My TiVo Remote Stopped Working Well . . .
Posted on July 31st, 2006, by Michael
We get this a lot by email and by phone: My TiVo is responding to my remote very slowly. I think my remote or my IR board is bad. I’ve changed the batteries and rebooted the unit.
We’ve got a strange answer for this, but it’s the right one almost every time: IR interference.
For some reason, TiVos are unusually susceptible to other IR waves. So other remotes, IR blasters, and other products can cause this behavior. Half the time, there’s a remote jammed under a couch cushion with a button stuck down.
So we tell people to just take all of the other remotes out of the room, and see what happens. That almost always does the trick.
The key way to know if this applies to you? “My TV still works fine with my TiVo remote . . .”
77 comments 
Category:
July 31st, 2006 at 11:14 pm
I find that my TiVo remote works better if I bounce the signal off the wall to the side of it. For some reason it never fails.
If you have a wall nearby, try “banking” the signal like you would a pool shot.
May 12th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I’ve had this same issue with my Tivo remote and after reading this post, now believe that the remote signals put off by my Slingbox are causing it.
Scott
June 4th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Just hooked up my new HD TiVo DVR ,and my Remote Control is not working. Would I be able to get a replacement for it?
June 4th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Joe-
Just email us and we can figure it out (assuming the unit is from us) – info@weaknees.com.
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Update to previous comment!
It is NOT my Slingbox that is causing the issue. I’ve since removed the TIVO from its current location, to a completely different location (different room) and do not have the Slingbox connected. Now, my Tivo doesn’t respond at all. (I checked my remote at a neighbors house and the remote still works, so now I’m worried that my IR board is malfunctioning.
August 28th, 2008 at 7:00 am
I am SO Grateful for this entry! Prior to checking the website, I spent countless hours on the phone with both Humax and Tivo trying to figure out what the problem was (especially since I had a brand new remote!) Neither of them, in all that time, had the tip above, which totally worked! I am so psyched! Thanks so much!
October 24th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
i am so glad I stubled upon this! I had tried resetting the TIVO, unhooked my whole system and hooked it back up again, and was on the verge of wiping everything and trying once again when I decided to look it up online. My TV control was jammed into the drawer at an odd angle and was continously sending a signal. Removed it and no more problems. Thanks so much for the easy fix!
October 29th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
This happened to my comcast box. Noone could figure it out… it went on for three days. After the repairman left I googled this site and tried it. sure enough, with all the other remotes gone, worked like a charm.
November 6th, 2008 at 3:10 am
We have Time Warner. Time Warner only uses a multistream single cable card. This cable card is also not capable of On Demand. Time Warner said we must get an HD On Demand capable box and have two boxes running to separate inputs on the TV. The Time Warner box controls power to the TV no matter what. The Tivo box controls power to the TV no matter what. I am not a retard I don’t have either remote lodged in a drawer or couch. If the TV is off ,regardless of whether the Time Warner box is off or on, then the Tivo remote is in sync with the Tivo box and the yellow light blinks as expected. Once you press the green TV power button on the Tivo remote, to turn on the TV and the Tivo the remote never controls the Tivo box again. What the heck is this all about?
November 6th, 2008 at 6:32 am
Is the power to the TV plugged into the Time Warner box itself, or directly into the wall?
November 6th, 2008 at 9:19 am
The TV power, time warner box power and Tivo box power are all separate. The time warner box is running to the component 1 input on a samsung series 6 HD. The Tivo box is running to the HDMI/DVI input. I found that the problem is anytime power to a JVC stereo receiver or the samsung television is turned off or on the remote for the Tivo becomes out of sync. A global reset or batteries out on tivo remote for 30 seconds will never solve this issue. So basically if you program the remote for samsung series 6 and jvc stereo receiver and you have lets say a power outage, your Tivo remote will never work properly again. Tivo is sending me a new remote in 2 days. If this does not fix the issue a logitech harmony 1 might. If a logitech harmony 1 does not fix the issue then the IR board on the tivo box has become corrupted and the box will need to be replaced. Thanks Tivo for creating an amazingly terrible product.
November 7th, 2008 at 2:07 am
we figured it out after the statement above happened we found that you had to tough the remote sensor to the box sensor and push buttons while backing it away now ever time after power on after programming the remote. do not program the remote for jvc stereos it corrupts the IR
November 7th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
THANK YOU FOR THIS POST!
November 7th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
We spent all afternoon trying to figure out what was going on and as soon as we saw this we immediately found the DVD player remote under a stack of magazines and PROBLEM SOLVED! THANK YOU!
November 18th, 2008 at 7:25 am
My remote works fine, except for the menu button. I can go to my To Do List, and I can program by time, channel, etc. I can display info about the current item but when I press the menu button, no Directv menu. (I have a refurbished Phillips DirectV DVR.) Any ideas? When I press the menu button, the green light on the front of the DVR turns temporarily amber, so it looks like it’s getting the signal, but not responding.
November 25th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
I laughed at this site at first and the suggestion of a “rogue remote” somewhere in the room. I was all set to spend money on a new Tivo, remote, or to at least lose my saved shows.
The remote to my stereo was mashed underneath a bunch of books on my nightstand. I freed it, and now my Tivo works flawlessly.
thanks all.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:15 pm
I had to replace the power supply after Tivo Series 2 would not boot. I replaced it and left the original hard drive in there. After boot up I realized 40g was the wrong drive. I used the remote to look around on the old drive then shut down to replace drive. I put the Large drive in (350 gig or so) and it boots all the way up but no lights at all on the front (there were when the old drive was there) and remote will not work. I have to two of these Tivos and the remote from the other will not work either. No IR interference (already worked with the old drive in, just not the new). Any ideas?
January 5th, 2009 at 8:02 am
We purchased a Samsung Tv (model 32A300J10) and have a Philips Tivo (Model PTV100). How do we make the Tivo remote control compatible with the TV so we can change the volumn and turn the tv on or off?
Les
January 5th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Go into the System Settings and you’ll see in the menu the ability to customize the remote.
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:01 am
My Tivo is NOT responding to my remote. Usually when the remote is used, the little “yellow light” flashes quickly….the yellow light no longer flashes?? The remote is fine, it works on my other Tivo. I moved all my other remotes (which had been next to the Tivo remote for 4 years) & it’s still not working. I have deduced it’s my “Tivo” that’s got the problem, any suggestions anyone, please….?
D.C.
January 23rd, 2009 at 3:08 pm
That’s ok. I bought a NEW HD Tivo & “swapped” my Lifetime Subscription from my OLD machine to my NEW HD Tivo….
LIFE’S GOOD NOW, LOL!
D.C.
January 25th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
So the remote stopped working. I then took the tivo apart, put it back together and the remote worked for a little while but then stopped again. Any ideas.
January 25th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
So the remote stopped working. I then took the tivo apart, put it back together and the remote worked, who knows why, for a little while but then stopped again. Any ideas.
January 29th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
OMG! After reading a few of these posts, I tried looking for a stray remote. Not one remote control worked for my TV, cable box, DVR, stereo, etc. Sure enough under a weighty AD Magazine, I found the f… VCR remote with button(s) being squashed. It was hidden but aimed at the AV equipment
This after two days of reading about IR interence, turning on/off all IR controlled appliance., florecesent lighting ballasts removed and replaced. Conferring with a Comcast service guy who changed out the box without success. Going to the f.. Comcast store to replace the remote.
I’m now an expert on IR interference but still an idiot!
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:41 pm
My remote signal receiver in the TIVO series 3 HD box jams. The yellow light does not flash when a remote button is pressed. It stays on and scrolls through menu lists over and over. One cannot accurately stop it on a given line. When fast forwarding it goes to speed 1, then speed 2, then speed 3, then back to speed one, and on and on. I have an old second remote control and the box responds the same way.
February 13th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
What about using a digital camera and scan the room for unexpected sources of light? Whenever I have an IR remote that I suspect might have dead batteries, I point the digital camera at it and if I see light coming from the emitter I know the remote is good.
February 13th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Yup – that’s a good trick. We often recommend it for people who can’t tell if their TiVo IR blaster is sending out proper signals or not.
February 22nd, 2009 at 4:32 pm
DirecTV DVR. Does not powerup, recording and power light blink repeatedly, but the unit does not power up. I want to salvage the recordings from this unit. It has 160GB HD. Is there a way to fix the unit? Is there a way to backup the HD unit and load onto a new DVR unit? Either option works for me. Let me know if you have a solution. Thanks!
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:32 am
I have an old tivo, the first one that was sold. Remote worked until 2 days ago. I tried removing the tv and vcr remote but no luck. Tried replacing batteries multiple times. Muting and volume keys work fine on tivo remote but when another key is pressed, a red light flashes . Any suggestions?
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:00 am
Sounds like a bad IR board in the TiVo. Have you tried just rebooting the TiVo?
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Yes. I have powered off and back on. You think problem is with tivo and not remote? IIs there anyway to do anything (move around) without remote?
I believe tivo has been dying…gets stuck and hesitates sometimes while playing back recordings. I want to purchase another one but have been putting it off. I want it to work with fios which I am also going to purchase. Anything I need to know before purchasing another tivo?
Thanks
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:18 pm
If the TV still works with the remote (volume, on/off) then the remote is probably fine. Sounds like the TiVo, and there are no buttons on that unit.
New TiVo DVRs for FiOS are great since they use CableCARDs (no more cable box!). Those are here:
http://www.weaknees.com/3
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:43 pm
A number of the earlier posts come close to describing my issue…but not exactly. I’m getting interference from my TV (SHARP AQUOS 37″), which intermittently renders my remote worthless. When I turn off the TV, the TiVo immediately responds to the remote. (e.g. when the pushing the pause button the amber light comes on) When I turn on the TV, the remote works for 5 to 10 seconds and then once again doesn’t.
When I move the TiVo unit (It’s a Series 3HD) on the floor about 6 feet from the TV, I’m able to shield the TiVo with a piece of aluminum foil and the remote works. I remove the foil and it doesn’t.
It seems to be an interference problem. Short of a lead wall or moving the TiVo into the car, what can I do to prevent the interference from making my TiVo useless?
Thanks!
March 4th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Remote is working in slow motion. I have a RCA DVR80 and the remote is a Direct tv remote it works the TV the AV1 (dvd player) when i try to turn the channel it will only let me program the first digit. for example if i want to turn to 362 i type in 3 6 2 and on the screen info comes up on station it is already on and the channel goes to 3.
I have another remote and it is a Direct tv remote and programmed for the tv and dvd player and it works but can not work the DVR-80 with the new remote
any IDEAS thanks
March 9th, 2009 at 11:43 am
THANK YOU !!!!! You completely solved my remote problem!!!
March 17th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Did anyone find an answer to the problem of remote not working after replacing TiVo power supply? My TiVo power supply died and I replaced it – now the unit powers up with no problem and I get the whole powering up sequence, but no reaction to the remote – no light comes on on the front of the unit. The remote itself is fine – it works with my other TiVo in the other room.
March 17th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
My guess is that you have the problem listed here as #7:
http://www.tivopedia.com/tivo-remote-troubleshooting.php
If so, it’s something we can fix. Email us at info@weaknees.com.
April 19th, 2009 at 12:29 am
I had the “no-yellow-light/remote-only-controls-TV” problem. After several calls to Tivo, they sent me a new HD TiVO. It worked for ONE DAY and now the problem is back- MY REMOTE IS USELESS!
Erick or DC– Did you find any solutions to your simular problems?! Anyone?! I’m going crazy. Thanks. K
April 29th, 2009 at 7:56 am
I have the same problem as John Tomlinson. My IR receiver seems to jam on the operation from the remote. The amber light on the front of the Tivo box stays on when a remote button is pressed and the operation continues. The Tivo will just keep scrolling
down lists or stepping through forwarding/Reverse in play back. This does this on any Tivo remote (I’ve tried 3).
Ideas?
April 30th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Follow up. . .
My problem did turn out to be a remote from another device in the room.
Thanks, it was the advice on this page that led me to check for this.
Bill
May 3rd, 2009 at 6:24 am
I have the same problem as Erick…Sharp Aquos TV. If you turn off TV and then back on, the remote works for about 10 seconds and then stops working… Very strange. Any thoughts?
May 25th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Brilliant … earlier in my day my baby boy threw up on another remote and it turned out that it was causing my trouble lol. Thanks for the advice
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:03 pm
I have similar problems, the remote shows a red light when pressed but the Tivo unit does not show anything but the green light. I cant find any other interference with another remote. I have tried unplugging Tivo and also a global replacement command, also set the remote to Zero which is supposed to make it work with any Tivo unit. It does not control the TV on/off or volume control which it used to. I took the batteries out last night so that our 6 month old could play with the Remote and now i can not get it to work with the TIVO. The baby was not interested in the Remote, and now I cant watch any Tivo.
Please help. Thank you.;
July 6th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
For about two years I’ve been struggling with an erratic remote. I tried directtv’s new reciever and promptly sent it back. They wouldn’t give me a new tivo box as I prefer their software. So off and on I researched to no avail. Then I ran across weaknees. I thought I would try a new faceplate. $30,what the heck. It just came in the mail and I finished installing it. I just wanted to say I LUV YOU GUYS!!!
July 8th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Hi,
I have a Tivo DVD burner that I bought from weaknees a couple years ago, over the past 9 months the remote has only been working intermittently. I bought a new remote/batteries and same thing. Removed all other remotes from the room (checked for hidden remotes too).
It will work fine and then not at all…especially annoying when fast-forwarding through commercials and then can’t get it to stop FF’ing when the show’s back on…
Some times I’ll have to keep pushing a button 10 times before the box responds (sometimes no response at all, then I’ll try it later and it works fine).
Any thoughts?
July 8th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Travis –
I’d recommend moving the unit to a different room and trying it there. Most likely, something in that room is causing the interference.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Alright, I never post and I’ve never been on this site until 5 minutes ago. I was going to reboot my TiVo because the remote stopped working, but I decided to search on the internet first. I came across this post and am so happy that I did. After reading it, I found all the remotes and then took them out of the room and… my remote still didn’t work. Then I noticed the DVD remote was missing so I searched for that, found it under some magazines, took it out of the room and alas my TiVo remote worked!!
July 17th, 2009 at 9:40 am
I have 2 tivos in the room – S3 and HD – and suddenly switch 1 (white tivo remote) which controls the S3 stopped working, switch 2 controlling the HD works fine. Neither tivo shows a signal received for switch 1.
Pulled out 2 other remotes – the original grey one and glo black one – same problem with those. Took all other remotes from the room.
I have no idea what sort of interference it could be, or why only switch 1 would be affected.
August 1st, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Our Tivo remote would not stop on the right program selection and gets stuck at either the top or the bottom and other wacky things. It suddenly happened. So the suggestion about looking for a rogue remote was right on target. I used a digital camera to try to locate IR interference. I was able to find a micro tool set on top of a remote on the cabinet shelf. The small tool set was moved there from the dining room table in haste due to unexpected company coming. Thanks for the help. WoW!!!!
August 20th, 2009 at 9:42 am
@Holly King I have had the TiVo button stop working on several remotes. I suspect it is due to poor design of the button itself and the frequency and pressure with which we use it.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:04 am
My remotes stopped working when I used a three way compact flourescent light bulb in my lamp. After a few weeks something in the bulb started making a wired buzzing noise and this must have caused major IR interference. I went back to using a regular bulb and the problem went away.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Wow – that’s a new one, but we’ll add it to the list. I have CFs in my room with my TiVos and they work fine, but they aren’t three-ways.
Pretty interesting.
September 18th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Thanks for pointing to the IR possibility. The culprit in my case was a Roomba recharging station. Apparently when the Roomba isn’t docked, the dock sends out a homing beacon that can affect a Tivo. Annoying night, but this thread brought about a quick resolution. Thank you, Internets!
October 13th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
My remote works except for the volume control, the tv input, and now the on/off-tried above suggestions and they did not work-any other ideas?
October 14th, 2009 at 5:51 am
That probably just means you need to reset it to work with your TV.
Go into:
Messages and Setup -> Settings
and you should see an option to customize your remote in there.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:45 am
That worked-thanks so much!
October 28th, 2009 at 8:49 am
We have several TiVo remotes and we now have to press the buttons very, very hard in order to make the red light come on and thereby get a response from the unit. Sometimes we have to push several buttons really hard many times before it works. How is this fixed? Is there something we are supposed to do to fix the remote?
October 28th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Well, if it were one remote, then I would say it’s just a bad remote. But I can’t understand how you’re having this problem on several remotes.
Pressing harder really doesn’t have any effect on the remote. How do these work with your TV for volume and power?
October 28th, 2009 at 10:14 am
The remotes all work TV volume, channel changing, on/off, etc. It’s just that we have to push down really hard on any button to light up the remote’s red light and know the connection to the TV is made. These remotes are several years old. One is the original TiVo remote and the other two are DirectTV/TiVo remotes (peanut shapes).
October 28th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Then it sounds like it’s really time to try a new remote. We have several varieties here:
http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-remote-finder.php
November 6th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Thanks so much! A bag was sitting on top of the stereo remote. Don’t know that we would’ve ever figured out the problem. You saved us possibly hours of frustration.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Our remote just stopped responding to: power, mute, volume and input. Everything else on remote works. Tried re-coding the remote, didn’t work. The light on the Tivo (yellow) DOES light up if we try power or volume, etc, but nothing happens. Tried changing batteries, nothing happens. Remote is original – years old, probably like 6 years. Tried restarting Tivo, no change. Is it time for a new remote??
November 9th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Wren-
Sounds like only your TV isn’t working with the remote. Does your TV work with it’s original remote? Any chance it’s a new TV?
December 8th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Thank you for this post! This resolved an issue with getting my Directv tivo to reboot properly.
December 22nd, 2009 at 8:46 pm
THANK YOU!! For days my tivo has been acting crazy! I called the support line and the guy had no idea what was wrong. He told me my tivo was broken and tried to sell me a new one. Doing this worked like a charm. THANK YOU!
January 5th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
I bought a new HD TiVo (Model TCD652160) and had Comcast insert a single multi-stream card in it so I don’t have to use a digital cable box. The HD TiVo was unable to receive network non-HD channels. Instead of ABC, we received Encore. CBS was Starz. We could receive ESPN 2HD but not ESPN 1HD. Comcast tried several cards but couldn’t fix the problem.
Why was the card so out of sync with the channel line up even though we had checked off all the appropriate channels? Any ideas? Anyone else have these problems?
January 5th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Edna Pashley-
We’d be happy to help, but this really isn’t the right place. Please visit our forums:
http://www.wkforums.com/
January 6th, 2010 at 4:44 am
I just had this same problem. Unplugged everything in the room, took out all the batteries. It still wasn’t working. I reset my tivo, reset the remote and continued to do a global reset. None of these worked I then checked tivo’s website, it said it could be a tv backlight issue. I had just just the energy savings setting on my LG HDTV, I switched them back to what they had been prior to the remote malfunction and it worked! TiVo i working great again. Thought I would share so someone else won’t share my frustration quite as long.
January 11th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Just installed a new HD Series 3 over the holiday. Set it up in one room (wireless internet WiFi attached) and then moved it to another and then the insanity started. TiVo responded for a while, then shut off the TV (Sony Bravia 26″) only to have the TiVo go unresponsive. Other hard drive issues with this as well with spontaneous glitches in the video and with calls into support got a new exchange. Went through the same process again and had to update this one with new firmware because, unlike the first one, this one didn’t recognize the cable cards. Moved it from one room to the other and jammed again and then works again and then jammed again. The only IR emitting source is the TV and I need to see if one of the settings for light output is affecting the TiVo. No remotes are stuck on, and nothing else is emitting IR except for a lamp and the ambient sunlight. This is really stupid for a simple IR receiver to be so sensitive to jam the controller. Flashlight resetting worked shortly on the first one, but not on this one. Is there a way to attached an IR extended receiver to the TiVo? Like an IR blaster? Same kinda thing that the old Series 2’s use to have to control the VCR?
January 12th, 2010 at 11:18 am
After a Tivo reset and the removal of all batteries from other remotes, I was scanning the room with my digital camera and I looked up and noticed my nice new dimmable candelabra florescent bulbs hanging under my ceiling fan and wondered… Turning off the light instantly solved the problem. I did not know that they produced IR. So check your remotes and your florescent bulbs
January 23rd, 2010 at 11:40 am
Help- Our Tivo remote works except for the “tivo” button. It turns the light on the Tivo box from green to yellow, but the menu doesn’t come up. I have seen similar posts prior…. but no solutions. HELP!!!! Thanks
January 24th, 2010 at 10:49 am
Thanks to Tyler F for solving my problem. I was going bananas. I had a Tivo Series one that worked perfectly, but replaced with a new HD TiVo when I got my new home theater system. It was working perfectly until the LG screen arrived – then it got very slow to respond. I NEVER would have thought to monkey with the power saving settings, but turning it off worked like a charm.
On my way to this point, I discovered that Wii sensor bars constantly emit IR. Use a camera, camcorder or even your phone’s camera to spot potential sources of IR interference.
January 29th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Thanks very much.
I was going mental trying to figure this one out. Of course, rogue remote with a magazine on top of it.
Good work
February 5th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I had been experiencing the same problem as “John Tomlinson”, above. When I pressed a button on the TiVo remote, the command repeated many times. It made browsing the “Now Playing” list an exercise in frustration because you had to press “Select” at just the right moment as the cursor scrolled through the list of shows.
After reading this, I thought, nah… there’s no way I have a rogue remote sending out a signal. Well, I was wrong. The digital camera suggestion from “cafe” is absolutely brilliant. I had no idea you could see IR signals like that!
We have a caddy that holds all of our remotes, it turns out one remote was leaning against another and was pressing a button. I could see it happening perfectly in the camera’s viewfinder. I freed that remote and viola- the “repeated command” problem went away. To prove it, I then held down a random button on the offending remote. While that button was being held down, I pressed channel up on the TiVo remote while in “Now Playing”. Sure enough, the list started scrolling up endlessly. As soon as I released the button on the offending remote, it stopped.
Thanks guys- this is an expensive, upgraded HD TiVo (from WeaKnees) with lifetime service- the thought of having to replace it made me sick to my stomach. To John Tomlinson: even if you think a rogue remote is not the problem (as I did), try removing all remotes from the room anyway. It takes just a minute and may pay off. And thanks for that great tip cafe!!
February 24th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
Ok – Could someone PLEASE explain exactly what to do with the digital camera to see if there’s interference in the room??? My TIVO remote is also working sporadically. Not sure what to do w/ the camera… Am i actually taking pictures of the entire room???
February 28th, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Rhonda – you aren’t taking a picture of anything. Turn your digital camera on then pick up a remote. In one hand point the camera at the remote and in the other hand point the remote at the camera lens and press a button on the remote. If it is emitting an IR signal, your camera’s view screen will pick it up. IR is invisible to the human eye but glows a purplish color through a camera lens. If you have a “rogue remote” in the room you can also use your digital camera to scan the room for the culprit.
March 9th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Can my old Tivo standalone which controls a cable box via IR cable and is in the same room be causing this interference? i pulled batteries on all my remotes and shut down the wii and i definitely noticed an improvement but it is still much slower than normal… also, can a wifi router or switch cause this at all?