# "failed while indexing" error message



## windymiller88 (Jun 7, 2010)

I am in the process of setting up my TiVo again after a rebuild and am getting stuck about halfway through the setup process with this error message displayed.

The message appears at the stage when after I have advised TiVo which channels I receive it dials up for programme info.

I have managed to enable the unit to successfully dial up (before setup) and apparently index OK. However at this point in the guided setup (possibly because of some of my selections in the setup process) this now appears not possible.

I seem to be now left with no further options at this point (having done this a few times) but to cut the power and reboot which takes me straight to the setup programme. Is this the case, i.e. can I exit the setup programme to get to the main screen?

thanks


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## velocitysurfer1 (Sep 6, 2006)

Keep trying! Mine did this after a rebuild and a couple of reboots and redials later it went past this stage.

There are other threads on here which says to clear your logs, via telnet. But I just kept retrying.

IIRC it something to do with the size of the download when lots of guide data is missing.


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## windymiller88 (Jun 7, 2010)

many thanks. I kept trying as you suggested and indeed it succeeded on the 6th attempt. It is now still sorting the data (after about 12 hours from data download) however I'll simply keep my fingers crossed and assume that the long wait is due to the first time download. I'll (hopefully) complete the thread by reporting how long it took to compile / index the programming and data download.


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## Paul_J (Jan 9, 2001)

Did this work in the end, I now have the same issue?

Cheers Paul


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## Paul_J (Jan 9, 2001)

OK I have picked up a 500GB disk and used Hooch to build a fresh disk. I will try installing it later and see how far I can get.


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## babycakes (Oct 18, 2010)

Nightmare - this has happened to me and the guide data has expired.
The daily call suceeds but then it fails to index.

I have repeated guided setup with aerial only and it works but as soon as I try to get my freeview line-up then it fails again.

Is there something wrong with the Freeview download from Tivo?


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## Paul_J (Jan 9, 2001)

In the end what fixed my issue was taking the TiVo into work and making the daily call on the phone line there.


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## babycakes (Oct 18, 2010)

That is really odd because the Tivo does not say that the data is not downloading or that it is corrupt. 

It starts indexing and then gets upset and says "failed while indexing programmes". However, if I repeat the guided setup with aerial only then it all works beautifully. 

Very odd. Is my Tivo dead?


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## Ian_m (Jan 9, 2001)

babycakes said:


> That is really odd because the Tivo does not say that the data is not downloading or that it is corrupt.
> 
> It starts indexing and then gets upset and says "failed while indexing programmes". However, if I repeat the guided setup with aerial only then it all works beautifully.
> 
> Very odd. Is my Tivo dead?


Swap file ?

One of my early attempts at copying a TiVo disk resulted in no active swap file (early tools didn't setup swap file correctly), which manifested as "failed while indexing programmes".

Luckily swap file space was there but just not initialised (?) and a few commands later all was fixed.


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## babycakes (Oct 18, 2010)

Ian_m said:


> Swap file ?
> 
> One of my early attempts at copying a TiVo disk resulted in no active swap file (early tools didn't setup swap file correctly), which manifested as "failed while indexing programmes".
> 
> Luckily swap file space was there but just not initialised (?) and a few commands later all was fixed.


It has been working fine since and only failed recently. Why is it okay if I select aerial only? All very odd.


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## DX30 (May 22, 2005)

The aerial only setup has far fewer channels, so needs less memory to index.

I'd echo Ian_m's comments about the swap file - when I messed up an upgrade and had no swap file I had similar symptoms to you. I could run guided setup for Freeview but indexing failed, while for aerial only indexing succeeded.

If you enable backdoors you can see in the log file whether or not the swap file is being used so it's fairly easy to check that possibility.


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## babycakes (Oct 18, 2010)

DX30 said:


> The aerial only setup has far fewer channels, so needs less memory to index.
> 
> I'd echo Ian_m's comments about the swap file - when I messed up an upgrade and had no swap file I had similar symptoms to you. I could run guided setup for Freeview but indexing failed, while for aerial only indexing succeeded.
> 
> If you enable backdoors you can see in the log file whether or not the swap file is being used so it's fairly easy to check that possibility.


Thanks for your response. I have taken a look at the log files but I cannot figure out what I should be looking for to confirm that the swap file is being/not being used?

Just to confirm the error message on the Phone Connection screen says "failed while loading series".


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## DX30 (May 22, 2005)

Look in the kernel log for "activating swap partitions" and make sure it worked. If you have an error like "unable to find swap-space signature" you have a problem. It may help to restart the TiVo before looking so the log file is shorter.

There is more info about this here

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?postid=629608


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