# Tivo Black Screen and Reboot



## cconnell (Nov 15, 2006)

After working with Tivo Support and Time Warner I have much information but little understanding.

Problem: Starting with 9.1 (I now have 9.2j) my Series 3 would produce no video. The screen would be black. No menus, no tv, just black. This would happen about once every 2 days. If I pushed a buttons on the remote about 35 times it would reboot. Otherwise the Tivo runs fine and gets all channels.

Tivo Response: I called Tivo and they had me look at the cable card information screen. The support person said that the CCI Byte of 0x00 was incorrect and combined with the fact that many of the other values on the screen were 0 that it was a cable card problem and I need to call TW. (After further research I am not so sure the support person knew what they were talking about)

TW Response: Service man came out. Ran signal strength tests and determined that my Transmit was too high. Rewired, generally cleaned (?) stuff up so the amplifier was not needed. Transmit is not too high anymore. He told me that signal strength is good on all channels. Using the Tivo the signal strength is above 90% for all but a couple of the channels. Two channels look fine but have a signal strength of 60%. TW said that his meter said all signal strength was fine and the Tivo as wrong.

I still have the problem. My next step is to take my CC's to TW and swap them out. Any other thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks in advance


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## nau10 (Aug 17, 2003)

I have the series 3 HD, and I'm seeing the same problem. The video blacks out, and it either spontaneously reboots, or I power cycle the unit to get it back.

I currently have SW Version: 9.1-01-2-648. After talking with TiVo support, they're going to fast-track me to 9.2, but it doesn't sound like that's going to solve my problems.

I am using two cablecards, and my cable service is Comcast.

Tivo has claimed that if the software update doesn't fix it, they may send me out a new unit. Hmm. I don't know if that's the right track to take.


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## montz (Sep 23, 2007)

I had a similar but slightly different problem. I started transferring a video via TTCB from my mac, and immediately the background went black. All the menus worked fine, but the Live TV feature and trying to play any shows on the TiVo didn't work. After a reboot, all was well. This has happened to me twice in a month. I have a TiVo HD with OTA only.


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## SCSIRAID (Feb 2, 2003)

cconnell said:


> After working with Tivo Support and Time Warner I have much information but little understanding.
> 
> Problem: Starting with 9.1 (I now have 9.2j) my Series 3 would produce no video. The screen would be black. No menus, no tv, just black. This would happen about once every 2 days. If I pushed a buttons on the remote about 35 times it would reboot. Otherwise the Tivo runs fine and gets all channels.
> 
> ...


If Tivo locks up and you have no menus then chances are very low that its a cablecard or cable company issue. Sounds like a bad Tivo to me.


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## cconnell (Nov 15, 2006)

If it is a bad tivo I have these questions:

1) Could it be my exernal hard drive? If maybe how do I determine?
2) Could it be my power supply? If maybe how do I dermine?
3) Most importantly how do I convince Tivo that it is the Tivo that is the problem?

Thanks.


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## SCSIRAID (Feb 2, 2003)

cconnell said:


> If it is a bad tivo I have these questions:
> 
> 1) Could it be my exernal hard drive? If maybe how do I determine?
> 2) Could it be my power supply? If maybe how do I dermine?
> ...


It could be either of those problems.

Removing the external drive and seeing if that eliminates the issue would be one thing. Diagnosing the power supply is probably outside most folks capability.

Then I would call customer service back and play CSR Roulette and see if you can get one with a brain....


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## pmiranda (Feb 12, 2003)

I started seeing the same problem with 9.1 and 9.2 made it worse. It's not the cablecards, and it's probably not any hardware at all. Look at the other threads in this forum. For me, I work around it by not using standby.


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## jetboy_jones (Sep 19, 2006)

Add me to the list of people whose Series 3 is locking up since 9.1. And I don't have an external disk drive or any cable cards. My unit is a year old and had been working beautifully until the 9.1 upgrade -- obviously a serious bug has slipped past QA in 9.1.


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## cconnell (Nov 15, 2006)

I don't use Standby so I don't think that is the problem. I have been reviewing the previous posts and I have not been able to find the exact behavior. What I find that is different is that I get no menus, video, anything, it is just black (though it may be successfully recording something.) I do have SA Cable Cards which I know is a problem for some but they have different behavior.

Have you seen anything that looks related? Thanks in advance.


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## pmiranda (Feb 12, 2003)

cconnell said:


> I don't use Standby so I don't think that is the problem. I have been reviewing the previous posts and I have not been able to find the exact behavior. What I find that is different is that I get no menus, video, anything, it is just black (though it may be successfully recording something.) I do have SA Cable Cards which I know is a problem for some but they have different behavior.
> 
> Have you seen anything that looks related? Thanks in advance.


Yep, when I try to come out of standby, there's basically no signal to the TV since it throws up a blank screen with the "DVI" text at the top to indicate the input in use. I also have SA cablecards, but have never seen the cablecard info screen (grey border, black field) in association with this problem, and it happens regardless of whether TiVo is recording anything, so I doubt the cablecards are part of the problem (for once).


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

If you use HDMI, this is the thread:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=369334


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## cconnell (Nov 15, 2006)

Thanks for everyones help. I am pretty sure that it is the HDMI handshake problem at this point. I still do not have a good fix (other than use component video) but the problem seems common enough that Tivo is aware. Hoping for 9.2K (or whatever is next) soon. Thanks.


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## missiontortilla (Sep 26, 2006)

I also have this issue. I have 9.2J, no cablecards, no eSATA. It is extremely frustrating. My TiVo is over a year old, just started doing this within the last month or so.


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## tomers (Aug 14, 2006)

I just got a TiVoHD a few days ago and I've had the black screen & freeze up described in post #1 happen once and the black screen but with menus described in post #3 happen twice. 

My TiVoHD is running 9.1. I just had the CableCards installed today (Cablevision of Warwick) and while browsing around in some random menu after the installers left, I hit the LiveTV button and the screen went black. Pressing the buttons on the remote did nothing - TiVo didn't even acknowledge with its orange LED that I was pressing the buttons. I had to unplug it to reboot. 

When I first hooked it up a couple of days ago without any CableCards installed the issue described in #3 happened to me. I think I was browsing through the guide at the time when the TV channel shown in the background went dark. I closed the guide and tried changing channels, but everything was black. Even the colorful backgrounds of the menus weren't displayed - the backgrounds were just black. I rebooted via the menu. 

This same thing happened while the cable guy was installing the CableCards today. He was browsing around the menus while installing the CableCards when the backgrounds of the menus disappeared and were replaced by blackness. A reboot brought everything back.


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## ToddNeedsTiVo (Sep 2, 2003)

My month-old TiVo HD just did something similar to this. I went to start playback of a recording, and it went black with no playback. I hit "left" or perhaps the TiVo button and it gave me the keep/delete prompt normally seen at the end of playback. The menus seemed normal, but the colored graphics normally seen beneath them were absent. Tried a couple other playbacks with the same results.

I initiated a reboot from the menu and now it seems to be working fine. It came back up and resumed the two scheduled recordings.

Not sure what to make of that. Hope it doesn't happen again. Using HDMI, OTA & analog cable (no CableCARDS). :down:


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## tomers (Aug 14, 2006)

I discovered that the problems lies with HDMI/HDCP when your menu backgrounds go black, but the menus themselves still work. I checked the System Information screen when this problem happened again moments ago and in the HDMI Status field it normally says "HDCP enabled" but for me it was simply blank. 

A reboot of the TiVo fixed it, but someone in another thread mentions that changing to an analog channel and then cycling the power on your TV will also fix the problem. Haven't tried this solution yet.


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## ToddNeedsTiVo (Sep 2, 2003)

tomers said:


> I discovered that the problems lies with HDMI/HDCP when your menu backgrounds go black, but the menus themselves still work. I checked the System Information screen when this problem happened again moments ago and in the HDMI Status field it normally says "HDCP enabled" but for me it was simply blank.
> 
> A reboot of the TiVo fixed it, but someone in another thread mentions that changing to an analog channel and then cycling the power on your TV will also fix the problem. Haven't tried this solution yet.


If recordings were underway while this menu-on-black glitch occurs, would they be disrupted or would they just carry on properly but not be viewable until a reboot?


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## tomers (Aug 14, 2006)

ToddNeedsTiVo said:


> If recordings were underway while this menu-on-black glitch occurs, would they be disrupted or would they just carry on properly but not be viewable until a reboot?


Recordings recorded, but they only recorded blackness. I rebooted in the middle of a recording and so the part before the reboot was blackness and the part after the reboot was a proper recording.


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

tomers said:


> I discovered that the problems lies with HDMI/HDCP when your menu backgrounds go black, but the menus themselves still work. I checked the System Information screen when this problem happened again moments ago and in the HDMI Status field it normally says "HDCP enabled" but for me it was simply blank.


Not completely clear. It happened to me with no CableCards and only a composite output (to an SD TV).


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## micz (Nov 10, 2007)

I have had a similar problem happen a few times.

The symptoms are:

1. While browsing channels at some point the output will become black or gray, and no further channel changing is possible (trying to enter number makes an error sound, the channel change keys do nothing, and the guide does nothing)

2. The menu still operates, but the usual Tivo background is not present anywhere (the red or green backgrounds) and neither are the white "frames" that appear on the menus, but the entries on the menu are there.

3. A restart of the tivo does fix the problem temporarily. 

4. This is a fresh tivo, just installed a few hours ago when the Cable company installed the dual-stream cards.

Am using 9.2a


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

micz, I have seen that problem a couple of times, but that's a different issue.


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## BiloxiGeek (Nov 18, 2001)

One thing to double check if you haven't already: Good quality coax cable feeding the TiVo making a solid connection on both ends.


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## That70sGAdawg (Oct 29, 2002)

Add me to the S3 list, 8 "no video" freeze ups in the last week. Never had a problem for 6 months, added the "approved" DVR expander last month fine, for 2 weeks then- lockups on 9.1. HDMI Directly connected to the Sony TV. Running 9.2J now, still an issue. They better push out a fix soon...


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## Yuterald (Jan 21, 2002)

I've had my HDTivo for about 3 weeks/ have the WD on the eSata (the Tivo authorized one) and this is the second time after watching something recorded i have no 'live tv' - just black. I can pull up the menu and guide, the fonts and colors are correct but the background is all black. Both times had to reboot by unplugging the cord from the box. Since it was taping a show i waited until the time was 'up' - unplugged it - rebooted and the show DID record.


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## criswell50 (Nov 18, 2007)

I have the same problem as 20 and 24. I just got my HD Tivo up and running yesterday (took 5 weeks for a Cable Card appointment from Time Warner NYC Southern Manhattan). Now this no-live-tv-black-screen issue has happened twice. Twice since yesterday. I have to reboot, and then it's fine.


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## AZrob (Mar 31, 2002)

I have a Tivo HD that's less than a week old, using component and 1 M-card. These black-outs (or gray-outs, if you chose gray as your background) happened quite a bit up until yesterday, when I did the following:

1. Called Tivo and they walked me thru the Kickstart procedure. The tech said that this might be a video driver problem and that the Kickstart procedure could possibly fix it by reinstalling the video drivers.

2. I also switched the Video Output format from Hybrid 720 to Fixed 720. This significantly reduced the 1.5 second black-background flicker that I have been seeing a lot, and since the blackout problem looks like a black-background flicker that stays frozen on the screen, I thought this might help.

Fact is that since I did these two things I have not had the blackout problem, though I have tried to bring it on by switching around a lot from Live TV to Tivo Central and so on.

Both of these changes assume the problem is a video driver issue, not a signal strength/acquisition problem. So if that is so, maybe Tivo can provide a patch. The Tivo tech said that my case and others would be examined to see if this was needed, FWIW.

Rob from AZ


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## ccrider2 (Nov 1, 2007)

I think I have the same problem as most above.

My Tivo is about a month old and worked fine until about a week ago. Since then 3 times, I have had to pull the AC plug to force a reboot to get the Tivo to even respond to the remote...no picture, no menus...no nothing! (One time I had video & audio static...like you get when a tuner is off-channel)

I'm OTA only, currently running 9.2a.



AZrob said:


> I have a Tivo HD that's less than a week old, using component and 1 M-card. These black-outs (or gray-outs, if you chose gray as your background) happened quite a bit up until yesterday, when I did the following:
> 
> 1. Called Tivo and they walked me thru the Kickstart procedure. The tech said that this might be a video driver problem and that the Kickstart procedure could possibly fix it by reinstalling the video drivers.
> ......
> ...


Can you explain the Kickstart procedure? -- thought I'd try that. 
Is it something I'll need to be walked through by Tivo support?
If so, do you remember the Tech's name?

Thanks Much!


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## AZrob (Mar 31, 2002)

ccrider2 said:


> I think I have the same problem as most above.
> 
> My Tivo is about a month old and worked fine until about a week ago. Since then 3 times, I have had to pull the AC plug to force a reboot to get the Tivo to even respond to the remote...no picture, no menus...no nothing! (One time I had video & audio static...like you get when a tuner is off-channel)
> 
> ...


It is a series of steps that you take that will reload the drivers as well as fix the disk if there are any fixable errors. I would not try it without Tivo Support walking you through it, if only to make sure they have the responsibility of working through any subsequent issues. My Tivo tech admitted this was not an "official" fix, but he thought it was worth a try.

Having said that, I believe if you search for "kickstart" on this forum, you'll find the procedure. Others are more knowledgeable about this than I am.

Rob


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## AZrob (Mar 31, 2002)

The tech's name was Tom, by the way, and he is in High Def Tivo Support, which is option #2 when you call in for Tech Support. However, right now #2 only takes you to General Support, so you have to ask whoever answers to transfer you to the "High Def" support group. I did that twice and both times by chance got Tom, so maybe you'll get lucky too. If nothing else, he seemed at least half-way knowledgeable and was very professional and courteous. 

Don't waste your time with the guy in HD Support (whoever he was) who told me I needed to get updated from 9.2a to 9.2J...that is not even possible since 9.2J was an initial trial release. 9.2a is the latest.

Rob


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## ccrider2 (Nov 1, 2007)

Thanks for the heads-up...I'll give them a call...at least let them know that people are having a problem with the latest update.

Again, Thanks


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## audio (Feb 11, 2006)

I have a BRAND NEW TiVo HD, activated last week and had a black screen issue yesterday. Black screen behind menu and when I hit the live TV buttom. I could use all of the menu options, however.

Was not able to resolve the problem until I rebooted.

I checked the cable in the other room which was working fine on the Series 2 TiVo.

I was also transferring a show at the time as well.

By the way, (this may be of interest to the OP) I did not have any Cable Cards installed (still don't. TWC comes tomorrow) so TiVo's contention that Cable Cards are the problem may be misleading.

I had thought about trying component instead of HDMI. Next time maybe I will do this.


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## SeRv0 (Sep 17, 2002)

I also have a new TiVo HD. No cable cards (yet) / HDMI / DVR Expander not installed (yet). I had the same black screen and reboot issue. TiVo Support requested I do the following to resolve the problems: Do not use a surge and noise suppressing power strip and switch to component cables. 

I have not had the problems reoccur after making the changes. The 9.2 update was applied right afterwards so I'll need to do some testing to see if the fix was software or setup related. 

I was about to purchase a UPS for my TiVo and DVR Expander but I guess I should wait until I figure out if power conditioning was the culprit. I will be disappointed if I can't use an HDMI connection and a UPS.


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

SeRv0 said:


> if power conditioning was the culprit


absolutely not


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## AZrob (Mar 31, 2002)

SeRv0 said:


> I also have a new TiVo HD. No cable cards (yet) / HDMI / DVR Expander not installed (yet). I had the same black screen and reboot issue. TiVo Support requested I do the following to resolve the problems: Do not use a surge and noise suppressing power strip and switch to component cables.
> 
> I have not had the problems reoccur after making the changes. The 9.2 update was applied right afterwards so I'll need to do some testing to see if the fix was software or setup related.
> 
> I was about to purchase a UPS for my TiVo and DVR Expander but I guess I should wait until I figure out if power conditioning was the culprit. I will be disappointed if I can't use an HDMI connection and a UPS.


Give it a few days and don't be surprised if the problem comes back. Neither HDMI nor power conditioner are causes of this problem. I have neither and the problem persists. You probably got a Tier 1 agent who is not familiar with this issue. The suggestion to avoid surge suppression goes back to a time when some Tivo's would reboot spontaneously. I had that issue with my S2 and was told to connect the Tivo directly to the wall socket -- and it did seem to stop THAT problem. But this is a totally different matter.

If you call back, choose Option 1 for Tech Support, then Option 2 for "High Definition" specialist. Then ask whoever answers to connect you directly to the High Def group (the phone queue is not working properly). That group, especially Tom and Jimmie in the Albuquerque call center, seems to be further along in at least not mouthing the same old by-the-book suggestions.

Rob


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## AZrob (Mar 31, 2002)

Please note: there is a much older, more complete thread on this forum called Tivo HD - All Video Vanishes. I don't know how to merge threads but until or unless someone does so, I suggest all posters revert to that thread.

I'd put in the link here but I don't know how...

Thanks,

Rob


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## Slime (Apr 6, 2003)

I've had this happen to me several times over the past weeks... dont think it happened before 9.1...

For me, when I turn the TV on there is no signal over the HDMI and I cannot get the picture back without power cycling the S3. I've tried reconnecting the HDMI at either end, nothing other than a power cycle will restore the image.

It happened last night while recording MythBusters, my wife turned the set on just before 10pm and called me down as she could get no picture. I realized what was going on, but as Tivo had its two record lights on I didnt want to distrupt the recordings, so I let it run until the clock said 10:02pm -- then unplugged it. After the reboot, I confirmed the Mythbusters recording was only 56 mins long, which would be around the time my wife turned on the TV, so I'd say the HDMI handshake crashed the TiVo.

I have an S3, HDMI cable only and a Vizio 42 on the other end. No switches/amps in the circuit.

Hopefully Tivo are working on a fix!


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## ccrider2 (Nov 1, 2007)

AZrob said:


> Please note: there is a much older, more complete thread on this forum called Tivo HD - All Video Vanishes. I don't know how to merge threads but until or unless someone does so, I suggest all posters revert to that thread.
> 
> I'd put in the link here but I don't know how...
> 
> ...


Try this link to see if it works.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=365824&highlight=Tivo+HD+Video+Vanishes

Chris


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## ThePennyDropped (Jul 5, 2006)

You can add me to the list of people with the no video (at all) problem. I have a completely unmodified S3, no external drive, running the latest software, using an HDMI connection.

I'd been waiting for months to see that Battlestar Galactica movie, and I was taking no chances on it not recording, and I planned to start watching it around a half hour after the movie started recording so I could miss most commercials. I turned on the tv a few minutes after the movie started broadcasting, and verified that it seemed to be on schedule, etc. When I turned on the tv again, 39 minutes after the broadcast began, the screen was blank. The S3 seemed to know when I was pushing buttons on the remote, since the orange light would flash each time, but I couldn't see anything on the tv. No menus, nothing.

I switched tv inputs to verify that I could see other sources of input, such as my dvd player and the straight cable signal. Both came through with no trouble, so the issue wasn't my tv. I disconnected the HDMI cable for a bit, hoping that would reset any HDMI handshaking issues, but it didn't help. I tried using the control buttons on the S3 itself, but the S3 didn't respond to them any differently than it did to the remote control. I was debating rebooting the TiVo, but wanted to hold off until the movie was done recording, still over an hour from that point, when the TiVo rebooted itself.

When it came back up (and everything seems to be working fine now), it appears from the length of the original recording that the problem most likely began when I turned on the tv (and saw a blank screen). Like Slime wrote a few messages ago, perhaps this is an HDMI issue. If it continues, I'll switch to component input from HDMI, because I don't want to swap this unit out (and endure another visit from the Comcast folks for a cable card re-install) unless absolutely necessary.

--Debbie


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

ThePennyDropped said:


> perhaps this is an HDMI issue


It is. With 9.1, I had this problem 2-3 times a week. After switching to component more than 5 weeks ago, not a single problem.


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## TroyM (Mar 11, 2003)

Unfortunately, it's not just an HDMI issue. My Tivo HD is connected only via component. I've experienced this issue 3 times in the 4-5 weeks that I've owned the Tivo HD. 

My unit is neither modified nor expanded in any way.


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## AZrob (Mar 31, 2002)

TroyM said:


> Unfortunately, it's not just an HDMI issue. My Tivo HD is connected only via component. I've experienced this issue 3 times in the 4-5 weeks that I've owned the Tivo HD.
> 
> My unit is neither modified nor expanded in any way.


From what I've read in this thread and the "All Video Vanishes" thread (see above for link), the HDMI issue may just be a part of the larger, more generalized situation. Certain things like HDMI, heavy file transfer, moving back and forth between screens seem to be correlated with this problem, but no one thing appears to be causal. It also doesn't appear to happen to every Tivo HD. And yet sometimes people have been told to exchange their Tivo for another and they still get the same problem.

And there are variations: you can have black screen on some channels but not all, you can have black screen on all channels but not the menu backgrounds, or you can have black screen on all channels and all menu backgrounds. I have experienced all 3 variations in just 2 weeks.

As for me, I'm just going to keep my Case # open and keep reporting occurrences. Sooner or later, I hope that Tivo will respond with a fix.

Rob from AZ


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## The Video Guru (Nov 12, 2007)

Tivo HD with a multistream cablecard. Once a week I loose only digital channels (full grey screen). Two independent things fix this:

1- Having the cable company re-hit the card for authorization
2- Rebooting the TiVo

So, of course, Cox Cable says its the TiVo and TiVo says it's the cablecard.

Cox says to make sure the Tivo is v9.2 as that is more stable with cablecards. It is.

Because of the reboot, I'm thinking that the TiVo is not talking (or listening) to the cablecard until either the card is initialized through a reboot or hit and sends a new authorization to the TiVo.

Any thoughts?


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## Freshman JS (Nov 8, 2002)

Any updates on a resolution to this? I think I have a form of this problem, however, my S3 outputs snow instead of blackness when it gets into this mode. It then either reboots or needs to be rebooted manually.


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## rjom (Feb 28, 2004)

tomers said:


> I discovered that the problems lies with HDMI/HDCP when your menu backgrounds go black, but the menus themselves still work. I checked the System Information screen when this problem happened again moments ago and in the HDMI Status field it normally says "HDCP enabled" but for me it was simply blank.
> 
> A reboot of the TiVo fixed it, but someone in another thread mentions that changing to an analog channel and then cycling the power on your TV will also fix the problem. Haven't tried this solution yet.


I do not use HDMI, but component cables. This happens to me too, once or twice a month. So it may not just be the HDMI handshake doing this. Sometimes it comes back on reboot, sometimes magically on its own.


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## hddude55 (Jan 5, 2007)

Freshman JS said:


> Any updates on a resolution to this? I think I have a form of this problem, however, my S3 outputs snow instead of blackness when it gets into this mode. It then either reboots or needs to be rebooted manually.


 It's good to know I have company in my misery! I have also encountered the full-screen snow and it's happened on two different brand new S3's over the past ten days. Actually, each one of the new machines went back and forth between a black screen and one filled with snow --about every 15 or 20 seconds or so. I have read other posts here describing this same symptom.

I got the first one as a brand new sealed in the original box replacement unit a week ago -- it replaced a six-month old machine that had audio and video freeze issues -- and the "replacement for the replacement" yesterday -- also brand new in a sealed original box. I hadn't had time to get Cox out to my house to install cards, which tells me the culprit is neither cable cards nor the TiVo, unless I got two lemons in a row!! But I had changed the video output from the defaulted 1080i fixed on both machines and wonder if that has something to do with it. Seems like an obvious version 9.2 software problem but God only knows when/if it will be fixed.


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## ccrider2 (Nov 1, 2007)

I'm having a similar problem. 
I occasionally have to reboot my S3 after turning-on my Sony SXRD. The Tivo just locks up, all I get on screen is black, today it was dark green. This started after I got the update that includes the external storage option. Before that, for about a month since I first bought it, it worked fine. I neglected to call Tivo about the problem, because I thought it cleared up for about 2 weeks, after I turned on the Sony's I-link power "standby option". But today it did it again. I don't know what this might have to do with HDMI, but it seemed to fix the lock-up problem. Or at least I thought it did!

Has anyone noticed that this seems to only happen after a service connection has been made, without the TV turned ON? Or am I just seeing things?

Chris


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## TheOrkinMan (Oct 23, 2007)

Turned on the TV last night and had the black screen - menus would work fine, remote worked fine. Rebooted and for about a minute after the reboot, had the "Acquiring Channel Information" screen and then live TV was fine.

I'm connected to the TV via component through my AV receiver. No mods to the HDTivo. Wirelessly connected to internet via Tivo-supplied adapter and router, but I've only ever uploaded a program to the PC once just to test it out.

Due to the appearance of the "Acquiring..." screen, I'm inclined to believe it's a cablecard issue, perhaps some sort of timeout is happening? It's been running just fine since it was set up more than 5 weeks ago.


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

TheOrkinMan said:


> menus would work fine ..... I'm connected to the TV via component through my AV receiver.


That's a totally separate issue, not the same one as this thread, which affects HDMI connections only.


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## Lenonn (May 31, 2004)

My software is updated to whatever the latest version is, and I'm having the blank screen problem (albeit with no reboots whatsoever). It happens whenever I initiate an MRV transfer and try to go back to watching live television... the blank screen shows on the channels, and I evidently can't switch channels. Going back to the TiVo menu shows no background.

Like others here, when I try to back out of the programming, I get the keep/delete/advertisement menu.

It did not used to do this, so I have no idea what is going on.


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

Lenonn said:


> Going back to the TiVo menu shows no background.


Not this thread. People with this thread's problem don't see anything and cannot operate the TiVo at all.


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## bmgoodman (Dec 20, 2000)

My S3 is 11 months old, unmodified, no external HD. For nearly 10 months, I used it w/o CableCards. Since the Scientific Atlanta Cable Cards were installed in October, almost once a week I have a situation where the Tivo won't provide any video after coming out of standby. The time appears on the OLED display, the LED that acknowledges activity blinks, but no video or sound is apparent. In most cases, it seems like recording continues in the background. Also, I can see the shows from Tivo Desktop and remotely from the "Now Playing" list of my S2DT Tivo. To me, it seems like an HDMI issue, but I haven't tried to connect via component cables. (I also have optical audio out to my Pioneer stereo, but I wasn't able to hear any sound effects either.) The Tivo doesn't seem to reboot itself. It seems very stable otherwise. I only get video back after pulling the power cord and then plugging it back in.

In one case where this happened, during the reboot I saw the usual "Almost There" and related screens, but it went back to black as soon as the boot process completed. A second reboot fixed it.

Finally, I had one case where I could not access the "Now Playing" list from Tivo desktop nor from my S2DT.

I have 9.2a software.


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## hotwire32 (Aug 18, 2007)

Okay I wasn't here when the Cox Cable guy came to install the CableCard in my TiVoHD so he said something to my mom about it taking 24 hours until the "program downloaded". I'm not sure if she quite got the message right but now I'm only getting local channels. The good news is I'm getting them in HD too, however I'm not getting even the "basic" channels like Discovery and Lifetime not to mention the Premium Basic channels CNN or MSNBC or the Digital Channels like Logo and Boomerang.

Anyone else out there in Phoenix have to wait 24 hours or had this problem? Also I'm wondering once all this IS working will I get the Music Choice channels and everthing like the old Cox Digital Cable Box had?


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## ThePennyDropped (Jul 5, 2006)

Well, I had it happen again yesterday. I guess twice in 6 weeks isn't really a problem, but I just worry that it's a sign of worse problems down the road.

Once again, the lock-up seemed to correspond to the exact time that I turned on my tv, since that matches up with the time that the TiVo seemed to stop recording (although the display fooled me into thinking that it was still chugging along for a while). Again, to me this seems to suggest an HDMI issue.

--Debbie


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## bmgoodman (Dec 20, 2000)

Yet another episode yesterday. I could see the time on the OLED, and I could see the programs remotely from my S2DT, but no video or sound at all. A reboot fixed it. Still a bit troublesome as it seems like, as the code base grows in size, the Tivo software has gone from "bullet proof" to "bullet resistant"!


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

hotwire32 said:


> Okay I wasn't here when the Cox Cable guy came to install the CableCard in my TiVoHD so he said something to my mom about it taking 24 hours until the "program downloaded". I'm not sure if she quite got the message right but now I'm only getting local channels. The good news is I'm getting them in HD too, however I'm not getting even the "basic" channels like Discovery and Lifetime not to mention the Premium Basic channels CNN or MSNBC or the Digital Channels like Logo and Boomerang.
> 
> Anyone else out there in Phoenix have to wait 24 hours or had this problem? Also I'm wondering once all this IS working will I get the Music Choice channels and everthing like the old Cox Digital Cable Box had?


I would reboot the TivoHD and see if all the channels come back - you seem to be experiencing an issue many of us are seeing:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=371717

Also - Music Choice channels will still be there (in the 900's I think).


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## dartmouth05 (Jan 29, 2004)

I just had the exact same issue, with a brand new, just out of the box, unmodified TiVo HD. I have no cable cards installed yet (RCN comes tomorrow), and it is hooked up with component cables, *not* HDMI. 



audio said:


> I have a BRAND NEW TiVo HD, activated last week and had a black screen issue yesterday. Black screen behind menu and when I hit the live TV buttom. I could use all of the menu options, however.
> 
> Was not able to resolve the problem until I rebooted.
> 
> ...


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## ThePennyDropped (Jul 5, 2006)

And I just had the reboot again a couple nights ago. Again, not during anything I was desperate to watch, and about 2 months after the previous occurrence, so not a terrible problem. But a nuisance if it happens during something I really don't want to miss.


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## ed5cgs (Aug 29, 2006)

After about 3 months of usage with a cable cards in my series 3, CC #1 would lose basic & digital channels but I would still get HD basic channels every 24 hrs. The original installer used a multi (in slot 1) and a single to set up my unit. I swapped cards to see if the issue followed the card or if it was the slot. When I did this, the activation on one of the cards was lost which forced a truck roll. 
Yesterday the tech came out and fought this for 2 hours. As it turns out, in my area Cox San Diego is upgrading the network, which is naturally increasing the power. With this additional power plus a COX amp that was previously installed, the tech was getting power levels of 10-11 at my Tivo, which he said was too high for the CC. They were having problems getting EMM's to activate. He split this line off from the amp (which lowered it to ~2) and installed 2 new multi cards with the latest firmware and I haven't lost a channel in 24 hrs.


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