# TiVo Mini Freezing



## kes601 (Sep 27, 2015)

Now that they have pushed out the latest updates to my Minis they freeze every few seconds watching live tv and I have to unplug them and plug them back in, wait 10 minutes for them to boot only for the cycle to happen all over again.

Any suggestions? Was digging the TiVo setup but at this point I'll take the painfully slow FiOS Quantum boxes, at least I could watch TV with them.


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## fcfc2 (Feb 19, 2015)

kes601 said:


> Now that they have pushed out the latest updates to my Minis they freeze every few seconds watching live tv and I have to unplug them and plug them back in, wait 10 minutes for them to boot only for the cycle to happen all over again.
> 
> Any suggestions? Was digging the TiVo setup but at this point I'll take the painfully slow FiOS Quantum boxes, at least I could watch TV with them.


Hi,
You don't mention what type of connection you are using for the mini, but usually that type of issues is network related, instead of rebooting the mini try setting static /fixed IP'S on all of your Tivo devices. Then reboot the router and any switches you are using. Good luck


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## kes601 (Sep 27, 2015)

Thanks for the reply. The roamio did have Ethernet straight to the router. I've tried both moca (coax straight into the mini) and Ethernet using an actiontec moca bridge. Both setups yielded the same results. I ended up switching the roamio and mini between rooms and it seems to have stabilized. Will go in and set dhcp reservations for the roamio and two minions.


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## mjcxp (Nov 22, 2013)

kes601 said:


> Thanks for the reply. The roamio did have Ethernet straight to the router. I've tried both moca (coax straight into the mini) and Ethernet using an actiontec moca bridge. Both setups yielded the same results. I ended up switching the roamio and mini between rooms and it seems to have stabilized. Will go in and set dhcp reservations for the roamio and two minions.


Rebooting the Roamio usually resolves the freezing issue.


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## kes601 (Sep 27, 2015)

mjcxp said:


> Rebooting the Roamio usually resolves the freezing issue.


Tried that first, didn't help. Not really sure what was going on, but seems ok at this point.


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## lct4000 (Oct 13, 2015)

Just wanted to mention that just in the last couple of days I've had the same problem appear on my Mini's. I also happen to be on Verizon FIOS. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.

I'm using powerline gigabit ethernet adapters, and my 2 Mini's had been working without a problem for 2 months, until now. (Moca is not an option for me)

Live TV and recorded playback are fine for a minute, and then go into stuttering and skipping. I've tried resetting the Roamio, the Minis, and the powerline adapters, and haven't had any success yet.

EDIT: Are you using powerline ethernet by any chance?

EDIT 2: Doing some more research, I found this thread, which I am going to try out: http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=531635


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## kes601 (Sep 27, 2015)

Not using Powerline, have tried both Coax and Ethernet, doesn't seem to matter which I try. The problem came back again yesterday. Kind of a PITA if I have to reboot the Roamio every few days just to watch TV in another room. This is my only complaint with TiVo at this point.


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## fcfc2 (Feb 19, 2015)

kes601 said:


> Not using Powerline, have tried both Coax and Ethernet, doesn't seem to matter which I try. The problem came back again yesterday. Kind of a PITA if I have to reboot the Roamio every few days just to watch TV in another room. This is my only complaint with TiVo at this point.


Hi again,
If you have a spare Ethernet cable to try on the Roamio and mini, I would try that.


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## kes601 (Sep 27, 2015)

fcfc2 said:


> Hi again,
> If you have a spare Ethernet cable to try on the Roamio and mini, I would try that.


I did realize yesterday that the Ethernet switch I was using was "Green" so I've removed that from the equation, if it doesn't permanently fix it I will try swapping Ethernet cables on both devices.


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## Cori (Jan 27, 2005)

I am having the same issue on a two week old mini. I called tech support today about this and their answer was to either try swapping it out or buy a bolt. So far this mini has cost me all new ethernet cables, a new router, and a twin pack of moca adapters. I don't know what else I can do but the freezing is irritating to say the least. Is this feezing a new issue or has the mini always suffered from this?


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## bfwk122 (Jul 2, 2006)

I experience the freezing with the Mini for the first time last night. The first thing I tried was unplugging the Mini and that did nothing, so I unplugged the Roamio and that did fix the problem, but this is the first time anything like this has happened. The units are moca network. I hope this is not going to be a ongoing problem...


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## cpgar11 (Oct 19, 2007)

I use minis on ethernet and it ended up being a bad patch cable between my router and the switch that hosts all the minis on my network. My point is that it may not be the obvious network cable, but one within the network!

Here is a link to my previous post:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=531635&highlight=


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## Cori (Jan 27, 2005)

I chose to RMA my Mini today. I couldn't deal with the freezing issue anymore or the inactivity timer. Its a cute product and I wish it had worked out for me. I'm getting a Roamio Plus w/ free slide remote and $99 lifetime service to replace the Mini with. I think this will be a better setup for me overall. I hope tivo deals with this freezing issue for all of you that can't rma your mini's.


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## gespears (Aug 10, 2007)

Just an FYI, I have two mini's connected to a Roamio Pro Via MoCA and have never had a freeze up on either one.


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## Cori (Jan 27, 2005)

gespears said:


> Just an FYI, I have two mini's connected to a Roamio Pro Via MoCA and have never had a freeze up on either one.


Thats great to hear. I too was using moca, but I tried ethernet as well. Same problem, perhaps I got a bad unit?


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## gespears (Aug 10, 2007)

Cori said:


> Thats great to hear. I too was using moca, but I tried ethernet as well. Same problem, perhaps I got a bad unit?


Sounds like a bad unit to me. Especially if you've tried it on MoCA and Ethernet. What does TiVo Tech Support say?


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## Paul Reger (May 6, 2018)

I am having this same problem. Bought this mini used from ebay a month ago. I have requested to return the mini. But, I do not have high hopes on being able to do so.

The specifics of my problem are: after some period of time (hours?) of inactivity, the tivo mini stops responding to remote control buttons including the TiVo Button and the live tv button. When the freeze happens, the video emitted by the mini (from HDMI) can be the image of a paused tv content, or a black screen. When it is in this state, I have seen a message posted on the video output indicating to press the TiVo Button or the live tv button to resume using the mini. When I press the remote buttons, nothing happens, but the light on the remote flashes. The only recovery I have found is a power cycle, and then the cycle repeats. It may take a week to repeat though. The mini is connected to my Roamio OTA over Ethernet cable. How to further trouble shoot this problem? I have not tried assigning a static IP address for the Roamio and mini yet. Is it likely that is the problem?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Paul Reger said:


> The specifics of my problem are: after some period of time (hours?) of inactivity, the tivo mini stops responding to remote control buttons including the TiVo Button and the live tv button.


I can't address the specific problem, but every Mini will drop its connection to its host after about four hours. It will return to Home or TiVo Central. After about 20 minutes the screen saver you described kicks in.

If you have the time, you might test a timeout issue by hitting any key every three hours. I don't use fixed IP addresses per se on my Mini units, but I do use reservations. I don't think they matter so much anymore. On your router, you might disable IGMP Proxying, which seems to help some people.


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

If your remote is set to 'RF', you might try switching it to 'IR' after it fails to determine if that's the problem...I've seen the RF portion be flaky and require a reboot to work properly again.

-KP


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## Paul Reger (May 6, 2018)

How to switch between RF <-> IR? I have a Roamio remote.


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## Paul Reger (May 6, 2018)

By the way, I determined the cause of the freezing of my mini to the remote control.

To reproduce the freezing symptom, I pressed tivo button, which put me in tivo central, I selected my shows, then I selected any content, and started playing it. And, then I pressed the pause button. And then I powered off the tv. Then, I waited about 3 hours. After the 3 hours, I powered on the tv, and the tv still showed the content that is being shown, and it was still in the paused state. Next, I tried pressing the tivo button, live tv button and play button. There was no response from any of these buttons.

The experiment I conducted at this point (with the apparent frozen mini) was I used the remote control from our Roamio OTA tivo on the mini when it was in the frozen state. And it immediately popped out of the frozen state.

This, I feel implicated the remote control for the mini. Can the remote control be fixed? Or is it trash now?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Paul Reger said:


> How to switch between RF <-> IR? I have a Roamio remote.


TiVo + "D" = RF
TiVo + "C" = IR
LED is red in IR mode.


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## Paul Reger (May 6, 2018)

Thank you!! Interestingly, the remote will not pair with my mini as the pairing procedure has failed several times now. But, IR seems to work fine for it.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Paul Reger said:


> Thank you!! Interestingly, the remote will not pair with my mini as the pairing procedure has failed several times now. But, IR seems to work fine for it.


Perhaps this will help -> https://support.tivo.com/articles/Features_Use/TiVo-Remotes-RF-Pairing-Instructions

I frequently find that a complete reset on the remote will help. It will cause the usual IR stuff, like TV power, to be re-entered.


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