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 . . .”
110 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?
April 10th, 2010 at 9:34 pm
I need some help. I have a DirecTv Phillips DSR708. Just in the last few days the Tivo receiver stopped accepting changes from the channel/page select button. all other functions work properly. It is not the remote, because an identical remote does not work either and it works on another unit. It is in the unit itself. Any ideas on what the problem is and how it can be fixed?
May 8th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
I haven’t seen my exact problem listed. The remote works fine with the exception of the guide button. It works MOST of the time. The TiVo is only a couple of months old and we just bought the TV a week ago. No rogue button squashed remotes. We have 2 TiVo remotes in the room. There is a wireless router/modem in the next room in close proximity to the TiVo. Neither remote can access the channel guide. Is there a setting that makes the guide unable to be accessed? My husband seems to think I somehow screwed up a setting.
PLEASE help.
May 15th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
None of the Memorex codes work for volume, power and volume. Everything works fine until I changed to the Memorex TV.
May 20th, 2010 at 5:13 am
You’re a star! Thank you. Discovered too remotes down back of sofa. Tivo now working!
May 30th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
This is fabulous! I just started having problems today – no little yellow light in response to the remote. Spent some time with the TiVo support people, who said my remote was dead, so I ordered a new remote. I was reading through this post, and thought I would try the digital camera trick, and sure enough, my light was giving off an IR signal from three of the bulbs – not a new light fixture, or even new bulbs – but only newly causing the problem. Switched off the light, and remote works perfectly!
June 18th, 2010 at 4:46 am
My TiVo guide was acting crazy. Once I was able to get to the guide, it would continue to scan channels. I did not think it could be another remote, but it was. Under the lap top and causing the problem. Thank you for letting me quickly solve the problem.
July 2nd, 2010 at 8:57 am
My TiVo remote is working well except for the TiVo button. When I press it the yellow light on the TiVo box lights up, but nothing else happens. Any Ideas? I have changed the batteries and removed the other remote from the room still nothing. I have had the remote for about 3 years.
July 6th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
My red Tivo remote light stays on while the television volume continues to increase.
I have to take the batteries out of the Tivo remote in order to use my tv remote to reduce the volume. “If’ the red Tivo light turns off, the volume quits increasing but the other buttons don’t work.
Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks!
July 10th, 2010 at 6:44 am
I have just got an lg ld560 lcd tv and it is giving out ir interference to my tivo box, as the remote won’t work when the tv is on, but works fine when the tv is off. How can i fix this? will i have to get a new tv?!! will i have to get rid of tivo?
July 28th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Would having 2 TIVO remotes in the same room cause this? (One for him and one for me…..saves on arguments. LOL)
One works great, the other is sluggish and erratic.
July 28th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Janne,
Don’t think so. Sounds like one remote might be dying.
August 29th, 2010 at 6:39 am
If the TIVO remote stopped working the TIVO but still works the TV, that would mean that something has gone wrong with the TIVO itself that controls the remote.
With that, is that the resitors burned? How does this happen? If it is, can it be easily replaced like the changing out power supply? And if it is too expensive, can you change out the lifetime subscription with a new one and still have a lifetime subscription?
August 29th, 2010 at 8:37 am
Yes, it’s usually motherboard damage. You need to fix that exact motherboard to retain your lifetime service. We can do it here:
http://www.weaknees.com/tff
September 1st, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Hahahaa! Wow, that was it!
The VCR was getting mashed by the ThighMaster under the coffee table. As soon as I unmashed it, the TiVO remote started working! Hurray!!
October 2nd, 2010 at 5:25 pm
This afternoon my Tivo remote began working very poorly–about 1 of every 10 button presses got through. Changed remotes, changed batteries, and cycled the power on the Tivo to no avail. I wasn’t looking forward to a weekend of football and the Ryder Cup without my little Tivo, and the expletives began to fly! Found this post via Bing and removed all my remotes from the room. Still no luck. Then I realized my Roomba had stopped earlier due to an error and was away from its base. As soon as I returned it to its base, my Tivo remove resumed working normally.
I apologized to my Tivo, and now the Roomba is in trouble.
Bad Roomba, bad!
November 3rd, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Ok, I am not sure my problem is this exact one, ie, interference. I have a Directivo which is, admittedly, several years old. The remote does work, but with increasing frequency of trouble. It will function properly for a while then it will not take another command without waiting a good twenty seconds in between.
We are not hooked up to a phone line, so the messages protesting this piled up to the point where I couldn’t get into the messages section without crashing. So I concluded that maybe it was a hd issue, so I did the delete everything option. Nope, still the problem.
I was not able to find any rogue remotes, and I do have a Wii wireless sensor bar, but it only shows the IR on during use, not when it’s off, so I don’t think that’s the problem. What else could it be? Is it time to bite the bullet and replace the remote, or is it something with the Tivo?
December 3rd, 2010 at 7:30 pm
My tivo remote stopped working yesterday, I changed the batteries and rebooted the tivo(#1) and nothing. The light on the remote is still lighting up. So I took the remote downstairs to my other tivo(#2) and same problem. When I bring the remote from downstairs upstairs, my tivo(#1) works fine. So I am assume it is the tivo remote(#1) that is broken…..any suggestions?
Thanks in advance!
January 14th, 2011 at 5:43 am
intermittently the red light will not always turn on on our remote and seems to be worse when we first start to use it. We have to press hard or vey accurately in the centre of the buttons. TiVo button is the trickiest. Have changed the batteries – is there any other possibility? Thanks.
January 15th, 2011 at 2:50 pm
I have a problem similar to Elna.
For the last couple of days my Tivo remote has been working very slowly. I have to hold a button down for at least 3 seconds before the red light on the remote comes on and sends a signal. The same thing happens whether I am controlling the Tivo or my Television (volume/power). It’s very frustratin and makes fast forwarding and rewinding near impossible.
I read about IR interference and have taken the batteries out of all of the other remotes in the room. I have gathered though that because I have the same problem with Tivo and TV control that this probably isn’t the issue.
I’ve also changed the batteries 3 times, with no effect.
I’d love some advice – do I need to buy a new remote?
Cheers,
Jennifer.
January 17th, 2011 at 5:27 am
Jen I don’t know where you live but our remote has started working again and I think that it might have been the humidity we have experienced over the past week – 98% on one day. As the weather has settled down the remote seems to be behaving again.
Don’t know whether people living in places that are always humid have difficulty but for the minute that seems to be it. Will have to check my theory if we get another bout of humid weather!
Regards
Elna
January 21st, 2011 at 6:29 pm
I had been pulling my hair out dealing with rebooting issues until I swapped out the hard drive with a Weaknees replacement (thank you very much). The only only issue is that my Swap/Live TV button, which used to let me switch from one CableCard to another, now brings up the Tivo Guide. I noticed that along with the hard disk I purchased came a tip on how to enable a 30-second skip — what I would like to know is whether or not there is a remote key sequence that will reactivate the swap feature I used to enjoy.
Thanks,
Chris
January 23rd, 2011 at 9:27 pm
Don’t only look for tv/vcr/dvd remotes. I found it to be the remote for my kids remote control helicopter (which happened to be right in front of me the whole time). I turned the remote off and all was fixed.
February 1st, 2011 at 7:25 pm
I was having a problem with my Series 3 where it seemed the last command on the remote would lock on the TIVO, so much where it kept scrolling thru the now playing list without stopping. I reset it 3 times and I was going crazy. I read weaknees and saw the post, I laughed and figured that can’t be it. Sure enough, I was missing my DVR remote and it was under a book. Problem sovled!…Thanks Weaknees. I now am now a believer..I will never doubt you again….. All hail Weakness:-)
May 15th, 2011 at 8:00 pm
I can’t see my problem here. My Tivo responds to about four of the buttons on my remote (Channel up, Thumbs down, 1 & 4). I checked out the room with a video camera and found no stray IR signals. The camera shows that the remote is sending a signal when any button is pushed. I have reset the Tivo (several times) and replaced the batteries in the remote numerous times.
This problem came on gradually (some buttons would work sometimes) and is just getting worse. Any suggestions? How do I tell if it is the box or the remote (without buying another one?)
May 16th, 2011 at 10:06 am
That really sounds like a failing remote, to me. I can’t say I see behavior like that a lot, but the few times I’ve seen it, it’s just a bad remote.
June 10th, 2011 at 10:25 pm
I can not control the sound on any channel. the volume is not to high and not so quiet
June 17th, 2011 at 9:47 am
I tried looking through this site for my unique problem and didn’t see it. Here is my situation:
I bought a new TiVo remote (the one with the keyboard) and it worked great. Controlled my TiVo and my TV. All of a sudden, it no longer controls the TiVo. It still controls the TV, so I know the remote is functional. My other TiVo remote controls the TiVo, so I know the TiVo unit is capable of receiving a signal. What gives? It is possible for a remote to lose connection with a particular box? Is there a way to re-sync them?
June 17th, 2011 at 10:07 am
So, this worked for me. Very very strange but hey, if it works – who cares!!
Based on a recommendation from another site: Install the batteries backwards. Press and hold the pause button for five seconds. Then reinstall the batteries the right way around and see how it works.
Totally solved my problem!
August 31st, 2011 at 12:41 am
It’s probably not any other remote. More than likely it’s your flat screen tv. I have a Samsung LCD and if it’s too close to the tv the remote won’t work at all. It also interferes with the VCR/DVD switching on my combo player. Since moving it away (about 3-4 feet) I have no issues. Weird, but true. I tested the theory just to make sure it wasn’t a coincidence. BTW, don’t call TiVo, they act like they’ve never heard of this problem. You can also shield your devices behind a cabinet with smoked glass (not tried, suggested). If you don’t believe me, google, “LCD IR interference” and you’ll see hundreds with the same problem.
September 22nd, 2011 at 8:36 pm
dead as a doornail. no IR emitting from remote with new batteries. great trick with the camera btw. All remotes accounted for and removed. lights off – still dead dead dead.
Thanks to Sam – switch battery position, held pause 5+ secs and switched back. Now if I hold a button down long enough – I get an emission. enough to program a season pass – but it took me 10 minutes. I think when folks are saying they have to press real hard it is more of a press real long thing going on.
I must assume the remote is gasping its last breath. Should I buy a new one? Because this is not going to be acceptable for the long term!
And why does the reversed battery thing work? and if I do it again will the remotes performance improve further. hmmm… I sense an engineering study about to begin much to my husband’s chagrin!
September 29th, 2011 at 11:13 pm
Hi –
I have what I think is a unique problem, after reading through several pages of blogs. Tivo Series 2 w/upgraded memory.
My remote works only right after I reboot the Tivo. It works for some random period of time and then it starts not paying attention to the buttons I push. I push “up” iand it goes back to the “Tivo Central” Screen; in the “Now Playing” screen I push the “down” arrow button and it does anything but – goes to play the highlighted show, goes back to the “Tivo Central” screen, etc. Oftentimes, when a button is first pushed, the Tivo ‘bongs’ once before doing anything. I’m afraid all the times I’ve rebooted the Tivo are going to kill the harddrive.
I rid the room of other remotes, but I think the Tivo is getting the signal without interference and here is my reasoning:
1 – Tivo remote still controls the TV ON OFF and VOLUME, regardless of whether it works on anything else and continues to do so even when FUBAR for other things.
2 – I tried a friend’s brand new remote and the same problems happened
3 – The Tivo remote works just fine for some undefined amount of time (although that seems to be getting shorter – used to work for about 3 days and now seems to be down to about 24 hours) after rebooting the Tivo by unplugging and replugging.
Could it be I’m looking at needing a new one of the whatchamacallits that hides behind the black glass and receives the output from the remote?
Thanks!
November 20th, 2011 at 7:21 pm
I have seen this several times. It’s a coin toss to what will fix w/so many variables but one simple one is to remove your Bluetooth receiver from the back of the TiVo (or the black donagal if your using one) and resinsert it. Also press the reset button on the BT receiver. This process should re-pair the remote to the BT receiver. This maybe one of the steps to try before you give up.
December 10th, 2011 at 7:39 pm
Just got my Tivo3 Unit back from DVUpgrade and was so stoked to have it again – remote no longer seems to cooperate, however. Checked around for any other remote devices – none found. Put in totally new batteries (and checked each for power viability) – check. Tried resetting the remote following the instructions – no joy. Red light did not stay solid, only flashed. Tried reversing the batteries as noted above – no joy. After putting them back in the proper way, now I do not even get aflashing light when trying to reset the remote. tried to set the remote as well for TV operation – no joy. Depressing the buttons as instructed, I do not even get a flashing light at the top of the peanut, let alone a sold one. Any other suggestions?