# No matter what we do, TiVo PRO will not connect to router



## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

We've been working on this for nearly 5 hours. I give up. TiVo tech support can't solve the problem.


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## StevesWeb (Dec 26, 2008)

Are you using an Ethernet cable to directly connect TiVo to the router? If not describe everything in between the TiVo and the router.

What brand/model of router?

When you connect an Ethernet cable to powered on TiVo, then connect the other end to router, do any LEDs turn on, flash, or change color?


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

StevesWeb said:


> Are you using an Ethernet cable to directly connect TiVo to the router? If not describe everything in between the TiVo and the router.
> 
> What brand/model of router?
> 
> When you connect an Ethernet cable to powered on TiVo, then connect the other end to router, do any LEDs turn on, flash, or change color?


Steve, thanks so much for your reply! We are still on the phone with TiVo but I will gather the info for you as soon as I can (appreciate your help!)

The error codes are N02 and C202.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

Steve, again.. thank you for your reply.. but we are returning the unit to TiVo. Guess we just won't be a Roamio family


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Don't give up! TiVo CSRs aren't very knowledgeable when it comes to networking. I bet we can help you figure it out.


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## GriffithStrife (Oct 30, 2010)

I sent you a pm with my number it should not take more than five minutes to get it up and running.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

Dan203 said:


> Don't give up! TiVo CSRs aren't very knowledgeable when it comes to networking. I bet we can help you figure it out.





GriffithStrife said:


> I sent you a pm with my number it should not take more than five minutes to get it up and running.


Dan, Griffith and Steve... you are fabulous to offer your help. Just goes to show that there still are terrific people in the TiVo community ~ you guys rock :up:

We are returning the unit, but it's nice to know there's such great support here.


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## Lensman (Dec 22, 2001)

It's a long shot but I created a big problem for myself when I connected my Premier to my network using ethernet. Apparently, since I have Verizon Fios, I have a MOCA LAN availalable on the coax line.

This created a network loop and my entire home network was down until I realized this and disconnected the ethernet cable from my Tivo and restarted my entire network.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

Lensman said:


> It's a long shot but I created a big problem for myself when I connected my Premier to my network using ethernet. Apparently, since I have Verizon Fios, I have a MOCA LAN availalable on the coax line.
> 
> This created a network loop and my entire home network was down until I realized this and disconnected the ethernet cable from my Tivo and restarted my entire network.


Thanks for your post Lensman. We haven't tried using an ethernet cable yet, but we are thinking about it.


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## tatergator1 (Mar 27, 2008)

I would strongly encourage using Ethernet, at least initially. IIRC, one of the early software updates to the Roamio addressed some wireless connection issues. If nothing else, connect it via Ethernet to get all the software updates installed, then try it on wireless again.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

tatergator1 said:


> I would strongly encourage using Ethernet, at least initially. IIRC, one of the early software updates to the Roamio addressed some wireless connection issues. If nothing else, connect it via Ethernet to get all the software updates installed, then try it on wireless again.


Thanks for your post tatergator... I appreciate it. Right now, the unit is sitting here with it's RMA # attached to it. Hubby and I are in discussion as to whether or not we want to try an ethernet cable.


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## marklyn (Jan 21, 2002)

tatergator1 said:


> I would strongly encourage using Ethernet, at least initially. IIRC, one of the early software updates to the Roamio addressed some wireless connection issues. If nothing else, connect it via Ethernet to get all the software updates installed, then try it on wireless again.


I sure hope you guys change your mind and reconsider. You can't get the Tivo experience anywhere else. I had several problems that I had to overcome with setting my Roamio Plus but with technology today many CSR's just don't have the practical skills.
In fact any problems I've really ever had have been on the Time Warner side, not Tivo, but I know some Tivo CSR's are sharper than others.

As far as a connection, I'd always go with Ethernet if you have it available to minimize wireless problems that may not have anything to do with Tivo.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

marklyn said:


> I sure hope you guys change your mind and reconsider. You can't get the Tivo experience anywhere else. I had several problems that I had to overcome with setting my Roamio Plus but with technology today many CSR's just don't have the practical skills.
> In fact any problems I've really ever had have been on the Time Warner side, not Tivo, but I know some Tivo CSR's are sharper than others.
> 
> As far as a connection, I'd always go with Ethernet if you have it available to minimize wireless problems that may not have anything to do with Tivo.


We've been TiVo customers for over 10 years and, to be honest, couldn't watch tv without it  Our current units work wonderfully... it's just the PRO that is giving us problems.


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## AdamNJ (Aug 22, 2013)

How about you explain your setup and let us help you. You've got people here willing to help but you are just talking about an RMA. I'm not sure what the point of this thread was if you are not going to at least let us try.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

AdamNJ said:


> How about you explain your setup and let us help you. You've got people here willing to help but you are just talking about an RMA. I'm not sure what the point of this thread was if you are not going to at least let us try.


Adam, let me talk to my hubby when he gets home. We're caught between a rock and a hard place because he can't do any type of hard wiring due to post-surgical restrictions (he had major eye surgery).


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## mpnret (Dec 4, 2012)

I realize everyone's home has a different layout and size. How far is it from your Roamio to the router? I bet a 50' would handle most situations, some a lot less, some a lot more. Buy the necessary length cat5 cable and run it from your Roamio to your router. Run it down the hall, out the bedroom door or whatever is necessary to get the setup done. Once you see it work move on to a more permanent install of the cable. If it doesn't work and you want to call it quits then, just return the cable. A 50' cat5 cable complete with connectors at both ends is less than $20 from Lowes. Lots of cheaper sources if you don't mind ordering online.
I am expecting delivery of my Roamio tomorrow and I will be running my cable later today. I'm lucky mine is easy. It's just a short drop down to the basement then a 40' horizontal run then another short rise to the router.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

mpnret said:


> I realize everyone's home has a different layout and size. How far is it from your Roamio to the router? I bet a 50' would handle most situations, some a lot less, some a lot more. Buy the necessary length cat5 cable and run it from your Roamio to your router. Run it down the hall, out the bedroom door or whatever is necessary to get the setup done. Once you see it work move on to a more permanent install of the cable. If it doesn't work and you want to call it quits then, just return the cable. A 50' cat5 cable complete with connectors at both ends is less than $20 from Lowes. Lots of cheaper sources if you don't mind ordering online.
> I am expecting delivery of my Roamio tomorrow and I will be running my cable later today. I'm lucky mine is easy. It's just a short drop down to the basement then a 40' horizontal run then another short rise to the router.


Thanks for your post mpnret, good info to know :up: Hubby and I were talking about doing something like this but we have to see what's involved (meaning, how much he'd actually be able to physically do).


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## shrike4242 (Dec 1, 2006)

I'd try the following to see if this would work:

1) Try dropping the security on your wireless network and see if the Roamio will connect to an unencrypted network. That should prove if the wireless card in the Roamio will work. If it can't connect to an unecrypted network, then the wireless card is likely bad. 
2) If there's a cable outlet near to the router, then I'd recommend using a MoCA adapter with an Ethernet connection to the router, then run the Roamio off of MoCA. I've been using MoCA for multiple years and it's been working flawlessly. All you should need would be a MoCA adapter connected at the router via Ethernet and you'd be good to go. 
3) Could you run a temporary cable just to see if the Roamio would work over Ethernet? I'm not saying to do anything fancy with it, just run the cable to the Roamio and see if Ethernet would work.

I did have an issue with a defective front panel on two prior Romaio Pro units, though from a networking side, it's been a breeze over MoCA on the current Roamio units as well as previous S3, Tivo HD and Premiere XL/XL4 units.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

shrike4242 said:


> I'd try the following to see if this would work:
> 
> 1) Try dropping the security on your wireless network and see if the Roamio will connect to an unencrypted network. That should prove if the wireless card in the Roamio will work. If it can't connect to an unecrypted network, then the wireless card is likely bad.
> 2) If there's a cable outlet near to the router, then I'd recommend using a MoCA adapter with an Ethernet connection to the router, then run the Roamio off of MoCA. I've been using MoCA for multiple years and it's been working flawlessly. All you should need would be a MoCA adapter connected at the router via Ethernet and you'd be good to go.
> ...


Shrike, in item #1, do you mean cable card? The one from Comcast?

#2) Our internet cable is different than our television cable (two different companies). I really have no idea what MoCA is (or what it does, etc.) ... would it work in our case?

#3) That's what we are thinking of doing.. testing an Ethernet cable. We're just still feeling the sting and disappointment from the fiasco on Saturday. I'm going to talk to him later tonight and see what he says.

----------------------------
_
I do want to thank everyone who has offered such genuine help in this thread. It is very much appreciated._


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## shrike4242 (Dec 1, 2006)

Ziggie said:


> Shrike, in item #1, do you mean cable card? The one from Comcast?
> 
> #2) Our internet cable is different than our television cable (two different companies). I really have no idea what MoCA is (or what it does, etc.) ... would it work in our case?
> 
> ...


1) Sorry, the "card" mentioned in #1 would be the internal wireless card inside of the Roamio, not the cable card. One of the first steps in troubleshooting a device that won't connect to wireless is to make it as simple as possible, with a broadcast SSID and no encryption. Then, make changes as you go and see what breaks it. See if if connections with a broadcast SSID and no encryption. If that works, try hiding the SSID again (if it was hidden originally) and see if it connects. If that works, then try putting the encryption back on again and see if the Roamio connects again. There's no reason why it shouldn't work unless the wifi card is bad or the Tivo's brain-dead about how to connect to wireless.

2) MoCA is running networking over the coax cable. As long as the same cable is running by your router and to where the Roamio is, you should be able to use the coax connection like Ethernet cabling to make the network happen. You would need to add a MoCA adapter to your router so that it could access the network to the Roamio Pro.

3) As long as you can get the Tivo activated with an Ethernet cable that isn't hidden/placed neatly, it'll at least get past the issue for the time being. If the router is on a different floor than the Roamio, then it might be a little odd in how it's run, though temporarily.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

shrike4242 said:


> 1) Sorry, the "card" mentioned in #1 would be the internal wireless card inside of the Roamio, not the cable card. One of the first steps in troubleshooting a device that won't connect to wireless is to make it as simple as possible, with a broadcast SSID and no encryption. Then, make changes as you go and see what breaks it. See if if connections with a broadcast SSID and no encryption. If that works, try hiding the SSID again (if it was hidden originally) and see if it connects. If that works, then try putting the encryption back on again and see if the Roamio connects again. There's no reason why it shouldn't work unless the wifi card is bad or the Tivo's brain-dead about how to connect to wireless.
> 
> 2) MoCA is running networking over the coax cable. As long as the same cable is running by your router and to where the Roamio is, you should be able to use the coax connection like Ethernet cabling to make the network happen. You would need to add a MoCA adapter to your router so that it could access the network to the Roamio Pro.
> 
> 3) As long as you can get the Tivo activated with an Ethernet cable that isn't hidden/placed neatly, it'll at least get past the issue for the time being. If the router is on a different floor than the Roamio, then it might be a little odd in how it's run, though temporarily.


Shrike, the cable that carries our internet to the router is not from the same line as our cable television. One line coming into the house carries television and internet, while another line carries only television.

Let me see if I can explain this further... (grab a comfy chair and some popcorn!)

We live in a community with just under 1,000 houses. We have a strong, decades old homeowner's association that governs the community. For years and years, we had a bulk rate deal with Comcast. We got cable tv (w/premium channels) at a reduced rate. Everything was fine... things worked well.

In 2011, the newly elected board of directors thought they'd change things up a bit. They went to battle with Comcast (demanding a deal that was never going to happen), and lost the entire contract. So, they struck up a deal with HotWire Communications.

Now, because this community is ruled by the HOA, everyone had to switch over from Comcast to HW. A few of us said we would not switch over... and they eventually let us keep Comcast. However! It would be at a steep cost! We have to pay $90/month to the HOA to cover the HW services *AND* continue pay Comcast, as we had been doing for years. Yes, you got it right.. we pay twice.

The reason?

Hotwire absolutely does not support cable cards so we can't use their line for television. You can either rent one of their DVRs, or do without. Because we love our TiVo units, we kept Comcast so that we could continue to use them.

Because we are paying $90/month to the HOA, Hotwire came in and wired the house for internet (which is what we use). However, our television cable line is from Comcast... so that we could keep our TiVos.

(I hope I didn't confuse you too much!)


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## shrike4242 (Dec 1, 2006)

That's what I thought, though here's the question.

How many Hotwire connections are there in your house, just the one where the router is? Or are there more of them? And the Comcast coax connections, are they all over the rest of the house?


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

If the Hotwire and Comcast coaxials are near each other at any point in your house, I would put a moca adapter to bridge them together. i.e. - run comcast's cable tv coax into the coax input of the moca adapter, then the hotwire router's Ethernet cable into it, and then the moca adapter's rf coax out to all your tivos throughout the house. This will give you Comcast cable tv signals with modulated Hotwire moca Ethernet signals on it so all your tivos can connect and see each other, play shows and connect to the Internet.

P.S. - if they are near each other and also where you're planning to put your Roamio, then you won't need the moca adapter, as its built into the plus and pro models and can do the same thing.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

shrike4242 said:


> That's what I thought, though here's the question.
> 
> How many Hotwire connections are there in your house, just the one where the router is? Or are there more of them? And the Comcast coax connections, are they all over the rest of the house?


There are 2 Hotwire connections. One with the internet cable going into the router and a second one carrying the television signal (that we can't use due to the company not supporting cable cards) going into the family room.

The rest of the house has multiple Comcast coax connections (living room, bedrooms, family room).


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

HarperVision said:


> If the Hotwire and Comcast coaxials are near each other at any point in your house, I would put a moca adapter to bridge them together. i.e. - run comcast's cable tv coax into the coax input of the moca adapter, then the hotwire router's Ethernet cable into it, and then the moca adapter's rf coax out to all your tivos throughout the house. This will give you Comcast cable tv signals with modulated Hotwire moca Ethernet signals on it so all your tivos can connect and see each other, play shows and connect to the Internet.
> 
> P.S. - if they are near each other and also where you're planning to put your Roamio, then you won't need the moca adapter, as its built into the plus and pro models and can do the same thing.


Do you mean, where the Comcast signal originates... before it is split to the rest of the house? Then yes, the Comcast and Hotwire cables are close to each other, at their point of origin. Is a MoCA adapter a powered unit? (AC power?) If we run an Ethernet to the Roamio, will that create a MoCA network too?


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Ziggie said:


> Do you mean, where the Comcast signal originates... before it is split to the rest of the house? Then yes, the Comcast and Hotwire cables are close to each other, at their point of origin. Is a MoCA adapter a powered unit? (AC power?) If we run an Ethernet to the Roamio, will that create a MoCA network too?


Yes it's powered. Also yes, if you run Ethernet (Hotwire) to your Roamio plus/pro and turn on moca in its menu then it will work as a moca bridge and you won't need a separate adapter.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

HarperVision said:


> Yes it's powered. Also yes, if you run Ethernet (Hotwire) to your Roamio plus/pro and turn on moca in its menu then it will work as a moca bridge and you won't need a separate adapter.


Thank you Harper! :up: I think we're going to try an ethernet hook-up later tonight.

Cross your fingers for us! :up:


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Ziggie said:


> Thank you Harper! :up: I think we're going to try an ethernet hook-up later tonight. Cross your fingers for us! :up:


You're welcome, good luck and keep us posted!


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

Well, tonight we tried to run an ethernet cable from the modem in the garage directly to the TiVo.

Nada. Nothing. It didn't acknowledge the ethernet cable at all and just kept telling us "TiVo needs an internet connection". After several unsuccessful attempts, we removed the cable and just let the TiVo sit there. As it sat, it kept trying to connect to the wireless router (because it remembered the setup process from last Saturday).

It's still sitting there now... 5 hours later. I can't deal with it anymore tonight


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

Ziggie said:


> Well, tonight we tried to run an ethernet cable from the modem in the garage directly to the TiVo.
> 
> Nada. Nothing. It didn't acknowledge the ethernet cable at all and just kept telling us "TiVo needs an internet connection". After several unsuccessful attempts, we removed the cable and just let the TiVo sit there. As it sat, it kept trying to connect to the wireless router (because it remembered the setup process from last Saturday).
> 
> It's still sitting there now... 5 hours later. I can't deal with it anymore tonight


Did the light on either the router or TiVo's Ethernet port light up? On the tivo, the two lights at the top of the port should've light up / flickered after the cable was plugged in.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

There was no flashing green light showing activity when we connected the ethernet cable to the modem.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

jwbelcher said:


> Did the light on either the router or TiVo's Ethernet port light up? On the tivo, the two lights at the top of the port should've light up / flickered after the cable was plugged in.


JW, no.. there was no light. But there was no light on the modem itself either.


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## kucharsk (Feb 2, 2007)

It looks like either a bad cable or a bad jack on the back of the TiVo; can you try connecting the cable to another device to see if it works?

If not, do you have another that would reach?


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

The top most arrow is pointing to the area where the green light should have come on after we connected the ethernet cable.

The lower arrow is showing green light activity (this is the line going to the router).


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

kucharsk said:


> Wait - if the cable with the arrow is going to the TiVo, the appropriate light on the front of the router in the second picture *is* lit (it's the top green LED in the photo.)


No, the ethernet cable is in port 4. The green light you're seeing is from port 1 (where the cable is going to the router).


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

kucharsk said:


> It looks like either a bad cable or a bad jack on the back of the TiVo; can you try connecting the cable to another device to see if it works?
> 
> If not, do you have another that would reach?


The cable is brand new out of the box tonight. Not sure what else we could connect it to?


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

Ziggie said:


> No, the ethernet cable is in port 4. The green light you're seeing is from port 1 (where the cable is going to the router).


My linksys also reverses the ports compared to the lights on the front. What are the odds of having a bad wireless card and Ethernet port? I'm floored.

What type of adapter are you using with the Premieres? Is it the USB or Ethernet ones?


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

jwbelcher said:


> My linksys also reverses the ports compared to the lights on the front. What are the odds of having a bad wireless card and Ethernet port? I'm floored.
> 
> What type of adapter are you using with the Premieres? Is it the USB or Ethernet ones?


The Premieres are connected via USB adapters.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

Ziggie said:


> The Premieres are connected via USB adapters.


Just plugged my USB one into my Roamio, didn't work... It lit up, but still used the internal wireless adapter.


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## kucharsk (Feb 2, 2007)

To test for basic connectivity, plug the cable into a jack on the router and the other end into the jack next to it and you should see both appropriate LEDs turn on.

(Then unplug the cable it as the router will be spending time trying to talk to itself. ;-))


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

Btw, when you configured the wireless on your Roamio on Saturday, did it see the network SID or did you have to manually type it?


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

jwbelcher said:


> Just plugged my USB one into my Roamio, didn't work... It lit up, but still used the internal wireless adapter.


Yep. We've tried that multiple times.

I'm going to ck on the unit in the morning and see if it was ever able to connect on its own.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

jwbelcher said:


> Btw, when you configured the wireless on your Roamio on Saturday, did it see the network SID or did you have to manually type it?


The unit found it on its own. It found both bands on the router and came up "ASUS" and "ASUS5".


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

Ziggie said:


> The unit found it on its own. It found both bands on the router and came up "ASUS" and "ASUS5".


Wow, so it should be a good wireless adapter.

Do you use either WEP, WPA2 security?


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

kucharsk said:


> To test for basic connectivity, plug the cable into a jack on the router and the other end into the jack next to it and you should see both appropriate LEDs turn on.
> 
> (Then unplug the cable it as the router will be spending time trying to talk to itself. ;-))


We can't hard wire to the router so that's why we tried to run the line directly from the modem in the garage. The router works fine as does the cable (seeing as how it's brand new). Fun, huh?


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

jwbelcher said:


> Wow, so it should be a good wireless adapter.
> 
> Do you use either WEP, WPA2 security?


The router is terrific, we love it! The Premiere in the bedroom gets an excellent signal and it's about 60-65 feet from the router.

I'm not sure what security it has, but it does have it.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

Ziggie said:


> We can't hard wire to the router so that's why we tried to run the line directly from the modem in the garage. The router works fine as does the cable (seeing as how it's brand new). Fun, huh?


Can you unplug the router and put the Tivo's ethernet in its port? My modem (Motorola) only allows 1 Ethernet port to be active in bridge mode. Also, you may need to power cycle the modem to get the DHCP from your ISP to assign a new IP address.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

Ziggie said:


> The router is terrific, we love it! The Premiere in the bedroom gets an excellent signal and it's about 60-65 feet from the router.
> 
> I'm not sure what security it has, but it does have it.


I'm wondering if the security is preventing the handshake. It could be an incompatibility in AES, TKIP, TKIP+AES encryption. I've had that with some of my devices in the past (Apple). I've settled in on using WPA2 and AES encryption for compatibility reasons.


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## kucharsk (Feb 2, 2007)

Ohhh&#8230;

As jwbelcher mentions above, many cable modems will only talk to *one* device, such that if you have a network, you have to connect the router to the modem and everything else to the router.

If you try to connect another device to the modem, the modem generally won't provide it with an IP address, so you won't be able to use the network.

(Worse yet, if you have more than one device connected, if the modem reboots it may give an address to the device and will refuse to provide one to your router.)

That doesn't affect whether you see port lights, but does affect whether it works, so leave the TiVo unconnected to the *modem*.


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## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

Ziggie said:


> We can't hard wire to the router


Why not?

Did you disable wireless on the TiVo before connecting to the modem?


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Ziggie said:


> The unit found it on its own. It found both bands on the router and came up "ASUS" and "ASUS5".


Is your internet service provider a DSL provider or any flavor of ATT? I do know first hand that the combo DSL, ASUS router and Tivo will not work. There is a configuration setting for MTU size (limited to 1492 on DSL) that is required and not present on the ASUS router. I went in circles with that router because of this. Finally replaced it with a Linksys and it all worked as soon as I plug it in. Should not be an issue for Cable modem internet though.


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## mpnret (Dec 4, 2012)

Why can't you just walk your Roamio over to the router and plug it in for a test with the same cable. In reading through all the posts it looks like this Roamio was never actually plugged into the router, only the modem or did I miss something. This will eliminate a lot of possible causes being thrown around like bad jack on Roamio, bad cable, cable modem only accepts one connection, etc.

Another suggestion: If you do finally get this connected wired as a final step you are most likely going to have to manually turn off wireless in the Roamio. Apparently it doesn't happen automatically as one would expect. Here is a link about that but don't do there yet first plug the Roamio into the router and see if you can get a connection.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=9883727#post9883727


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

I was going to reply to the many helpful suggestions posted here, but I wanted to update everyone on what is currently happening:

1) First of all, the thing I was referring to as a modem (in the garage) is actually an Alcatel optical network terminal. It does indeed have 4 ports but only 1 is data (as some of you correctly determined). The other 3 are for video and only carry HotWire television signals. That is why the ethernet cable did not work last night. 

2) The TiVo unit did successfully connect to the wireless router overnight. It downloaded whatever it needed to finish the setup process. 

3) As of right now, we can't imagine a scenario where the PRO would/could ever be hard-wired to the router. That means that the PRO can never be a MoCA.. is that correct? Doesn't it need to be hard-wired to be a MoCA?


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

Just thinking out loud...

How difficult is it to move a router? It is currently connected via a 65' foot cable (garage wall to back bedroom). 

Could we...

1) Disconnect the 65' cable running to the router in the back bedroom? Just unplug it from the ONT and from the back of the router?

2) Could we then purchase a much shorter cable and drop it into the family room wall?

3) Then, move the router to the family room and reconnect it using the new shorter connection?

Would that work? Would we need to setup the router again from scratch or would it retain its settings?


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

Ziggie said:


> I was going to reply to the many helpful suggestions posted here, but I wanted to update everyone on what is currently happening:
> 
> 1) First of all, the thing I was referring to as a modem (in the garage) is actually an Alcatel optical network terminal. It does indeed have 4 ports but only 1 is data (as some of you correctly determined). The other 3 are for video and only carry HotWire television signals. That is why the ethernet cable did not work last night.
> 
> ...


I thought there was something different with your router after seeing the pics of it, that helps.

Can you run more than 1 network device off the Alcatel box(the ethernet could add a switch to enable more ports) ? At the worse you may need a home router if that box acts like a cable modem, attaching a home router should let you run more than one device off it including having another wireless access point (a N wireless might be better if there are already many wireless networks in your area).

As far as Moca is concerned you could go that route if you have separate physical cables which sounds like could get confusing if you have two cable companies involved, you would need to have a MOCA gateway to your Alcatel box which again might require a residential router installed as the Moca gateway would need a ethernet port.

Sounds like you understand the cable providers but perhaps someone can offer their thoughts but if Hotwire offers a cable box, aren't they required to offer cable cards? Unless they don't offer service by coax. I have heard of some providers stepping around that requirement is they dont provide service by coax service, if they don't offer coax converter boxes this may well be the case.

The Moca network option should work if you can be sure which cable providers cable you attach to.


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## tatergator1 (Mar 27, 2008)

Moving the router would probably be the simplest thing to do, if running the new cable isn't too difficult. Since you've mentioned you get good wireless signal from your router already, moving it should still allow wireless devices to continue with a good connection. You wouldn't need to do anything to the router, all settings would be preserved.

If you can get the new Ethernet drop ran, move the router.


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

Does that one ethernet port on the Alcatel box run the router you speak of? 

The router can be moved that might work, it should keep its config. while it shutoff. 

In mentioning adding a router previously, I didn't got confused thinking the one you had was attached to some other provider so ignore what I said about adding another!

To add a MOCA gateway, you would need access to a ethernet port off your router and physical access to the cable that runs to the Roamio pro. (and a MOCA adapter that would plug into the ethernet, the Coax cable would also be attached to it and then runs to the cable providing cable service to the Roamio).


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

eboydog said:


> I thought there was something different with your router after seeing the pics of it, that helps.
> 
> Can you run more than 1 network device off the Alcatel box(the ethernet could add a switch to enable more ports) ? At the worse you may need a home router if that box acts like a cable modem, attaching a home router should let you run more than one device off it including having another wireless access point (a N wireless might be better if there are already many wireless networks in your area).
> 
> ...


HotWire does not (and never will according to the tech rep) offer/support cable cards.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

tatergator1 said:


> Moving the router would probably be the simplest thing to do, if running the new cable isn't too difficult. Since you've mentioned you get good wireless signal from your router already, moving it should still allow wireless devices to continue with a good connection. *You wouldn't need to do anything to the router, all settings would be preserved.*
> 
> If you can get the new Ethernet drop ran, move the router.


Really? It will hold all its current settings? We no longer have the original packaging and/or disc that came with the router. How does it hold the settings? Does it have some type of memory chip or something?


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

eboydog said:


> Does that one ethernet port on the Alcatel box run the router you speak of?
> 
> The router can be moved that might work, it should keep its config. while it shutoff.
> 
> ...


The one data port on the ONT is connected to the router.


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## tatergator1 (Mar 27, 2008)

Ziggie said:


> Really? It will hold all its current settings? We no longer have the original packaging and/or disc that came with the router. How does it hold the settings? Does it have some type of memory chip or something?


Yes. Think of it this way, if your power goes out, do you need to re-configure your router? The settings are stored on some type of non-volatile memory (data remains even with power loss).


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

Ziggie said:


> 3) As of right now, we can't imagine a scenario where the PRO would/could ever be hard-wired to the router. That means that the PRO can never be a MoCA.. is that correct? Doesn't it need to be hard-wired to be a MoCA?


Is there anywhere in your home where you have a Cable outlet and Ethernet in simi-close proximity? If so, just connect one of these to create a MoCA network : https://tivo.com/shop/detail/moca

There's an Ethernet port, Cable In and Cable Out. Technically only need to plug the Ethernet port (to the router) and your TV coax to the Cable In. That's it, and you'll have added MoCA on your house Cable line. At that point, your Roamio wont need Wireless or Ethernet ports for internet - just enable MoCA in networking settings.

I use one, and left the Cable Out unplugged. Its really only needed if you want to hook up a TV to the adapter.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

Ziggie said:


> 2) The TiVo unit did successfully connect to the wireless router overnight. It downloaded whatever it needed to finish the setup process.


Congrats - Is everything stable? Meaning no periodic network outages.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

jwbelcher said:


> Congrats - Is everything stable? Meaning no periodic network outages.


It managed to connect overnight and now.. nothing 

Our frustration level is maxing out. Other than rewiring the house (which is really kind of out of the question right now), this PRO isn't going to connect with any sort of reliability. After only one successful attempt, everything else has failed.

These are the screens I was looking at just a few moments ago:


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

I'm always stunned when folks keep going around in circles with a difficult network install and the subject of PNA's (powerline network adapters) doesn't come up, I've never had a scenario where a hard wired device such as a Tivo or BD player couldn't be connected faster and more reliably than wireless with a PNA for under $50 if it doesn't have an RJ45 or MoCA connection handy.

I feel like I'm the only one saying this in threads, and it surprises me.


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## tatergator1 (Mar 27, 2008)

dianebrat said:


> I'm always stunned when folks keep going around in circles with a difficult network install and the subject of PNA's (powerline network adapters) doesn't come up, I've never had a scenario where a hard wired device such as a Tivo or BD player couldn't be connected faster and more reliably than wireless with a PNA for under $50 if it doesn't have an RJ45 or MoCA connection handy.
> 
> I feel like I'm the only one saying this in threads, and it surprises me.


For a single Tivo system, PNA's are reasonable. The issue is that they are highly prone to interference and wiring quality. That's ok for guide downloads and service updates, which are all in the background.

I can remember when I used PNA's for MRV'ing between Tivo's, transfers would grind to a halt whenever the treadmill was being used. Connection quality was also affected by which outlet in the room I plugged the PNA into. More recently, I spent nearly a week troubleshooting my new Roamio Plus/Mini/Premiere 2-tuner set-up. MRS was terrible between the Roamio and Premiere. I had streaming errors often. One episode would stream fine, the next would fail, but I could still use MRV to transfer the episodes. The HDUI screens would also constantly revert to the SD versions when viewing the remote Tivo.

I switched to MoCA and everything has been flawless for 6 weeks.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Why isn't she just moving the darn router to where the Roamio will be and be done with it, as suggested many posts prior? No need to buy a moca adapter, power line inserter or whatever. You're making mountains out of mole hills!


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

HarperVision said:


> *Why isn't she just moving the darn router to where the Roamio will be and be done with it,* as suggested many posts prior? No need to buy a moca adapter, power line inserter or whatever. You're making mountains out of mole hills!


Why? Because we can't. I'm not sure how many of my posts you've read, but my husband is on post-surgical restrictions after having undergone not one, but two major eye surgeries.

So, it's *me*. And I just don't have the ability to rewire the house to accommodate moving the router from one room to another. I also don't have a working knowledge of most of what is being said.. so I've been trying to teach myself by learning from the helpful people here at tivocommunity.


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

tatergator1 said:


> For a single Tivo system, PNA's are reasonable. The issue is that they are highly prone to interference and wiring quality. That's ok for guide downloads and service updates, which are all in the background.
> 
> I can remember when I used PNA's for MRV'ing between Tivo's, transfers would grind to a halt whenever the treadmill was being used. Connection quality was also affected by which outlet in the room I plugged the PNA into. More recently, I spent nearly a week troubleshooting my new Roamio Plus/Mini/Premiere 2-tuner set-up. MRS was terrible between the Roamio and Premiere. I had streaming errors often. One episode would stream fine, the next would fail, but I could still use MRV to transfer the episodes. The HDUI screens would also constantly revert to the SD versions when viewing the remote Tivo.
> 
> I switched to MoCA and everything has been flawless for 6 weeks.


I tried PNA a few years ago and it worked great under the air conditioning kicked on. Drove me nuts until I figured out the fan on my furnace was creating interference with it.


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

Ziggie said:


> Why? Because we can't. I'm not sure how many of my posts you've read, but my husband is on post-surgical restrictions after having undergone not one, but two major eye surgeries.
> 
> So, it's *me*. And I just don't have the ability to rewire the house to accommodate moving the router from one room to another. I also don't have a working knowledge of most of what is being said.. so I've been trying to teach myself by learning from the helpful people here at tivocommunity.


With your existing router (not the Alcatel box) what model is it? You should have the model number of the underside of it. You mentioned not having the software or manual for it which you should be able to download off the Internet for it.

Is running a long ethernet cable from that router physically possible, at least for the purpose of diagnosing the issue with the Roamio?

Let's figure out what router we are working with, forgive me if you already mentioned it prior.

Also, what devices are connected to that router which I assume is working and connected to the Internet since you are replying here? That's odd that the Roamio worked overnight and got guide data but suddenly can't connect to the router and even get a IP address from your router.


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

Btw - the router I guessing is a ASUS router, hence the ASUS and ASUS5 ssid that the Roamio is finding from time to time? 

You also a Premier Tivo that is successfully using the wireless access off the ASUS or ASUS5 wireless and if so, is it using the Tivo wireless N or G usb adapter?

I think that ASUS router wireless is the source of the problem. Might be unrelated but I have a wireless router that a few of my wireless devices hate, especially using the "N" wireless which is suppose to be faster. When it a try up I have to reset that router which works until I have problems again.


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## abbydancer (Jun 16, 2002)

I noticed all your fails were back on the wireless. Ours couldn't reliably stay on the wireless, so I connected it to the router with a 50' cable. It didn't stay up reliably until I disabled the wireless. (There's a thread linked earlier that says how to do it, but basically, I sent up the wireless again with a bad password - it tried to connect for a while and then came back with an error and an option to try a different way. At that point I selected wired and it's worked fine since).

You've probably already done all that, but just in case, I thought I'd post it. I really hope something works without rewiring the whole house!


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## shrike4242 (Dec 1, 2006)

eboydog said:


> Btw - the router I guessing is a ASUS router, hence the ASUS and ASUS5 ssid that the Roamio is finding from time to time?
> 
> You also a Premier Tivo that is successfully using the wireless access off the ASUS or ASUS5 wireless and if so, is it using the Tivo wireless N or G usb adapter?
> 
> I think that ASUS router wireless is the source of the problem. Might be unrelated but I have a wireless router that a few of my wireless devices hate, especially using the "N" wireless which is suppose to be faster. When it a try up I have to reset that router which works until I have problems again.


Time for a firmware upgrade on the router, possibly.

Problem is, depending on how old the firmware is on the existing router, it may need a factory reset/firmware upgrade/reconfiguration process to be done for the firmware upgrade to work OK. I know I ran into that issue with some updates to my RT-N66U, so it might be a firmware upgrade that fixes it.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

eboydog said:


> I tried PNA a few years ago and it worked great under the air conditioning kicked on. Drove me nuts until I figured out the fan on my furnace was creating interference with it.


I'm running every networked device on the 2nd floor of my house with PNAs, I've had zero issues in the past 6 months, so 1 PNA in the basement feeding the network, and 2 PNAs on the 2nd floor with 1 hooked to a switch.

And in the case of the very convoluted network the OP has, this would be a far better solution to their issues than wireless.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

shrike4242 said:


> Time for a firmware upgrade on the router, possibly.
> 
> Problem is, depending on how old the firmware is on the existing router, it may need a factory reset/firmware upgrade/reconfiguration process to be done for the firmware upgrade to work OK. I know I ran into that issue with some updates to my RT-N66U, so it might be a firmware upgrade that fixes it.


or a different router / wireless access point. I've had issues with compatibility issues using TKIP-AES encryption with other devices. The inconsistency with the wireless network seems consistent with my experiences with wireless encryption protocols.


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## shrike4242 (Dec 1, 2006)

jwbelcher said:


> or a different router / wireless access point. I've had issues with compatibility issues using TKIP-AES encryption with other devices. The inconsistency with the wireless network seems consistent with my experiences with wireless encryption protocols.


I've been using AES encryption on my router across three different routers, two of them ASUS routers. I've not seen any device I've run across have an issue with AES encryption and the numerous devices I've thrown at it.

I haven't tossed a Tivo at my router via wireless, however. I might give it a try and see if I run into any issues.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

shrike4242 said:


> I've been using AES encryption on my router across three different routers, two of them ASUS routers. I've not seen any device I've run across have an issue with AES encryption and the numerous devices I've thrown at it.
> 
> I haven't tossed a Tivo at my router via wireless, however. I might give it a try and see if I run into any issues.


AES is good. Its just "TKIP-AES" that I've had issues with.


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## kucharsk (Feb 2, 2007)

PNAs work well unless you have your TiVo plugged into a surge suppressor or UPS.


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## AdamNJ (Aug 22, 2013)

Ziggie said:


>





eboydog said:


> Btw - the router I guessing is a ASUS router, hence the ASUS and ASUS5 ssid that the Roamio is finding from time to time?
> 
> You also a Premier Tivo that is successfully using the wireless access off the ASUS or ASUS5 wireless and if so, is it using the Tivo wireless N or G usb adapter?
> 
> I think that ASUS router wireless is the source of the problem. Might be unrelated but I have a wireless router that a few of my wireless devices hate, especially using the "N" wireless which is suppose to be faster. When it a try up I have to reset that router which works until I have problems again.


Ziggie, I just want to be sure that you aren't using an external wireless adapter plugged into the tivo roamio pro? If you are, you don't need the external usb wireless adapter as the roamio has wireless functionality built in. I do not use wireless for my tivo so i am not sure how the screen is supposed to look, but I didn't like how your screen shot showed "wireless adapter"...I don't know if that refers to the internal wireless or not.

Alternatively, from the earlier pictures you post you were plugging a network cable into the tivo and the other end into the white Alcatel box, which you now know was wrong because those 3 open jacks are not for internet, only the HotWire TV service. However the existing network cable plugged into the white box, that goes to a router correct? Have you tried running the network cable from the tivo to the actual router (not the white alcatel box)?

The other issue with your wireless could be how it is setup. It might be setup to only talk to specific mac addresses. FYI, mac addresses are 12 characters that uniquely identify a network device. If so, and the Tivo's MAC addresses are in it's list, it won't talk to it, hence why DHCP doesn't work.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

kucharsk said:


> PNAs work well unless you have your TiVo plugged into a surge suppressor or UPS.


Huh? you're kidding right? it's the PNA that can't be plugged into a UPS or surge, it's trivial to avoid those in setup with a minute of thinking.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

If you cannot move the router near the TiVo, then I strongly suggest you connect using MOCA. Wireless will continue to be a source of trouble for the Tivo. If there is a cable tv jack any where near the current router, setting up moca would be a snap. The Roamio already has moca built in and is the Tivo recommended solution. I use it and it works well and there is almost no configuration other than turning it on in the Tivo settings.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

Once again, I can't thank all of you enough for the time you've taken to help us with our TiVo connectivity issue. You're all invited over for dinner ~ I'm a great cook!! 

As to our problem, I do have an update!

One of our neighbors who works at the local NBC station (wires everywhere!) came over yesterday and took a closer look at what was going on.

1) He moved the PRO to within 10' feet of the router. It would not connect wirelessly even after multiple attempts.

2) He then temporarily connected an ethernet cable between the router and PRO. The PRO recognized it immediately and connected to the network when directed.

3) In order to actually keep the PRO hard-wired to the router, the following needs to be done:

a) Disconnect and replace the existing ONT to router cable. The curent one is snaking its way from the ONT in the garage/attic through the roof over and down into the back bedroom.​b) Move the router onto the top of the kitchen 3/4 height wall (the top is recessed so the router would fit well).​
c) Using a new, shorter cable attach it to the ONT in the garage. Drill up through the bottom of the attic floor... snake it across the attic floor and then drill through 12" of concrete block to run the cable over the 3/4 height wall to the router.​
I hope I've made sense!  But after he looked at everything, this really winds up being the best scenario.


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## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

Ziggie said:


> Once again, I can't thank all of you enough for the time you've taken to help us with our TiVo connectivity issue. You're all invited over for dinner ~ I'm a great cook!!
> 
> As to our problem, I do have an update!
> 
> ...


If you made those changes, how close to the Roamio would the router be?

Another option you could try is to leave the router and and connect a wireless bridge to the Roamio. You're then connecting the bridge wirelessly to the router rather than the Roamio. The bridge would connect to the Roamio with an Ethernet cable.

http://www.asus.com/Networking/EAN66/


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

Looks like you're finally getting to a working solution. :up: Continued good luck for your endeavor.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

cherry ghost said:


> If you made those changes, how close to the Roamio would the router be?
> 
> Another option you could try is to leave the router and and connect a wireless bridge to the Roamio. You're then connecting the bridge wirelessly to the router rather than the Roamio. The bridge would connect to the Roamio with an Ethernet cable.
> 
> http://www.asus.com/Networking/EAN66/


The router would then be about 9' above the PRO. The wireless bridge is another idea, but moving the router might work out best overall (it's in a room that is hardly ever used). The only real drawback is drilling through the concrete block.



steve614 said:


> Looks like you're finally getting to a working solution. :up: Continued good luck for your endeavor.


Thanks Steve! :up:


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## shrike4242 (Dec 1, 2006)

Ziggie said:


> The router would then be about 9' above the PRO. The wireless bridge is another idea, but moving the router might work out best overall (it's in a room that is hardly ever used). The only real drawback is drilling through the concrete block.


There's no reason that the Tivo being 10' from the router should fail to connect. No reason that I can see. You should be able to connect to a router that close 100% of the time when the wireless network card in that device is working.

Did Tivo give any idea to why it wouldn't connect previously, like a security issue or some other issue?

It's good that you have a temp solution in place, though drilling through the concrete block to get the cable moved won't be a quick job.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

Ziggie said:


> The router would then be about 9' above the PRO. The wireless bridge is another idea, but moving the router might work out best overall (it's in a room that is hardly ever used). The only real drawback is drilling through the concrete block.


I'm telling you, PNAs. plug one in at each location, done..


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

You should just use a MoCa adapter or powerline instead. If there is a coax cable near the router then buy a MoCa adapter from TiVo, connect it to the router via Ethernet and then set both the Roamio and the Mini to MoCa mode. They should both be able to connect to the internet.

If there isn't a coax cable near the router then you can use powerline instead. It's basically turns your homes power lines into virtual Ethernet cables. You get two adapters in a pack. Connect one near the router and connect via Ethernet. Connect the other one near the TiVo and connect via Ethernet. Set the TiVo to Ethernet + MoCa mode so that it can act as a bridge and then set the Mini to MoCa mode. With this setup the TiVo and Mini will use MoCa to talk to eachother but use the powerline network to talk to the router. So the Mini will actually go...

Mini -- (MoCa) --> TiVo -- (powerline) --> Router

To get on the internet.

You could do the same as above but with a wifi bridge, rather then the internal wifi, but powerline is typically more reliable then wifi so I'd consider wifi a last resort.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

My 2 Cents if you go with WiFi adapter route:

I have used both the following WiFi bridge adapters and even Multi-Room Streaming works seamlessly with my ASUS RT-N66U router in 5GHz band.

NETGEAR WNCE4004-100NAS N900 Video and Gaming 4-Port Wi-Fi Adapter
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122509
http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Universal-Ethernet-Adapter-WNCE4004/dp/B008LTPFG6/

D-Link Wireless Dual Band N 300+ Mbps Wi-Fi Gigabit Range Extender and Access Point (DAP-1522) 
http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-Wireless-Gigabit-Extender-DAP-1522/dp/B001769K3O

Newer D-Link model DAP-1525 (N600) - I have not tried this one:
www.amazon.com/D-Link-Wireless-SmartBeam-Technology-DAP-1525/dp/B0053XG25G/


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## kucharsk (Feb 2, 2007)

dianebrat said:


> Huh? you're kidding right? it's the PNA that can't be plugged into a UPS or surge, it's trivial to avoid those in setup with a minute of thinking.


Yes, sorry, I misspoke on that, you are correct.

I momentarily conflated TiVo and DISH DVRs, which have a PNA adapter built-in.


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## kucharsk (Feb 2, 2007)

The DHCP message infers that it's actually a DHCP issue TiVo has having/

Of note, I think there's something severely messed up with TiVo's implementation of the DHCP client in the Roamio if connecting to a network with MAC address protection enabled, though I haven't been able to figure out precisely what it is as of yet.


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## ffitzgerald39 (Apr 17, 2011)

I had the exact same problem that Ziggie had. I installed a Roamio Pro to replace a Premier XL The XL had been hooked up with a Tivo G adapter wirelessly to a Netgear150N router 75 feet away. It had consistent signal strength of 60% per the Tivo network screen.

I substituted the Roamio, set it for wireless, it found the router and went through the entire setup. The next morning I got the error message that it could not find the network. I got all the same error screens as Ziggie.

I spent a long time on the phone with Tivo doing all kinds of diagonostics, pluging and unpluging all to no avail. I verified the router had the latest firmware. Tivo finally said they could not solve the problem and I would have to use MoCA.

I had an adapter that I set up prior to the Comcast modem. The MoCA signal had to go backwards on the cable reversing through a Comcast 3 way splitter then out to the Roamio, but it still worked.

I switched the Roamio to MoCa, it found the network and has operated without a problem for three weeks. I am getting transfer speeds 5 or 6 times better than on the wireless (70 Mbps). 

I think the Roamio has a weakness in the wireless hardware/software that Tivo doesn't yet understand or admit. Telling people to use MoCA is an easy way out although it does give better performance. If wireless is your only alternative with the Roamio be careful.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

_*Update*_

First and foremost, I again want to _*thank *everyone* *_who has taken time to help me with our PRO issues. We couldn't have done it without you (seriously!)

Our PRO was installed via ethernet cable tonight and seems to be working well. We are having issues with the cable card (Comcast dropped our premium channels! When I asked them "What happen to all our HBO channels, the rep hung up on me! Grrrr...). So, I'll have to deal with them tomorrow.

The delay in switching channels is very long... at least 4-6 seconds. Is that normal for the PRO?

Also, the PRO won't sync with hubby's iPad.. so that's a problem we'll have to look into.

As for the actual installation, we were able to avoid drilling into the concrete! Our friend found a way to bypass it by drilling nearer to the door frame.

Overall, the PRO is going to have to grow on me. I guess all the trouble/frustration we've had has put a less-than-wow impact on the whole experience.


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## AdamNJ (Aug 22, 2013)

Ziggie said:


> _*Update*_
> 
> We are having issues with the cable card (Comcast dropped our premium channels! When I asked them "What happen to all our HBO channels, the rep hung up on me! Grrrr...). So, I'll have to deal with them tomorrow.
> 
> The delay in switching channels is very long... at least 4-6 seconds. Is that normal for the PRO?


I am going to go out on a limb and say that I think if they get the cablecard setup correctly, tuning speed may get better.

I certainly don't have that long of the wait. Someone here can describe it better but it also depends on how the channel is encrypted and something called frames. Basically it has to wait until a special signal is sent to allow the tune to fully happen. This varies by cableco. I have seen it described in other threads.


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## DCIFRTHS (Jan 6, 2000)

Ziggie said:


> There was no flashing green light showing activity when we connected the ethernet cable to the modem.


I see fiber (yellow cable). What device are you showing us in the picture? I don't think Comcast runs fiber into the home, so it must be a Hotwire device.

What does the ethernet cable connect to? A standard home router?

What does the coax cable connect to? I believe you said that you get your TV, so I assume it's not connected to the TVs in your home. Does it connect to anything?

I also see an ethernet cable being used as what appears to be a phone line (the cable near the coax cable). It has many of the pairs twisted around the outside of the cable itself.

Can you get a model number off the device in the picture?


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## DCIFRTHS (Jan 6, 2000)

jcthorne said:


> Is your internet service provider a DSL provider or any flavor of ATT? I do know first hand that the combo DSL, ASUS router and Tivo will not work. There is a configuration setting for MTU size (limited to 1492 on DSL) that is required and not present on the ASUS router. I went in circles with that router because of this. Finally replaced it with a Linksys and it all worked as soon as I plug it in. Should not be an issue for Cable modem internet though.


It looks like there is fiber coming into the house... Probably not AT&T.


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## DCIFRTHS (Jan 6, 2000)

Okay. I guess I should have read more of the thread before I replied.

The fiber threw up a red flag for me (worked in a data center) and the phone line via ethernet cable jumped out at me. I also have an Optical Network Terminal (ONT), but it's currently a Motorola GPON unit. It's an indoor unit, like yours, but it's not a desktop unit (yours is).

Anyway, glad you are up and running.


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## pgoelz (May 1, 2005)

Ziggy,

Although it looks like you have arrived at a solution, I'm still curious why it won't connect via wireless. I'd like to toss out something that no one else has mentioned. 

You said you live in a community where everyone is using the same internet provider.... and I assume, using the same wireless router? How absolutely CERTAIN are you that the Tivo was trying to connect to YOUR wireless router? The SSIDs you mentioned.... ASUS and ASUS5 sound very generic. Is it possible that you are in fact trying to connect to your neighbor instead of your router???? Don't ask why I am familiar with that particular issue  

Paul


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

pgoelz said:


> Ziggy,
> 
> Although it looks like you have arrived at a solution, I'm still curious why it won't connect via wireless. I'd like to toss out something that no one else has mentioned.
> 
> ...


Most routers you can change the SSID and should, so nobody connects to your router by error. With password protection this should not be much of a problem.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

Again, thank you everyone for your help and suggestions!

Our story ended well, but it was stressful and frustrating!  It took all weekend to finally get everything up and running.. and once we did, the premium channels on the cable card still would not work. Mind you, the cable card was working perfectly only moments before we removed it from one of the other Premieres we own.

_*No matter who we called at Comcast... *_ they could not successfully pair the card so that the premium channels appeared. I'm talking higher level techs, supervisors, troubleshooters.. it was annoying and irritating! :down: Comcast finally had to schedule a service tech to come out and fix the problem. Then, when he said _*"I'm going to have to charge you $40 for this service call*_ my head nearly exploded. So now, I'm going to review my bill very closely... there better not be a charge (grrrr).

In any event, we are up and running. However, we have overkill right now imo... 3 TiVos and 1 Mini so we need to thin things out a bit


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

pgoelz said:


> Ziggy,
> 
> Although it looks like you have arrived at a solution, I'm still curious why it won't connect via wireless. I'd like to toss out something that no one else has mentioned.
> 
> ...


Paul, the internet signal comes into the house but then the router is inside our home. We named it ASUS and ASUS5... so that's where the names come from. But even putting the PRO right in front of the router, it still would not connect. Several people on the board have mentioned it might be a problem with the wireless card and I think they're right.


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

Ziggie said:


> Again, thank you everyone for your help and suggestions!
> 
> Our story ended well, but it was stressful and frustrating!  It took all weekend to finally get everything up and running.. and once we did, the premium channels on the cable card still would not work. Mind you, the cable card was working perfectly only moments before we removed it from one of the other Premieres we own.
> 
> ...


Well after all this the important question is, how is your husband doing? Hope all is good! I have had some serious health issues and was confined to bed rest for a long time and I don't know what I would have done without my TiVo's!

The worse part of being in the hospital was watching TV with NO TIVO!!


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

eboydog said:


> Well after all this the important question is, how is your husband doing? Hope all is good! I have had some serious health issues and was confined to bed rest for a long time and I don't know what I would have done without my TiVo's!
> 
> The worse part of being in the hospital was watching TV with NO TIVO!!


Thanks so much for asking eboydog  Hubby is doing *much* better. He's been getting antsy because he's been off from work for 8 weeks already, but he's due to be medically released soon! Glad to hear you're feeling much better too! :up:


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## Msanissa (Mar 7, 2014)

It took 4 days to get my TIVO Roamio plus connected with Comcast after I picked up and installed the Mcard. I was finally able to get all of the channels when the system disconnected from my network. It has been doing that since the beginning but I didn't have channels so I did not worry about it. I am trying to connect wirelessly, as my Comcast router and the TiVo are in different rooms. I have restarted/rebooted everything. The router is working because my iPad and phone are connected wirelessly.


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## JacksTiVo (Jan 7, 2006)

Msanissa said:


> It took 4 days to get my TIVO Roamio plus connected with Comcast after I picked up and installed the Mcard. I was finally able to get all of the channels when the system disconnected from my network. It has been doing that since the beginning but I didn't have channels so I did not worry about it. I am trying to connect wirelessly, as my Comcast router and the TiVo are in different rooms. I have restarted/rebooted everything. The router is working because my iPad and phone are connected wirelessly.


(I haven't read through the significant number of previous posts on this Thread, so please excuse me if I am repeating previously suggested troubleshooting steps.)

During the network setup step, does the TiVo Plus see your router or any other neighborhood routers? Is the setting on your router set to "SSID Broadcast" so it can been seen by the TiVo? Or when standing next to your TiVo check the settings on your iPad and see if it can see your router. If not, then there may be an electrical appliance, such as refrigerator, etc. blocking the RF signal from your router.

If the above is not the problem, are you using WEP or WPA encryption on your router (if not you should)? Are you using the correct password (lower vs. uppercase, etc.) when entering it on the TiVo setup page?

As a last ditch effort, can you move the TiVo into the same room as the router to see if it will connect when close-by. That may be an indication of a weak broadcast signal from the router or signal attenuation due to it having to pass through the wall. For example, apartments my have concrete block walls or use steel suds instead of wood 2x4's. Or a wall may have a decorative metallic foil wall covering.

Of course if all this fails, then perhaps the TiVo Plus is defective.


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## stan2828 (Nov 23, 2014)

shrike4242 said:


> I'd try the following to see if this would work:
> 
> 1) Try dropping the security on your wireless network and see if the Roamio will connect to an unencrypted network. That should prove if the wireless card in the Roamio will work. If it can't connect to an unecrypted network, then the wireless card is likely bad.
> 2) If there's a cable outlet near to the router, then I'd recommend using a MoCA adapter with an Ethernet connection to the router, then run the Roamio off of MoCA. I've been using MoCA for multiple years and it's been working flawlessly. All you should need would be a MoCA adapter connected at the router via Ethernet and you'd be good to go.
> ...


I saw the above post and was wondering if anyone could confirm whether they have been able to setup their Roamio with a wireless connection with SSID hidden?

As SHRIKE4242 suggests, the first connection may need to be setup while broadcasting the SSID. AFTER the first connection, has anyone been able to hide their SSID, and still have their Roamio connect?

Thanks.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

stan2828 said:


> I saw the above post and was wondering if anyone could confirm whether they have been able to setup their Roamio with a wireless connection with SSID hidden?
> 
> As SHRIKE4242 suggests, the first connection may need to be setup while broadcasting the SSID. AFTER the first connection, has anyone been able to hide their SSID, and still have their Roamio connect?


Why hide it? it offers zero additional protection and does nothing but cause weird issues because it's not considered part of the specifications.

Hiding an SSID for security benefits is a fallacy.


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## mae (Dec 10, 2001)

stan2828 said:


> I saw the above post and was wondering if anyone could confirm whether they have been able to setup their Roamio with a wireless connection with SSID hidden?
> 
> As SHRIKE4242 suggests, the first connection may need to be setup while broadcasting the SSID. AFTER the first connection, has anyone been able to hide their SSID, and still have their Roamio connect?
> 
> Thanks.


I have successfully set 2, one base, one plus on two different hidden networks at different locations using different brand routers.

I have had problems with devices, like my NEST thermostat, connecting with a hidden SSID. I just made it visible, connected and then re-hid it. That worked fine.

As Diane said above, it does little for security from real intruders, but it may stop amateurs and some kids.

Hope that helps.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

mae said:


> I have successfully set 2, one base, one plus on two different hidden networks at different locations using different brand routers.
> 
> I have had problems with devices, like my NEST thermostat, connecting with a hidden SSID. I just made it visible, connected and then re-hid it. That worked fine.
> 
> ...


You stop the amateurs and kids with WPA2/AES and a good password, whether the SSID is visible or not is irrelevant. All hiding it does is introduce other problems as mentioned.


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## stan2828 (Nov 23, 2014)

mae said:


> I have successfully set 2, one base, one plus on two different hidden networks at different locations using different brand routers.
> 
> I have had problems with devices, like my NEST thermostat, connecting with a hidden SSID. I just made it visible, connected and then re-hid it. That worked fine.
> 
> ...


Excellent news - Thanks Mae.


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## telcoman (Dec 27, 2007)

Ziggie said:


> Shrike, the cable that carries our internet to the router is not from the same line as our cable television. One line coming into the house carries television and internet, while another line carries only television.
> 
> Let me see if I can explain this further... (grab a comfy chair and some popcorn!)
> 
> ...


Hello Ziggie

I just ran across this thread.

We ran into a similar problem with Hotwire in Lake Worth Florida when Comcast was out as of 12/31/14 and Hotwire took over TV, Internet, and telephone service.

Here is a related thread on Hotwire.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=504017&highlight=Tivo+with+Hotwire

I was surprised as HotWire exceeded my expectations. Although they do not offer cable cards they do offer 75 analog channels including HBO and Showtime.
I insisted that they bring their fiber to our front bedroom where the existing cable modem and router was located.
Since we were on the third floor with access to the attic they ran the fiber from their demark in the rear of the building up and across the attic and down to our front bedroom.



Hotwire configures their ONT with two IP addresses.
One for my ASUS Router and one for their Access Point





The access point provides a WiFi signal for Hotwires one digital TV box that is included in their package. We also get free telephone service with unlimited calling to the USA and Canada.



The CATV output of the Hotwire ONT goes to the input of a CATV amplifier that I had Comcast install a few years ago when they removed all the analog channels and replaced them with digital channels. The output of the amplifier goes to two splitters that have all home run RG6 cables that go to every TV
My ASUS Wifi router has no problem connecting to three other TIVO's located in the other bedrooms.
I did have to run a new guided setup on each TIVO as well as each TV after the Hotwire installation.
I also have a ethernet hardwired Slingbox so I can watch Florida channels here in New Jersey

Overall we are happy with the Hotwire service


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

telcoman said:


> Hello Ziggie
> 
> I just ran across this thread.
> 
> ...


@telcoman, thank you for this very informative post! I appreciate you taking the time to share your photos and experience with me :up:

Nearly 5 years later we are still paying both Hotwire and Comcast. I am so pleased you found a work-around that is suitable for your needs. I am going to save your photos and text and maybe we'll be able to do something like that here as well (in the future as right now I am in-between eye surgeries).

Just as an aside, one reason we did not take Hotwire's phone service was because they required each homeowner to sign the form (shown below).

_When you dial 911 using Hotwires limited eamergency services, your call is routed to a general or administrative number for the PSAP or a local emergency service provider and will not necessarily be routed to a trained dispatcher. In addition, services may not be available on a 24 hour basis, you may experience a busy signal, or you may not be able to reach any emergency services personnel at all. Unlike traditional E911 services, when you dial 911 using the Hotwire service, the emergency personnel receiving your call will not be able to automatically identify your phone number or the physical address from which you are calling. You will need to tell the emergency personnel the nature of your emergency, give them your phone number, and describe your location. If your call is dropped for any reason, emergency personnel may not be able to call you back or find your location._

We weren't comfortable with that and therefore, kept our established landline.


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## telcoman (Dec 27, 2007)

^^^^^^^^^^^

We have not disconnected our AT&T POTS line yet. We have renters for the winter. On our next trip to our condo I will make a test call from both our AT&T line and the Hotwire line to see if the calls arrive at the same 911 center.
I had a conversation with a local police officer last December but she could not answer my questions regarding emergency 911 calls.
It is always a good idea to have a local police number programmed into a cell phone.

Since it was five years ago perhaps the E911 service has improved?

I forgot to include this photo of the Hotwire Optical Fiber D Mark in the rear of our building.


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