# MINI - Lost signal error message



## Finalrinse

I have my Premier 4 network wired Ethernet with MoCa+Ethernet enabled, and dedicating one tuner to MINI. I have Comcast with Blast internet speeds, over 85Mbps download and 11Mbps upload. For the record I have excellent throughput streaming HD video through out my house, cable TV signal is excellent and Internet speeds are excellent. I can't remember the last time I've had an outage on any of them. I have a Netgear R6300 router, and a 3700 as backup. I've replaced my Cat5e cables trying to diagnose the issue. I have installed the POE filter at house entry point. 
I have my Mini installed in the bedroom with Coax using MoCa. Everything seems to work fine, especially watching recorded shows. At random times when watching live TV all of a sudden an error message pops up saying I have lost the signal to my premiere 4 and check the connections and Ethernet, etc... I can't remember the exact wording right now. I can't figure it out but starting to get frustrated. Should I try Ethernet only? It would take some work but it's possible. Any ideas?? Thanks


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## aaronwt

I've had that happen occasionally on my Minis. But I have only seen it happen near the very end of a recording. When there are only a few minutes left. Never any other time. Then I go back to My Shows and hit play again and it starts playing where it left off. I need to start keeping track of when it happens. I think it happens on shows that I started watching while they were still in the process of recording, but I'm not sure. I'll need to keep a log of it over the next few weeks so I can track every time it happens.

For instance it happened last night at the very end of Revolution. I had started watching Revolution around 10:30, while it was still recording. But later I watched The Following, which had already finished recording, and did not see the issue.


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## southerndoc

I've also experienced this. Finalrinse, I think it's a bug with the Mini and not your setup.


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## moyekj

Is it the "V87" error screen? I get that occasionally as well and have to re-start the stream when it happens. Annoying but at least it doesn't happen all the time.


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## waterchange

aaronwt said:


> I've had that happen occasionally on my Minis. But I have only seen it happen near the very end of a recording. When there are only a few minutes left. Never any other time. Then I go back to My Shows and hit play again and it starts playing where it left off. I need to start keeping track of when it happens. I think it happens on shows that I started watching while they were still in the process of recording, but I'm not sure. I'll need to keep a log of it over the next few weeks so I can track every time it happens.
> 
> For instance it happened last night at the very end of Revolution. I had started watching Revolution around 10:30, while it was still recording. But later I watched The Following, which had already finished recording, and did not see the issue.


fwiw, I've noticed this happens when streaming on my Premiere's. When streaming a show that's actively recording, I get the error message at the very end of the show (that's now already finished recording). There's a complaint about losing the communication to the other Premiere; I just re-stream the show and skip to the end to watch the last minute (seconds) of what I missed. This does seem to happen only with shows that are being recorded; haven't noticed issues with shows that have already finished recording before I start to stream.


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## waterchange

aaronwt said:


> I've had that happen occasionally on my Minis. But I have only seen it happen near the very end of a recording. When there are only a few minutes left. Never any other time. Then I go back to My Shows and hit play again and it starts playing where it left off. I need to start keeping track of when it happens. I think it happens on shows that I started watching while they were still in the process of recording, but I'm not sure. I'll need to keep a log of it over the next few weeks so I can track every time it happens.
> 
> For instance it happened last night at the very end of Revolution. I had started watching Revolution around 10:30, while it was still recording. But later I watched The Following, which had already finished recording, and did not see the issue.


fwiw, I've noticed this happens when streaming on my Premiere's. When streaming a show that's actively recording, I get the error message at the very end of the show (that's now already finished recording). There's a complaint about losing the communication to the other Premiere; I just re-stream the show and skip to the end to watch the last minute (seconds) of what I missed. This does seem to happen only with shows that are being recorded; haven't noticed issues with shows that have already finished recording before I start to stream. Maybe a general streaming quirk and not specifically Mini related?


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## magicspell

I had this happen for the first time last night (I've had my mini set up and running for a few weeks). My mini is in the bedroom with my XL4 in the living room. I turned on the bedroom TV last night and hit the TiVo button on the remote. I got the usual menu. I selected a show to watch (recorded not live TV) and selected play. Then I got the message that the mini had lost communication to the host Premiere and to check my network. I simply tried again and it played fine.

I chalked it up to a network glitch but maybe it's something in the communication between mini and host??

Bruce


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## tivoboy

I had this happen a couple days ago. I thought one of the homeplug boxes I use for ethernet over powerline had come out of the wall, which it hadn't. As others have noted, it was at the end of a show, could be just coincidence. Might be some sort of call back? I use MoCa for the connection to a premier XL4.


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## Finalrinse

Geekmedic, I also think it is a bug within the MINI. I'm calling TiVo support to get it on record that I have the problem. May I suggest anyone else that has the issue let them know so they can work on a firmware fix.


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## davezatz

aaronwt said:


> I've had that happen occasionally on my Minis. But I have only seen it happen near the very end of a recording. When there are only a few minutes left. Never any other time. Then I go back to My Shows and hit play again and it starts playing where it left off.


Yeah, we're seeing this too towards the end of shows. I think we mostly record 1hr shows and ffwd through commercials, so that's the scenario. Also, both my Elite/XL4 and Mini are connected via MoCA and we've also noticed when I'm gaming online via the PS3 the Mini's video goes in and out of like slow motion or stuttering. It's odd. Between the lag and these bugs, we're kinda 'meh' about the whole thing thus far. Hopefully they bugs get cleaned up and they turn Netflix on.


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## 2trill4925

I'm also having the same results with live-TV and archived recordings. I noticed that any external traffic gives my Mini fits. Of course I'm running an unsupported network configuration with a series of bridges. So far it happens when my kids watch youtube on the kindle fire, uploading files with drop box, and using the neflix app on the host dvr.


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## Finalrinse

I'm almost afraid to say anything but for the last couple of weeks mine has not acted up, no errors and working perfectly. I don't understand, I didn't change anything?


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## aaronwt

I've been keeping track of this with mine, and it happens everytime I watch a recording that is still in progress when I start watching. And the issues always occurs near the end of the recording. If the recording was already completed when I start watching, I don't see the issue.


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## Loach

aaronwt said:


> I've been keeping track of this with mine, and it happens everytime I watch a recording that is still in progress when I start watching. And the issues always occurs near the end of the recording. If the recording was already completed when I start watching, I don't see the issue.


I saw this for the first time last night with my bedroom Mini. I usually watch the 10:00 news on a slightly time-shifted basis - probably started it about 10:15 last night. Got the lost connection error message maybe 25 minutes into the 35 minute news program. Returned to the Tivo menu and resumed playing, which worked fine.


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## uribees

I have been having this problem since day 1. My mini looses connection about every 5-10 minutes with the V94 error. I'm using the MoCa for the connection currently. I even ran an ethernet cable directly to my router and still no luck. I'm using a Verizon Fios router. Now I'm thinking it may be an issue with my router. I plan on doing more troubleshooting tonight. Anybody else have it this bad? Has anybody contacted Tivo?


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## Finalrinse

Loach said:


> I saw this for the first time last night with my bedroom Mini. I usually watch the 10:00 news on a slightly time-shifted basis - probably started it about 10:15 last night. Got the lost connection error message maybe 25 minutes into the 35 minute news program. Returned to the Tivo menu and resumed playing, which worked fine.


This is exactly what I do, start watching the 10 oclock news about 10 or 15 minutes into it while it's recording.


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## aznrocka

uribees said:


> I have been having this problem since day 1. My mini looses connection about every 5-10 minutes with the V94 error. I'm using the MoCa for the connection currently. I even ran an ethernet cable directly to my router and still no luck. I'm using a Verizon Fios router. Now I'm thinking it may be an issue with my router. I plan on doing more troubleshooting tonight. Anybody else have it this bad? Has anybody contacted Tivo?


Uribees,
did you find a solution to your problem? I just had fios installed from comcast this past friday and am having similar problem as you. both watching live tv and recorded shows on my mini will cut out about every 5-10 minutes and i have to hit either watch live tv or resume the recorded show. I have a feeling its the fios router but don't know. My set up is similar to your. premiere 4 with mini connected via moca.


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## MScottC

I'm having similar disconnect issues with my newly acquired Mini and brand new Roamio Plus. 

The Mini works fine for a while, but then starts stuttering and at times throws up the network disconnect issue.

I have a cat 5 cable running between two GigE switches. On the office switch is an ASUS router/wifi, cable modem, various office equipment and the Mini. The Livingroom has the aforementioned GigE switch which has the Roamio, a wifi access point, sling box, Roku 3 and Roku Soundbridge. The cable between the two switches runs through walls, and has my own homemade ends, which I can't totally vouch for, but haven't given me problems till now. Last night I measured throughput between two computers with GigE NICs. First I did it with the desktop and laptop in the office off the same switch, got a benchmark of about 800 Mbps. Then I took the laptop out to the livingroom and ran the same test and got about 400Mbps. Given that this is way higher than the bandwidth needed for moving HDTV, I'm not sure where I stand.


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## Mgnyc11

Im also having this issue. I thought that at first it was due to the fact i only had a 100Mb switch in the bedroom, but I have FIOS so I wnet with MOCA and having the same issues as well. I have the MOCA set to AUto for channel, Ill play with that later as well.


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## philhu

Did they just sdo a mini software upgrade? If not, how does this problem start to occur all by itself?

Between this problem and the Roamio cablecard V58/black screen errors, me thinks Tivo has some serious Software errors they really need to address!!!


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## Mgnyc11

I called Tivo support and they fixed it for me.
They had me unplug the ethernet from the Roamio. Then they had me test connectivity to the internet with the Moca on the Roamio. This fixed it. The tech said that he believes there are issues with Tivo Minis and hubs. Unless both the Mini and The Roamio are plugged into the same router, it will have issues.


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## MScottC

I posted this on another thread as well, but as it's a potential answer for people I figured I'd repost it here as well.

Well, I think I found the answer to my issue... the two pieces of gear I'd least suspect. As I said in earlier posts, a GigE switch resides on either end of a cat5 cable connecting my office/den/spare bedroom and my living room. The primary router, TiVo Mini and all my other gear hang off the office switch. A router in WAP mode, Roamio Plus and other A/V gear hang off the living room switch.

This morning I took the mini out to the living room, connected it to the switch there and lo and behold, still had issues. That ruled out the run between the two rooms. Exasperated, I almost walked away, but then in a last ditch effort, plugged both TiVo devices into the router in the living room and got no disconnects for a half hour. Wow, I'm on to something.

So, even though I had only fifteen minutes before needing to make my bus to work, I pulled the mini back into the office, totally reconfigured the wiring in my office to connect the mini, the switch and the living room line all to the Asus router, and in the living room, I connected the Roamio, the switch and the other end of the long run to the WAP/router. All my other gear hangs off the respective room switches. Since then, everything seems to be running perfectly.

I had no idea switches which appeared to have been working perfectly, and have nothing to configure, would cause me such aggravation.

For the record, these are TRENDnet 8-Port Unmanaged Gigabit GREENnet Standard Switches, model number TEG-S80G.


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## Mgnyc11

MScottC said:


> For the record, these are TRENDnet 8-Port Unmanaged Gigabit GREENnet Standard Switches, model number TEG-S80G.


I have that exact same switch, but I'm happy using the Moca and having it work.


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## sirfergy

MScottC said:


> I posted this on another thread as well, but as it's a potential answer for people I figured I'd repost it here as well.
> 
> Well, I think I found the answer to my issue... the two pieces of gear I'd least suspect. As I said in earlier posts, a GigE switch resides on either end of a cat5 cable connecting my office/den/spare bedroom and my living room. The primary router, TiVo Mini and all my other gear hang off the office switch. A router in WAP mode, Roamio Plus and other A/V gear hang off the living room switch.
> 
> This morning I took the mini out to the living room, connected it to the switch there and lo and behold, still had issues. That ruled out the run between the two rooms. Exasperated, I almost walked away, but then in a last ditch effort, plugged both TiVo devices into the router in the living room and got no disconnects for a half hour. Wow, I'm on to something.
> 
> So, even though I had only fifteen minutes before needing to make my bus to work, I pulled the mini back into the office, totally reconfigured the wiring in my office to connect the mini, the switch and the living room line all to the Asus router, and in the living room, I connected the Roamio, the switch and the other end of the long run to the WAP/router. All my other gear hangs off the respective room switches. Since then, everything seems to be running perfectly.
> 
> I had no idea switches which appeared to have been working perfectly, and have nothing to configure, would cause me such aggravation.
> 
> For the record, these are TRENDnet 8-Port Unmanaged Gigabit GREENnet Standard Switches, model number TEG-S80G.


I have the exact same switch, and have the same issues. Maybe it's time to try a diff switch.

Edit: Actually, I'll just switch to MoCA. I have a Roamio Pro so already have the setup required.


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## biskitboy

I also was bitten by the "Green Ethernet" switch Cisco SG100D-08P V2 (v1 is not green). 

In my case, I have 2 Mini's that were losing connection to a Roamio. I originally noticed the arp table on the network was showing multiple IP addresses for the Roamio. I decided to statically address the Roamio, and things got better... but not perfect.

I then decided to run Wireshark (network analyzer) to see if I could capture the problem before I called Tivo Tech support. Well, in order to do this properly I had to swap the switch the Roamio was connected to, and then the problem stopped happening. I put the original Cisco green switch back in and just watched the lights on it. I would periodically see both my Apple TV and my Tivo Roamio links go down and then come right back up. 

Because the link flaps, assigning a DHCP helps it (one less step to do), but it will still have issues because well... the link is flapping!

It seems that my problem with the switch is only on the Roamio side. I have another cisco green switch (same model) on a remote mini and so far that one seems ok. The other mini is sitting on an apple airport extreme. Ever since I removed the green switch on the Roamio, things have been going great!


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## billyt293

I am having the same or similar issues with a Roamio Plus and two Tivo Mini units. Main TV is fine, but signal drops with stutters and pixelation on the Mini and then occasionally it completely loses connection. What is odd to me, is that this just started happening a few days ago after a couple of weeks with no issues at all. I can stream HD video on a DVD player connected to the same ethernet switch as the Mini with no issues. 

Something that has been mentioned by others, my Roamio is connected to a switch in the basement and then there is a 30' Cat 6 run to another switch to which the mini and the aforementioned DVD player are connected. I may try a direct connect to the Roamio switch to the Mini to see if that helps the issue. 

The really frustrating thing is this is new behavior - was there a recent service update that could have introduced this condition?


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## billyt293

Just a quick troubleshooting update. I tried connecting the Mini in the living room directly to the basement switch to which the Roamio is connected - no improvement. Then I switched the Mini to Moca and set up the Roamio for Moca - no improvement. The Mini in the bedroom (still on ethernet) is a little better (less frequent) but exhibits the same issues - pixellation, freezes, skips, loses connection completely. Watching on the main TV on the Roamio is fine. 

One other thing is the behavior is with Live TV and with recorded programs. 

So frustrated...


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## TC25D

How fast is your switch? Is it a green switch?


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## billyt293

TC25D said:


> How fast is your switch? Is it a green switch?


It's a Dell PowerConnect GigE switch - 5324. The switch bandwidth tests out great...and I have the problem with Moca too, eliminating ethernet as the medium completely. Right now I have one Mini using Moca (changed the living room one for troubleshooting) and one using ethernet (bedroom) and both are acting up. The one in the living room is borderline unusable it is so bad.


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## wmhjr

Same issues. It's a mini design issue. Have 2 minis - each hosted by a different XL4. Does not consistently happen, but it happens. No rhyme or reason. Sometimes is actually just loses the connection to its host period. Sometimes it loses the connection when playing back content. Most of the time it is fine, but it definitely glitches.


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## wmhjr

BTW, this is not just a mini issue. It's a Tivo issue. I also experience this (including again last night) when viewing content from one XL4 through another XL4 - there are minis attached to each XL4, but they were not "actively" being used on either unit.


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## DCIFRTHS

Hmmm. I got an error last night during the streaming of a show from one XL to another XL. This is the first time it happened, and it blew. I forgot to write down the V number (my bad). I had to select the source XL through the menus, and navigate to the show I was watching to resume playback :down:

It was very annoying, and not something I would not be willing to live with if it happened more than once every few months.

I don't stream that often, so it's not surprising that I haven't seen this before. Since the Mini is always streaming, I will definitely be holding off on purchasing one...


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