# DVR Diagnostics in Setting menu



## miller890 (Feb 15, 2002)

This morning I noticed a new menu option that I have not seen before, *DVR Diagnostics* under Settings. The DVR Diagnostic option only appeared on one of my S3 TiVos.

So I tried it.

It is 2 hours later and I still have a Please Wait... Message.


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## mazman (Nov 13, 2002)

That happened to me once, too. It should only take a second or two for the menu to come up.

You'll need to pull the plug on the Tivo and reboot and you should be OK.


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## eziemann (Jun 8, 2005)

+1 here as well on a THD

Tried it and a few hours later is was "please waiting..."
Had to pull the plug to reset.


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## sieglinde (Aug 11, 2002)

I had to repower up. My mistake.

I wonder what the use of that option is.


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## slimoli (Jul 30, 2005)

Same here. After about 1 hour I decided to repower it.


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## Gregor (Feb 18, 2002)

sieglinde said:


> I had to repower up. My mistake.
> 
> I wonder what the use of that option is.


You can use it to look at the uncorrected and corrected error counts, the signal/noise ratio, as well as the signal strength.

Very useful in cases where there's pixellation.


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## DaJoos (Dec 31, 2002)

Well it's been a month or so since the last update to this thread so I thought I'd check in and see if any of the original posters ever resolved their problem. 

I too made the mistake of selecting this option on my HD XL last night and that was it for my Tivo evening - this morning when it was still on 'please wait' I pulled the plug and all seems OK (though the pregnant pause before my shows appeared in Now Playing helped me wake up more than my coffee). Anyway - all the posts except for the one previous to this are people saying it no workee, while the last post explains what it's supposed to do without mentioning if he/she also had problems before success. Did anyone have the nerve to try this again and have it work? Any idea why it works for some (I guess) and not others?


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## billyjoebob99 (Jan 13, 2007)

DaJoos said:


> Well it's been a month or so since the last update to this thread so I thought I'd check in and see if any of the original posters ever resolved their problem.


I'ts been hit and miss for me. It seems like if it's been a few days since I used it locks up. After a restart I can use it all I want. All I can think is that if I leave it on a channel with a spotty signal the error count gets so high it overflows a buffer. When I enter the menu and it tries to read the error buffer and - BOOM.


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## Poochie (Dec 27, 2003)

Funny this thread got bumped - I too fell into the really long "Please Wait" screen when going into DVR Diagnostics on my S3 last night. Any remote input would give the error "bonk" noise, and the background screen was continuing to animate. After ~5 minutes I did the plug-pull reboot, everything came back up fine.


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## SCSIRAID (Feb 2, 2003)

Hmmmm... Interesting. The Diagnostics option has always worked fine on my S3.


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## janry (Jan 2, 2003)

I've used this many times to adjust my indoor antenna. Never had a problem. Used it just this morning to check a cable channel that isn't coming through.


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## roadkill_97006 (Aug 15, 2005)

I was having sound dropouts and decided to check the signal strength and for the first time ever mine went into the toolies and I had to reboot. Immediately afterwards I did it again and it popped up the diagnostics screen in just a blink of time. Weird.


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## kucharsk (Feb 2, 2007)

Just a note that this is *still* an issue.

Pity as it's the only way to get signal information like VPID/APID and this used to work just fine a year or so ago. 

The only time it won't hang the TiVo is right after a reboot.


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## esb1981 (Dec 2, 2007)

I use this screen frequenty on my Tivo HD and have only had this problem once or twice, and that was probably more than 6 months ago. I've been using it a lot lately to check on pixelation problems, and haven't had a problem. I'll be more judicious in my use though, especially if I'm recording something! So thanks for the heads-up that this is still a problem.


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## SamD (Jan 28, 2007)

I second that DVR Diagnostics sets TiVO HD forever on Please Wait screen. No way now to find out RS uncorrected numbers.


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

I have two S3 TiVos and a THD, and despite frequently employing the diagnostics on all 3 TiVos, I have never had any problems.


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## jrm01 (Oct 17, 2003)

I have an S3 and a THD and have used this diagnostic hundreds of time over the past few months. Never had a problem.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

I use DVR Diagnostics a lot as well. Occasionally with recent releases it does hang up my DVRs (S3s). Usually that only happens when tuned to a channel that doesn't lock to a frequency (missing in CableCard channel map or under SDV) or some other issue -- exactly the time when diagnostics would be most useful.
However on those occasions following a reboot from hanged state (pulling the plug) and tuning both tuners to channels I wanted to check and then returning to diagnostics usually is successful.


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## SamD (Jan 28, 2007)

I have DVR Expander connected, may be this is the reason of this hang? I still need to check if DVR Diagnostics is available immediately after reboot but so far my TiVo HD hangs always no matter what channel it is tuned to.
I guess this all started after last software update.


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## b_scott (Nov 27, 2006)

Hung for me just a minute ago. I swear I've used it before. I was checking it cause I kept getting sound dropouts on HGTV HD in Chicago. Had to reboot.


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## will792 (Jan 4, 2005)

DVR Diagnostics hangs my S3 as well


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

I just used it a half dozen times yesterday on my TivoHD with no problem (trying to fine tune the aim of my OTA antenna so was looking at signal strength and SNR).


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

It has hanged 2 or 3 times for me, about 5&#37; of the time; quite rare, but it does happen. The times it did hang, there seemed to be something actually wrong with the tuning on one of the channels, as opposed to the times I use it just to see how long it's been since the last reboot or what the error rate is on a channel.


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## sender_name (Feb 12, 2005)

Just thought i would bump this and point out this is STILL happening on my Series 3...I think it happens when, as hypthesized earlier, you leave it on a channel for a long time and then check it..It does seem to still be recording despite the "please wait" screen...I have to wait until 9 to reboot...
I have successfully used this many times, but tonight i had some sound drop outs on a channel it was tuned to all day..and poof..please wait


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## gbrayut (Jul 28, 2010)

Same here on my TiVoHD. It's difficult to say how often it happens because it's not an option I frequently navigate to. I have seen it work and it's very helpful. But the wedge is really annoying -- I searched the forum again because it just happened on my unit again. Seems like since this has gone on for several years, TiVo Dev could diagnose it by now.


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## chazas (Jan 18, 2007)

Just happened with my Premiere. I don't remember this happening with my S3, back in the days when I was fighting Fios signal strength issues....


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## WhiskeyTango (Sep 20, 2006)

My TivoHD hangs seemingly every time I try to access the Diagnostics screen. Especially troublesome since I was trying to determine if I had a problem with my signal or if my Tivo itself was having a problem. I just avoid trying to view it now. PITA.


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## justlikeradio (Dec 29, 2003)

Title says it all, sorry if OFF Topic. 

New Premiere to replace Comcast DTA. 
Cableguy tried 3 Cable cards, even had his support and Tivo support on the phone at the same time. I heard him give the 3 pairing numbers as well.... 

1st item in cable card menu showed Val:? 0x00, and nothing after that... 
but everything else seemed ok. 

Feed wiring is correct, all done by Comcast...


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## haysdb (Dec 11, 2002)

I tried this for the first time today on my S3 and it hung. Not cool TiVo. After a reboot it works. This problem has been around since at least January 2008; more than 3 years.


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## pmiranda (Feb 12, 2003)

Funny, when I was having lots of issues with my TA I never had a problem in this screen, but now that it seems to work most of the time, if I do have an issue every few months and try to figure it out with this screen it hangs. 
I think billyjoebob99 is onto something... some error log somewhere is probably filling up.


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## drcos (Jul 20, 2001)

I have this problem intermittently as well. Noticed that it tends to go hand in hand with the 'corrupt channel map' problem I solve this way.
Pulling a card will get out of the "Please wait..." screen, but next time I try the DVR Diagnostics, it will freeze. A reboot seems to clear it up.

My biggest reasons to look at the Diagnostics are to check the CCI setting and look at "Channel List Received" in case something hinky happens to the channel maps.


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## lillevig (Dec 7, 2010)

Add me to the unhappy HD campers who tried the DVR Diagnostics page. Interestingly, I left it overnight and it came out of that page on its own. It was recording something at the time and that recording seems to be ok. Don't know if it reset itself at some point to get out of the hung page but it is hung up again now. Maybe I'll pull the plug and try again. Great feature.


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## lillevig (Dec 7, 2010)

Pulling the plug on the Tivo and restarting fixed the problem but I suspect that the longer the Tivo remains on since its reset, the higher the probablity that it will hang again. This is just a guess based on comments by others but no one has a definitive answer that I can find.


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## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

Add me to the list experiencing lock-ups, or half my remote buttons stop working (such as left and right, and the main TiVo button, but up and down still work), with reboot required to recover.

My four Premieres do it, but my two HD units don't, that I recall, anyway (although I've accessed my Premieres a lot more, so I'll check out the HDs sometime soon).

Up time has no effect in my case. Using same remotes I have been for a long time, and have verified each remote is paired to a TiVo with a unique Remote ID number, with none set to zero.


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## Tanquen (Jun 1, 2002)

I just did this on 2 of my HD units. Lame!


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## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

Add me to the list of people that experience this, and after posting now, see I posted about it in 2011, as well. Some common denominations are: Audio drop-outs, sometimes macro blocking (or as some call it "pixelating"), TiVo not manually rebooted from the menu recently, go into diagnostics, lockup, but if recording, recording continues. I don't have to pull the power plug. I just unplug the cable input, and it resolves, then plug the cable back in. TiVo blames Cox, Cox blames TiVo. Neither wants to help. This goes for my HD and Premiere units. ALL OF THEM. While you will lose a few minutes of anything recording, you'll avoid drive corruption, and a possible GSOD reboot loop, which will brick your unit until you re-image the drive. I too believe it is due to an error log exceeding the limit set by the TiVo software, and pulling the signal source somehow resolves it.

I really wish TiVo would get their butts sued, to stop them from suing anybody that tries to provide a competing product out on the market. Why does TiVo get to monopolize, and terrorize competition, much like The Cable Providers and Telephone companies do? It's ridiculous. OTA, streaming, and Satellite are options, but poor ones, at least in my area...


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

I've seen this occasionally on my 2 S3 OLEDs (bought in December 2006/January 2007). I'm generally not in a habit of looking at the DVR Diagnostics so it has not been a big issue. I definitely don't see any issues that could be related to any drive corruption/GSOD issue.

There have been several standalone DVR manufacturers (Replay, Microsoft and Moxi being the most recent). It would appear that there is not enough business out there to support a huge standalone market and TiVo's recent lawsuits against the cable and satellite DVR manufacturers to protect their patents is not preventing competition.

Scott


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## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

HerronScott said:


> I've seen this occasionally on my 2 S3 OLEDs (bought in December 2006/January 2007). I'm generally not in a habit of looking at the DVR Diagnostics so it has not been a big issue. I definitely don't see any issues that could be related to any drive corruption/GSOD issue.
> 
> There have been several standalone DVR manufacturers (Replay, Microsoft and Moxi being the most recent). It would appear that there is not enough business out there to support a huge standalone market and TiVo's recent lawsuits against the cable and satellite DVR manufacturers to protect their patents is not preventing competition.
> 
> Scott


I meant that pulling the POWER cord, when a brief disconnection of the cable/signal source may suffice, COULD cause corruption, POSSIBLY leading up to the unrecoverable GSOD reboot loop, which is the result of a corruption the TiVo can't correct, but will keep trying to infinity. The only well-known and tested way to come back from that is to lose everything that is on the TiVo, by re-imaging the drive. The less drastic approach also only causes a momentary loss of signal, thus a minute or two of anything that may be recording at the time, as opposed to the entire reboot cycle.

The second segment, I'll just agree to disagree, since it's the kind of thing that arguing our sides would only lead to a long battle, drifting Off-Topic, and there's too many people who share both our opinions, that would love to argue it out. This isn't the thread for that.


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## Reuse (Mar 27, 2012)

Hmmm, I can only see the network diagnostics under Phone & Network.


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