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!

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!

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!

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?

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?)