# TiVo Edge continuously rebooting



## mark.havlek

I would really like to expect a higher state of TV from TiVo, unfortunately, software bugs in my TiVo Edge have essentially neutered my TiVo Edge and made it useless for it’s primary function of recording TV programs. 

The problem I am having is my TiVo Edge is constantly rebooting when it is connected to either a cabled network or WiFi (more on this later). This has been going on since mid-last week and is apparently a “known issue” at TiVo. Though TiVo Tech Support has no clue what the cause of the issue is, or when/if a fix might be available. They were nice enough to end my support session when I was doing the troubleshooting they asked me to do, so I got to spend lots of time I will never get back waiting for a support rep to not help me. 

Now the primary function of a DVR, including all the TiVo models, is to record programs. Something the device is incapable of doing as it is constantly rebooting. The only fix is to disconnect this from any network connection, which temporarily resolves the rebooting issue. Though the TiVo Edge gets all of it’s software updates, channel guide updates, streaming services, and sets the unit’s time and date over the internet so a network connection is required. Between all the rebooting my TiVo is now off by somewhere around 21 hours, the channel guide is out of date, and the unit is no longer able to record TV programs that we schedule. 

They claim this is a “known issue” and will be addressed by their Engineering team, though they were unable to do anything else to resolve the issue or even give me an estimate of when it might be fixed. They did say my unit has been added to the list of units experiencing this issue, which is really less than helpful. Now they did have me disconnect the cabled network connection, which was the only way to get the unit to boot and not crash and reboot, and then enable WiFi connection which they said had corrected the problem with other users having this problem. Well no joy, the unit then started rebooting constantly when connecting to WiFi. I then had to power down my entire network just so I could disable my TiVo WiFi so we could at least watch live TV like we did back in the 1980s, by surfing up and down the channels until we found something we were interested in watching. 

TiVo claims this is a “known issue”, but a known issue is something minor like a wrong color on a menu or an issue with the font. Basically, something that might be annoying but does not impact the core functionality of the unit. So this is not an issue, it is a severe bug, one that should have never made it out of software QA. This has essentially rendered my TiVo Edge a single-channel tuner, like a TV from the 1970s or 1980s, unable to perform it’s core function. 

I have enjoyed the TiVo, this is my second unit, but I do expect the DVR to be able to do the job it was designed for. Something the Edge is currently unable to do.


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## bofis

Ugh, have you figured out any solution to this issue? My Edge with lifetime activation has been doing this recently, I had to unplug the ethernet cable and then went through manually deleting all of the recently deleted programs, and eventually, when I put the cable back in, it's been okay ::knock on wood:: but I don't really trust that anything is fixed either since it seems to have to do with it connecting to the internet and then locking up as it's downloading SOMETHING.

That I can find TiVo support threads alluding to this issue going back a few generations is very strange and scary since now it's happening on our current units too.


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## mark.havlek

Not on my end, still waiting for Tivo to get their **** together. My Edge did not work after deleting all of the recently deleted programs, and my guide has now expired so it is just empty. Though the clock is off by about 21 hours so the guide was sort of useless anyway. It is now also saying that we are not authorized to watch some of the channels we are authorized to watch.


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## c133roamioerrors

mark.havlek said:


> Not on my end, still waiting for Tivo to get their **** together. My Edge did not work after deleting all of the recently deleted programs, and my guide has now expired so it is just empty. Though the clock is off by about 21 hours so the guide was sort of useless anyway. It is now also saying that we are not authorized to watch some of the channels we are authorized to watch.





mark.havlek said:


> I would really like to expect a higher state of TV from TiVo, unfortunately, software bugs in my TiVo Edge have essentially neutered my TiVo Edge and made it useless for it’s primary function of recording TV programs.
> 
> The problem I am having is my TiVo Edge is constantly rebooting when it is connected to either a cabled network or WiFi (more on this later). This has been going on since mid-last week and is apparently a “known issue” at TiVo. Though TiVo Tech Support has no clue what the cause of the issue is, or when/if a fix might be available. They were nice enough to end my support session when I was doing the troubleshooting they asked me to do, so I got to spend lots of time I will never get back waiting for a support rep to not help me.
> 
> Now the primary function of a DVR, including all the TiVo models, is to record programs. Something the device is incapable of doing as it is constantly rebooting. The only fix is to disconnect this from any network connection, which temporarily resolves the rebooting issue. Though the TiVo Edge gets all of it’s software updates, channel guide updates, streaming services, and sets the unit’s time and date over the internet so a network connection is required. Between all the rebooting my TiVo is now off by somewhere around 21 hours, the channel guide is out of date, and the unit is no longer able to record TV programs that we schedule.
> 
> They claim this is a “known issue” and will be addressed by their Engineering team, though they were unable to do anything else to resolve the issue or even give me an estimate of when it might be fixed. They did say my unit has been added to the list of units experiencing this issue, which is really less than helpful. Now they did have me disconnect the cabled network connection, which was the only way to get the unit to boot and not crash and reboot, and then enable WiFi connection which they said had corrected the problem with other users having this problem. Well no joy, the unit then started rebooting constantly when connecting to WiFi. I then had to power down my entire network just so I could disable my TiVo WiFi so we could at least watch live TV like we did back in the 1980s, by surfing up and down the channels until we found something we were interested in watching.
> 
> TiVo claims this is a “known issue”, but a known issue is something minor like a wrong color on a menu or an issue with the font. Basically, something that might be annoying but does not impact the core functionality of the unit. So this is not an issue, it is a severe bug, one that should have never made it out of software QA. This has essentially rendered my TiVo Edge a single-channel tuner, like a TV from the 1970s or 1980s, unable to perform it’s core function.
> 
> I have enjoyed the TiVo, this is my second unit, but I do expect the DVR to be able to do the job it was designed for. Something the Edge is currently unable to do.


My Edge reboots far more frequently than my Roamio, The good news is that it is automatic so I don't have to pull the plug and the reboot is much faster. The Netflix app stinks. I have to reboot one or two times to get it to work. The message is cannot play and happens after a show has played for a few seconds. The Netflix app on the 4k works fine. Either I have a lemon or the Edge software is buggy.


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## pbug56

I don't know if this is related, but my EDGE, using wifi, sometimes gets very slow, and you can smell a reboot coming. Also, you mentioned the Netflix app - I've always found it's much safer to use the Netflix app on my TCL Roku TV's than on Tivo. Of course, TIVO's, IMHO, have so few useful or usable apps, odd because TIVO sells streaming boxes. And then there is the issue where you have to reboot because your wifi connection stops working - you find out if you hit the mic button, or run out of guide data. Not to mention the horrendous quality of the guide data, nor TIVO's unwillingness to get problems fixed.

We also have a Roameo, and on a few channels, (I think one is either Smithsonian or Nat Geo), you need to reboot before you play recorded programs - they just won't play without a reboot.


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## mark.havlek

I do not think you understand the issue, my Edge and some others, reboot continuously. So after it boots up fully, it will hang in about 10 seconds or so, then reboot in less than 10 seconds and repeat the cycle if the Edge is connected to a cabled or wireless network. The only way to get the box to boot up and be stable and usable is to disconnect the network connection.


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## Drakah

Last night 6/24 I noticed that I am now having the endless rebooting loop also on my Edge. The only way it stopped rebooting constantly was to unplug the Ethernet cable, but now I cannot watch anything in the other bedrooms. I have been searching about this issue, doing all of the self troubleshooting - from plugging it into a different outlet by itself, to replacing the Ethernet cord, rebooting modem/router, deleting shows, clearing deleted recordings, nothing working. It sure seems to me it is not my unit, but the packet it is trying to download is corrupted. Any advise would be great since I cannot call them until Monday.. grr.


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## Drakah

Another update, I had about 79% of the space full. I deleted out a good portion of old shows I am no longer watching or care about. I got the drive to 48% and still was getting reboots. I kept the Ethernet plug unplugged and decided to go into the "Recently Deleted Recordings" and was deleting one by one... well duh there is an easier way. I did not notice you could hit the "Clear" button over the "Recently Deleted Recordings" folder and choose to delete everything like that. I had to do that 2x or so until everything was gone, had to delete 2 shows manually. I rebooted again to be safe, waited for a tv show to play, then plugged in the Ethernet and crossed fingers. No reboots! Okay, so now I slowly went to the Network settings to do a Tivo Service update and that succeeded too! I did another reboot to be sure, and everything looks to be fine  Crossing fingers. Hope this helps you! 😀


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## mark.havlek

Drakah said:


> Another update, I had about 79% of the space full. I deleted out a good portion of old shows I am no longer watching or care about. I got the drive to 48% and still was getting reboots. I kept the Ethernet plug unplugged and decided to go into the "Recently Deleted Recordings" and was deleting one by one... well duh there is an easier way. I did not notice you could hit the "Clear" button over the "Recently Deleted Recordings" folder and choose to delete everything like that. I had to do that 2x or so until everything was gone, had to delete 2 shows manually. I rebooted again to be safe, waited for a tv show to play, then plugged in the Ethernet and crossed fingers. No reboots! Okay, so now I slowly went to the Network settings to do a Tivo Service update and that succeeded too! I did another reboot to be sure, and everything looks to be fine  Crossing fingers. Hope this helps you! 😀


The reboots are being caused by a software bug that is linked to the SkipMode feature. Tivo disabled SkipMode on my Edge and the reboot cycles stopped, though now I cannot automatically skip commercials.....

I am really not sure they have sorted out exactly what is causing this, other than disabling SkipMode seems to resolve the issue for now. My Edge was continually rebooting when it was connected to either Ethernet or Wireless, and clearing the deleted programs folder had no effect on my unit.


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## Drakah

My skip mode is enabled still, although that reminds me that the other day I was watching a tv show, and the auto-skip passed the mark enough that I couldnt see what just happened. Rewinding it a little made it skip again. So, I hit the Info button and Disabled auto-skip, and then I was getting the message to hit D/Skip. Seems like that was only for that 1 show though, not globally, as checking now on my other shows, Skip is indeed enabled and working. Maybe some show I deleted manually had a corrupt skip show in there.


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## dpalmi

My Edge started having this issue the night of July 4th. There is also a thread in the Bolt thread of this forum that some Bolt users are experiencing the same issue. If my Edge has any kind of Internet connected, it will re-boot. If you leave the Internet connected, it will loop and re-boot. You will see the "Starting Up" screen but it never gets to the "Home" screen. I have tried both wired and wireless networks. Also tried wireless on a completely different network (cell phone hotspot), so it's nothing with my home network. It appears to me the re-boot happens as soon as the TiVo sees an active Internet connection and starts to connect to the TiVo service. I have a ticket logged with TiVo and they said they are aware of the issue and working on it and others are having it as well. My Edge works fine as long as I don't connect it to the Internet. My TiVo minis become almost worthless because they can't connect to the non-networked Edge. In two weeks I'll run out of Guide data and then I don't know what I will do...


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## ckavas

Add me to the list of those whose Tivo is basically a brick due to this bug. Tried everything suggested in this thread and the box will go into a constant reboot cycle every time it tries to connect to the network regardless of being wired or wireless. Spent some time with Tivo customer support and they said "they are working on it and will email me" with no idea of when it will be fixed. I am surprised this is not getting more attention.


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## Drakah

The only fix that worked for me was disconnecting from the internet, delete shows so you are under 49% drive space, then empty the entire "Recently Deleted Recordings" (very important!) by hitting the "Clear" button over that folder under "All Shows".


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## dpalmi

FYI for those with TiVo Minis - with my home router, I was able to block the Internet access for the specific device/MAC address of the TiVo Edge so that I can still connect my Edge to my network but block its access to the Internet. This has made it possible to use my TiVo Minis in my home with my Edge connected to my network.


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## dpalmi

Drakah said:


> The only fix that worked for me was disconnecting from the internet, delete shows so you are under 49% drive space, then empty the entire "Recently Deleted Recordings" (very important!) by hitting the "Clear" button over that folder under "All Shows".


So after doing that, is the re-boot issue gone? Are you able to leave your Edge connected to the Internet and have no re-boots?


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## ckavas

@Drakah, I tried that as well. No dice sadly. Anyone got any other hacks? Anyone thought about how they are going to update the software given how the bug manifests itself? I suppose we will have to copy some files to a USB fob assuming the system knows what to do with it.


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## Drakah

dpalmi said:


> So after doing that, is the re-boot issue gone? Are you able to leave your Edge connected to the Internet and have no re-boots?


Correct, no reboots. It stopped rebooting after I emptied the Recently Deleted Recordings, rebooted then plugged back in the ethernet cord. Prior, I did everything except that and it just kept rebooting until I did that. I am thinking it might had to do with a show that had a corrupted "skip" in one of the shows that was recorded. Maybe out of all the shows I was deleting, I picked the right one to delete and wiped out the bug.


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## ckavas

So, given the statement "it might had to do with a show that had a corrupted "skip" in one of the shows ", I went ahead and deleted every recording on my Tivo including the deleted items folder. Rebooted, connected the lan line and it instantly went into the reboot cycle.

This is a hell of a bug


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## ckavas

Update: After reading some more forums on this issue, I decided to to a hard reset. So far, <knocks on wood> everything seems to be working okay. The question is how long before the issue manifests itself again.


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## Drakah

ckavas said:


> Update: After reading some more forums on this issue, I decided to to a hard reset. So far, <knocks on wood> everything seems to be working okay. The question is how long before the issue manifests itself again.


Thats awesome! Good luck bud


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## dpalmi

ckavas said:


> Update: After reading some more forums on this issue, I decided to to a hard reset. So far, <knocks on wood> everything seems to be working okay. The question is how long before the issue manifests itself again.


Good to hear and thanks for the update. That deletes everything on the unit, correct?

Dan


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## lemansiii

mark.havlek said:


> I would really like to expect a higher state of TV from TiVo, unfortunately, software bugs in my TiVo Edge have essentially neutered my TiVo Edge and made it useless for it’s primary function of recording TV programs.


Mine is also rebooting, but only when I change channel up/down, or move around a certain amount in the guide.

I noticed this only after I got home from vacation and found that the unit had been connecting, but not updating the guide for 2 weeks. That fixed after a reboot (ha).

This along with the iOS software quality is infuriating.


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## c-collins

I had the internet connected reboot on my TiVo Bolt and doing a kickstart 50 fixed it.


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## JanAtheCPA

c133roamioerrors said:


> My Edge reboots far more frequently than my Roamio, The good news is that it is automatic so I don't have to pull the plug and the reboot is much faster. The Netflix app stinks. I have to reboot one or two times to get it to work. The message is cannot play and happens after a show has played for a few seconds. The Netflix app on the 4k works fine. Either I have a lemon or the Edge software is buggy.


I don't use any apps on TiVo (Roku, Fire TV, and a Google-based smart TV all do a better job) but I have nonetheless experienced this random rebooting on my almost-new Edge, which I am not loving at all, after many years of happy TiVo ownership. It's obviously the Edge itself that's glitchy and unreliable. Tonight it rebooted while I was watching a recording, not even touching the remote. I also despise almost everything about the Experience 4 experience, ugh. And don't get me started on the disaster that is the current protocol for transferring recordings between units (I've gone into that in another thread). My old Roamio is a far superior and reliable DVR.


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## dpalmi

c-collins said:


> I had the internet connected reboot on my TiVo Bolt and doing a kickstart 50 fixed it.


Can you describe how to do the kickstart please? I would like to try this but have been unable to find instructions on how to do it on an Edge. Thanks!


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## mark.havlek

So I now get weekly calls from someone on the TiVo Executive Response Team, yeah terrible name, to update me on the progress on fixing this issue. Or more correctly, the lack of progress. Disabling the SkipMode stops the problem, but then you cannot just press one button to skip all the commercials. TiVo disabled SkipMode on mine and it did stop the continuous rebooting. Today's update was to ask me if I had a specific episode of Stephen Colbert's show on my TiVo, an episode from mid-May. Now we do record Colbert, but that episode is long since aged off the unit. They re-enabled SkipMode on my Edge this afternoon, though it does not work so they probably did not re-enable it. 

So they are working on the premise that the problem was caused by this specific Colbert episode, though I doubt they really have a clue as to what is really causing this.


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## seancolin

So mine just started doing this on Friday but I'm not sure it's exactly the same situation. I have a reboot loop but only get as far as the "Starting Up" screen then I get a message that it's going to take 3 hours to fix, then a reboot, then rinse and repeat. Did that all weekend, called them this morning when they opened and got "it's a know issue, no ETA, but we'll let you know". Unfortunately I'm 2 months out of warranty with this box but I'm going to give then a day or two, then call them back and see if I can get a new out out of them. If not I'll threaten to cancel all 4 of my boxes and see where that gets me.


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## mark.havlek

seancolin said:


> So mine just started doing this on Friday but I'm not sure it's exactly the same situation. I have a reboot loop but only get as far as the "Starting Up" screen then I get a message that it's going to take 3 hours to fix, then a reboot, then rinse and repeat. Did that all weekend, called them this morning when they opened and got "it's a know issue, no ETA, but we'll let you know". Unfortunately I'm 2 months out of warranty with this box but I'm going to give then a day or two, then call them back and see if I can get a new out out of them. If not I'll threaten to cancel all 4 of my boxes and see where that gets me.


This is just my opinion on this. TiVo merged with Xperi in 2020. Xperi, formerly Tessera, is a company that makes money by licensing intellectual property and patents they acquire by mergers and acquisitions. Xperi has historically had no interest in being a technology company and does not want to be designing, manufacturing, and marketing hardware. So I suspect that they will sell the TiVo units until they deplete the existing inventory, or as long as there is short-term profit in it and then stop selling them. You can already see this move as they no longer sell through third parties like BestBuy, they only sell direct now. 

Couple that with the cable companies starting to end support for CableCARDs since the FCC ruled they no longer have to support them in late 2020. Comcast just told me that they are no longer providing new CableCARDs but will continue to support the units in the field. Again this is just my opinion, but I would look for Xperi to spin the TiVo hardware business off at some point while retaining all of the IP and Patents. That would free them from having to provide service for existing boxes, and when the TiVo hardware business is no longer profitable the company goes into bankruptcy and shuts down.


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## seancolin

mark.havlek said:


> This is just my opinion on this. TiVo merged with Xperi in 2020. Xperi, formerly Tessera, is a company that makes money by licensing intellectual property and patents they acquire by mergers and acquisitions. Xperi has historically had no interest in being a technology company and does not want to be designing, manufacturing, and marketing hardware. So I suspect that they will sell the TiVo units until they deplete the existing inventory, or as long as there is short-term profit in it and then stop selling them. You can already see this move as they no longer sell through third parties like BestBuy, they only sell direct now.
> 
> Couple that with the cable companies starting to end support for CableCARDs since the FCC ruled they no longer have to support them in late 2020. Comcast just told me that they are no longer providing new CableCARDs but will continue to support the units in the field. Again this is just my opinion, but I would look for Xperi to spin the TiVo hardware business off at some point while retaining all of the IP and Patents. That would free them from having to provide service for existing boxes, and when the TiVo hardware business is no longer profitable the company goes into bankruptcy and shuts down.


Can't say that I disagree. I work in the software QA field professionally and I suspect something wonky has been going on with their software for a while. In May or June allot of my season passes started recording sporadically on 2 of my 3 boxes and now this. If they've had a software issue for this long and haven't notified the customer base or even offered account credits it ridiculous. I had to call them to only be told it's a "know issue" and when I asked if it was hardware or software they had no clue. I'm pretty much done with Tivo but I'm going to give them one more chance on Monday to see what they do but I may just have to give in and become a slave to Cablevision as much as I hate doing it. I refuse to pay money to Xperi for a substandard product while they decide what to do with it.


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## mark.havlek

seancolin said:


> Can't say that I disagree. I work in the software QA field professionally and I suspect something wonky has been going on with their software for a while. In May or June allot of my season passes started recording sporadically on 2 of my 3 boxes and now this. If they've had a software issue for this long and haven't notified the customer base or even offered account credits it ridiculous. I had to call them to only be told it's a "know issue" and when I asked if it was hardware or software they had no clue. I'm pretty much done with Tivo but I'm going to give them one more chance on Monday to see what they do but I may just have to give in and become a slave to Cablevision as much as I hate doing it. I refuse to pay money to Xperi for a substandard product while they decide what to do with it.


I am running a Channels DVR on my Synology NAS now, recording from Hulu and Comcast streaming sources. So far so good, though need to upgrade my storage......

As for TiVo, I am looking to move away from my TiVo so when Comcast pulls the plug on the CableCARD I already have another option up and running. Long term I will probably dump Comcast and go to full streaming. Lower cost and other than no PBS it basically has the same channels.


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## seancolin

Well after my latest phone call with Tivo I'm done. It's still a known issue and they don't recommend switching out the boxes because it will most likely happen again. If I wanted to swap out the box though they would only charge me $100. I pointed out the absurdity of charging me anything to fix an issue they caused and it fell on deaf ears. With that I cancelled all of my accounts and got the new Optimum set up which is pretty good if I'm being honest. Good luck everyone, it's sad to say but Tivo may have run it's course.


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