# Mini can't see DVR



## fakepie

I have the 4-tuner Roamio. I have two moca adapters, one is on the cable modem and the other is on the Roamio. I know the moca is working because the DVR and the mini can connect to the internet and to Tivo but for whatever reason, the mini keeps saying it can't find a DVR. 

Any suggestions?


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## tarheelblue32

You can try forcing connections to the TiVo servers on the Roamio and the Mini and restarting them. That will sometimes work. If it doesn't, then you are just going to have to wait for the TiVo servers to get around to authorizing your Mini. TiVo says it should happen within 24 hours of activation, but it has taken up to 3 days for some people.


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## fakepie

Yeah I've done the forced connection thing. They all show up in my account online so I know they are all connecting to Tivo. 

I guess I'll give it 24 hours and then call support if it still doesn't work.


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## fakepie

tarheelblue32 said:


> You can try forcing connections to the TiVo servers on the Roamio and the Mini and restarting them. That will sometimes work. If it doesn't, then you are just going to have to wait for the TiVo servers to get around to authorizing your Mini. TiVo says it should happen within 24 hours of activation, but it has taken up to 3 days for some people.


Well it took three days but it didn't solve the problem. I think I am just going to have to get rid of these things. Searching online shows tons of people with the same issue with no real fix.


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## Grakthis

Have you called TiVo support?


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## tarheelblue32

See if you can manually connect to the host DVR. On the Mini, go to: Settings & Messages > Settings > Remote & Devices > TiVo DVR Connection. See if your DVR is listed there and if you can connect to it. If that doesn't work, try re-running guided setup on the Mini. You could also try swapping the locations of your MoCA adapters. And just to make sure, are you positive that your Roamio is set to use ethernet and not wireless?


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## ellinj

fakepie said:


> I have the 4-tuner Roamio. I have two moca adapters, one is on the cable modem and the other is on the Roamio. I know the moca is working because the DVR and the mini can connect to the internet and to Tivo but for whatever reason, the mini keeps saying it can't find a DVR.
> 
> Any suggestions?


If the mini and the roamio can both connect to the internet it is most likely an authorization issue between the mini and the roamio, I would give Tivo support a call.


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## refried

I'm going to call support for my mini later today. The mini says it can't contact my Roamio, but it can stream live TV from it. This has been really frustrating because it was working at one point. Sometimes I get into a state where it sees the Roamio, but doesn't let me watch any videos from it.


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## refried

After over an hour on the phone and moving the mini to try different network connections we found two things. The power line network adapter I was using was causing the mini to lose contact with the Roamio. It worked fine when directly connected to the router with just Ethernet. If connected through the PNA, it would have trouble after one minute. Second, if you go into network settings and "change" the settings without actually changing anything, it would reconnect. That ended up being our short term workaround. 

After all that, the TiVo rep offered to send me a MoCA adapter. I guess being a customer for 15 years helps.


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## ROMAN1

Was the MOCA adapter "free?" THats $45 worth of hardware. Any tips for customer service?


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## rkl32

I am new to the forum. Want to add to thread Mini can't see DVR. Don't know how to add my story. I have Roamio in FR and Mini in BR, both connected to router gigabit ports via RJ45 cables. Every morning I get message that Mini can't find FR DVR. After some experiments I have found a solution that works every time. Just briefly remove RJ45 cable and plug it in again. It then works for most of that day (not sure how many hours) but almost always fails at 24 hours. Before this I had experimented with resetting router each morning. That works too. Network Settings on mini takes too long and usually doesn't solve the problem. However, teaching my wife to unplug the cable every day before she can use her TV is a pain. I think I have the latest Mini firmware. Any other ideas?


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## JoeKustra

rkl32 said:


> I am new to the forum. Want to add to thread Mini can't see DVR. Don't know how to add my story. I have Roamio in FR and Mini in BR, both connected to router gigabit ports via RJ45 cables. Every morning I get message that Mini can't find FR DVR. After some experiments I have found a solution that works every time. Just briefly remove RJ45 cable and plug it in again. It then works for most of that day (not sure how many hours) but almost always fails at 24 hours. Before this I had experimented with resetting router each morning. That works too. Network Settings on mini takes too long and usually doesn't solve the problem. However, teaching my wife to unplug the cable every day before she can use her TV is a pain. I think I have the latest Mini firmware. Any other ideas?


Only one comment. The time on my DHCP IP address lease is 24 hours. I could use a reservation or static IP, but I never lose connection unless I allow the Roamio to enter Standby mode. So I don't do that. I'm using a Netgear R7500. Both the Roamio basic and Mini are using WiFi.


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## rkl32

JoeKustra said:


> Only one comment. The time on my DHCP IP address lease is 24 hours. I could use a reservation or static IP, but I never lose connection unless I allow the Roamio to enter Standby mode. So I don't do that. I'm using a Netgear R7500. Both the Roamio basic and Mini are using WiFi.


Thanks. I will see if I can find how to set the lease time to greater than 24hours. Router is Netgear WNDR3800.

I had not heard of a standby mode for Roamio. I just press Tivo button and turn off the TV. I have never found a power off or standby function for Roamio.


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## HarperVision

rkl32 said:


> I am new to the forum. Want to add to thread Mini can't see DVR. Don't know how to add my story. I have Roamio in FR and Mini in BR, both connected to router gigabit ports via RJ45 cables. Every morning I get message that Mini can't find FR DVR. After some experiments I have found a solution that works every time. Just briefly remove RJ45 cable and plug it in again. It then works for most of that day (not sure how many hours) but almost always fails at 24 hours. Before this I had experimented with resetting router each morning. That works too. Network Settings on mini takes too long and usually doesn't solve the problem. However, teaching my wife to unplug the cable every day before she can use her TV is a pain. I think I have the latest Mini firmware. Any other ideas?


It could be that your router has some "green" features that turn off ports after a period of time or inactivity. I know when the Roamio first came out there were issues with "Green" switches. It may be worth researching.


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## HazelW

rkl32 said:


> I am new to the forum. Want to add to thread Mini can't see DVR. Don't know how to add my story. I have Roamio in FR and Mini in BR, both connected to router gigabit ports via RJ45 cables. Every morning I get message that Mini can't find FR DVR. After some experiments I have found a solution that works every time. Just briefly remove RJ45 cable and plug it in again. It then works for most of that day (not sure how many hours) but almost always fails at 24 hours. Before this I had experimented with resetting router each morning. That works too. Network Settings on mini takes too long and usually doesn't solve the problem. However, teaching my wife to unplug the cable every day before she can use her TV is a pain. I think I have the latest Mini firmware. Any other ideas?


I have the same problem using power line. Can you still watch live TV enen though it says it can't find the Roamio?


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## JoeKustra

rkl32 said:


> Thanks. I will see if I can find how to set the lease time to greater than 24hours. Router is Netgear WNDR3800.
> 
> I had not heard of a standby mode for Roamio. I just press Tivo button and turn off the TV. I have never found a power off or standby function for Roamio.


Perhaps a few things need to be cleared up. There is no adjustment for DHCP lease time but I have requested one. Standby mode on the Roamio is a way to turn off the HDMI output (display). The Mini is affected by this since it takes a little longer to connect. The Roamio also goes into Standby if you use any of the new Power Saver modes. I'm guessing that you are hitting the TiVo button on the Mini remote to cause it to release the tuner. If you don't it will take four hours to release. You can hit the TiVo button on the Roamio, but after 15 minutes it will leave TiVo Central and go back to full screen mode. I guess I'm trying to say that your post seems to interchange the Roamio and Mini which can be confusing.


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## rkl32

HazelW said:


> I have the same problem using power line. Can you still watch live TV enen though it says it can't find the Roamio?


Yes. This is interesting since all TV arrives at the Mini via RJ45 cable. After 24 hours of inactivity at the Mini, Live TV works fine, but I can't access the family room DVR until as I have said, I remove and reinsert internet cable at the Mini, and press Tivo button on Mini remote. Then I am up and running. Works every time.

There are interesting recent comments from Harper Vision and Joe Kustra which I want to study.

ron


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## Kipp Jones

I set mine up last night, both the Roamio plus and Mini need to wait for the Tivo server to provide them a "key" in order to function together. The Mini can see the Roamio plus but there is a red circle with a slash through it. 

Tivo support said it could take up to 3 days before the key is provided, sometimes less than 4 hours, just have to wait it out. At least they were honest when I asked. Ok, so I wait....


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## Kipp Jones

Decided to call back TIVO tonight and the rep said I could try to redo the setup until it connects, this would force the mini to pair to the Roamio. It worked after 3 trys!


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## imagexpo

Try setting your host Tivo and Mini to STATIC IP addresses so they can find each other easily. Solved my problem and it's been good for weeks now.

i.e: 192.168.0.50 and 192.168.0.55 (depending on your router setup).


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## rjcc

Seems ridiculous that this can be so tough to pull off, even when everything is connecting. I swapped from an X1 MoCA setup and it wasn't too bad, although it took repeated updating and rebooting on both units. It's just bizarre when the Mini is connected to the internet via the Roamio, and still insists it can't see it.


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## JBDragon

imagexpo said:


> Try setting your host Tivo and Mini to STATIC IP addresses so they can find each other easily. Solved my problem and it's been good for weeks now.
> 
> i.e: 192.168.0.50 and 192.168.0.55 (depending on your router setup).


This is what I normally what I do with all of my devices. I manually assign them all a Static IP address. That's what they always use. I actually haven't done that with my Tivo Roamio or Tivo Mini yet!!! I think I'm just getting lazy these days. I setup my Roamio a few weeks ago and it works great, and last week I finally got my first Tivo Mini setup. It's all connected by my Gigabit Ethernet Network. I have Zero issues. Well other then my Tivo Mini still hasn't gotten the PLEX and iHeartRadio update yet. I put them into Standby mode most of the the time I'm done using them. When I power up my system and then hit the Tivo button and it powers up and all connects problem free.

I havn't used a TIVO in YEARS!!! I was a early adopter and my last Tivo was one of the Philips Units. I think I got mine in 1999. Then I had Comcast and got their Duel Tuner HD DVR Box. I used that for many, many years, until 3 or so years ago when I cut the cord and went with a Antenna and started using Media Center, which is like a Tivo Roamio and Xbox 360's a Media Center Extenders, which is like a Tivo Mini. MS stopped supporting Media Center years ago. It's gone completely with Windows 10 which I want to upgrade to. So I've started switching to TIVO once again. I lucked out finding that $299 Roamio OTA Deal which includes Lifetime service. Now I have 1 Tino Mini, a Tivo Stream, and play to get another Tivo Mini soon. It's changed a lot from back then, though some things have stayed the same.

I still have that Original TIVO in my closet!!! It had Lifetime service. In fact I remember TIVo allowing people to transfer the Llifetime to a new Box Once. Before they made it clear that Lifetime was for the Box and not the User!!! I don't know if Tivo would still honor that today?


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## philhu

I used that lifetime thing for transfer on 4 tivos. I think it is honored for sony and phillips units to this day.

I even moved a series 1 lifetime to a series 2, then series 3 then bolt

The bolt died, they said lifetime from a series 2 so exchange was $22 incl shipping and new bolt with lifetime


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