# Tivo Mini out of the box setup fails to find DVR --SOLVED!!!--



## Roveer

I'm in the process of setting up my 5th and 6th Tivo mini. On my 3rd mini setup it ran through the guided setup did the download did the software upgrade and then told me it couldn't find the DVR. I got into a chat with Tivo support and they killed me with their script read responses. My Mini's are on the same physical ethernet switch as my Roamio with the router being somewhere else in the network. The mini is able to contact TIVO and perform the download just fine. The tech just kept telling me to reboot my router. I tried explaining I was on a much larger network and rebooting the router shouldn't make any difference. Eventually my 3rd Mini connected to the Roamio and all was fine.

Now I'm having the same problem with the 5th and 6th mini. Both failing to see the DVR. I'm going to reboot the Roamio as soon as I can get it away from the family but I was wondering if anyone else had seen a similar problem. As a matter of fact I'm going to reboot my router and see if that clears it. Wouldn't that be a hoot if it did. Being that the router is not in the path of the MINI connecting to the Roamio it really shouldn't be the problem. Lets see what happens.

Nope, rebooting router had no effect. I'll keep at it until it works. Just wondering if anyone else had similar results.

Roveer


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## tatergator1

I assume you have tried rebooting the Minis that are having issues? I encountered the same issue over a year ago and rebooting the mini solved it.


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## lgnad

Have you had the Roamio force a connection to Tivo?

Im assuming you have, but you didnt mention it... 

Rebooting the minis cant hurt

Rebooting the Roamio also cant hurt

Rebooting all your networking hardware cant hurt

Setting up minis can be a little quirky, as you've discovered.


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## Roveer

I have rebooted:

1 Tivo Mini's (several times)
2 Roamio
3 Network Switches
4 Router (against everything I know to be true with networking)

And the winner is!!! lgnad wins 3 green thumbs up for solving this problem.

Forcing the Roamio to make a connection.

I right after i did that the currently connected mini connected right away. throwing the 2nd mini onto this TV (I config in the kitchen), and expect it will work right away as well. --edit-- Yup, 2nd mini connected right away!

So,

I am assuming the Roamio needs to know about the Mini's being subscribed before it will allow them to make a connection. Connecting to Tivo provides this information. Now if we can just get the script reading Tech's to know that the world will be a better place. Maybe this thread will make it's way into their training.


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## bradleys

This is why tivo says you have to wait 24 hours before service is activated. It can be done a lot quicker then that, just takes several forced connections.


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## Series3Sub

I had to force the Host DVR to connected to the TiVo servers. Then my Mini finally saw and connected to the host, but then it would not stream. As it turns out, it takes a day or two for the Mini to truly be added to my account for streaming. 2 days later, the Mini was working fine. Now, that was opposite of the first Mini that started working on day one. But there are others who've posted having to wait a day or 2 for the Mini to function at streaming.


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## booboy97

I am having the same problem.

Mini was not originally found but after manually connecting the Roamio, the default name of the Mini came up during the setup (which you can change). I get to the next screen and it says the DVR is still not found. I'm assuming activation on TiVo's end still needs to be done even though I see it in my account.


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## Marty1781

booboy97 said:


> I am having the same problem.
> 
> Mini was not originally found but after manually connecting the Roamio, the default name of the Mini came up during the setup (which you can change). I get to the next screen and it says the DVR is still not found. I'm assuming activation on TiVo's end still needs to be done even though I see it in my account.


After you connect to the Tivo service, be sure to reboot both the Roamio and your router. I setup a Roamio and several minis this weekend and didn't do the reboots. The Minis could see the Roamio but wouldn't connect and complete the setup. It was only after I rebooted the Roamio and router was I able to complete the setup on the Minis.


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## pldoolittle

I an into similar a similar experience, but mine continued even after renaming all devices and force connecting repeatedly until all new names were in sync on all devices. Problem appears to be a Belkin switch between the Mini and the core switch. Once the mini was plugged straight into the core, it removed the "No" circle from the Roamio and proceeded. Once setup was complete, returning it to the Belkin has not proven to be a problem, although the Premiere will not work properly with MRV if connected to that switch.

If you're interested, more info is here:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=524502


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## piano man

pldoolittle said:


> I an into similar a similar experience, but mine continued even after renaming all devices and force connecting repeatedly until all new names were in sync on all devices.


I have 2 mini that won't connect despite repeatedly forcing connections on the Roamio Plus and the mini's. I always hang at the TIVO DVR NOT FOUND screen.

What do you mean by "new names were in sync on all devices"? Is the name of the Mini supposed to show up somewhere on the Roamio? Where?

I've tried putting everything on a MoCA network and the Roamio sees the Mini in the Network Status info display by its MAC address, but still they don't connect. I tried putting the Mini directly on Ethernet but still no connection.


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## Marty1781

piano man said:


> I have 2 mini that won't connect despite repeatedly forcing connections on the Roamio Plus and the mini's. I always hang at the TIVO DVR NOT FOUND screen.
> 
> What do you mean by "new names were in sync on all devices"? Is the name of the Mini supposed to show up somewhere on the Roamio? Where?
> 
> I've tried putting everything on a MoCA network and the Roamio sees the Mini in the Network Status info display by its MAC address, but still they don't connect. I tried putting the Mini directly on Ethernet but still no connection.


Sometimes you have to wait up to 24 hours even after forcing connections on both the Roamio and Mini in order for the Mini to receive the necessary signal from Tivo that allows it to communicate and find the Roamio. This was the case with one of my Minis that I setup. No amount of forced connections and rebooting would allow it to find the Roamio and complete setup. I just had to wait 24 hours and sure enough, that did the trick. So if forcing connections to Tivo on both the Roamio and Mini and then rebooting the Roamio, Mini, and router don't fix your issue, give it at least 24 hours and that may solve the problem.


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## piano man

Marty1781 said:


> Sometimes you have to wait up to 24 hours even after forcing connections on both the Roamio and Mini in order for the Mini to receive the necessary signal from Tivo that allows it to communicate and find the Roamio.


What in the world could possibly take 24 hours?


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## Marty1781

piano man said:


> What in the world could possibly take 24 hours?


I don't know but its well documented that in some cases, it just takes 24 hours for the Mini to receive the necessary signal from Tivo that let's it communicate with the Roamio. Most of the time, it happens within minutes but in a few cases here and there, it can take up to 24 hours.


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## pldoolittle

piano man said:


> What do you mean by "new names were in sync on all devices"? Is the name of the Mini supposed to show up somewhere on the Roamio? Where?


No, but the new names of the TiVo's will show up in the Mini setup screen. The purpose of this is to ensure that the config on every device matches what is in the Tivo online database.



piano man said:


> I've tried putting everything on a MoCA network and the Roamio sees the Mini in the Network Status info display by its MAC address, but still they don't connect. I tried putting the Mini directly on Ethernet but still no connection.


I don't use MoCA, so I can't be of much help there. Did you verify that all the devices connected to a single ethernet switch/router? No devices in between the Tivo devices and the single device they all connect to? For this it may be easiest to stack them all and plug then into a singular device. Obviously Tivo recommends the router, although there is no reason a switch would not suffice.



piano man said:


> What in the world could possibly take 24 hours?


Really poor programming. And the official TiVo statement is not 24, but 72 hours!!


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## ellinj

Arrrgh, I bought a new Mini on Fri afternoon to go with the new Roamio I just got in the mail. 

I activated it with Tivo, and during guided setup it was able to see my Roamio but with the red no circle next to the name.

I forced a call or two on Friday evening, on both boxes and now I am getting a v70 error on the mini. I have rebooting/renaming everything but the v70 error still persists. (Today Sunday, I switched over to Moca, forced a call / reboot on both and still getting a v70 on the mini). I know that the mini is on the network because when I change the name it gets reported on tivo.com and I can ping the ip address its grabbing from my router.

Any ideas, its odd that I no longer see the tivo name with the red no circle, but get a v70 error now. I am at a loss as to what to do next other than wait some more.


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## Arcady

You need to let it all sit, connected. Don't start changing names because that will just delay it and make it start over. It took at least 48 hours when I added my last Mini to the network after activation on tivo.com.


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## ellinj

Arghh still no worky.


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## slowbiscuit

ellinj said:


> Arghh still no worky.


Move the mini to the same switch the tivo is on, or try moca.


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## ellinj

slowbiscuit said:


> Move the mini to the same switch the tivo is on, or try moca.


done and done, currently have escalated the issue within Tivo.


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## DaveOdd

How to Architect, then set up the devices on your TIVO network:

SETUP:
1. Get all TIVO's in one room, use a cable splitter and a hub or switch to connect them all up. This part is critical, make sure they are ALL on the same exact splitter and same exact HUB/SWITCH, or your router. If you have too many devices, wait for one to be fully registered, then swap it out for another. Typically, on larger TV's you should have multiple HDMI ports. Use each one for all the attached devices, so you can scroll through your inputs on the TV to go from one TIVO device to the other. This simplifies the entire process hugely!

2. Make sure your primary device (the DVR) is fully functional before you begin. Follow all the setup procedures completely, and make sure you are tuning in all appropriate channels. Also, make certain all the TIVO devices are registered on the TIVO management website, and properly licensed.

3. Rename ALL the devices based on what you wish them to be set up as, and then reboot all of the devices. Once you have done this, go to the website again and see if the names show up under your registration page. If the custom names are all there, then you should be done. However, it may take a bit longer. (see the end of this note)

4. Once all of this is done, you should begin to see devices being added to the system network. 

It is not uncommon to have devices not instantly work. The reason for this is simple networking. When you use a normal network, the network keeps a list on the router of all the device names in a look up table. When you reboot, typically you force updates to that table. However, some older routers, or cheaper ones, won't have a fast processor or enough memory for all the devices on your network. As a result, it can take much longer to get that table updated. The possible reason MOCA works faster is that it doesn't talk to the router at all, and there is no "table" to be updated, it is updated by the controlling MOCA device. (I know I probably have that acronym wrong, but you get me.)

One trick you can do is to make sure that there is NOTHING else running or connected to your network when you begin this process. This means no iPhones, no tablets, no computers, nothing. Shut it all down.

When this is done, you can reboot your ROUTER with all the new TIVO devices attached, and what will happen is the router will establish a new table and it will only see the TIVO devices. This should help greatly in speeding the whole process.

Sometimes however, you may see it take longer, so the trick here is to leave each devices connected to the primary network, the main TV, and on that same splitter, until the device becomes active.

Once a device is active, remove it from the main room and move it to your destination room. Reconnect it to the network and give it a few minutes. It should begin working normally almost immediately.

I hope this helps!!!


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## dlfl

LOL, seems kind of extreme to me -- not necessary in most cases -- like saying if one of your children is acting up lock all the others in the basement so you can concentrate on the offender. With only two posts on this forum I suspect you haven't seen the many other threads that address these issues.


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## Borrellij

I have 2 2 turner premiere's (I know can't pair to mini)

I have a brand new Roamio 4 turner base model up and running great for two days now

Yesterday I registered the mini with TiVo over the phone as the instructions said

I went through guided set up Mini it is via MoCa and it sees all the DVR's but when I try to pair to the host roamio I see the red ghostbuster sign next to each DVR including the Roamio.

The two premiere are connected via Ethernet 

The Roamio is connected by a MoCa Network extender from Verizon Fios. The extender is connected to the home coax and the Roamio goes into the LAN port of the back of the extender.

The Roamio and premieres seem to communicate fine. I can watch shows from the premiere on the Roamio.

I called TiVo tech support and they are as useless as can be, constantly putting you on hold and having to look up everything.

Immediately the TiVo tech was saying saying it was because I am mixing MoCa and Ethernet is the issue. Technically the Fios Extender that my Roamio is connected to is A MoCa device and communicates fine to the premiere.

Although maybe the Roamio is confused because it is connected to the LAN port on the network extender.

Any help would be appreciate. I'll be troubleshooting it tonight so hopefully just rebooting and forcing a connection may do the trick.

Thanks in advance 

Jason


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## mdavej

Mine wouldn't work 'til a couple of days after activation. For others it's only a few hours. Give it some more time.


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## thyname

Borrellij said:


> I have 2 2 turner premiere's (I know can't pair to mini)
> 
> I have a brand new Roamio 4 turner base model up and running great for two days now
> 
> Yesterday I registered the mini with TiVo over the phone as the instructions said
> 
> I went through guided set up Mini it is via MoCa and it sees all the DVR's but when I try to pair to the host roamio I see the red ghostbuster sign next to each DVR including the Roamio.
> 
> The two premiere are connected via Ethernet
> 
> The Roamio is connected by a MoCa Network extender from Verizon Fios. The extender is connected to the home coax and the Roamio goes into the LAN port of the back of the extender.
> 
> The Roamio and premieres seem to communicate fine. I can watch shows from the premiere on the Roamio.
> 
> I called TiVo tech support and they are as useless as can be, constantly putting you on hold and having to look up everything.
> 
> Immediately the TiVo tech was saying saying it was because I am mixing MoCa and Ethernet is the issue. Technically the Fios Extender that my Roamio is connected to is A MoCa device and communicates fine to the premiere.
> 
> Although maybe the Roamio is confused because it is connected to the LAN port on the network extender.
> 
> Any help would be appreciate. I'll be troubleshooting it tonight so hopefully just rebooting and forcing a connection may do the trick.
> 
> Thanks in advance
> 
> Jason


TiVo keeps saying that for a TiVo and a DVR (such as Bolt or Roamio) to work properly, they should both be connected to Ethernet, or MoCA (not one via Ethernet, and the other via MoCA).

They keep saying this (I also have same issues with Mini connecting intermittently to my Bolt), but I have yet to find anywhere that says this. If it works most of the time, it should work all the time.

There are certainly networking issues with TiVo with regards to Mini communicating with the DVRs - and they should solve them once and for all, instead of blaming us about using wrong connection, blaming routers, cables, etc..


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## fcfc2

thyname said:


> TiVo keeps saying that for a TiVo and a DVR (such as Bolt or Roamio) to work properly, they should both be connected to Ethernet, or MoCA (not one via Ethernet, and the other via MoCA).
> 
> They keep saying this (I also have same issues with Mini connecting intermittently to my Bolt), but I have yet to find anywhere that says this. If it works most of the time, it should work all the time.
> 
> There are certainly networking issues with TiVo with regards to Mini communicating with the DVRs - and they should solve them once and for all, instead of blaming us about using wrong connection, blaming routers, cables, etc..


Hi,
In my experience, talking to any given CSR, they will likely blame almost anything they can on something with the owner's setup, but I was unaware that a mixed Ethernet and MoCA setup is not acceptable. If someone told you that it is an excuse for certain as any MoCA setup uses Ethernet at some point and is therefore "mixed".
The truth of the matter is that home networks are notoriously hit and miss and there are many levels and sources of puzzling failures that would be extremely difficult to diagnose even if a reasonably competent person was onsite. I am pretty certain that the average CSR is a high school graduate, but probably lacking any formal networking training, a lot of the time they are reading from "scripts" which may help a novice customer, but just frustrate the hell out of someone who has already though of and done all the usual issues and problems.
I have seen waves of new customers complain about getting their minis properly "activated" on their accounts and finally recognized by their Tivo DVR so as to work properly. Eventually, they all either figure out that once the mini is on their account, the main DVR has to connect to Tivo's servers and download that information to the Tivo DVR, can the mini be seen and used. My best guess is that if and when there is a prolonged delay, it is either an account issue or something with the Tivo servers not dishing out the proper updated account information and there are many documented delays for Tivo's servers. If you detect a download has occurred to the DVR after the mini has been added to your account, the chances of successfully adding the mini are high.
Intermittent connections are likely to be IMO, network related but with a slim but real chance of a Tivo hardware failure. Anything with MoCA has some sort of AGC, automatic gain control, working in the background and is variable. Ethernet issues can be anything from a loose cable connector to a poor quality wire and issues with "green" switches are pretty well documented plus there are several more sometimes intermittent in nature.
Troubleshooting these types of problems are incredibly frustrating experiences for all concerned and I am pretty certain the amount of time a CSR spends on a call is not "unlimited". So I think if I were the average CSR and ran into a troubling problem, I would be sorely tempted to find any excuse to say goodbye to an increasing irritated customer.


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## krkaufman

Borrellij said:


> I have a brand new Roamio 4 turner base model up and running great for two days now
> 
> Yesterday I registered the mini with TiVo over the phone as the instructions said
> 
> I went through guided set up Mini it is via MoCa and it sees all the DVR's but when I try to pair to the host roamio I see the red ghostbuster sign next to each DVR including the Roamio.


I expect (and hope) that your Mini is now communicating with your new Roamio, but for future reference, here's my process for ensuring any new Minis I add to my setup are fully functional as quickly as possible:
Mini Activation Process​


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## tomhorsley

krkaufman said:


> I expect (and hope) that your Mini is now communicating with your new Roamio, but for future reference, here's my process for ensuring any new Minis I add to my setup are fully functional as quickly as possible:
> Mini Activation Process​


It sure would be nice if the fold out quick start guide they include with the minis actually had this information in it, but it doesn't mention rebooting the roamio anywhere, leading to vast amounts of wasted time for everyone trying to setup a mini :-(.


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## krkaufman

tomhorsley said:


> It sure would be nice if the fold out quick start guide they include with the minis actually had this information in it, but it doesn't mention rebooting the roamio anywhere, leading to vast amounts of wasted time for everyone trying to setup a mini :-(.


I've never found that the host DVR (Roamio) needed to be rebooted; manually forcing a TiVo service connection has always been sufficient.

I wholly agree that including the above information with the Mini packaging, especially re: forcing the service connection on the host DVR, would save a lot of time, for everyone.


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## altereagle

My mini over MoCa stopped recognizing the pro after 6 months. Service just kept saying it was the connections... so no help there.

What I did was re-name the pro with my own name instead of using one from the list and re-booted to force the connection. That finally worked for me.


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