sure if this allowed it to see the Mini that I had activated on my account or what the issue may have been. It worked first try after the Roamio phoned home.

Hope you get it resolved, when it works it's a really slick system.


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## mbonaparte (Mar 22, 2014)

JAYERNDL-- You get the GENIUS AWARD!!!! I never though of a bad ethernet cable as the Roamio was phoning home just fine, but I changed it out based on your suggestion and VOILA!! Setup is successful. Three weeks of torture (for me and the tech support at Tivo) and all along it was a bad cable! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Thanks to everyone who put their thoughts into my problem and tried to help.


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## markfheil (Mar 22, 2006)

I have had a similar problem. While I was able to set up the Mini to connect to the host Roamio, and it worked for a while, I began to have problems watching shows and live TV on the Mini. i would get a message saying that there were problems with the network connection between the Mini and Roamio. Contacted Tivo support and they said to connect both devices directly to my router without any hubs or switches (glad I am in an apartment and not a multilevel house). I did that, restarted my network and Tivos and the problem still came back! I am using all new cables, the only thing i haven't replaced is the router. The router works fine with every other computer and network device I have, and even both Tivos get an internet connection and have no problem connecting to the Tivo service. 

The strange thing is that the problem is sporadic, it'll be working one minute, then go out and then a few hours later it will be fine without me doing anything. Maybe there is some sort of interference affecting the network? By necessity of space I have several cables (ehternet, cable and power) strung out along the walls of my apartment in order to reach the various locations of the devices.

So, today, I gave up on ethernet to reach the Mini. since i have coax going to where the Mini is, i decided to set up the Roamio to use MOCA and now have the Mini using that connection which seems to work fine.

I guess that if this resolves the issue then it was some sort of ethernet interference, or router problem. If the problem comes back, then I'll know that it is independent of the connection to the Mini and probably a software problem? This didn't happen before the latest spring software update, although Tivo support insists that the recent update could not possibly affect the network connections.


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## dotorg (Jul 3, 2000)

markfheil said:


> I guess that if this resolves the issue then it was some sort of ethernet interference, or router problem. If the problem comes back, then I'll know that it is independent of the connection to the Mini and probably a software problem? This didn't happen before the latest spring software update, although Tivo support insists that the recent update could not possibly affect the network connections.


I've been having the same issue constantly for about two weeks now, after eight months of flawless working. I'm still trying to figure out what happened, but the Mini appears to be doing something that is confusing the switch its plugged into. Hard powering the switch usually gets it back, although Ive had to reboot the mini, as well.

It appears MoCA works fine -- the two Minis I have on MoCA aren't having issues, just the one on Ethernet.

I don't know if they updated the software on one or the other, but something definitely changed.


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