# Mini and timeout plus restart?



## trlyka (May 21, 2003)

Ok....I accidentally dropped my older TiVo HD box in my bedroom and broke the power cord connector...ugh. I had the Mini on hand which I was going to use in my 'office' or 2nd bedroom. But the TV I had in that room died and I had no need for the mini at the moment until my HD TiVo was killed by my mishap. 

I hooked up the mini and was thrilled to have it here to rescue me. I have the XL 4 in the living room, and with a call to TiVo to activate my lifetime, set up was done and I was on my way. 

So I noticed the mini wasn't responding when I turned on the TV. I had the blue Samsung screensaver as if nothing was connected to the HDMI input. I unplugged and replugged the mini, and it did the 'Welcome, powering up' and 'Almost there, just a few more minutes'. Then I would get the TiVo main menu and I could now watch TV. I assumed this was not normal, but what did I know 

I did notice that if the TV remains on, then the mini screensaver stays on and I can access live TV without waiting. But if the TV is off, then the mini goes to sleep and I have to wait several minutes to watch TV.

I called TiVo support a few times. I explained exactly what was happening and the support rep decided to replace the mini. I got the replacement mini and same thing was happening. I did notice when I turned on the TV, if I hit the 'Live TV' button, the mini would 'wake up' and again go through the Welcome....Almost there, set up. So I didn't have to unplug it, but still....

I called support again and the rep discovered that the mini was supposed to shut down as a power saver thing 

What the heck? I can't just turn on my TV and watch it? i have to wait and babysit the mini until it's ready to go? 

I think it should be an option on if I want the mini to take a break when my TV is turned off. Or is it an option?

I love the concept of the mini, and it's a great idea for a TV that rarely gets used, but I don't like that I have to wait for it to power up each time I turn on the TV. 

I think I may just let TiVo replace my broken unit with a Premier for $349


----------



## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

That's not normal behavior for a mini. It is supposed to also be in a screensaver state itself (floating msg to hit TiVo or Live TV button) once it initially boots and it has sat idle for awhile and as long as the mini doesn't have it's power removed. Are you accidentally removing power to it somehow? You should be able to just turn on your tv and hit TiVo or live TV if its in screensaver and then start tivo'ing away til your heart's content. If its having to fully boot every time, there's something wrong, period.


----------



## DeltaOne (Sep 29, 2013)

trlyka said:


> What the heck? I can't just turn on my TV and watch it? i have to wait and babysit the mini until it's ready to go?


As the OP said, something else is wrong. When I turn on my TV the Mini is at TiVo Central and I choose My Shows or Live TV.


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

DeltaOne said:


> As the OP said, something else is wrong. When I turn on my TV the Mini is at TiVo Central and I choose My Shows or Live TV.


On my Mini that I have connected directly to a TV, it behaves the same way. But the Mini I have connected to a Sony Speaker Bar, that one shows the screen saver when I turn everything on. But I think it has to do with the fact that I use the TiVo remote to turn on the TV where the Mini is connected directly to it. While in the other room I use a harmony remote. Because I can hit the TV power button on the Slide remote in the other room and it will come out of screen saver mode.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

When I turn on my Mini connected HDTV I would be in TiVo central not sleep mode, so once I turned on the HDTV with the TVs own side button, and the Mini was in sleep mode, so the IR used to turn on my HDTV also takes the Mini out of sleep mode.


----------



## jmpage2 (Jan 21, 2004)

When my two Minis have the TVs they are connected to get turned off, they go into the lower power state (floating screen-saver). However it doesn't take "minutes" to get to watch TV, I just press any button on the remote and it's back to TiVo Central.


----------



## trlyka (May 21, 2003)

HarperVision said:


> That's not normal behavior for a mini. It is supposed to also be in a screensaver state itself (floating msg to hit TiVo or Live TV button) once it initially boots and it has sat idle for awhile and as long as the mini doesn't have it's power removed. Are you accidentally removing power to it somehow? You should be able to just turn on your tv and hit TiVo or live TV if its in screensaver and then start tivo'ing away til your heart's content. If its having to fully boot every time, there's something wrong, period.


I had a feeling this wasn't normal. Maybe I need to take a video for TiVo tech support and send it to them so they can see exactly what's happening 

The white light is always on the mini. I checked the power it's connected to, and the power strip (it's actually a round surge protector) has other things attached (like TV and DVD player), so it's not losing power.

I only get the floating screensaver if the TV remains on. Once I power it off, I have to wait for the mini to boot up when I turn it back on. Now I haven't tried turning it right back on to see if it reboots then too, but it shouldn't matter.....ugh


----------



## trlyka (May 21, 2003)

aaronwt said:


> On my Mini that I have connected directly to a TV, it behaves the same way. But the Mini I have connected to a Sony Speaker Bar, that one shows the screen saver when I turn everything on. But I think it has to do with the fact that I use the TiVo remote to turn on the TV where the Mini is connected directly to it. While in the other room I use a harmony remote. Because I can hit the TV power button on the Slide remote in the other room and it will come out of screen saver mode.


I use the TiVo remote to turn the TV on/off. I have the mini connected with the HDMI it came with and I am using Moca (cable) for the networking. There is nothing else going on. No HDMI switches, sound systems or cable boxes. Just the mini which is directly connected to the TV.


----------



## trlyka (May 21, 2003)

So I turn the TV on and I got the blue Samsung screensaver and then I hit the live TV button on the TiVo remote and I saw the welcome powering up screen. Then the TV went back to the blue screen. After that, the mini would not respond to any buttons on the remote so I had to unplug it and plug it back in to get it to come on. Not cool!


----------



## jmpage2 (Jan 21, 2004)

trlyka said:


> So I turn the TV on and I got the blue Samsung screensaver and then I hit the live TV button on the TiVo remote and I saw the welcome powering up screen. Then the TV went back to the blue screen. After that, the mini would not respond to any buttons on the remote so I had to unplug it and plug it back in to get it to come on. Not cool!


Have you tried the Mini on another television?

You could have a bad Mini also.


----------



## macevedo (Oct 23, 2005)

There is an issue with Samsung and Minis. E-mail Margarete if you wish to participate in the beta program where they will be testing the fix.


----------



## macevedo (Oct 23, 2005)

Lookup this thread: Samsung PN51F5500AF Not Syncing.

Sorry I do not post the link, I simply dont know how to do it from the iPhone app.


----------



## pillpusher84 (Jan 19, 2008)

macevedo said:


> There is an issue with Samsung and Minis. E-mail Margarete if you wish to participate in the beta program where they will be testing the fix.


who is Margarete? Can I have her e-mail ... would be interested in participating ot see if this fixes the issue with my older samsung 19" TV in the kitchen paired with the Mini


----------



## jmpage2 (Jan 21, 2004)

pillpusher84 said:


> who is Margarete? Can I have her e-mail ... would be interested in participating ot see if this fixes the issue with my older samsung 19" TV in the kitchen paired with the Mini


Her name is actually Margret Scmidt, she's the chief designer at TiVo. You will probably get her attention by either tweeting her or emailing her, not sending her a private message in this forum;

http://margretschmidt.com/Home/Margret_Schmidt_Chief_Design_Officer_TiVo.html

As far as I know, the Samsung issues have been resolved with the most recent software updates, so if you are still having issues she'd probably be interested to know about them.


----------



## PaperQueen (Oct 26, 2009)

I'm in a similar boat. New Mini is connected to a Samsung (SyncMaster 933HD+) in the kitchen. The pattern here is:

Turn on the TV using the TiVo remote
- Result: TiVo Central appears

Select "Live TV" option
- Result: Error screen telling me the Mini can't connect to the Roamio

Return to TiVo Central, then Settings > Help > Restart
- Wait...wait...wait...wait...wait...yawn...wait...wait...wait...wait

Then, after a full restart, everything works again.

*jmpage2*, thanks for the link. Am in conversation with Margret now, searching for a solution. :up:


----------

