# Premiere flashing all lights



## mthomtech (May 4, 2010)

I'm new to TiVo Premiere as of last week ... was an old Tivo user that just couldn't stay away.

I'm hoping someone can help me out. I just noticed that all the lights on the front of Premiere keep turning on and off and I have no video/audio from it. The green power light stays on, but all others flash on and off ... and not at regular intervals. I notice the network lights in the back do the same.

Any ideas on what this is? I couldn't find any documentation in the manual, online or on the forums (at least in my first attempts), so I thought I'd ask.

I thought maybe it's a download/reboot of some kind so I have not tried to power cycle the unit.

Any thoughts?


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## mthomtech (May 4, 2010)

After further review, the best I can tell is that the Premiere keeps trying to start up and then starts over.

Called support and after trying a few power sources and trying to start up without the cable card, they determined I needed a replacement.

So Premiere #1 lasted 5 days ... hopefully #2 will do much better.

With the limited amount of time I had with #1, I had no other issues. Also tried the Amazon on demand for an HD movie and it was nice for the most part ... some pixelation.


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## kmackenz (Aug 22, 2003)

TiVo shipped a new one and it is working!!!!! (Well at least a week of it working...)


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## mthomtech (May 4, 2010)

I guess I was lucky to have it work for 5 days 

Replacement arrives tomorrow. Luckily there's a distribution center close by, so it was super fast shipping.

Can't wait to get it back up and running!


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## Scott J (Oct 5, 2010)

My 3-day-old TiVo Premiere is doing the same thing. Steady green LED, the others are all blinking, and the TiVo welcome screen is also blinking. I first noticed it when I woke up this morning. After about 25 minutes, it seemed to start working. I had to go through the setup process again. But then after about 10 minutes of watching TV the picture froze so I power cycled it and now it's back to the blinking lights. I guess that means I likely need a replacement?


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## AlexFL (Oct 2, 2010)

Do any of you experiencing this issue have a UPS backup battery box hooked up to your TiVo or do you have it directly plugged to the wall or a power strip? I asked this because I wonder if power spikes could be a damaging factor to the TiVo Premiere, specially if the unit is in the process of indexing any files and power suddenly is interrupted.


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## Scott J (Oct 5, 2010)

I have mine connected directly to the power strip. The power hasn't gone out at all lately so (at least in my instance), I don't think a power interruption is the culprit.

I did a live chat with a representative on TiVo's site, and he gave me these instructions:


> You want to disconnect EVERY connection directly from the back of the DVR. Also, eject the cable card if you have any. (Keep in mind which slot each card belongs to.)
> 
> Then, you want to wait 20 seconds, and reconnect only the Power cord straight to the wall (Bypass and strips or SP's.) and video cables straight to the TV.
> 
> ...


I'll try that tonight and see if it helps.


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## kevddawg (Dec 3, 2006)

Mine did that when I forgot to plug the hard drive back in. DOH!!! Opened the box back up, reattached the hard drive, and all is well.


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## alyssa (Dec 7, 2003)

odd that tivo told you to pull the cable cards---
I think I'd try pulling everything but them. If you do pull the cards you might have to re-pair them.


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## SUOrangeman (Nov 28, 2010)

My hard drive-less XL (purposely bought it that way) did the light show until I put a hard drive in it.

-SUO


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## HeatherA (Jan 10, 2002)

I woke up to my TiVo Premiere XL doing this this morning. Has anyone managed to get the box working after this happened? Or am I SOL?


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## HeatherA (Jan 10, 2002)

I apparently am SOL... new box will be on the way Monday. Not even 5 months old and working just fine last night. Really depressed over all lost recordings... as this was our main TiVo. Glad I used KMTTG to back up season passes a few weeks ago... means I have only lost a few recently added SPs. Using TiVo's website to scan To-do list and set up recordings for the next few days on other TiVos in the house. Logitech Revue w/Playon and Netflix will be only thing watchable until new box gets here. Fun!

Wonder what happened to my box? Hard drive failure after 4.5 months? No power loss last night, and box is plugged into a battery backup/surge protector. 

Guess I'll never know... hope I get longer than 4.5 months on replacement box.


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## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

HeatherA said:


> I apparently am SOL... new box will be on the way Monday. Not even 5 months old and working just fine last night. Really depressed over all lost recordings... as this was our main TiVo. Glad I used KMTTG to back up season passes a few weeks ago... means I have only lost a few recently added SPs. Using TiVo's website to scan To-do list and set up recordings for the next few days on other TiVos in the house. Logitech Revue w/Playon and Netflix will be only thing watchable until new box gets here. Fun!
> 
> Wonder what happened to my box? Hard drive failure after 4.5 months? No power loss last night, and box is plugged into a battery backup/surge protector.
> 
> Guess I'll never know... hope I get longer than 4.5 months on replacement box.


If TiVo will replace it under warranty, I suppose you might not want to open it up. But it would be interesting to see if the cables to the hard drive are still secure, since that is supposedly one thing that can cause the flashing LED symptom. Does it sound like the drive is spinning up? Do the LEDs flash like it might mean something, or are they just cycling like the unit is trying to boot repeatedly (and failing)?


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## HeatherA (Jan 10, 2002)

L David Matheny said:


> If TiVo will replace it under warranty, I suppose you might not want to open it up. But it would be interesting to see if the cables to the hard drive are still secure, since that is supposedly one thing that can cause the flashing LED symptom. Does it sound like the drive is spinning up? Do the LEDs flash like it might mean something, or are they just cycling like the unit is trying to boot repeatedly (and failing)?


Yeah, they're replacing it under warranty. I had to pay a hefty sum to get it shipped before returning mine, so don't want to risk anything.

It does sound like the HD tries to do its thing. The lights mean nothing, they just cycle on, the screen goes black then the TiVo getting started placeholder pops up and then repeat. Have unplugged everything, popped out cablecard, tried with nothing but power and HDMI and still no go. Wish this had happened on Friday instead of today, since new unit won't ship out until Monday :-(

I thought maybe was external HD... but still happens even with that detached.


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## ogre73 (Mar 17, 2006)

I had my Premier for two days, had it plugged in for a total of 6 hours, and it failed with the flashing lights. The worst part of it was that I had my wife go through guided setup while I was at work, then when I got home (literally 10 minutes before cable guy showed), I was looking at the light show. I knew that couldn't be right, searched the internet, and saw this. This was last Saturday.

Played dumb when cable guy got there, called TiVo with him present, and new Premiere should be here tomorrow. Really quite disappointed that they would send these units out unproven.

For anyone who is interested, I did open the case, checked the cables, and the HDD cable came off easily, but did not appear to have a poor connection. I checked everything and tried again but no luck. It is as if (from the sounds it is making) the HDD has just stopped tracking, the motherboard can't sense a HDD, and the Premiere keeps rebooting, trying to find it. It rebooted about 3 or 4 times with the Starting up... displayed, then just stopped outputting video at all.


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## suomynona (Apr 11, 2007)

My XL4 lasted 49 days. New one is on the way. All lights flashing, have tried *everything* in this thread. Nothing worked.

Thank you for keeping the thread updated. Sucks to not know what shows were recorded that I had not got around to watching yet :\ Otherwise, first world problem. We'd all be idiots to act like this was the end of the world.


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## sevenx7 (Mar 8, 2013)

Received my third TiVo Premiere and it turned on and started flashing the startup message and he lights started flashing. Called up Support and they are sending me a new one...
It was a pretty painless process at least, and I'd rather it fail the second i plug it in than in 91 days


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