# how do i turn the 2 leds off on the eathernet port?



## tootal2 (Oct 14, 2005)

How do I turn them off so I can sleep? do I need to put black tape on them?


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

Put tape over them or use MoCA.

I never understood why companies think consumer devices need status lights on ethernet ports. That's one thing Apple has always gotten right.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

Arcady said:


> Put tape over them or use MoCA.
> 
> I never understood why companies think consumer devices need status lights on ethernet ports. That's one thing Apple has always gotten right.


Or another thing Apple has gotten wrong. I actually find the lights helpful sometimes when troubleshooting computer networking issues.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

On a Mac, if you open the network settings, you can see if the port is active and what speed it is running. (You can do this in Windows too.) There is no need for 1980's status lights on the port.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

Arcady said:


> On a Mac, if you open the network settings, you can see if the port is active and what speed it is running. (You can do this in Windows too.) There is no need for 1980's status lights on the port.


It's easier to just look and see if the lights are on. I also like having LED lights on my laptop for things like wireless signal, battery charging, hard drive spinning, etc.

Same thing with the lights on front of the Roamio. Sure, I could go into TiVo Central to look and see if anything is actively recording, but it's much easier to just look and see if the red record light is on.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Do you miss the HDD activity light on the front of your PC too?


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

Dan203 said:


> Do you miss the HDD activity light on the front of your PC too?


Yep.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

You can turn off the lights on the front of the Roamio though. The LEDs in ethernet ports are not software accessible. For a device that will get plugged in and stay plugged in, the lights are just silly, especially if you can't turn them off. If you need to see if a cable is active, look at the switch/router, which is likely to have status lights.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

Arcady said:


> If you need to see if a cable is active, look at the switch/router, which is likely to have status lights.


Which I suppose you would like to have removed also.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

tarheelblue32 said:


> Which I suppose you would like to have removed also.


No, it's the one place that makes sense. There's no screen on a router. You need the lights there. Its whole job is to connect cables.

But I don't keep a router in my bedroom, where I am trying to sleep. It's in a rack in the equipment room where it belongs.


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## MScottC (Sep 11, 2004)

Put tape over it. Status lights are a GOOD thing. Only a fool would give them up.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

tootal2 said:


> How do I turn them off so I can sleep? do I need to put black tape on them?


I'm always surprised to hear this comment.. does this really bother folks? (not judging, just interested)

I live in the city, my alarm clock displays a picture background, and there's a stoplight you get a glow from outside the window and I have blinds that only sort of filter light in a mediocre way. Heck I've fallen asleep leaving the hallway light on.


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## 2004raptor (Dec 31, 2005)

Funny this thread should come up. I awoke around 3:35AM not feeling well. As I laid in bed I could easily see the "glowing flicker" of the mini's ethernet port leds. Never really noticed it before and it's not what kept me awake but they were a bit annoying. 

our bed is a bit high and the mini sits on a cabinet top that is lower than I'd like. Probably why I never noticed it before.


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## h2oskierc (Dec 16, 2010)

Dan203 said:


> Do you miss the HDD activity light on the front of your PC too?


I do. Especially with how quiet drives are these days. I have a ssd in my notebook that is giving me fits, an activity light would be helpful As obviously you will never hear that spin. Or if you do, you have other problems.

Apparently I am a rare breed.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

tarheelblue32 said:


> Which I suppose you would like to have removed also.


The LED indicator on the front of a Netgear R7500 has a switch to turn them off/on manually. The power LED is still on but can be covered. They are VERY bright.


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## ellinj (Feb 26, 2002)

I just put black electrical tape over mine, but I am thinking of switching to Moca anyway. The bigger annoyance is the Blue LEDs that my cell phone charger uses. That thing is obnoxiously bright. Need to cover that one too.


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## h2oskierc (Dec 16, 2010)

ellinj said:


> I just put black electrical tape over mine, but I am thinking of switching to Moca anyway. The bigger annoyance is the Blue LEDs that my cell phone charger uses. That thing is obnoxiously bright. Need to cover that one too.


Or just put the phone on it's face? That is what I do with mine.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

You can get software that puts a HDD indicator in your task bar. There's no need for a physical light.


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## ellinj (Feb 26, 2002)

h2oskierc said:


> Or just put the phone on it's face? That is what I do with mine.


Its the charger not the phone


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## Diana Collins (Aug 21, 2002)

dianebrat said:


> I'm always surprised to hear this comment.. does this really bother folks? (not judging, just interested)
> 
> I live in the city, my alarm clock displays a picture background, and there's a stoplight you get a glow from outside the window and I have blinds that only sort of filter light in a mediocre way. Heck I've fallen asleep leaving the hallway light on.


+1

I mean, really...if you are trying to sleep, your eyes are closed (or at least most people's eyes would be) and the status lights on the ethernet ports are dim enough that they could be sitting on the nightstand facing your face, and I doubt you could tell if they were on or off if your eyes are closed.

I actually DO have a router in my bedroom - actually a Netgear EX6200 repeater, though it is functioning as an access point thanks to dd-wrt. it has a bright white LED behind the Netgear name, plus flickering status lights for ethernet and wireless activity. It has never kept me awake.

Years ago we had a Series II DirecTiVo in the room with two hard drives inside and between the drives and the fan there was enough noise to be heard across the room. I can see sound being disturbing in the evening, since you can't close your ears, but I don't get why ethernet port lights are an issue.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

tarheelblue32 said:


> Which I suppose you would like to have removed also.


I bought a special switch for my AV rack which has a switch to turn off those lights. The constant blinking on the old one was driving me nuts.


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## kherr (Aug 1, 2006)

Arcady said:


> ....... If you need to see if a cable is active, look at the switch/router, which is likely to have status lights.


So for me that means I have to trace the cable to the outlets behind the TV and determine which port it is plugged into (possible of 6), probably have to get dressed, get a flashlight (if dark, usually is) go around the house (hoping it's not raining, snowing, muddy, cold ...), under a deck and into the usually cold/hot basement, squeeze into the corner where the patch panel/switches are, look at the map and determine which patch panel/port that mini is on, trace the cable to the switch port, figure out which indicator belongs to that port, unplug and plug back in the cable to verify the correct indicator.

Or I could just look at the back of the mini and see if the link light is on. So which is easier ??? Putting a piece of tape over it isn't really rocket science, is it???


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

Or you can plug in a device that has the dumb lights on the port and make sure the cable is good that way.

BTW, the TiVo Mini v2 has places on the board for MoCA connection and activity lights, which would show on the front of the device. Fortunately, they decided not to actually solder them on.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

MScottC said:


> Put tape over it. Status lights are a GOOD thing. Only a fool would give them up.


Agreed. I don't mind putting tape over them. I have them so that I can just barely see them with the lights half on for troubleshooting, which works great.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

tootal2 said:


> How do I turn them off so I can sleep? do I need to put black tape on them?


Use LightDims. I use them on dozens of devices. They have a bunch of different sizes from small to large. And different shapes too. They also have some that block out 100% of the light and some that block something like 80% of the light.

www.lightdims.com


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## passname22 (Feb 17, 2015)

Arcady said:


> Put tape over them or use MoCA.
> 
> I never understood why companies think consumer devices need status lights on ethernet ports. That's one thing Apple has always gotten right.


it's useful, same with hdd, wifi, bluetooth, modem, routhers, tivo lights.

apple always focus on majority, majority of ppl don't know how to use a computer so it's not a useful feat for them. That's why i'm a PC and android user. I like to customize and control what I want. Put electric tape over it.

my router lights have bright led when at night but it's lower than my bed so I can't see much and when I close my eyes it's pitch black.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

passname22 said:


> apple always focus on majority, majority of ppl don't know how to use a computer so it's not a useful feat for them. That's why i'm a PC and android user. I like to customize and control what I want.


+1

Apple dumbs everything down to the lowest common denominator. And since there are lots of techno-illiterate people out there that just want stuff "to work" without any effort or skill required, there are lots of people for Apple to make loads of money off of. It's a good business strategy for them, but their products are definitely not for me.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

I used Ethernet lights for troubleshooting on a desktop computer yesterday. I think they are quite useful. I've also used them to see when a device is actually transmitting traffic too.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

tarheelblue32 said:


> +1
> 
> Apple dumbs everything down to the lowest common denominator. And since there are lots of techno-illiterate people out there that just want stuff "to work" without any effort or skill required, there are lots of people for Apple to make loads of money off of. It's a good business strategy for them, but their products are definitely not for me.


Yeah it sucks for morons like me that want to run Linux, Mac OS and Windows on one piece of hardware, either through triple-boot or all at the same time.

People like me are too dumb to figure out if an ethernet port works if there aren't any idiot lights on it.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

Arcady said:


> Yeah it sucks for morons like me that want to run Linux, Mac OS and Windows on one piece of hardware, either through triple-boot or all at the same time.
> 
> People like me are too dumb to figure out if an ethernet port works if there aren't any idiot lights on it.


I meant no offense.


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## poppagene (Dec 29, 2001)

Dan203 said:


> Do you miss the HDD activity light on the front of your PC too?


Why would I miss it?
The activity light works fine.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

poppagene said:


> Why would I miss it?
> The activity light works fine.


Most new cases don't even have an HDD activity light, and a lot of new mobos don't have the connection even if the case has the light. I'm sure you can still find them if you seek them out, but for the most part they've disappeared.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

Do you want a turbo button too?


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