How Best to Identify a Network Problem
October 7, 2015 12:02 PM   Subscribe

My Tivo frequently loses connection to the network, which creates substantial problems. Since there are a lot of expensive wires and devices that could be the cause of the issue, it's not cost effective to start replacing components until the issue is fixed. Is there a better way to pinpoint the source of a problem on a home network?

I have:
Verizon Fios (Los Angeles) including a Verizon ONT that was already installed when I moved in a year ago
Verizon WiFi Router
Moca Bridge - ordered from Tivo about 1 year ago
TiVo Roamio HD Digital Video Recorder and Streaming Media Player (TCD846500) - ordered about 1 year ago
Two Tivo Minis
Coax Cable runs that are split in a couple of places to go to 3 rooms.

The Roamio connects directly to the WiFi Router via Ethernet. The Moca bridge is also connected to that router via Ethernet (as well as the coax). I also have a smart TV (samsung) connected to that router. The Tivo Minis have built in Moca networking and are connected via the coax directly in 2 separate rooms.

Everything worked fine for 10 months. I started with TimeWarner cable for the first 6 months of that, but once I switched to Verizon the network continued to work for 4 months with no issues.

Then suddenly, the Tivo minis would only play content from the Roamio for about 20 minutes before losing connection to the Roamio and forcing me to restart playback. This happens consistently and makes the Minis very unpleasant to watch.

The Tivo Roamio will also periodically lose connection to the Internet, which it does not like at all. This causes delays when navigating the menus, and means I have to wait for the connection to reestablish if I'm trying to search or create one passes. Playback on the Roamio seems fine although I do occasionally see some video stuttering.

I access Netflix via the Tivo, and practically never run into a problem -- even when viewing on the Minis. I think Netfix may be doing a better job of caching/handling latency The Tivo OS seems to require a rock steady connection.

I've tried looking at bandwidth usage to the minis and on the Tivo. I seem to have a fast enough connection. I think it's just that it's intermittently dropping a connection for a few seconds somewhere and that's enough to panic the Tivo.

I've rebooted all system. I've called Verizon and they remotely rebooted the ONT, ran whatever remote network diagnostics they have and sent some command or other to the ONT.

I tried replacing the ethernet connections to the router. Almost every other component would be too expensive to replace without knowing that is the source of the problem.

I've thought about having a Verizon tech (or other tech) come out, but that's a minimum of $50 and I'm not sure if they are equipped to diagnose problems with the Tivos.

When they installed Verizon, I asked about enabling Moca on the ONT, but was told they only do that if you're using their whole home DVRs, so I kept using the Moca bridge I already had which did work for a while.

What's the best next step? Do I just need some diagnostic tool I can pick up cheap, or do I need to have a tech out, or can I do something else I don't know to try?
posted by willnot to Technology (6 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Erf, so this is not an easy one to diagnose without some specialized testing gear. The biggest hassle is going to be checking your signal on the coax cables.

The first thing to do would be to check your coax splitters. Make sure the cables are securely connected at each junction. The little copper wire inside the coax has to have a good contact with the inside of the plug, otherwise you will get a lot of bad noise on the line, which might be the main culprit. Check what kind of splitter it is as well. It may be a passive coax splitter, which over time will degrade and cause signal loss. The other possibility is that it is a powered splitter (meaning it is adding power to the signal to make sure you are not losing signal strength by splitting it). Double check that it doesn't need power (you know, sometimes the plug just falls out, or maybe got knocked out when moving something).

If all of that comes to nothing, ask if the Verizon tech will be able to test the signal on the coax itself (which they should have the right type of testing device to do so). They may tell you that you are SOL because they are only responsible for the wiring going into the ONT. They shouldn't, but they might. From the sound of it, you have a signal degradation problem related to the coax (since Netflix is working fine, that would seem to eliminate the likelyhood of a data network problem. The signal coming over the coax is a different type of digital signal, and much more finicky about too much noise, or not enough power, or just pining for the fjords).

Another simple test would be to temporarily move one of the Tivo Mini's into the same room as the Moca Bridge, and use a different coax cable without the splitter (if possible, I am not sure if you have to have a splitter to use both the bridge and the main Tivo Roamio). That might help isolate if the problem is in the coax wiring in place, or an issue with the Bridge itself.

Hope those are helpful places to start.
posted by daq at 12:22 PM on October 7, 2015


I know that the problem does stem from dropped connection, not slow bandwidth. TiVo minis and roomios both handle drops fairly poorly, seemingly depending on exactly what they are doing at the time. I'm a little bit baffled that your roomio loses connection when it has a hardwired connection, because that the magic sauce that fixed my issues. I moved the remote machines off wifi and onto cat5 and everything was awesome thereafter. If you lose connection when hardwired into the router that strongly suggests that the whole network is dropping which would tend to point you towards coax problems.

My general approach for quality coax connections is to try to limit the splitting, especially downstream of another splitter. If you can split 5 ways or whatever at one central spot and do home runs from that splitter, you'll usually have better results than adding more splitters everywhere you need them.

You might try posting on tivocommunity.com -- its been many years since I was active there in the original hacking days, but I still see some familiar names there and you might find better troubleshooting advice there since it is a dedicated resource to the equipment you are using.
posted by Lame_username at 1:09 PM on October 7, 2015


daq has great advice here. I'll add that home routers tend to be pretty cruddy quality. Make sure you've rebooted the router as well. I've seen them stay online for years and get flaky because they've never been rebooted.

The other thing I might try is getting a cheap Ethernet switch, hook all your internal devices to that, and hook that switch to the router. That would take the router's internal Ethernet connections out of the equation. I wouldn't do this first, but these things are always exercises in eliminating possibilities.
posted by cnc at 1:49 PM on October 7, 2015


Seconding the recommendation to try a dedicated Ethernet switch - that single change made my Windows Media Center setup run much more smoothly than when I had everything plugged directly into the router's ports. It shouldn't make any difference, of course, but it did.
posted by Rat Spatula at 3:06 PM on October 7, 2015


My first step would be to figure out everyone's IP addresses and get out a computer and open a bunch of command windows pinging various devices. I'd do the TiVo Mini you're using, the Roamio, the router, and some external site (maybe verizon.com). That should tell you if your problem is an outage on your MoCA link or your uplink or what.

If the programming is interrupted but your packets still get through, then something else is going wrong - some software somewhere is getting stupid, but I don't know how to know which software.
posted by aubilenon at 3:19 PM on October 7, 2015


Oh another idea is to temporarily move your TiVo Mini to be somewhere you can reach by ethernet and try it that way for half an hour or whatever.
posted by aubilenon at 3:21 PM on October 7, 2015


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