# Bolt Plus issue: No lights and no video outpout



## preilly44

Hello, so my Bolt+ is powering on when I plug it in (I hear the fan and the hard drive spool up) but there are no lights on the front of the device and no video output. I've tried cold booting it (removing the cable card, Ethernet, coax and AC power for 30 minutes) with no luck. Does this sound like a power supply issue? Does anybody have any ideas on how to resolve the issue?

Thanks in advance!


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## fcfc2

Contact Tivo and see about a replacement.
BTW it is not a good idea to remove the cable card. On many systems, it will unpair the card.


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## preilly44

Quick update, I resolved my issue by swapping out the Bolt+ AC adapter with my Bolt AC adapter. Apparently, just the AC adapter died.


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## bhshmo

preilly44, I am having the same issue - sound or drives whirring but no lights or video. I only have one Bolt. Are you sure it was just a matter of swapping out the power supply? Im not sure what to do next.


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## preilly44

Unfortunately, the resolution I stated didn't last. I plugged it in and unplugged it about 6 times with no issues but the last time I unplugged it and plugged it back in the same thing happened (no lights, fan, HDD running). I've left it unplugged for a few days and I'm going to try to plug it in again tomorrow or the next day to hopefully get my recordings off it.

Let me know if you find a resolution and I'll do the same.


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## tempo

I have had this same problem with two(!) Bolt+ DVRs. 

It happens when I power cycle the box. The red LED flickers once, then no lights at all. And there's no video output. 

However, if I let the box cool down for about 10-15 minutes, it starts up normally. It makes me nervous about the long-term viability of the power supply.

I'm surprised there haven't been more posts regarding this issue. Have other people been able to power cycle their Bolts reliably?


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## jlin

I have similar issue. No video output to our HDTV unless we reboot the Bolt.

I read in the manual that it must use the HDMI 2.0 cable that it came with. It's impossible to do with my situation since the Tivo is in a cabinet located far away from the TV. The HDMI is already pre-routed inside the drywall.

We didn't have such issue when using the other Roamio's.


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## preilly44

tempo said:


> I have had this same problem with two(!) Bolt+ DVRs.
> 
> It happens when I power cycle the box. The red LED flickers once, then no lights at all. And there's no video output.
> 
> However, if I let the box cool down for about 10-15 minutes, it starts up normally. It makes me nervous about the long-term viability of the power supply.
> 
> I'm surprised there haven't been more posts regarding this issue. Have other people been able to power cycle their Bolts reliably?


That is how mine started...now it doesn't power on at all. If it is still under warranty, you should argue for a new unit. It shouldn't have issues powering on like that.


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## robostock

I'm having the same problems with my Bolt+. From day one, when I had to unplug it to redo the wiring, it failed to power up. It took about an hour of plugging and unplugging before it booted up. I've had it for about a month and I added a Mini yesterday.

But during the setup of the mini, it would not recognized the Bolt. So, the Tivo rep told me to unplug the Bolt+ first. I did it with much apprehension and, as luck would have it, it did not boot up.

Speaking with the rep, I need to replace it and I have two options:
*Standard:*

send it back
lose all my shows
have no Tivo service for 2 weeks
Wait for a REFURBISHED one

*Advance:*

Wait for a refurbished replacement
Charge my credit card $499
Send my new Bolt back
Wait for my refund

So, basically I'm going to spend $1170 (I got the service plan) for a month of Tivo.

I'll want to try the HDMI, but I don't want to unplug it and lose my service.

BTW: It is working now.


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## robostock

preilly44 said:


> That is how mine started...now it doesn't power on at all. If it is still under warranty, you should argue for a new unit. It shouldn't have issues powering on like that.


I agree. Mine is only a month old and it had problems from the first day. Too bad you don't work for Tivo.


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## Rkstr

Same issue, no lights on unit or video output. I can hear the fan and have unplugged it a few times. Tivo is sending me a refurb. My units was 5m old.


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## robostock

Rkstr said:


> Same issue, no lights on unit or video output. I can hear the fan and have unplugged it a few times. Tivo is sending me a refurb. My units was 5m old.


Sorry to hear that. Were you able to get the Bolt to booted up? Which option did you replacement option did you choose? The standard or advance?
I think I'm going to have to go to advance to transfer save my shows.


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## robostock

After a week of going back and forth with TiVo, They're are supposedly sending me a new Bolt+. They're letting me keep the original one so that I may transfer the shows from the old to the new. Best part of it was that I didn't have to put a deposit on the new one. Thumbs up:up::up: for that one.

But I did spend 1.5 hours on the phone with them for a separate issue. That was painful.


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## mauidad

Same problem (lights out, no video, but drive still running) - 8 weeks old. After a lengthy tech support call, had to do an advanced replacement of our 2nd Bolt+ today. This unit we are now replacing is itself an advanced replacement for our first new Bolt+ unit we received 11 weeks ago (which failed to pair with SuddenLink cable cards). I concur, this is a painful process getting a Bolt+ to work reliably, we've also purchased 6 new Tivo Mini's that with it so we continue to persevere.


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## JGC650I

So, this same issue just happened to me on a Bolt+. Trying the let it sit for a while and then try to reboot route. What a pain.


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## robostock

mauidad said:


> Same problem (lights out, no video, but drive still running) - 8 weeks old. After a lengthy tech support call, had to do an advanced replacement of our 2nd Bolt+ today. This unit we are now replacing is itself an advanced replacement for our first new Bolt+ unit we received 11 weeks ago (which failed to pair with SuddenLink cable cards). I concur, this is a painful process getting a Bolt+ to work reliably, we've also purchased 6 new Tivo Mini's that with it so we continue to persevere.


I was lucky enough to get a new Bolt+ for my replacement. They were going to ship be a refurb unit as a replacement, but I convinced them I should be sent a new one. I think I got a new one as opposed to a refurb one because I reported the issue from day one. But, when it occurred again two weeks later, I argued that I should be sent a new one since it was bad from right out of the box.

I did luck out that they sent me the new replacement before I sent them the original. I think they call it an Advance Upgrade. This allowed me to transfer my shows over to the new Bolt+. Kudos to Tivo for that one.

My replacement is working fine for so far. Hopefully we just got some bad luck with our Bolts and not a reflection of the quality.


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## robostock

JGC650I said:


> So, this same issue just happened to me on a Bolt+. Trying the let it sit for a while and then try to reboot route. What a pain.


How old is it? Did you get it to work again?


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## icespide

found this thread as this just happened to my barely a month old Bolt + luckily I still have my roamio Pro sitting around. I'll call TiVo in the morning and see about a replacement, hope it's smooth sailing after that...


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## robostock

icespide said:


> I'll call TiVo in the morning and see about a replacement, hope it's smooth sailing after that...


How did the sailing with TiVO go?:grinning:


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## icespide

robostock said:


> How did the sailing with TiVO go?:grinning:


shipped off my dead bolt yesterday. They'll send a new one when they receive the old one. They credited me for the extra month of service on my roamio Pro in the meantime


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## nrobertson

Another "me too" on the 1m old Bolt+ that dies when power cycling. Power went out for 2 hours so I turned off the UPS. After power stable/on, I turn the UPS back on and get the quick red flash and fan/drive sound but nothing else. Called support and it was a pretty brief conversation and straight to the replacement options. No mention of new or refurbished. Hmmm. Anyone else get the feeling there might be a systemic issue with the Bolt+ after reading all these people with the same power off/on=dead situation?


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## icespide

needless to say, when I get my replacement unit I will be paranoid about ever unplugged it from power, which sucks


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## nrobertson

I ordered my advanced replacement TiVo Friday and it arrived Tuesday via FedEx Ground. It was just the box with the bolt+ (no power or remote as expected) The bolt+ had the clear protectant coverings on it so it appeared new but can't actually confirm this is new or refurb (my account seems to say refurb). What I can confirm is that my original failed bolt+ was manufactured 08-Oct-16 and this new replacement was manufactured 23-Feb-17. Another item worth noting is I had a heck of a time getting this new bolt+ to recognize my Comcast M-Card (cablecard). Every time I inserted it, it reported it as invalid. I actually pulled another cablecard from another older TiVo and inserted it and it also reported invalid. I put that cablecard back into that older TiVo and it continued working. I persisted and finally it did recognize this existing m-card as valid. no idea why it finally worked when it didn't for 10+ previous tries. I used Comcast's online cablecard activation site and 3 times got errors so I called the number and it paired the first time and worked. Finally I used TiVo.com and "TiVo Online" to access the OnePass recordings list from my older failed bolt+ and transfer to the new bolt+ That did work instantly. Finally I powered off this unit and moved it back to the living room and it powered on successfully. Crossing my fingers this continues to work.


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## SOUTHDAYTONA DON

I have had two Bolts go bad so far. Each one lasted about 11-12 months. The tech rep said that I plugged my additional disk which I purchased from them incorrectly which resulted in the flashing of four different colors of lights. I chose not to go through all the hassle and money to get rebuilt replacement.

I purchased a Bolt with 1 TB of storage, hence forgoing installing the add on storage. About six months ago I went to strictly OTA service, firing the cable company. Now that NFL has started I went back to cable. However, when I hooked the Bolt to cable I lost a third of the channels that I was to get. They had a V25 error code. A talk to the TIVO techie said it was bad cable or cable card or tuning adaptor. After the cable company tried 3 cable cards, 3 tuning adaptors & replacing the coax cable from the all to the devices, the problem was the same and still there. I then went to TIVO and got a ROAMIO activated. The ROAMIO solved the problem. I am not happy with the reliability of the BOLT. TIVO said that I could give them $40 to get a rebuilt one AND they will charge me another $299 deposit. NFW!!!!!

To add salt to the wound, according to my records and my TIVO account page my one year of commitment of paying $14.99 subscription fee ends 8/15/2017. So I tried to get it deactivated. I had to call several times because one rep says that I have to wait until mid Oct & another said mid Sept. I will be calling again and going to a supervisor. I just proved my case by selecting the plan beginning 8/16/2017 and it gave me $14.99 per month with NO COMMITTMENT.


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## icespide

my replacement arrived today and I'm also having issues getting it to recognize my cablecard.... after several tries it finally recognized it and as I was on the phone with comcast to pair it it suddenly stopped recognizing it and I have to start all over again...I will give it another shot and if not I will call TiVo and absolutely try and get a refund and just go back to my roamio


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## icespide

cablecard recognized. paired with comcast. moved device to another room and it no longer recognizes the cable card. UGH. just got off the phone after 30 minutes with TiVo and they're letting me do a full refund (I'm even outside my 30 day window). I'll just stick with my roamio pro that works and when that finally dies we will just cut cable.


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## jscopes

I have a 6 month old Bolt and this has happened to me 3 times so far (twice after power outages and once after I shut it down). I generally leave it unplugged for 10-15 min before attempting to power it up. I used to think it was an overheating issue until one time it took about 8-10 attempts before the lights came up, implying that it's something intermittent and not simply some heat threshold. 

Are you guys still having widespread issues with this? What about those of you that have gotten replacements? I would seriously hate to deal with the replacement of my unit and loss all of my recordings (especially since it's likely it will not fix the issue) but I'm about to buy two mini's and really don't want to have all 3 TV's go down whenever the power has a hiccup. 

What's really sickening is that I'm considering buying a UPS to cover up this obvious design flaw.


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## nrobertson

My replacement Bolt+ has been running since August without issue. However, it's worth noting that we haven't had any power outage issues and even if we did I'd be extra cautious now to leave the bolt+ on the UPS power as long as possible to avoid powering it off. I'm using a Mini in my basement and love the ability to instantly watch shows off the bolt (no transfer like to old Tivo HD) and to be able to delete recordings etc. on the bolt+ from the Mini. I am crossing my fingers that it doesn't crap out again like it did before but not really willing to put it to the test until the fall/spring TV season is over. Maybe in June I'll try again before I hit the 1 yr mark next August.

BTW - get the UPS. It's an easy safety factor given we have seen examples of the bolt+ not powering back up. If that's all you have on the UPS, probably a 550 rated one that's usually about $40 should be fine. I have a much bigger one just to be safe.


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## robostock

jscopes said:


> Are you guys still having widespread issues with this? What about those of you that have gotten replacements?


Mine has running well since July. I've had occasion, twice maybe, to have to shut down. It powered up without any issue. But, one thing I do see on occasion is that all six of the tuners will be on the same channel. My guess that it did a restart sometime in the night, hence all the same channels.

Bolt+ is on a UPS and yes I am paranoid for any type of power fluctuation which would cause it to shut down and not power up.


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## bmal1

I have a dead Bolt after a recent power outage. The red light flashes once when I plug it in and then nothing. I can hear the fan or drive humming. It was on a UPS w/surge protection. Tivo is sending me another power cord to see if that is the problem. I have had the Bolt for 10 months. My premiere XL 4 has been running without any problems for several years.


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## Fireaxe12

This sounds like a basic design or build problem with the Bolt. How many times are we going to have to plug-unplug, call Tivo, exchange boxes, plug-unplug, call TiVo back, on and on. I've used TiVos since DSS in the mid-90s. I've never seen anything as half-baked as the Bolt. 
If Enrique Rodriguez (Chief Executive Officer at TiVo) wants to salvage the Bolt and keep his job, it might behoove him to pay attention to this issue. There is a contact form on the "Management Team" section of the TiVo website. Perhaps a few comments from Bolt users would be appropriate. Management Team | TiVo


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## bmal1

To follow up, the new power cord Tivo sent me did not resolve the issue. They offered a refurbished Tivo Bolt for an RMA Fee of $52.25. I received it in about 4 days via Fedex and sent my non-working Bolt back to Tivo. The process was painless, except for the RMA Fee : P . The new Bolt is now up and working well. Hopefully it will last a long time like my Premiere .


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## wyldone4u

I finally found this thread and must reply. I purchase a TiVo bolt and then had 2 replacements. They all do the same thing. if you can get it to come on where the green light lights up then you are golden. however, if you must unplug or loose power then it can take me a long time to get it to power on. I can plug in the power cord and the red light will flash and you can hear the fan but nothing will happen. if you can plug it in and the green light comes on, then you are all set. TiVo gave me no good answers each time I called. They suggested moving the box to another plug in the house and all kinds of silly things that I did try. they only thing that seems to work is plug and unplug till the green light comes on and pray that it actually does.


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## cwerdna

Fireaxe12 said:


> This sounds like a basic design or build problem with the Bolt. How many times are we going to have to plug-unplug, call Tivo, exchange boxes, plug-unplug, call TiVo back, on and on. *I've used TiVos since DSS in the mid-90s*. I've never seen anything as half-baked as the Bolt.
> If Enrique Rodriguez (Chief Executive Officer at TiVo) wants to salvage the Bolt and keep his job, it might behoove him to pay attention to this issue.


Shrug.

Only TiVo would know the failure rates, but FWIW, I've had a Bolt+ since around April 2017. Mine still works fine (knock on wood). Mine's always been on a UPS. I've disabled all power saving modes (it's in "manual" mode).

The bolded seems impossible given that History says


> Ramsay challenged the company to ship a TiVo digital video recorder, the first DVR to ever exist, by March 31, 1999. Despite the tight deadlines and other challenges, TiVo engineers shipped out the first TiVo DVR on schedule, which happened to coincide with a rare blue moon event. Henceforth, the last Friday in March is the official TiVo "blue moon" holiday.


And, there are numerous blog entries on TiVo's site (e.g. A "Blue Moon Holiday" Look Back - TiVo Blog) that mention that date.

As for the CEO, Mr. Rodriguez, he resigned about a week ago.


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## aspexil

We got our Bolt when they were first released and set it up in Oct 2015. Its been running fine in the same spot. Ours too is on a UPS as we have (unbelievably) a large number of brown outs and short <3s power outages.


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## Steve47

preilly44 said:


> Hello, so my Bolt+ is powering on when I plug it in (I hear the fan and the hard drive spool up) but there are no lights on the front of the device and no video output. I've tried cold booting it (removing the cable card, Ethernet, coax and AC power for 30 minutes) with no luck. Does this sound like a power supply issue? Does anybody have any ideas on how to resolve the issue?
> 
> Thanks in advance!


Had a similar problem after power loss. Kept rebooting by removing plug from back of Bolt... no luck. It would power on but no lights or output. Finally unplugged the power "block" from the wall/power strip. Waited, plugged back in and everything started working. Worth a try!


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## Nancy H.

Just got a new Bolt yesterday and had this problem while cable tech was pairing the cable card. He asked me to reboot so I unplugged the Bolt as I had done previously many times with my two former TiVos. Plugged it back in and a flash of red, but no green. Fan humming and lights shining on the back panel. Kept it un-plugged all night because of that darn fan. Just fine when I reconnected in the morning. Then later in the day, no green. Going to send it back tomorrow now that Iknow the fault isn’t with the cable card/provider. Thank goodness I got it from Amazon. Like others, TiVo ‘tech’ person told me to try another outlet. I stopped our conversation at that point.


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## nollid

Another me-too, Tivo Bolt Vox purchased about 3 months ago. Unit failed to restart after each of 3 power outages. I tried all the re-booting power-up tricks mentioned by everyone else. One time I read somewhere to try removing the cable card. I tried plugging the wall plug into another outlet. Nothing consistently works to get it to come back on. Sometimes it takes about 20 minutes of trying to get it to restart. Other times it takes over an hour of trial and error unplug/plug cycles.

Update, the unit has been unplugged for 8 hours with a few attempts to re-start it by plugging it back in during that time. TiVo support suggested again the "plug it directly into the wall" shenanigans. Also suggested I plug it in and press the TiVo button on the remote 5 times. none of it worked. It's still dead, all but the fan.

We'll try the advanced replacement option. Hope the new one works when it gets here. Meanwhile, lost a bunch of unwatched episodes of numerous shows.


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## aaronwt

nollid said:


> Another me-too, Tivo Bolt Vox purchased about 3 months ago. Unit failed to restart after each of 3 power outages. I tried all the re-booting power-up tricks mentioned by everyone else. One time I read somewhere to try removing the cable card. I tried plugging the wall plug into another outlet. Nothing consistently works to get it to come back on. Sometimes it takes about 20 minutes of trying to get it to restart. Other times it takes over an hour of trial and error unplug/plug cycles.
> 
> Update, the unit has been unplugged for 8 hours with a few attempts to re-start it by plugging it back in during that time. TiVo support suggested again the "plug it directly into the wall" shenanigans. Also suggested I plug it in and press the TiVo button on the remote 5 times. none of it worked. It's still dead, all but the fan.
> 
> We'll try the advanced replacement option. Hope the new one works when it gets here. Meanwhile, lost a bunch of unwatched episodes of numerous shows.


Get a UPS for the replacement TiVo, so that issue can be avoided in the future.


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## nollid

aaronwt said:


> Get a UPS for the replacement TiVo, so that issue can be avoided in the future.


That's the plan.

It's unfortunate that the equipment is so damn sensitive to require it. Nothing else is affected so drastically by power outages. Shoot, how do you even "properly" unplug the thing to move it? These things should have a reset button that is easy to use rather than unplug-wait-pray-plug back in


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## JoeKustra

nollid said:


> Shoot, how do you even "properly" unplug the thing to move it? These things should have a reset button that is easy to use rather than unplug-wait-pray-plug back in


I place my TiVo into Standby. Then wait until the green LED goes out. Then pull power. Wait 30 seconds and you should be free to move it. I do this monthly to clean all the stuff I have.

Other that this, I never use Standby. When the TiVo powers up, it may or may not be in Standby. It varies.

BTW, after all the stuff is powered off, I also power off the UPS units. I have five.


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## MisterMidnight

Just had same issue after power outage this week with my 15-mo. old Bolt+, brief red light when plugged in, fan or HDD running. It was plugged into a UPS. Had a second power adaptor so verified mine was good. I tried what some have mentioned, repeatedly plugging and unplugging power cord from wall. Tried it 10-15 times, left it unplugged for varying periods of time. Still no luck. Waited a few hours and tried again, nada. Figured it was dead so was going to ship it off for service. The next morning thought I would give it one last shot. Unplugged it about 30-40 times, figured what the heck can't make anything worse. All of a sudden, viola! Got the green light and it booted up in minutes, all is ok for now...


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## Mats038

We had a power outage this week and my TiVo Bolt OTA died. Just over 4 months old, it would not boot beyond the start up screen. TiVo tech only had me unplug and replug the power and hdmi cords then authorized a replacement. Tried plugging it in directly to the wall to no avail. It was plugged into a UPS but not the power backup plugs.


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## aaronwt

Make sure you plug the new one into the outlets that have backup power. 
A TiVo is one device that should always be connected to backup power outlets on a UPS.


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## Mats038

Will do, thanks.


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## JGC650I

I have two Bolt+ units that I've had since original release. One has this issue, the other does not and there's no rhyme or reason to it. For the one that has the issue, if you have any power cycle for any reason, it can't boot immediately and just gives you the quick flash of red light and continual fan noise with no actual boot up. The cure is always to leave it unplugged for 15 to 30 minutes and then power it back on and it will boot properly right away. Have done this countless times over the past couple years and always comes back if you let it sit unplugged for a bit. Don't ask me why, I have no idea, but it is consistent. What's funny is my other Bolt+ unit bought at the same time does not have this issue. It can power cycle anytime and boots right back up without ever having any problem. Tivo can't explain it. I gave up trying to find a solution and just live the the fact I have to leave the one unit unplugged for a while if I need to power cycle it for any reason.


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## jett456

Do you unplug from the socket or the back. When I do it from the back the red light flickers. From the wall nothing at all. Fan goes on. This has been since power outage Monday.


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## Newbhikku

My Premiere lasted exactly two years. I have had a Bolt since Dec 2017 and it’s no longer booting up. I had unplugged it for a month when I cut the cord but since learned I can use a cable card for basic cable and plugged back in. But alas, the little guy will only sputter and die after dozens of attempts to reboot (and trying the utterly useless chat bot who advised me to try a different HDMI cable). 

I guess I’ll see if they can do anything but I have doubts as I’m out of warranty. I think this will be my last TiVo. Loved the UX and ease of use but I can’t deal with defective products and after reading all of these comments and thinking about my own experiences, I have to say that this company has let me down. For the love, even my old Walmart TV lasted 15 years! I take good care of things. What a shame.


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## pgoelz

JGC650I said:


> I have two Bolt+ units that I've had since original release. One has this issue, the other does not and there's no rhyme or reason to it. For the one that has the issue, if you have any power cycle for any reason, it can't boot immediately and just gives you the quick flash of red light and continual fan noise with no actual boot up. The cure is always to leave it unplugged for 15 to 30 minutes and then power it back on and it will boot properly right away.


Any chance the troublesome Bolt runs hot enough that when you power down, the temperature overshoots and exceeds an emergency shutdown threshold? The only factor I can come up with that would require a delay before power can be re-applied is thermal.

Check the ODT in system information on both units? If the troublesome unit IS running hotter, try removing the cable card access door and see if it cools enough to be able to re-boot immediately. And/or run it upside down so it is not recirculating hot air.

Paul


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## DaFfuZz1015

Add another victim...second time for me. The first time I wasn't aware that unplugging is what caused the problem, but this time I did some net searches and found this thread. While the problem is bad, it's compounded by the fact that I have now lost ALL of my shows for the second time with the Bolt+. Unless I've missed it, I haven't seen a thread on how to salvage shows from the hard drive???

I tell you what, this screams of Class Action lawsuit, right? I mean, come'on...all I did was unplug it to add another item to my set-up and now this.  Booooo!


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## HerronScott

DaFfuZz1015 said:


> Add another victim...second time for me. The first time I wasn't aware that unplugging is what caused the problem, but this time I did some net searches and found this thread. While the problem is bad, it's compounded by the fact that I have now lost ALL of my shows for the second time with the Bolt+. Unless I've missed it, I haven't seen a thread on how to salvage shows from the hard drive???


You've unplugged your Bolt twice now and lost all shows? If so, it sounds like the hard drive isn't really paired with the TiVo and you might want to do a Clear and Delete Everything. Is this the original hard drive in the unit or one that you replaced as this has definitely been seen in some cases with a drive replacement.

Scott


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## emuman100

I just had a power outage and my Bolt is now showing the same symptoms. No green LED, but the hard drive and fan turn on. Being that it was purchased in 2018, Tivo was "nice" enough to offer me a replacement for an "exchange fee" of $250. What a deal! My All-in will transfer as well. After stating I could get them on ebay cheaper and that I was getting a refurbished unit anyway, they did me a "favor" and lowered the price to "$200". How could anyone pass that up!?

I just put a 3TB drive in there too. I'll buy one with All-in service on eBay. If I transfer my 3TB drive to the new Bolt, will it just reformat it and start with the guided setup?


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## High Technology

Yes, putting a different drive in would reformat it and “marry” it to the new unit. 


Before you do anything else:
If you’ve not tried a different power supply yet, please try that — even if you try the new unit’s power supply on the old unit (again, before doing anything else).


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## emuman100

Thanks for the confirmation and the tip! Yes, I will be trying a replacement power supply first. If it works, I'm going to put it on a UPS to protect it.


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## 20+yearTivouser

emuman100 said:


> I just had a power outage and my Bolt is now showing the same symptoms. No green LED, but the hard drive and fan turn on. Being that it was purchased in 2018, Tivo was "nice" enough to offer me a replacement for an "exchange fee" of $250. What a deal! My All-in will transfer as well. After stating I could get them on ebay cheaper and that I was getting a refurbished unit anyway, they did me a "favor" and lowered the price to "$200". How could anyone pass that up!?


 Are you being sarcastic about the $200 offer from tivo? is there no benefit getting a replacement from tivo vs from unknown source on ebay? My bolt hd just failed and I'm trying to figure if to replace the HD myself or explore other options


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## aaronwt

20+yearTivouser said:


> Are you being sarcastic about the $200 offer from tivo? is there no benefit getting a replacement from tivo vs from unknown source on ebay? My bolt hd just failed and I'm trying to figure if to replace the HD myself or explore other options


If you have no problems opening the Bolt up, replacing the hard drive yourself is much, much cheaper. The last time I put a drive in a bolt was in 2020. I got a Toshiba 2TB drive for only $60, to install in the Bolt.


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## emuman100

20+yearTivouser said:


> Are you being sarcastic about the $200 offer from tivo? is there no benefit getting a replacement from tivo vs from unknown source on ebay? My bolt hd just failed and I'm trying to figure if to replace the HD myself or explore other options


Yes, I am, because the price is ridiculous. eBay and Tivo seem to have units of similar reliability. It's a shame what Tivo has become.

So, the replacement power supply did nothing. I broke down and spent the $200.

I put the upgraded hard drive from the old Bolt into the new Bolt and I got a red screen with an error that said "detected software downgrade!". Is there a way for the Bolt to simply marry and reformat the drive?


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## pl1

emuman100 said:


> I put the upgraded hard drive from the old Bolt into the new Bolt and I got a red screen with an error that said "detected software downgrade!". Is there a way for the Bolt to simply marry and reformat the drive?


The old drive needs to be wiped. The best way is to use a computer and delete the partition or even just format it in Windows since the TiVo does not recognize Windows. The new Bolt you have will install the software on the wiped drive.

It also sounds like your old Bolt is on TE4, and the new Bolt is on TE3. If you prefer TE4, there is a menu item under "Apps" that says "Get New Experience" to upgrade to TE4.

EDIT: Another possible solution you could try. If the new Bolt is on TE3, you could upgrade the new Bolt to TE4 (under "Apps" that says "Get New Experience") using the drive that came with it. Then, when you put in the old Bolt's drive, the new Bolt should see it and reinstall the software. This possibly avoids having to wipe the old drive by letting the TiVo do it.


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## emuman100

pl1 said:


> The old drive needs to be wiped. The best way is to use a computer and delete the partition or even just format it in Windows since the TiVo does not recognize Windows. The new Bolt you have will install the software on the wiped drive.
> 
> It also sounds like your old Bolt is on TE4, and the new Bolt is on TE3. If you prefer TE4, there is a menu item under "Apps" that says "Get New Experience" to upgrade to TE4.
> 
> EDIT: Another possible solution you could try. If the new Bolt is on TE3, you could upgrade the new Bolt to TE4 (under "Apps" that says "Get New Experience") using the drive that came with it. Then, when you put in the old Bolt's drive, the new Bolt should see it and reinstall the software. This possibly avoids having to wipe the old drive by letting the TiVo do it.


I really appreciate all this information! I did end up wiping the drive using a computer. Afterwords, it worked just fine. I set up all my options and season passes and everything was as it was before. The only bummer is that I lost all my recordings. Comcast sets the CCI byte on everything, so I would not be able to transfer them to my computer and watch them, but could I have used PyTivo to transfer to my computer, then to the new Tivo with new encryption?

When I originally set the old Bolt up, I didn't seem to have a choice but to use TE4. It upgraded automatically and had no option to keep it. I don't like it at all. I use an A93 Tivo Mini with it and it also had to be upgraded to TE4 to be used with the Bolt. 

As always, thank you for all your help on the Bolt!


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## pl1

emuman100 said:


> I really appreciate all this information! I did end up wiping the drive using a computer. Afterwords, it worked just fine. I set up all my options and season passes and everything was as it was before. The only bummer is that I lost all my recordings. Comcast sets the CCI byte on everything, so I would not be able to transfer them to my computer and watch them, but could I have used PyTivo to transfer to my computer, then to the new Tivo with new encryption?
> 
> When I originally set the old Bolt up, I didn't seem to have a choice but to use TE4. It upgraded automatically and had no option to keep it. I don't like it at all. I use an A93 Tivo Mini with it and it also had to be upgraded to TE4 to be used with the Bolt.
> 
> As always, thank you for all your help on the Bolt!


I'm not sure about copying copy protected shows to another TiVo. I've always been under the impression you can't copy to another TiVo, I'm not sure.

I assume you are currently on TE3 at this point, and your mini will need to downgrade. If you are on TE4 and want to downgrade to TE3, follow these instructions. All Bolt models (except the Bolt OTA) can be downgraded to TE3. You will lose all settings and recordings when downgrading, and preserve everything when upgrading.


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## emuman100

pl1 said:


> I'm not sure about copying copy protected shows to another TiVo. I've always been under the impression you can't copy to another TiVo, I'm not sure.
> 
> I assume you are currently on TE3 at this point, and your mini will need to downgrade. If you are on TE4 and want to downgrade to TE3, follow these instructions. All Bolt models (except the Bolt OTA) can be downgraded to TE3. You will lose all settings and recordings when downgrading, and preserve everything when upgrading.


I think you are right and thank you for providing TE3 downgrade instructions! The problem now is the Mini or the Tivo App won't find the Bolt on my network now that I set it to a static IP that my original Bolt was. The Mini gave me an error that it can't find the Bolt at the DHCP assigned address, but this was after I changed it. I tried setting it back to DHCP, another static IP address, but no matter what I do, I cannot get the Mini or the Tivo App to see the Bolt. Will I have to clear and delete everything on the Bolt, do you think?

Thanks again!


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## pl1

emuman100 said:


> I think you are right and thank you for providing TE3 downgrade instructions! The problem now is the Mini or the Tivo App won't find the Bolt on my network now that I set it to a static IP that my original Bolt was. The Mini gave me an error that it can't find the Bolt at the DHCP assigned address, but this was after I changed it. I tried setting it back to DHCP, another static IP address, but no matter what I do, I cannot get the Mini or the Tivo App to see the Bolt. Will I have to clear and delete everything on the Bolt, do you think?
> 
> Thanks again!


Is the new Bolt assigned to your tivo.com account and can you see it? If not, that could be your problem. The seller needs to give you a case number for you to give TiVo to transfer it in to the same TiVo account as your mini.
*Devices & Services*


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## emuman100

pl1 said:


> Is the new Bolt assigned to your tivo.com account and can you see it? If not, that could be your problem.


This new Bolt was one sent to me from Tivo as an exchange, so they trasferred my lifetime subscription from the old Bolt to the new one, and it is listed in my account along with the Mini, but perhaps they missed something. It also is displayed in Account and Settings on the Bolt itself as lifetime. I'll have to contact customer service on Monday to see. I don't see any reason why it would not work as nothing changed. I will keep you posted and thanks as always for the help!


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## pl1

emuman100 said:


> This new Bolt was one sent to me from Tivo as an exchange, so they trasferred my lifetime subscription from the old Bolt to the new one, and it is listed in my account along with the Mini, but perhaps they missed something. It also is displayed in Account and Settings on the Bolt itself as lifetime. I'll have to contact customer service on Monday to see. I don't see any reason why it would not work as nothing changed. I will keep you posted and thanks as always for the help!


Nope, that sounds like it should work OK. I was thinking you got a used one and I am surprised that TiVo still has Bolt models available for exchange.  It sounds like you have done everything. The only other thing is to make sure you force a few connections on the mini and the Bolt, so that they can see each other in your account.


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## aaronwt

emuman100 said:


> This new Bolt was one sent to me from Tivo as an exchange, so they trasferred my lifetime subscription from the old Bolt to the new one, and it is listed in my account along with the Mini, but perhaps they missed something. It also is displayed in Account and Settings on the Bolt itself as lifetime. I'll have to contact customer service on Monday to see. I don't see any reason why it would not work as nothing changed. I will keep you posted and thanks as always for the help!


Sometimes it takes a few days for things to start working properly. At least that has been my experience in the past. After TiVo mucked with my TiVo accounts.


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## emuman100

pl1 said:


> If you are on TE4 and want to downgrade to TE3, follow these instructions. All Bolt models (except the Bolt OTA) can be downgraded to TE3. You will lose all settings and recordings when downgrading, and preserve everything when upgrading.


I was able to successfully downgrade to TE3 and It is so much better on the bolt. It's faster, looks better, and you can turn off more adware. Of course, there are some features, like a regular guide, and voice features that if you want them, you are forced to use TE4. Still, I love TE3 and I'll use it as long as I can.



pl1 said:


> Nope, that sounds like it should work OK. I was thinking you got a used one and I am surprised that TiVo still has Bolt models available for exchange.  It sounds like you have done everything. The only other thing is to make sure you force a few connections on the mini and the Bolt, so that they can see each other in your account.


Yeah, there is no reason why it should not work. I contacted Tivo support today and they had me do the "troubleshooting process" of rebooting everything and anything. I asked them to escalate the case after the millionth reboot they had me do and that seemed to get conveniently get closed, so I opened up a new case.



aaronwt said:


> Sometimes it takes a few days for things to start working properly. At least that has been my experience in the past. After TiVo mucked with my TiVo accounts.


That may be what has to happen because they definitely did much with my account when they transferred my lifetime subscription. I will monitor this too.

Thanks guys!


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## pl1

emuman100 said:


> I was able to successfully downgrade to TE3 and It is so much better on the bolt. It's faster, looks better, and you can turn off more adware. Of course, there are some features, like a regular guide, and voice features that if you want them, you are forced to use TE4. Still, I love TE3 and I'll use it as long as I can.


There are two settings for the guide in TE3. Press Guide> "A" Guide Options> Style: TiVo Live Guide & Grid Guide. Personally, I use and prefer the Live Guide.


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## emuman100

pl1 said:


> There are two settings for the guide in TE3. Press Guide> "A" Guide Options> Style: TiVo Live Guide & Grid Guide. Personally, I use and prefer the Live Guide.


That did the trick! Thank you for that. I saw that and meant to try it out. I love the TE3 interface now. The guide looks great and everything is so fast!

As for the V70 error, I requested my issue be escalated to the "backend team", whoever that is. They told me they can "only contact me by email" and it would be 3 to 5 business days. Before that I was on the phone with someone who would go though her troubleshooting script and would not do any actual troubleshooting. She said that she can send me a new Bolt again to try to narrow down the problem, but if that doesn't fix it, it's my networking equipment that is the problem, according to her, even though everything worked fine with my original bolt. That's when I requested the issue be escalated.

I was sent an email from Tivo support about the Tivo App not working. They wanted me to delete the app and redownload it, and if that didn't work, to try it on a different phone. I certainly hope that isn't the "backend team"!

Do you think I'd have to do a clear & delete everything to get the Mini working again? In the advanced help menu, when I go into Whole Home DVR, it lists the Bolt, my Mini, and my Tivo HD. When I select the Mini, it says that there might be a problem with my account and it is grayed out. Another thing I wanted to mention is that the Mini is connected to a Cisco switch and the Bolt is as well, and both switches are connected together on VLAN0 and no other configured VLANs. I tried enabling and disabling igmp snooping querier with no avail. Before, the old Bolt and Mini worked fine on my network. I'll keep on playing with it, but I really doubt it's my network. Also, the Mini is on TE4. I was hoping that if it sees the Bolt, it would downgrade itself.

To stay on topic with this original thread, I put new batteries in an old UPS I had and put the Bolt on the UPS.


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## emuman100

I wanted to provide a positive update to my V70 issue. Like other's have mentioned here, the fix for them was to have the representative create a new account and move the host Tivo and Mini to that new account. As soon as she did that (I gave them another email address), the Mini started to downgrade to TE3 and now it's working without issue. The downgrade to TE3 cleared the remote pairing, so since I'm using an A93 Mini and a Bluetooth dongle, the Mini required a restart after it was set up to pair with the bluetooth remote. Without restarting, it would not pair, so I suspect that it was a USB or driver initialization issue that happens when new software runs for the first time. 

Thanks again for the help. I suppose the moral of this story is to put your Bolt on a UPS.


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