# New To Tivo - Bolt Humming Sound



## Thew (Oct 15, 2018)

Hello everyone!
I am new to Tivo, after dealing with Charter's really crappy boxes for 6 years, never updating their guides or advancing/making things better (aside from the new box available to new users, where a charter tech actually told me he had someone threaten to thrown that new box at him because of all of the issues), I switch to Tivo.

While right now I am happy with the Tivo experience so far, I do have a question. My bolt is only about a week old, is it normal to have a constant humming sound coming from it. It's not super loud, but it's a sound I car hear from about 10ft away, sitting on my couch.

I know it isn't the fan, as i did the "sick a pin/toothpick in there to stop it" and the humming still continued. The only time it stops is when I disconnect the power, but when I plug it back in, the humming sound continues. 

I'm well aware that when a hard drive is spinning, it will make a sound. But I have never had a humming sound come from any cable box that I have had prior!

Thanks for you input and help!


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## LarryAtHome (Feb 18, 2008)

Very hard to tell from your description, but some Bolts had an issue of the fan control signal causing the box to make a humming or buzzing noise. Even stopping the fan it still made the noise, but unplugging the fan did stop it. the noise was coming from the fan circuitry and not the fan itself. Not all Bolts have this issue. The hard drive in the Bolt is a 2.5" hard drive, and will make a different but similar noise than 3.5" hard drives. If you are just new to TiVo, call their customer service to have it replaced.


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## Luke M (Nov 5, 2002)

It's a common problem...super annoying. The fan is switched on and off at 200hz (to reduce speed) and this causes some power supply component on the motherboard to buzz. You may notice that when you first power up, there's no buzzing (but the fan is loud because it's running at full speed). After the OS gets going, the fan speed is reduced and the buzzing starts.


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## Thew (Oct 15, 2018)

Thanks for the reply guys!
I'll call up Tivo to see if I should get a replacement or not!

Appreciate it!


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Odds are that a replacement will sound the same.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

aaronwt said:


> Odds are that a replacement will sound the same.


Except that, I don't get a humming from mine . . . .


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Mikeguy said:


> Except that, I don't get a humming from mine . . . .


The norm though is to have that hum from a Bolt.

Although I've run into a couple of people that can't hear it. i can hear it from fifteen to twenty feet away in a quiet room. But my GF couldn't hear it and my brother couldn't either. But then they also can't hear a fan from a Roamio either. Which I can also hear from fifteen to twenty feet away. Along with the hard drive.


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## Pokemon_Dad (Jan 19, 2008)

The buzzing in my Bolt is unacceptable. See my post <here>. The quality of these products since the Rovi acquisition has been atrocious.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Pokemon_Dad said:


> The buzzing in my Bolt is unacceptable. See my post <here>. The quality of these products since the Rovi acquisition has been atrocious.


Perhaps, quality control issue? As I've posted, I don't notice any buzzing whatsoever at under 10'.


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## Pokemon_Dad (Jan 19, 2008)

Mikeguy said:


> Perhaps, quality control issue? As I've posted, I don't notice any buzzing whatsoever at under 10'.


Yes, there have been enough complaints about this to indicate quality control and/or design issues.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Pokemon_Dad said:


> The buzzing in my Bolt is unacceptable. See my post <here>. The quality of these products since the Rovi acquisition has been atrocious.


The quality is the same as before Rovi purchased TiVo. The Bolts have been this way since the launch, in 2015. Rovi purchased TiVo in 2016.

I have no problem with the Bolts except of the lack of UHD and HDR features. Things that never materialized. If I had it over again I would have just kept my Roamio Pro with a 5TB hard drive. Since features like Skip mode, that were originally Bolt only, were added to the Roamio line.


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## Pokemon_Dad (Jan 19, 2008)

aaronwt said:


> The quality is the same as before Rovi purchased TiVo. The Bolts have been this way since the launch, in 2015. Rovi purchased TiVo in 2016.
> 
> I have no problem with the Bolts except of the lack of UHD and HDR features. Things that never materialized. If I had it over again I would have just kept my Roamio Pro with a 5TB hard drive. Since features like Skip mode, that were originally Bolt only, were added to the Roamio line.


You're making me very happy I held onto our Roamio Pro!


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