# Mini start up screen and then shuts off



## kad7777 (Mar 21, 2008)

White light on front when plugged in. Get the gray startup screen on TV. Does it's thing for a minute or so, then shuts off completely. Never makes it to Tivo home screen (with "my shows", etc). Tried different adapters and TV.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

I assume that the TiVo button on the remote doesn't do anything, including having the remote's LED show RED? My Mini boxes do the same thing since I shut them off in Standby.

My router shows connected devices. Have you checked after a few minutes to see if the Mini has an IP address? Also, are there no progress displays with the TiVo log displayed in SD & HD?

Which model Mini? A92, A93 or A95?


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## kad7777 (Mar 21, 2008)

Mini is an A93. 
As far as the SD or HD logs, I'm not sure how to do that.

My network is recognizing all my connected tivos


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

kad7777 said:


> Mini is an A93.
> As far as the SD or HD logs, I'm not sure how to do that.
> My network is recognizing all my connected tivos


As a Mini starts, there are several different displays telling you it's starting. Are those missing? What modem is your router?


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## kad7777 (Mar 21, 2008)

Starting up, updating . . . shut off

My other minis and dvr don't have a problem so I'm guessing it's not modem or router related.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

I wonder what it's updating?


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## kad7777 (Mar 21, 2008)

Spoke with Tivo tech support. They told me since I have done everything to troubleshoot, there's nothing that can be done. Since the mini was bought on Ebay, they have no interest in helping in any way. Replacement or otherwise.

When equipment like this doesn't work I'd love to be able to find out what happened. So, if anyone else has the same problem and got it back working or found the reason why the mini just shuts itself off, please let me know.


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## kad7777 (Mar 21, 2008)

**** UPDATE ****
So, in the wee hours of the morning I took the mini (actually I have two that shut down at starting up - both A93's), and began fiddling around. Again. Plugged internet and hdmi in at different intervals. Plugged in with and without internet and/or hdmi. Still shut off.

At one point with everything plugged in (the last being ac power), the white light on front of the mini (which is always on until it shuts off), blinked orange a few times (which it always has), and I started clicking the Tivo button on my remote constantly and the amber light on front of the mini blinked in accordance with my tivo button pressing. Lo and behold the mini got to the home screen. I'm sure the constant tivo button pressing had nothing to do with the mini booting to home screen, but nevertheless I was ecstatic. I got to "Reset to Defaults" and cleared and deleted everything.

I can't remember if mini restarted on its own or if I unplugged and replugged ac (again, wee hours), but the mini hung on "starting up". I unplugged ac and replugged a couple of times trying to be patient in hopes I could get passed the "starting up" screen and lo and behold the setup screen appeared. I went through all the setup and personal preferences and then went to "live tv" and began watching tv. I unplugged and replugged a couple times to make sure it loaded to home screen and "live tv" and had no problem

Went on to my second mini with the same problem and yes, lo and behold I went through the same exact procedure with same results. So, for whatever it's worth. There ya go.


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## BBHughes (Dec 26, 2006)

It makes no sense that this would do anything but banging away at the TiVo button fixed the mini I have that was stuck in a boot loop and hadn't worked in months. Thanks for this weird trick!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk


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## kad7777 (Mar 21, 2008)

BBHughes said:


> It makes no sense that this would do anything but banging away at the TiVo button fixed the mini I have that was stuck in a boot loop and hadn't worked in months. Thanks for this weird trick!
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk


I know. Weird huh?


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## jeffinva (Jan 5, 2015)

Hah... this just fixed my Tivo Mini Vox that would go to the boot up screen to no signal. Thanks!


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## Russell_ (May 21, 2016)

jeffinva said:


> Hah... this just fixed my Tivo Mini Vox that would go to the boot up screen to no signal. Thanks!


My issue was exactly as succinctly described above. Sincere appreciation to @kad7777 for the solution!

My observation: there appear to be three phases (to my problem). First the colorful Tivo Logo. Pressing the remote at this stage did not change the color of the led on the front of the mini. Next, "Starting" for a very long time. Once again, pressing the remote at this stage did not change the color of the led on the front of the mini. Finally, the screen flashed a couple of times (green in my case) and then "Starting" again. Previously this would last for a relatively short time and then I'd experience no signal. I noticed that pressing the remote at this stage *DID* change the color of the led on the front of the mini to a reddish color. And, this time it went to the home screen. I went to "Reset to Defaults" and cleared and deleted everything. Do note I have no evidence whether pressing the remote in the earlier stages helped or not - all I'm describing is what I saw in the led on the front of the mini.


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## JxxAxxY (Oct 19, 2018)

I believe I went through this same exact issue where I was stuck on a loop. However I can't tell you what I did to fix it or if it just decided to work on its own.


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## Expidia (Jul 10, 2015)

I'm on my 3rd replacement out of 4 minis in my home. Don't let them charge you $79 as they will tell you its their Vox mini which are the same as the old ones. Tell them that you see others being charged $39 on your tivo forum. They will come back and say OK they can give you the promo rate of $39. It was awhile ago when I set my system up, but I thought tv mini's had a lifetime warranty? The replacement fee should be only $39. They arrive quickly in a few days. Once you see the looping tivo guy "thats it thats all folks" . . . it has to be replaced.


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## dougdingle (Jul 4, 2007)

I find it just a _*massive*_ coincidence that roughly 5 years in, Minis are failing at an incredible rate. I've had two out of four go belly-up so far within days of each other. Bootloops, Red Screens of Death, work for a while then fall into another bootloop.

Why, it's almost as if somehow some update was causing all these failures, and people just had to buy new hardware.

With the endless streaming suppliers and hardware options currently available, it's quite likely that should my Roamio Pro fail, I will move on from TiVo after more than 20 years as a customer. There is just *no way* I'm spending more than a thousand dollars for a main unit plus four min-style boxes again.


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## RHR1960 (Nov 24, 2010)

Five years? Consider yourselves lucky. I’ve had a string of three Minis each of which died after 2 years of extremely limited use. Tivo replaced the original one as well as its replacement. The replacement’s replacement (yes, really) just died and the only remedies I was offered today were (1) buy a new Mini at the list price or (2) take the old one to a repair shop and pay for the repair myself. The guy insisted that there were no other options, no accommodations whatsoever. He just kept repeating his script, “I understand your point of view, but...” over and over. Maddening!


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## Laubach (Aug 24, 2017)

Count me as another dead Mini victim. Managed to get almost three years before failure. Called Tivo who quickly told me a replacement was the only solution. Offered $25 off a new Mini Lux _with a groovy backlit remote_ . I was advised the old $39 deals expired on September 1st. So now it is pony up $175. I think my days with Tivo are coming to an end.


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## Mitch Mitchell (Oct 21, 2020)

Would love to know of the best option out there besides TiVo. Any ideas?


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## dougdingle (Jul 4, 2007)

Mitch Mitchell said:


> Would love to know of the best option out there besides TiVo. Any ideas?


'Best option' is somewhat vague. How are you using it now? Cable? Off air?

For ease of use and locally stored content, I don't think there's anything. There are lots of techy-type solutions like Silicone Dust hardware, and YouTubeTV offers a 'cloud vcr' as does Plex. YouTube's has 'unlimited storage'.

When my Roamio dies, I'll be sorry to see TiVo go after about 20 years as a customer, but to replace it with another similar box is too much money for too little return. Also, while the quality of streaming video/audio has gone up and up over the last decade, the quality of the images delivered by Spectrum Cable has gone down consistently year after year as they increase compression to accommodate more channels on a single piece of coax and continue to use the 20 year old horrendous MPEG codec for compression and 5.1 audio (at best). And then there's the required Tuning Adapters and the fact that Spectrum is sending more and more channels onto their SDV system so the TA is required, and it misbehaves regularly. And yes, I know some systems don't need a TA. Spectrum does.

Especially now with a minimal amount of decent-to-adequate new episodic content being generated for cable, I find myself streaming using my AppleTV4K more and more, and watching properly compressed 4K wide color space Dolby Vision images with Dolby Atmos audio is light years ahead in terms of quality of anything my Spectrum cable system/TiVo combo spews out, which continues to be compressed to death 1080i or 720p MPEG video and 5.1 audio. Even the premium channels like HBO never get above 10 Mb/s, which would be fine with H.264, but with MPEG that is complete garbage on scenes where the actors or camera actually, you know, move.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

dougdingle said:


> I find it just a _*massive*_ coincidence that roughly 5 years in, Minis are failing at an incredible rate. I've had two out of four go belly-up so far within days of each other. Bootloops, Red Screens of Death, work for a while then fall into another bootloop.


Pretty much my experience. We've now lost 5 of 8 Mini's purchased in early 2015, all within the last year.


krkaufman said:


> ... and today we discovered our 5th dead A92/A93 Mini within the last year. This one is exhibiting a Guided Setup boot loop, rather than the logo boot loop of most of our others.
> 
> edit: p.s. Original activation dates for my dead Minis, w/ partial TSNs:
> 
> ...


p.s. Whether relevant or not ... none of the above Minis have ever run the TE4 software.


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## Finalrinse (Jan 13, 2005)

I have 5 Mini's, (1) 7 years old, (2) 6 years old, (1) 5 years old, and (1) 4 years old. All running TE3, I guess I've been extremely lucky, no problems. But, after reading this thread I'm on borrowed time!


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## Mike444 (Nov 24, 2017)

I had no luck with the "fix" posted here on 2 of my minis. As others have stated, these were 2015 models that had the loop problem for a couple of months now. In talking with Tivo support I get the impression that they were willing to give me a better deal on the newest models but the age of these 2 is a limiting factor. They mentioned that the new ones are "supported" for 5 years I think they know that is the useful life on these things, and I assume "supported" means they will give you a reasonable discount on a replacement). 
I tried replacing one mini with a used model from eBay but the age on the replacement is 2017 (I think I was lucky to get that one as it could have been a 2015 ready to die within weeks). Fully expect the 2017's I own to die next year.


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## WS65711 (Feb 16, 2017)

kad7777 said:


> **** UPDATE ****
> So, in the wee hours of the morning I took the mini (actually I have two that shut down at starting up - both A93's), and began fiddling around. Again. Plugged internet and hdmi in at different intervals. Plugged in with and without internet and/or hdmi. Still shut off.
> 
> At one point with everything plugged in (the last being ac power), the white light on front of the mini (which is always on until it shuts off), blinked orange a few times (which it always has), and I started clicking the Tivo button on my remote constantly and the amber light on front of the mini blinked in accordance with my tivo button pressing. Lo and behold the mini got to the home screen. I'm sure the constant tivo button pressing had nothing to do with the mini booting to home screen, but nevertheless I was ecstatic. I got to "Reset to Defaults" and cleared and deleted everything.
> ...


A friend of mine was away on vacation last week and when he returned home on the weekend one of his A93's was stuck in the startup loop. He was ready to trash it when I pointed him to this thread. He texted me this afternoon that he was able to get his A93 to work. Exact procedure he used is as follows...

_*I plugged in the Tivo, did a hand stand, and pressed the Tivo button repeatedly and it started working...*_


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## pj1983 (Dec 26, 2016)

Mike444 said:


> I had no luck with the "fix" posted here on 2 of my minis. As others have stated, these were 2015 models that had the loop problem for a couple of months now. In talking with Tivo support I get the impression that they were willing to give me a better deal on the newest models but the age of these 2 is a limiting factor. They mentioned that the new ones are "supported" for 5 years I think they know that is the useful life on these things, and I assume "supported" means they will give you a reasonable discount on a replacement).
> I tried replacing one mini with a used model from eBay but the age on the replacement is 2017 (I think I was lucky to get that one as it could have been a 2015 ready to die within weeks). Fully expect the 2017's I own to die next year.


Just for grins I tried this fix on a dead Mini I posted about here. No joy, but the difference is that the front LED never comes on as white. It goes straight to orange while the TiVo logo is being displayed, then shuts off, then comes back on orange when the logo reappears. No apparent response to repeatedly pressing the TiVo button. I'd left it unplugged for several weeks hoping that might make a difference. Oh well...


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## Albert (Sep 27, 2002)

WS65711 said:


> A friend of mine was away on vacation last week and when he returned home on the weekend one of his A93's was stuck in the startup loop. He was ready to trash it when I pointed him to this thread. He texted me this afternoon that he was able to get his A93 to work. Exact procedure he used is as follows...
> 
> _*I plugged in the Tivo, did a hand stand, and pressed the Tivo button repeatedly and it started working...*_


But is it still working?

Every time I think I've had success, my A93 mini starts rebooting itself again... my A92 minis still seem to be working fine.

I wonder if this could be caused by a bad/loose solder joint??? Maybe some flash memory getting worn out? I wish someone could deep-dive into the cause of all these failures.


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## Mike444 (Nov 24, 2017)

Albert said:


> I wish someone could deep-dive into the cause of all these failures.


My wish too. You would think someone with some electronics skills would have looked deeper into the problem.
I have 3 minis that are now trash without the $600 needed to replace them with the LUX.


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## brobin (Feb 14, 2014)

I now have about 5 dead mini's both A92's & A93's. I'm wondering if the TE4 "upgrade" is responsible as it may put more load on the processor causing overheating. I have no evidence to back this up - just my guess.


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## dougdingle (Jul 4, 2007)

brobin said:


> I now have about 5 dead mini's both A92's & A93's. I'm wondering if the TE4 "upgrade" is responsible as it may put more load on the processor causing overheating. I have no evidence to back this up - just my guess.


Both my A93's that died were on TE3.


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## brobin (Feb 14, 2014)

Well so much for that theory!


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## Albert (Sep 27, 2002)

brobin said:


> I now have about 5 dead mini's both A92's & A93's. I'm wondering if the TE4 "upgrade" is responsible as it may put more load on the processor causing overheating. I have no evidence to back this up - just my guess.


Wow... I guess my remaining working A92's are on borrowed time. 

What about the Mini VOX's (A95's I suppose)? Any failure problems with those? I have two of them... anyone know? Haven't read anything about those failing in mass.

And my Roamio DVR... I sure hope that is built to last or at least easily repairable. I know I can easily put a new HD in there.


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## dougdingle (Jul 4, 2007)

Albert said:


> Wow... I guess my remaining working A92's are on borrowed time.
> 
> What about the Mini VOX's (A95's I suppose)? Any failure problems with those? I have two of them... anyone know? Haven't read anything about those failing in mass.
> 
> And my Roamio DVR... I sure hope that is built to last or at least easily repairable. I know I can easily put a new HD in there.


The two refurbished Mini Vox's that TiVo sent me to replace the two dead A93s are still working.

The Roamio is old tech now. I have one as well. Confidence is not high that it will make it another year.


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## srauly (Apr 26, 2000)

My old A93 TiVo Mini (paired with a Roamio Plus) seems to have "died" with this reboot loop. I get no light on the front panel at all. I tried pressing buttons on my TiVo remote to no avail. Chat support offered me nothing.

I honestly have been using mostly my Apple TV devices for everything these days, but being able to skip through commercials is nice and my wife has not been happy trying to watch some of her shows via the Apple TV, so she asked me to try to get a working Mini again.

Any particular recommendations? I'd prefer to spend under $100 and I've been looking at Facebook Marketplace.


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## brobin (Feb 14, 2014)

I picked up four A93 Mini's on ebay at about $50 each several weeks ago to replace my "boot loopers." You want to make sure that the Mini is NOT tied to a cable company and that the seller has or will call Tivo to authorize a transfer. Once they've called the seller will email you a case number. When you receive the Mini you call Tivo, give them the case number and they will add the new one to your account. Don't forget to have them remove the looper from your account. 
I assume you've tried a new power supply on the looper just to be sure that's not the problem.


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## dougdingle (Jul 4, 2007)

There's a used equipment sale area on these forums, often listing Minis. Buyer/Seller Area

Ask how old the device is before buying - the constant that runs through many if not most of these "my Mini died" posts is that they have a life of around five years, then they die.


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## emuman100 (Jul 3, 2003)

I just had my first A93 on TE4 bootlooper. No response from the Tivo button banging. Has anyone attached an RS232 transceiver to the UART port on the main board to see what is going on? When I first got it, the reset button fell off due to cold solder. I had to resolder the button oon and had to remove the existing solder. Has anyone determined what causes this boot looping on the A93?

I like the A93 models because it has composite and component output. I wonder if it could be cold solder causing the boot looping. I remember I had a Series 4 that would be in a boot loop after I replaced a bad voltage regulator. Using a heatgun on the CPU would momentarily fix the issue and it would boot fine until it cooled off, then it would reboot and boot loop.


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