# Tivo Stream Problem - Tempurature Related? What's your temp?



## gbruyn (Mar 20, 2012)

Okay, so I'm trying to troubleshoot an ongoing problem I've had with streaming from my Tivo Roamio Plus. Both in home and out of home I have issues with from time to time. 

In home, I normal get a download failed message if I setup multiple recordings to transfer overnight. I have to restart them in the morning and on occasion I have to do this multiple times before I can download a program or two. 

Outside the Home, I can stream for 30-45 minutes without any issues and then it just stops suddenly. At times, I can restart it shortly after by exiting the stream and reloading it. Other times it seems as the Stream just completely dropped offline as the app won't find it for 10-15 minutes.

I'm starting to think both of these issues are temperature related. Can you all tell me what temperature your Tivo app reports when going to settings icon (gear) and then click on "system information" and then finally click on "Full System Information" and tell me what "System Temp" reads?

Mine right now is reading 45C. After some streaming I see it as high as 62-63C. That seems pretty hot to me. Perhaps my stream chip is overheating... I've never received any sort of message on the Tivo itself that says anything about too high a temp. 

I'm ONLY looking for Tivo Roamio PLUS and PRO users feedback, and not stand alone stream users.

Thanks in advance!


*** Update 4/19/2014 --- So after playing with it all day, I can confirm that my streaming issues are definitely temperature related. Seems that anything about 62 or 63, the stream drops offline. 

I opened the Tivo case and had a fan blowing air across the motherboard. Temps were 20-30 degrees COOLER than with the case closed --- any NO ISSUES WHATSOEVER. Was able to download and stream to multiple devices without any interruptions for hours. After putting the top case back on the Tivo, the temps climbed up to the 60's and the Stream dropped offline.

Now --- the question is what to do about it? The one small fan in the Tivo is running, but I'm not sure if it's running at full speed. Is there anyway to tell? The stand alone stream had a fan speed readout, but I can't find anything for the built in stream on the Roamio's. 

There are 3 heatsinks on 3 chips. I'm not sure which one is for the streaming chip, but all 3 heatsinks aren't attached very securely --- they have this little spring clip that holds them in place. I was thinking of putting some heatsink compound between the heatsink and chip. 

I talked to Tivo today and told them all of this. They said there was no indication or log of my Tivo overheating at all. Since there was no WARRANTY seal on the screws, I didn't think opening the case would void my warranty, but they say it has and won't do an exchange. They are still "looking into the issue" though. So who knows what that means. 

For those of you having Streaming issues both in home and out of home -- this is PROBABLY the issue!!!!


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

Well right now my Roamio Plus is sitting on an open entertainment center shelf. The reading from the iOS app shows 55C. This is with it recording 1 show currently.

*EDIT: looks like my wife is streaming something as well right now.*

I started to download a movie to it, and after about 20 minutes of it downloading the temp went to 57C and seems to be staying there.

I'll try streaming a show and see if it goes higher.

*EDIT 2: with two of us streaming locally, the highest it's gotten is 59C.*

-Kevin


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

My Roamio Pro reading often goes to 68 C when Stream actively being used.


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## gbruyn (Mar 20, 2012)

Any both of you have no problems streaming in the home or outside the home?


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Generally problem free. Most common problem is freeze in last 2 minutes of playback which does not seem to correlate with heat related problems.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Just for grins, a sample temperature profile when playing back a 30 min show (amost 20 C jump from start to peak):
NOTE: Room temperature was ~24 C (76 F) at time I started playback.


```
9:53  46C
9:54  50C
9:55  55C
9:56  56C
9:57  58C
10:01 60C
10:02 62C
10:05 63C
10:11 65C
10:17 65C
```


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## gbruyn (Mar 20, 2012)

The highest reported temp I see if 63C before it goes offline. With the case open and fan blowing air onto the motherboard, the highest temp ever is like 40C!

Guess I need a nice fan setup!?!


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## gbruyn (Mar 20, 2012)

Posted this in the OP, but here it is: *** Update 4/19/2014 --- So after playing with it all day, I can confirm that my streaming issues are definitely temperature related. Seems that anything about 62 or 63, the stream drops offline. 

I opened the Tivo case and had a fan blowing air across the motherboard. Temps were 20-30 degrees COOLER than with the case closed --- any NO ISSUES WHATSOEVER. Was able to download and stream to multiple devices without any interruptions for hours. After putting the top case back on the Tivo, the temps climbed up to the 60's and the Stream dropped offline.

Now --- the question is what to do about it? The one small fan in the Tivo is running, but I'm not sure if it's running at full speed. Is there anyway to tell? The stand alone stream had a fan speed readout, but I can't find anything for the built in stream on the Roamio's. 

There are 3 heatsinks on 3 chips. I'm not sure which one is for the streaming chip, but all 3 heatsinks aren't attached very securely --- they have this little spring clip that holds them in place. I was thinking of putting some heatsink compound between the heatsink and chip. 

I talked to Tivo today and told them all of this. They said there was no indication or log of my Tivo overheating at all. Since there was no WARRANTY seal on the screws, I didn't think opening the case would void my warranty, but they say it has and won't do an exchange. They are still "looking into the issue" though. So who knows what that means. 

For those of you having Streaming issues both in home and out of home -- this is PROBABLY the issue!!!! 
__________________


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

You definitely should not have told them you opened the case.


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## telemark (Nov 12, 2013)

Forgot Warning: there's 120V+ in the open case. If you don't know how to protect yourself, don't mess around in there.

If you're right there's a thermal safety that's being tripped, you don't want to keep hitting it as it might damage the chip at some point.

I don't know the log structure but there should be some indication in the logs. I don't trust tech support is reading it right. If its on the HD you can read them on a PC yourself. dunno if theyre on the HD though, could be on flash?

The easiest fix is add a CPU fan. The standalone stream has a 40mm X 40mm fan, but visually they don't look like the same heat sink. I guess thermal grease is even easier.

Many systems at first turn on, blow their fans at full speed, dunno if the Roamio does that, but it might help in figuring out if the fan is running too slow. You can also make the fan run at full blast by connecting to a non-speed controlled power line.


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## gbruyn (Mar 20, 2012)

Anyone know what is what with regards to these 3 chips? There are 3 heatsinks for the chips. One is the main processor, one is the stream processor and the other is probably the chipset for the motherboard. Not sure what is what. Anyone have any idea?


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## telemark (Nov 12, 2013)

Do you have 2-3 digital thermometers handy?

That sounds like a cop-out but since we don't know why this box is overheating and others boxes are not, it's actually a prudent step since some other component might acting out of the ordinary. Normally, the stream processor would heat up rapidly when streaming and be rather cool all the other times.

Eying the photo, I could make a guess, should be the top one with the large rectangle heatsink. If the photo was detailed enough I could be sure, but can't read most the writing, so that's why it's a guess. In any case the chip would be a Zenverge, zn2000 or zn200.









What are you going to do, add a fan? You don't want them to replace the box?

PS. Oh you wanted all the chips. The bottom right looks like the Broadcom CPU processor. The smallest one on the bottom left is a mystery to me, as all chips are accounted for. Maybe like you said they had to add a bridge.
PPS. Sharpened the photo. The Zenverge is defintely the top/big one.
PPPS. J48 _was_ a fan header.


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## gbruyn (Mar 20, 2012)

telemark said:


> Do you have 2-3 digital thermometers handy?
> 
> What are you going to do, add a fan? You don't want them to replace the box?


They originally said they wouldn't replace the box. Now they are going to do it. So hopefully that fixes the issue completely. Very strange issue.


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## tekkie (Jan 19, 2004)

I just wanted to sat thanks for posting this, after fighting with mine for 2 years i can confirm my pro laso has the heat issue. Took the top off and even still after it goes past 56C it restarts the stream setvice every time. I put a fan blowing across it and the temp dropped to 30C and the first time in 2 years that i was able to download shows without problems.

Tivo is USELESS i have opened 3 or 4 tickets and received zero help except its a network problem which i have told them its not.

I am going to rig up a heatsink or fan inside the case to try and fix it.

So the question is why do the early adapters seem to be the ones with these problems? What has changed? Different fan, chip, heatsink? Something is clearly different


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## gbruyn (Mar 20, 2012)

tekkie said:


> I just wanted to sat thanks for posting this, after fighting with mine for 2 years i can confirm my pro laso has the heat issue. Took the top off and even still after it goes past 56C it restarts the stream setvice every time. I put a fan blowing across it and the temp dropped to 30C and the first time in 2 years that i was able to download shows without problems.
> 
> Tivo is USELESS i have opened 3 or 4 tickets and received zero help except its a network problem which i have told them its not.
> 
> ...


You're welcome. Glad you got it resolved. Since they sent my placement box I haven't had any another heat issues at all. I have an occasional hiccup when streaming outside the home but other than that it has been almost perfect. Maybe there was a bad batch of Tivos made?

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk


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## tekkie (Jan 19, 2004)

I thought it was solved... But even at 28C numerous times it failed again, but its still running far better than before. I guess i am calling tivo for a replacement


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