# Help PC not detecting DVR / Error Retrieving Data



## MojoB (Jun 1, 2012)

Can anyone help me? I installed Tivo Desktop 2.83 on 2 computers. It does not work on either one when trying to view Recordings to Transfer. Sometimes it says it cannot detect a DVR, sometimes it says "there was an error while attempting to retrieve data from the selected DVR".

The DVR is set to allow transfers. I called Tivo and they were not much help, we rebooted Tivo, rebooted PC, tried Tivo Beacon instead of Bonjour, tried turning Tivo Server on. He finally said I would have to call my router company. Then all of a sudden the recordings showed up on Tivo Desktop but only 1 time and they haven't showed up since.

When I run Tivo Desktop troubleshooting it says:
Tivo DVRs on your Network
Test execution failed: "Read NPL from DVR"
Error reason: "can't send request https (some IP address) /etc etc
Error details: WinHttpSendRequest fails, error code: 12002, description: The request has timed out.

The DVR's Media Access Key does not match the key in Tivo Desktop for the following DVrs:

(name of my DVR here) (some # here)

You will not be able to transfer recordings from these DVRs

Test execution failed "Find DVRs that do not have transfer permissions set"
Error reason: "can't send request http: (some ip address) / etc etc
Error details: WinHttpSendRequest fails, error code: 12002, description: The request has timed out.

I checked and the subnet mask is the same on tivo and computer.
*NOTE: I have set the Media Access Key correctly, multiple times.*


----------



## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

It could be your firewall on the PC or router could be blocking the attempts to access the Tivo.

There are some ports that need to be opened to allow access.

Listed under: http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/402/kw/ports

TCP ports: 37, 80, 443, 1413, 2190, 4430, 5005, 5222, 5223, 5254, 7287-7297, 7288, 8000, 8080-8089, 8101-8102, 8181, 8200, 31339
UDP ports: 37, 123, 2190, 5353

Open up the firewall settings and add these in to there, depending on what operating systems you are using, it could be ADD PORTS. For example: in my Windows XP, under Windows Firewall, It is located under the EXCEPTIONS tab, a button labeled Add Port.


----------



## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

ThAbtO said:


> It could be your firewall on the PC or router could be blocking the attempts to access the Tivo.
> 
> There are some ports that need to be opened to allow access.
> 
> ...


Unless the TiVos are having trouble accessing the INTERNET, the above steps are unnecessary. A firewall has nothing to do with access within a local network.

If you haven't configured the TiVos to use a fixed IP address instead of DHCP, do so. Probably should do the same for your computer.

Verify that both TiVos have the same MAK, that it matches the one on your account and that is properly set in TD. Yes, I know you said you have set it multiple times. The best way to ensure that it is set properly is to do a cut and paste from the one on your tivo.com account into TD, making sure that you do not add any leading or trailing blanks.

What do your TiVos have for the TiVoToGo line on the System Information page? It should be a,a,a

See if you can access the TiVos via browser. Open a browser window and enter:

https://<The TiVos IP address>. You should be prompted for User Name and Password.
enter "tivo" (w/o the quotes) as the User Name
enter your TiVo MAK as the Password

for example, if one of the TiVos has an IP address of 192.168.1.102, you would enter

```
https://192.168.1.102
```
Investigate using pyTivo instead of TiVo Desktop.


----------



## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

lpwcomp said:


> Unless the TiVos are having trouble accessing the INTERNET, the above steps are unnecessary. A firewall has nothing to do with access within a local network.


Not on the router, but it would on the PC. MojoB could try disabling the PC's firewall (if it has one) altogether as a test, before adding all those ports. I can say that only a small subset of those actually need to be open. (31339, for example, is the port on the TiVo for the older "telnet/Crestron" remote control service. There would be no reason in a normal configuration to open this port on the PC side. Some extreme firewall setups limit outgoing connections to specific ports, but it's highly unlikely that you'd have such a setup in your home. In any case, this port is not used by TiVo Desktop.)


----------



## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

wmcbrine said:


> Not on the router, but it would on the PC. MojoB could try disabling the PC's firewall (if it has one) altogether as a test, before adding all those ports. I can say that only a small subset of those actually need to be open. (31339, for example, is the port on the TiVo for the older "telnet/Crestron" remote control service. There would be no reason in a normal configuration to open this port on the PC side. Some extreme firewall setups limit outgoing connections to specific ports, but it's highly unlikely that you'd have such a setup in your home. In any case, this port is not used by TiVo Desktop.)


Ah, s/w firewall. That makes sense.

Are the problems TiVos behind a firewall sometimes encounter (like the inability to connect to the timeservers) generally related to using a DMZ?


----------



## MojoB (Jun 1, 2012)

ThAbtO said:


> It could be your firewall on the PC or router could be blocking the attempts to access the Tivo.
> 
> There are some ports that need to be opened to allow access.


I have Norton Internet Security as my firewall. I disabled the smart firewall and still cannot access the recordings on Tivo Desktop. I also tried closing and reopening TD after disabling. Did I have to restart PC or Tivo after disabling the firewall? Norton Internet Security has a Program Control option in its firewall settings and when I open it allows you to "Create custom internet access for individual programs'. It has Bonjour and various Tivo programs there. I've also wondered if I have the right Bonjour software or not.

I attempted to use broadband features, I was able to browse them and I attempted to download a podcast and a music video. After some time the music video appeared in now playing list. The podcast did not, tivo attempted 7 times to get the podcast but "was not downloaded because the connection to the source was broken or never established".

I don't know enough or want to do static IP. I copied and pasted the MAK from tivo's website to tivo desktop, still didn't work. I am only using 1 tivo and trying to view recordings on computers. It shows a,a,a on tivotogo line. When I tried the http url with my tivo ip address (can't type if out because tivo forum sees it as a link and not allowed to post links yet because of post count) the webpage was not available because it took to long to respond. The ip address I used had 4 series of numbers total separated by .

I went to look at pytivo at pytivo.sourceforge.net and google chrome stopped me from going to the website because it said it was a known malicious website.

Update: Unplugged modem, router, tivo, and computer. Waited, powered on everything and after waiting for Tivo and trying multiple times I finally saw the recordings on Tivo Desktop. However, this is what it did the last time I power cycled (I think only the Tivo itself). It worked then not long after it stopped seeing them. It seems to be the same issue these guys encountered: (can't post links) If you post this in google: 'error code 12002 tivo' and click on the 1st link with the 3 posts you'll see.


----------



## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

MojoB said:


> I went to look at pytivo at pytivo.sourceforge.net and google chrome stopped me from going to the website because it said it was a known malicious website.


WTF?! Is anyone else seeing this? I doubt it's Chrome; maybe it's your Norton? We went through something like this a while back, but I thought it was straightened out.

Edit: Yep, Norton:

http://safeweb.norton.com/report/show?url=pytivo.sourceforge.net

What is the matter with these idiots? Argh. Previous thread on this:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/archive/index.php/t-483092.html


----------



## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

wmcbrine said:


> WTF?! Is anyone else seeing this? I doubt it's Chrome; maybe it's your Norton? We went through something like this a while back, but I thought it was straightened out.
> 
> Edit: Yep, Norton:


This is what happens when there was not enough info to get a proper fix.


----------



## MojoB (Jun 1, 2012)

wmcbrine said:


> WTF?! Is anyone else seeing this? I doubt it's Chrome; maybe it's your Norton? We went through something like this a while back, but I thought it was straightened out.
> 
> Edit: Yep, Norton:
> 
> What is the matter with these idiots? Argh. Previous thread on this:


So Norton's was a false positive then? Thank you everyone for your help. So far it's still showing the shows on Tivo Desktop, I'm hoping I won't have to restart Tivo every time I shut the computer off and back on.


----------



## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

MojoB said:


> So Norton's was a false positive then?


Yes.


----------



## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

wmcbrine said:


> What is the matter with these idiots?


More money than talent.


----------



## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

OK, the Norton thing is fixed. Again. For now.


----------

