# It really takes days for them to activate a mini I bought from amazon?



## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

I'm getting nothing but the old V70 error trying to get the mini to notice the roamio. I've forced a network connection on the roamio after getting the mini going, but it still can't see it. Meanwhile on tivo.com it says they are still processing the mini activation and I should check again in 24 hours.

Do they keep their activation database on an old palm pilot or something?


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## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

OK, after a few hours, I power cycled the mini and when it went through the setup the second time, it had no problems.

The tivo.com web site still says they are processing the activation, but it is now talking to the roamio just fine (and it is nice to be able to indulge my channel surfing habit now, which wasn't possible with the old premiere I formerly used as a sorta mini .

Taking all evening to get it talking wasn't much fun, but at least I shouldn't need to go through that again any time soon.


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## FavreJL04 (Nov 9, 2006)

I just activated my Bolt and two Minis today, and you really do have to set aside a few hours to get things all lined up properly. It isn't as quick and painless as the ones the cable company leases to you, but the end result appears to be worth it.


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

The worst case scenario has been a 3 day wait when Tivo's servers aren't cooperating. Yeah, the could do much better with the out-of-box experience.

But it's nice once things are in line.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

For future reference, see here: http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10724219

I've found the process described expedites Mini activation.


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## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

krkaufman said:


> For future reference, see here: http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10724219
> 
> I've found the process described expedites Mini activation.


That is essentially what I wound up doing. I really don't understand why the final power cycle on the mini is required. Apparently the "try again" screen isn't actually able to try again.

But what I really don't understand is why the mini needs to talk to tivo at all. Now that their only pricing model for minis is lifetime, it ought to just find any stream devices with a broadcast and start talking - there isn't any account it needs or additional monthly payments needed to keep it active. It would sure make tivo look a lot smarter to new customers if it just worked out of the box.

Lacking that, it would at least help if they put the info about needing both devices to connect to the service in sequence and the mini needing a final reboot in the big quick start folder they include .


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## BRiT wtfdotcom (Dec 17, 2015)

tomhorsley said:


> That is essentially what I wound up doing. I really don't understand why the final power cycle on the mini is required. Apparently the "try again" screen isn't actually able to try again.
> 
> But what I really don't understand is why the mini needs to talk to tivo at all. Now that their only pricing model for minis is lifetime, it ought to just find any stream devices with a broadcast and start talking - there isn't any account it needs or additional monthly payments needed to keep it active. It would sure make tivo look a lot smarter to new customers if it just worked out of the box.
> 
> Lacking that, it would at least help if they put the info about needing both devices to connect to the service in sequence and the mini needing a final reboot in the big quick start folder they include .


Nope; They still have existing minis on the monthly subscription plan, hence the need to talk to Tivo Central.

I do agree it would be nicer experience if one did not have to force it to get it working in under 30 minutes.


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## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

BRiT wtfdotcom said:


> Nope; They still have existing minis on the monthly subscription plan, hence the need to talk to Tivo Central.


But there is no reason that should affect new minis, which would need to be shipped with new initial firmware anyway to implement the broadcast and connect right away algorithm.


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## BRiT wtfdotcom (Dec 17, 2015)

Right, but to lessen their support and maintenence they only have 1 firmware version for all minis. The other way they would need to support 2 versions of the firmware.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

tomhorsley said:


> That is essentially what I wound up doing. I really don't understand why the final power cycle on the mini is required. Apparently the "try again" screen isn't actually able to try again.
> .....................
> ...... it would at least help if they put the info about needing both devices to connect to the service in sequence and the mini needing a final reboot in the big quick start folder they include .


I have posted that the final power cycle of the mini was needed in several threads on this topic. TiVo support seems clueless on this. After five hours they were telling me just to wait. I power-cycled the mini and was up and running in less than two minutes.


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## cbm (May 4, 2002)

I just picked up my first Mini, and I'm amazed that TiVo needs 24 hours to activate a Mini. I can't _*believe*_ that this is a manual process, but that's sure what it seems like.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

cbm said:


> I just picked up my first Mini, and I'm amazed that TiVo needs 24 hours to activate a Mini. I can't believe that this is a manual process, but that's sure what it seems like.


Since December I activated a bolt and two minis. All on different days. They all activated immediately. The 24 hours is probably just CYA.


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## s.lampe (Feb 19, 2016)

I ended up calling TiVo (5 times) and they ended up replacing the one I got on Amazon as a refurb.


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## cbm (May 4, 2002)

TonyD79 said:


> Since December I activated a bolt and two minis. All on different days. They all activated immediately. The 24 hours is probably just CYA.


It didn't end up taking 24 hours, but it did take about an hour and a half. I rebooted both ends a couple times during that period.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

cbm said:


> It didn't end up taking 24 hours, but it did take about an hour and a half. I rebooted both ends a couple times during that period.


The sequence is important. Let each step complete. It probably took time because it took that long to hit the proper sequence. (Reboot of the host isn't needed.)

1. Activate the mini on line.

2. Connect to the TiVo service with the host. This tells the host the mini is legit.

3. Start the guided setup on the mini. Requires unplugging if you went to far and got cannot find host error. Guided setup contacts the TiVo service.

That's what TiVo support told me on mini #1 and it worked perfectly in mini #2


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## JoeTaxpayer (Dec 23, 2008)

The TiVo site still shows activation pending, but the phone home on the Premiere, and Mini reboot got it going. 
Thanks to all who offered this advice. Saved me a bit of waiting and frustration.


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