# Error #81 started today DirecTV Tivo ONLY



## mailchick (Feb 28, 2010)

i contacted customer service, says all the tivos are getting this error, the engineers have been notified, they will get the reports by monday and maybe i can check on tuesday to see if it's been fixed. that's a helluva lotta crap from DTV about a service i'm paying for.

The pause is working, but there's no recording capability. says to call customer service. anyone else having that problem? i'm on the west coast, have a hughes sd-dvr40 upgraded with additional HD 120 hrs.


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## chuckg (Sep 1, 2007)

Same problem on 2 Series 2 units running 6.2. Changed HD to one with 6.4a, had it dial in, and the same problem.

Customer service no help. Naturally.

But no Versus so I am off to Dish anyway.


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## mkretired (Oct 26, 2004)

yes having the same problem with old hughes 120 tivo unit. they say its on their end. live on east coast. so i guess its all over.


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## jcf2001 (Dec 11, 2007)

I'm in Ohio and I am getting it too. I first noticed it after tky system re-booted itself eariler today.

At leas I know it's not me and I don't have to waste my time calling customer service.


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## sueschee (Feb 28, 2010)

Getting it in Virginia too. Tech I spoke to was unaware and too eager to reformat or sell me a new DTV box.


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

sueschee said:


> Getting it in Virginia too. Tech I spoke to was unaware and too eager to reformat or sell me a new DTV box.


too funny, my tech ordered me a box then 2 hours later called back and canceled it. count yourself lucky if you get a new box out of it (if you wanted one that is). And if you didnt want one then at least you know a bunch of us are out of luck and in the same boat as you.

i hope post 1 is wrong that it will take until tuesday though. why wouldnt engineers be on call for weekends?

anyone know if it will need a dial in or just over the satellite? half my tivo numbers dont work so i had to pick a new one but have had success with them as far as completed calls


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## chrishicks (Dec 31, 2003)

I have this on one of my two DTivos. I started typing out the thread hours ago but just got around to posting it(fell asleep). I had a lockup on the box due to bad weather(noticed it last night) and when I rebooted it I was greeted with the error. I called DTV a few times but got "disconnected" after being asked to please hold every time.


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## ossrocks (Oct 13, 2006)

My primary tivo won't work. My two 6.2a rebuilds are working just fine. I called Tivo after trying to force a dial-in without any success. They told me to try a reboot -- heh. No success.

Promised a resolution "within a few days" -- which got me a month of free showtime. Three if I was willing to assume the liability to cancel it.

Kinda sucks that they just accept the fact that it won't work and wait for Monday to fix it.


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## T1V0 (Jun 14, 2006)

ossrocks said:


> Kinda sucks that they just accept the fact that it won't work and wait for Monday to fix it.


well, considering the person on the phone CAN DO NOTHING AT ALL TO FIX YOUR ISSUE, I'm curious as to what you're expecting


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

My 6.4 HR10 seems to be fine...


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

stevel said:


> My 6.4 HR10 seems to be fine...


i wonder what would happen if you dialed in  though i guess that isnt the issue


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

update: i did guided setup and now it works....unsure if it's a coincidence or not.


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## chrishicks (Dec 31, 2003)

I just hope whenever this is fixed I won't need to make a call as I was never able to get the Tivos to connect with either Vonage or Ooma.


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## Wil (Sep 27, 2002)

Help! HR10-250 has lost ability to validate my account status

I believe above title was the first thread started, would suggest continuing there.


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

newsposter said:


> i wonder what would happen if you dialed in  though i guess that isnt the issue


Don't know, but my HR10 hasn't dialed in in years...


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## jlseber (Feb 12, 2004)

I was hit in Tennessee as well. I just checked my TiVo a few minutes ago and it's still out, same as the posts below. The tech I spoke to yesterday was knowledgeable and did confirm that it was something from DTV that caused the problem. I'm going to call back this afternoon and see if any progress is being made toward a solution.


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## redheadboy (Jan 25, 2002)

I had the problem on my tivos last night. The system information screen said I had no service. Directv resent the activation and I had to unplug the units to get the problem fixed.


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## ossrocks (Oct 13, 2006)

T1V0 said:


> well, considering the person on the phone CAN DO NOTHING AT ALL TO FIX YOUR ISSUE, I'm curious as to what you're expecting


I expect a company like this to consider this a severe outage that requires engineers being called in to fix it. Not something that can be delayed for *days* even if it means reverting to old code. Why you think its necessary to yell your opinion as if I'm stupid is beyond me.

Incidentally, for everyone else, I found today that if you physically unplug the unit and re-power it the problem goes away (for me at least). Right before I tried that it wouldn't let me record anything.


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## mailchick (Feb 28, 2010)

Could it be possible the same factory programmed the sony ps3 units and the tivo units? ps3 had bad programming for the 2010 leapyear date and the unit has to be corrected. maybe we are experiencing the same issue? as my unit stopped in the middle of a RACEDAY recording on sunday morning the 28th. I can give you the exact time. I will though try to unplug and restart after my sons done trying to watch 2 shows live simultaneously. hmmmmm dejavu, how DID we used to do that? oh ya, we used antennas and 2 tv's.


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## jcf2001 (Dec 11, 2007)

Last night I re-booted my R10 by unplugging it and ta...ta.... it is now working again. Problem solved.


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## jlseber (Feb 12, 2004)

After rebooting by normal shutdown and pulling the power plug, my TiVo is now working again as well. I wish I had done that Sunday evening after getting them to resend my authorization. I did reboot, but did not pull the power. Apparently, that is the key after they resend the authorization. Thanks to folks on this list who suggested that one.


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## SpacemanSpiff (Jan 31, 2004)

Add me to the list of people with this problem. It showed up yesterday on my bedroom Samsung. I called in and talked to the CSR who resent the auth code. Rebooted multiple times. Sent me to DVR service who had me switch cables etc. No joy. He was having me clean the cables at the multi-switch but I needed plyers to get them loose so I told him I would try that and if it didn't work would call back. I don't believe it's the multi-switch or cables because I'm getting 89&#37; signal on one tuner and 100% on the other.

His next step was to send a tech out.

I find it interesting that neither person I talked with knew about the problems a month ago. Okay, maybe not surprised.

Other than reboots and calls in. Any other suggestions?


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## KSbugeater (Jan 26, 2006)

Go to the DirecTV website and reauthenticate your DTiVo. I had to last night.


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## Beer Geek (Mar 14, 2007)

One of ours succumbed to this a couple nights ago. A reboot appears to have taken care of it, but there's a couple days of stuff missed in the meantime.


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