# Confirm Tivo rebooting overnight ?



## roydonaldson (Nov 4, 2003)

Hi there,

For the last few days, when I've been getting up and looking at my Tivo, the information banner at the top of the screen when you change channels has been coming back with the full program description etc., rather than the smaller bar that I normally set it to.

This would seem to suggest to me that at sometime my Tivo has rebooted itself overnight ? But, I can't seem to find an uptime, or last reboot time anywhere in it.

Not sure if I'm getting small powercuts overnight, or something's not well with my Tivo when it gets it's daily downloads.

Any ideas ?

Thanks,
Roy


----------



## AMc (Mar 22, 2002)

Uptime is in the system information screen if you enable backdoors.
The banner is cycled by pressing right which is easy to do but probably not every day.


----------



## Graham V (Jun 26, 2002)

The 'Uptime' is shown on the 'System Information' page. 
If it isn't shown on this page, then maybe you need to enable the Backdoor mode which shows a lot more information on this page.

http://archive2.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26530

Is the Tivo connected to a Sky box which has had the new firmware installed which automatically puts the box into standby?


----------



## roydonaldson (Nov 4, 2003)

Hi there,

Don't have the Backdoor mode enabled, will turn it on just now.

I have a standard Sky box and as I just use the Tivo for everything I don't know if it has been updated with the Standby function. How do I check ?

Thanks,
Roy.


----------



## roydonaldson (Nov 4, 2003)

Uptime 4hr 10mins, so looks like it rebooted itself around 5.50am.

Roy.


----------



## roydonaldson (Nov 4, 2003)

and, auto-standby had been enabled on my Sky box....Sheesh, I usually work on the principle if things are working leave them alone. Looks like this nolonger applies as they now go and break themselves..

Roy.


----------



## Graham V (Jun 26, 2002)

My Pace Sky box was automatically updated, but the update has disappeared again so everything is back to how it was.

It caused problems with Tivo because the Tivo gets a bit upset if it doesn't have a signal to record, and reboots itself to ensure that its not causing the problem.
With any luck your box will revert to the old firmware, or just turn off the feature in the Services menu


----------



## digitaria (Aug 7, 2002)

This happened to me as well - thanks for drawing attention to the cause. Kept finding that my 30 second skip was cancelled. Didn't know that TiVo auto-restarts when the Sky box switches itself off.


----------



## ColinYounger (Aug 9, 2006)

TiVo is rebooting because it's lost signal coming in from the Sky Box - it's trying to fix things itself.


----------



## EdTV (Nov 10, 2002)

I was having exactly the same problem. Thanks for the info.


----------



## PhilG (Jan 15, 2002)

roydonaldson said:


> and, auto-standby had been enabled on my Sky box....Sheesh, I usually work on the principle if things are working leave them alone. Looks like this nolonger applies as they now go and break themselves..
> 
> Roy.


At least "auto standby" can be turned off - but does it STAY off?

I've taken to looking at my Sky box LED every morning to make sure it's not red!

(as an aside - how does the Sky box know that no-one is watching/recording when it goes into standby?)

Phil G


----------



## aerialplug (Oct 20, 2000)

Just reading this now brought a memory of a conversation I had with a friend last weekend - it does indeed seem that auto standby has now been introduced to normal Sky boxes and explains why my TiVo now regularly seems to have reset itself. This, for some time has been a feature of Sky+ boxes but now seems to have been introduced, without warning to Sky boxes.

As has been mentioned, this can be turned off - which I'll now need to do to my second box...


----------



## aerialplug (Oct 20, 2000)

Hmm, nothing about auto standby in my Sky box's menu - it's in the Sky+ menu on my SkyHD box so no equivalent on the Sky box. I guess some people get this facility and others don't!


----------



## PhilG (Jan 15, 2002)

aerialplug said:


> Hmm, nothing about auto standby in my Sky box's menu - it's in the Sky+ menu on my SkyHD box so no equivalent on the Sky box. I guess some people get this facility and others don't!


Well, it's definately in my really (REALLY!!) old Sky Box menu!!

Phil G


----------



## Ashley (Apr 20, 2002)

You get the Auto Standby menu option after the automatic software update.


----------



## RogerL (Jan 7, 2002)

I thought my Tivo was on its last legs as it has been resetting a lot lately - auto standby has now been turned off on my Pace box!


----------



## dvdfever (Jun 2, 2002)

I've been getting this the last few days too, and having had the auto-standby thing on my Pace Sky box before Xmas (and then disabling it once I knew about it), a few days later they reversed the EPG software back to the previous one because (presumably) it was causing audio dropouts.

Then I saw the TiVo rebooting daily, around 5.45am or so which is the time others have been getting it, and now following this thread I noticed the auto-standby has returned!!! 

(cue lots of swearing)

Before Xmas, this thing caused me to miss a few early recordings, as I record Breakfast just in case there's anyone good on or any bloopers (cue Christian Bale - 



 ) and I'm livid that they just stick this crap on us without any prior thought or consultation 

Anyway, big thanks to everyone on this thread for pointing out the reason for the problem.


----------



## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

dvdfever said:


> Before Xmas, this thing caused me to miss a few early recordings, as I record Breakfast just in case there's anyone good on or any bloopers (cue Christian Bale -
> 
> 
> 
> ) and I'm livid that they just stick this crap on us without any prior thought or consultation .


Auto Standby first turned up on my Panasonic TU-DSB20 Sky box a couple of weeks ago and has been causing me problems ever since.

After it arrived the box started turning itself off in to Standby but was crashed in that state as the red light showed and only a power cycle got the box working again.

I duly turned Off Auto-Standby a couple of times and power cycled the box to make sure it stuck. But then yesterday evening there the box was back in Standby (red light) and recordings for all of yesterday had been missed. Again the box was completely frozen and ignored all Sky remote or Tivo input and a power cycle was required. The Sky box menu Option 5 in Services still showed Auto-Standby as Off.

I called Sky and got to their so called technical support department who denied any knowledege of such problems. He then cut me off when I said it was typical of Sky to lie that there were no problems with a firmware release.

Is anyone else getting the problem with their box going off in to Standby and being locked up, even though they have turned off the Auto-Standby feature. By the way Sky is taking 2 to 3 months to roll out the firmware to all boxes (this is probably to avoid their call centres being flooded with calls) so that may be why aerialplug's box has not yet received the new firmware. The new firmware version with Auto-Standby ends in NS.


----------



## RichardJH (Oct 7, 2002)

Pete77 said:


> He then cut me off when I said it was typical of Sky to lie


So it's not only Tivo Community members that get fed up with you


----------



## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

RichardJH said:


> So it's not only Tivo Community members that get fed up with you


No this is standard Sky call centre zombie like behaviour.

They are trained that they are right and that the customer is a stupid moron who will follow their instructions (no matter how daft) to the letter from day one of joining the place. I get on perfectly well with the small minority of their staff members who are able to resist their corporate brainwashing.

As to your comments I think your record is getting pretty stuck by now.


----------



## OzSat (Feb 15, 2001)

I've never had a problem with them - except when I ended up the other side of the world!


----------



## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

ozsat said:


> I've never had a problem with them - except when I ended up the other side of the world!


They are ok as long as you don't criticise Sky's corporate ethics (some staff members don't mind this at all but the anti customer mob take it as their first strike to threaten to disconnect the call) and as long as you don't insist that what they are telling you is incorrect.

There are 25% or so who are always fine as they are on the customer's side and as critical of Sky's steamroller approach as the customer. It is the unthinking corporate flag waivers (the majority sadly) who I tend to fall foul of.

So far as I can recall I fell foul of them last night by pointing out that Auto-Standby allegedly lighting the whole of Birmingham for a year was a big Sky corporate lie as my box power consumption only reduced from 17W to 16W in standby. I then further fell foul of this individual when I suggested Sky corporate mantra would never let them admit to a fault in their firmware, even if they knew there was one, and when he then refused to give me the key sequence to force my Sky box to re-download and re-install its firmware.


----------



## dvdfever (Jun 2, 2002)

Pete77 said:


> Auto Standby first turned up on my Panasonic TU-DSB20 Sky box a couple of weeks ago and has been causing me problems ever since.
> 
> After it arrived the box started turning itself off in to Standby but was crashed in that state as the red light showed and only a power cycle got the box working again.
> 
> ...


Sounds like you gave them the full 'Ed Reardon', the radio equivalent of Victor Meldrew where amongst everything else in the show, he occasionally has a rant at others down the phone and they end up cutting him off.

We all have our Ed Reardon moments and he's someone I aspire to be when I turn his age (55), and with 19 years to go I'm not doing too badly 

I'm sure a google will turn up some of his shows, although they're currently being repeated on Radio 4 so at least one should be available via their 200m pound piece of technological wotsit.


----------



## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

dvdfever said:


> Sounds like you gave them the full 'Ed Reardon', the radio equivalent of Victor Meldrew where amongst everything else in the show, he occasionally has a rant at others down the phone and they end up cutting him off.
> 
> I'm sure a google will turn up some of his shows, although they're currently being repeated on Radio 4 so at least one should be available via their 200m pound piece of technological wotsit.


I have been an avid fan ever since the program started. I have always found Mr Reardon to be something of a soul mate.



> We all have our Ed Reardon moments and he's someone I aspire to be when I turn his age (55), and with 19 years to go I'm not doing too badly


Well I will be 46 in a few days time but I think I'm almost there already.

By the wat it is only a certain personality type in call centre workers that sets me off. That personality type is one that treats the customer like a prison inmate who must follow company rules rather than as being a valued asset who could take their business elsewhere at any moment.

Unfortunately due to the way they are trained I find that approximately 65% to 70% of call centre workers appear to be failed prison warder or failed traffic warden types (mindlessly enforce petty rules with overwhelming enthusiasm) leaving me only a one in three chance or less of finding myself a call centre worker interested in pleasing the customer and giving them want they actually want.


----------



## dvdfever (Jun 2, 2002)

Pete77 said:


> Well I will be 46 in a few days time but I think I'm almost there already.


Happy birthday for when the day comes, but that reminds me of an episode in the latest series when he did try to pass himself off as being 45 



Pete77 said:


> By the wat it is only a certain personality type in call centre workers that sets me off. That personality type is one that treats the customer like a prison inmate who must follow company rules rather than as being a valued asset who could take their business elsewhere at any moment.


Having got the freephone alternative from saynoto0870.com, I once phoned Pipex's customer service with every intention of kicking off when their long-standing 2Mb service dropped down to 1Mb without notification, when at that point he explained everything by saying Pipex had been taken over by Tiscali (at which point not even divine intervention could rescue the situation) and due to the way things were set up the people dealing with Pipex stuff weren't there by that point in the day and he couldn't get a message to them even if he tried, as he was part of the Tiscali side of things and he went on to explain that all the people in his call centre would be losing their jobs shortly, so I ended up sympathising with him 

Soon after I jumped for Sky's 10quid/month broadband ("up to 16Mb", which means about 8Mb - such is life)



Pete77 said:


> Unfortunately due to the way they are trained I find that approximately 65% to 70% of call centre workers appear to be failed prison warder or failed traffic warden types (mindlessly enforce petty rules with overwhelming enthusiasm) leaving me only a one in three chance or less of finding myself a call centre worker interested in pleasing the customer and giving them want they actually want.


I don't know about failed this and that, but crap training and low wages with ever-decreasing morale leads to poor service overall. Apply that to both the private and public sector in equal measures.


----------

