Wireless router is back up and running after password change...but now TiVo won't connect. I'm sure there's a simple fix. Please tell me what it is!

September 4, 2012 6:34 AM

Changing wireless router password was predictably a mess, but got that fixed and now the TiVo isn't connected. Need help with something that surely is simple...just not to me.

I changed the password on my router last week so visiting family could use it without putting in that ridiculous default string. Predictably, trying to change it turned into a GIANT mess wherein I had to call tech support and pay them to help me change settings and get it working again. Good (I guess). Only now the TiVo is disconnected from the router because the router is currently set to WPA and the TiVo will only recognize WEP. I'm getting that WEP is less secure, but if I change the settings to WEP, will it alter other router settings and stop working again? Will I have to call and pay again for help (I REALLY can't do that)? When I try to change the router settings, I get this message, so I haven't changed it for fear of it stopping working completely again. Do I really need to buy a special adapter to get the TiVo connected again? This is really a foreign language to me (one in which the slightest alteration = disaster, apparently), though I consider myself fairly tech savvy. Halp!

posted by FlyByDay to technology (15 answers total)

What make and model of wireless router do you have?
posted by jquinby at 6:39 AM on September 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Also, one thing I've done to solve this in the past is to set up a second, "guest" wireless network with WEP for older devices that don't support WPA2. I think the last time I did this, it was for the kids' Nintendo DS stuff.
posted by jquinby at 6:43 AM on September 4, 2012

Linksys Wireless G broadband router, model #WRT54G2
posted by FlyByDay at 6:48 AM on September 4, 2012

Even my old TiVo purchased in 2002 (Series 2) can handle a WPA password. What type of TiVo do you have? What instructions for the TiVo are you following that are leading you to believe it can only use WEP?
posted by bcwinters at 6:48 AM on September 4, 2012

It's a series 2. I got a message that it's currently disconnected and no longer getting program info. The instructions are from the TiVo itself. When I try to connect to the TiVo service, I get a message that says:

"To use WPA, you must have a TiVo Wireless G USB Network Adapter" And then it suggests you either change the security settings or get the adapter.
posted by FlyByDay at 6:56 AM on September 4, 2012

The error message in your screenshot is just a warning that altering the security settings will disable WPS, which is that one-button/enter-the-pin method of connecting devices to the network. You don't need it, but it means possibly having to add things manually to the network (which is not a huge deal).
posted by jquinby at 7:03 AM on September 4, 2012

Therein lies the problem: I have no idea how to add things manually to the network, what that means, how to do it so that I don't disable everything again...
posted by FlyByDay at 7:14 AM on September 4, 2012

"Add things manually to the network" just means you pick the network name from a list and you type in the password, which is probably exactly how you've been doing it anyway. WPS is supposed to be easier for adding things like wireless printers but in my experience it's more trouble than it's worth.
posted by bcwinters at 7:20 AM on September 4, 2012

One possible cheap solution: buy a cheap wireless router on craigslist or a pawn shop [$10]. Set that one up as a wireless access point only and set the security on that one to WEP. Use it to connect the TiVO. I did this with my B-only TiVOs for years.

I have no idea how to add things manually to the network, what that means

If I came over to your house today and wanted to put my iPhone on your wireless, how would that happen? I'm sincerely asking, so I can compare it to how it happens at my house, which is I'm assuming the "manual" method.
posted by chazlarson at 7:21 AM on September 4, 2012

On post, like bcwinters says. That's how it works here.
posted by chazlarson at 7:23 AM on September 4, 2012

@bcwinters: I can choose my network in the TiVo settings, but never get to input the password because I get the message about it not supporting WPA

@chazlarson: you would choose my network and I would give you the password
posted by FlyByDay at 7:31 AM on September 4, 2012

One possible cheap solution: buy a cheap wireless router on craigslist or a pawn shop [$10]. Set that one up as a wireless access point only and set the security on that one to WEP. Use it to connect the TiVO. I did this with my B-only TiVOs for years.

If FlyByDay is having this much trouble configuring one router, I would be a little afraid to suggest adding a second one to the mix.

The TiVo-branded adapter that works with WPA is $35 new or $5-$10 on eBay (and there are plenty of them out there, since the vast majority of people who used old TiVos have moved on to newer HD models or different brands entirely) and won't require any router fiddling at all. That's what I would get. You just unplug whatever wifi adapter is currently on the TiVo, plug in the one TiVo suggests instead, and then voila the drivers will allow you to enter the WPA password on the TiVo just as one would expect.
posted by bcwinters at 7:33 AM on September 4, 2012

OK, so you're already using the "manual method" of adding devices to the network, not the WPS stuff, so if you disable it you shouldn't even notice. You will probably have to do that pick-network-and-enter-password on all your other devices once you change the security method, but just changing from WPA to WEP won't kill your network.

If FlyByDay is having this much trouble configuring one router, I would be a little afraid to suggest adding a second one to the mix

Maybe. Just wanted to throw it out there as a possibility.
posted by chazlarson at 7:44 AM on September 4, 2012

alternatively, is your TiVo close enough to the router to connect them with an Ethernet cable? This is what I do - no password needed. (I think the Series 2 has an Ethernet port...)
posted by chbrooks at 8:23 AM on September 4, 2012

chbrooks - it's close-ish. I could probably do that...thanks
posted by FlyByDay at 10:09 AM on September 4, 2012