# Bolt remote becomes unresponsive when streaming.



## Narkul (Nov 7, 2004)

The remote works fine playing back recordings, but when streaming the remote becomes occasionally unresponsive. I press FF, then when I press play it won't stop. Sometimes I press FF and it starts FFx3 with the single press. It's done this pretty much since I've owned it. Same thing happens with Prime too. Just wondering if there is an issue with overheating when streaming.

edit: Just checked the temp and it's 67


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## MrDell (Jul 8, 2012)

I think that there is a strong possibility it may not be your remote. It could very well be your box not responding to the commands that the remote is sending. TiVo’s apps leave a little bit to be desired for their performance.... you can get much better results from a Roku, Apple TV, or Fire Stick.


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## Narkul (Nov 7, 2004)

MrDell said:


> I think that there is a strong possibility it may not be your remote. It could very well be your box not responding to the commands that the remote is sending. TiVo's apps leave a little bit to be desired for their performance.... you can get much better results from a Roku, Apple TV, or Fire Stick.


A Roku box is what I usually resort to when I'm on a streaming kick. Sad that a $30 box outperforms a $300 box. I put a laptop cooler underneath and got the temp down to 55, but no effect on the remote response.


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## MrDell (Jul 8, 2012)

Narkul said:


> A Roku box is what I usually resort to when I'm on a streaming kick. Sad that a $30 box outperforms a $300 box. I put a laptop cooler underneath and got the temp down to 55, but no effect on the remote response.


 I know it is sad that TiVo's Apps are underperformers. Forget about the Minis when it comes to streaming! I love TiVo and how it makes television so much more enjoyable but it doesn't do everything well. 
PS... God idea getting that temperature down with the cooler... should add some life to your hard drive.


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## Narkul (Nov 7, 2004)

MrDell said:


> I know it is sad that TiVo's Apps are underperformers. Forget about the Minis when it comes to streaming! I love TiVo and how it makes television so much more enjoyable but it doesn't do everything well.
> PS... God idea getting that temperature down with the cooler... should add some life to your hard drive.


Solved the problem, or at least found a workaround. I put the remote in Infrared mode now it works fine. Odd that it only affected the apps. An added bonus that the dog no longer lays on the remote and changes the channel.


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## Narkul (Nov 7, 2004)

No. Not fixed. Now the Tivo performs commands twice, mainly in the UI. 
So now infrared = commands get doubled, rf = commands get missed. I'm ready to give up.


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## Narkul (Nov 7, 2004)

Pulled out an old Harmony 700, I had to disassemble it and clean the membrane and contacts because rewind wasn't working. Sometimes the Bolt just seems busy and misses the commands as the yellow light on front doesn't light up. I checked the Harmony's infrared with my phone camera and it never misses a beat so I know it's the Bolt and not the Harmony. I hate the tiny buttons on the Harmony, but it operates the Bolt much more reliably than the Bolt remote in IR or RF mode with practically no double execution and only occasional missed commands.


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## MrDell (Jul 8, 2012)

Narkul said:


> Pulled out an old Harmony 700, I had to disassemble it and clean the membrane and contacts because rewind wasn't working. Sometimes the Bolt just seems busy and misses the commands as the yellow light on front doesn't light up. I checked the Harmony's infrared with my phone camera and it never misses a beat so I know it's the Bolt and not the Harmony. I hate the tiny buttons on the Harmony, but it operates the Bolt much more reliably than the Bolt remote in IR or RF mode with practically no double execution and only occasional missed commands.


Glad you are on your way to a solution


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## Narkul (Nov 7, 2004)

Well Netflix now becomes unresponsive for several minutes when you start a show. I think I may have a turd on my hands. I looked back at my account and I now see it was a refurb I bought 2 years ago during maybe a black friday deal. Probably had issues that were not fixed.


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## MrDell (Jul 8, 2012)

Narkul said:


> Well Netflix now becomes unresponsive for several minutes when you start a show. I think I may have a turd on my hands. I looked back at my account and I now see it was a refurb I bought 2 years ago during maybe a black friday deal. Probably had issues that were not fixed.


By any chance did you purchase the 3 year extended warranty... you would be eligible for a replacement


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## Narkul (Nov 7, 2004)

MrDell said:


> By any chance did you purchase the 3 year extended warranty... you would be eligible for a replacement


Nah, I rarely buy warranties. I always assumed refurbs just had new hard drives slapped in. There is another thread about remote response issues, so I'm hoping it's something that might get fixed down the road with an update.


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## pgoelz (May 1, 2005)

Not sure if I should post here or start a new thread..... suddenly today (and after MANY years of perfect operation), one of our two slide remotes has been going brain dead but unlike the OP, this happens wile playing recordings. When this happens, the LED on the remote flashes yellow but there is no response on the Bolt and no yellow LED on the Bolt. When this is happening, pressing any button on our other slide remote works correctly, and also seems to wake up the dead one. Temporarily removing a battery also seems to wake it up. Related?

Paul

EDIT: 
Never mind. Looks like at least in my case the problem was a pair of funky batteries. We use rechargeables and while the ones I was using were elderly, they held their charge for months like they were new. However, the LED did not seem quite as bright as the "good" remote so I swapped out the batteries with some known good ones and operation is now perfect. Best guess is that their internal resistance has become very high and the voltage was sagging under load and corrupting the data. 

Might be a good idea for the OP to eliminate batteries as a potential cause?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

In System Information there is line with battery status. New Lithium batteries are 100%. New Alkaline are over 90%.


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## pgoelz (May 1, 2005)

JoeKustra said:


> In System Information there is line with battery status. New Lithium batteries are 100%. New Alkaline are over 90%.


Out of curiosity, I put the weak batteries back in (measured at 1.28V) and used that remote to check the battery status. System information "RF remote battery status" reported 40%. I also noticed that the remote worked OK if the backlight was OFF. As soon as the backlight activated, the yellow LED dimmed a bit and the RF link stopped responding. Yup, these cells have VERY high internal resistance if they can't even power the LED backlight 

I tried to see if the battery percentage was updated each time the remote transmitted and it apparently is not. It acts like it updates when you first enter the help menu..... I put good batteries in while still in the system information menu, backed out of system information and went back in and it still showed 40%. It only updated to 80% after I backed all the way out to My Shows and went back into system information.

I have seen the battery status as low as 20% with the remote still working fine so the battery status represents voltage at an undetermined load and is therefore not a final determination if you have high internal resistance NiMh like I did. These cells were probably 8 years old and since they charged, retained their charge and were not used in high current devices, I was unaware that they had gone high resistance.

The batteries in my case were NiMh but the same thing can happen to alkaline cells, especially offbrand ones. They may provide adequate voltage unloaded but sag to the point where things stop working when loaded.

Paul


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