Endless "Connecting" while it's recording

Support & Troubleshooting
1

I cannot access our Tablo quad tonight. I can ping it fine. No dropped packets, speed is fine, it responds just fine at that network layer.

It’s wired to the Router. Good new certified cable.
The router/Wi-Fi is 15 feet from my notebook. great speeds to the web and my network in general. 

I tried to view our recordings and delete a couple of shows that we’ve watched. However, the Tablo is recording 1 show now and while it’s apparently (I HOPE) recording I can’t access it. 

I connected earlier just to check the program guide (because it’s convenient) which was current and in sync. I could see the channel it was recording was blinking red as if “recording” but I can’t get to anything. 
For the last 10 minutes it’s been "connecting in 5…4…3…2 and then starts over. Once in a while I get a fast glimpse of the thing as it for .39256 of a second it connected, then it goes instantly back to "connecting in 5…4…
The only time I notice this in the past is while it’s recording. Normally not  big deal but this is recording a 2 hour show now. 
Weird, I even have INTERNET tonight - I know I can’t touch my Tablo but through the Tablo servers up in the Arctic circle and when our Internet is dead, so is all access to anything Tablo, but I’m here, on other sites, on this site and the web is ok, but can’t access our Tablo.
Is it maybe possible that we’re right back to the "when the servers in the cold north are not available, neither is Tablo ??
I can’t swear that’s it, but this has been so trouble-free for so many days, I do have to wonder - what do we do if their server up there with the snow and ice DIES and we can’t get to tablotv.com? Do we lose ability to use our devices? What if their servers go south? What if there are problems up there where the servers are - we lose our Tablo access? 
 My wife would be hot if our inability to get to the interface on a device in the same room was caused by a dead server farm in Canada and it caused her to not be able to watch a recording. (don’t mess with her, she’s recently retired!)
I don’t want to reset it as it will then stop recording and I’ll miss parts of the show-  ASSUMING it is actually recording and this isn’t just cached info in the browser. 

Maybe it would be wise to ask - right now, say 9:15-9:25 or so CST - anyone else having trouble accessing THEIR Tablo via my. tablotv.com? Maybe it’s a common issue for some of us.
If not, then it’s our own Tablo or a router between this home and Canada somewhere. 

2

I can access my.tablotv.com just fine. Probably not what you wanted to hear… Everything is working here just fine… :slight_smile:

3

I had this happen last night and just rebooted it… It restarted the show assuming you have that checked in settings maybe you should try it

4

Actually, if you are using the web app, that’s good news. I’d rather have it be a local issue than to think that a problem more global was at the root of things. 

If you are using an iPad or a native Android app on a tablet then it doesn’t help much in figuring it out as you won’t access yours through the Internet like those of us stuck on the web app must do. You go direct device to Tablo.
but if you have to use tablotv.com to get to it, then yeah, at least their system is fine. 
I closed that session, cleared the cookies and cache, opened a browser tab and tried to go in fresh and force a re-sync and it’s been 5 minutes syncing and there’s nothing to sync really. Very few shows on it so far. (maybe a couple dozen)
It never needed to sync before I cleared the history and cache as my notebook sits just a few feet from the Tablo 24/7 so it’s always able to be connected and keep up with things “real time”.
5

I’m using the web page in Google chrome.

6

OK, exact same thing here! So that does at least tell me that their systems are up and fine and the issue has to be this device itself. 

OBVIOUSLY, I have good web now or these messages would be going nowhere - sort of like my Tablo access right now! 
This is frustrating… need to see if they can check the logs on the Tablo for me.
7

Remember I had the same thing happen to me just a few days ago. I couldn’t connect. It just counted down & then just started over again.


I went overboard & wiped out my C: drive and installed a fresh copy of windows. I could access my.tablotv.com just fine. Then I installed all of my other software. Then BAM… I could not access my.tablotv.com…

I went from Windows 7 64 Bit Home Premium to Windows 8.1 Pro 64 Bit… Wanted to make sure it wasn’t Windows 7.

Turns out a update to my virus software was the culprit. Changed Virus Software & I am once again a happy camper…

I even had a support ticket with David & he didn’t see this one… lol  :)

Hope this may help…

Phil
8

I’ve noticed something else that happens when it does this - it loses its setting as far as “start up in”. i don’t want it to start in prime time which is the default so I set it to “live TV” but each time is does this connecting in … and “synching” thing, it loses the setting and goes back to the default of primetime. (why would I want that I don’t know but apparently everyone else does - but why does it keep losing the settings instead of saving them?)

We are now at 1 hour being unable to connect to the Tablo. Recording ended a few minutes ago - or should have since the show was over at 10pm.  Still no Tablo but CAN still ping it and I get a glimpse of it every so often when it appears as if it’s connected. As soon as I decide to switch screens to say view the recordings, it drops and goes back to “connecting in…”
9

Mine did the same thing except I wanted it to go to recordings. It would wipe it out just like yours did… I hope you get yours fixed as I was getting frustrated as hell when mine acted up…

10

Hmmm you gave me another idea - 

11
Hmmm you gave me another idea - 

I hope it’s a good one… lol

12

the idea was good, the results suck. 

Not even a month, not 4 full weeks and "its DEAD, Jim. "
Well, it might as well be dead, I can’t access the shows to see if there’s anything still there to even look at it won’t let me into the settings, the recordings, anything via any device.

I tried both our phones - same bloody thing. 
That proves it’s not Windoze, it’s not the computer, it’s not a firewall.
 
 It keeps “connecting in 5…4…3…” then endless syncing, then more connecting, then more syncing over and over for going on 2 freakin’ hours.
I’ve tried the phones and computers and same exact results mirrored on each device.

I then tried “restarting” the Tablo. It comes back with a solid blue light - and no ability to connect to it. It goes instantly back into the “connecting…” and “syncing” over and over.

this really stinks and someone will be hotter than a mess of angry hornets when she gets up and finds that all of her recorded stuff is inaccessible. 
Maybe I was wrong in my thinking I was lucky and I’d gotten a stable one - seeing everyone else has had similar issues at one time or another.
I suspect the device hardware is more to blame than anything as look as those that have failed and been replaced, and this is a brand new one not even a month ago and now it looks like we’ve lost everything she’s recorded for the last couple of weeks since there’s no way to get to the shows unless one of those scripts might be able to salvage things. 
I don’t mind so much dealing with phones or computer for access until better interface come along, software I can mess with, it’s what i’ve done for a living since about 1990, networking, fine - I do that for a living now,  but hardware that dies is just plain troubles I won’t put up with very long. 
It’s not running very hot IMO so it’s hard to blame heat in this case. 
I’m exhausted fighting everything that comes out lately so I’m done for the night.Iv’e fought it for 2 totally wasted hours and I don’t have that much time to waste. 
Back to the DVD recorder for now I guess.


13

Go to support & place a trouble ticket. They will get you straightened out.


When I had the same problem I could still connect with my tablet, phone & my roku’s… Just not my computer.

Tablo is a good company & they will stand by there product…

I’m sorry you are having such a hard time. Get some sleep and maybe the solution will come to yu in the morning…
14
Go to support & place a trouble ticket. They will get you straightened out.

When I had the same problem I could still connect with my tablet, phone & my roku's.. Just not my computer.

Tablo is a good company & they will stand by their product..

I'm sorry you are having such a hard time. Get some sleep and maybe the solution will come to yu in the morning..

Sorry meant to hit edit and hit quote by accident…

15

@ShadowsPapa - sorry to hear about your issues, but welcome to my nightmare.

After my whole fiasco I am now running fully redundant tablo's. Yep that's two separate tablo 4 tuner boxes, with two HD's (one a Seagate one a WD), and two separate antennas (one on the roof, one inside the house). They are both recording the same exact things so WHEN (not if) one goes down I still have a second unit recording tv. I will be using this setup until I see more stability and reliability out of tablo because right now they just are not there unfortunately. This product has potential but we haven't even seen a software update of any kind in about a month and a half, to say they move slow is an understatement.

16
Go to support & place a trouble ticket. They will get you straightened out.

When I had the same problem I could still connect with my tablet, phone & my roku's.. Just not my computer.

Tablo is a good company & they will stand by there product..

I'm sorry you are having such a hard time. Get some sleep and maybe the solution will come to yu in the morning..

I agree they are a good group or company. They are “nice” too. 

Having to deal with on-again/off-again access to a device is, well, did we ever deal with that with our old VCRs or DVD recorders, most of them years or decades old?  I can see software issues, app issues that sort of thing, but too many of these have some hardware issues - the heat issues and the issues with “connecting” endless times.

Here’s a kicker for ya!
I spent some time after my last message - tried every computer and every phone in the house. Each did the EXACT same thing so it’s not a device issue as far as computer, OS, firewall, phone, etc. My downstairs computer is wired into the same router the Tablo is wired into - so there was NO Wi-Fi involved at all, period. Not a lick of Wi-Fi. Wired Tablo to router, router wired to PC, same issues. So no, I did not have “network issues” and I could ping the Tablo the whole time.

I had pushed and released the blue button to “cycle” or restart the Tablo - sort of like the old days of pressing “reset” on your computer. It went through the initialization time, the light flashed, then settled down, then became solid blue again. Back to connecting/syncing/connecting/syncing all over again with each device. I sat the thing up on a big PC processor heat sink even though it was only warm and by no means hot at all. I waited a bit and kept trying. I finally at about 11:30 went to bed, I gave up and figured they’d help solve it or I’d box it up.

I got up this AM and tried accessing it using my phone - and got in INSTANTLY. Not even 2 seconds of “connecting” or “syncing”. It was synced, it was ready to use, I saw all of our recordings right there without even having to wait for it to populate. It was as fast as if it had already been connected and used that same hour. 

So - one of these is probable or IS the case:
The issue WAS that I could not reach their server(s) from HERE. That means their servers, DNS or the Internet was the cause. And that stinks to think I have to rely on their server or the Internet to get to my Tablo to program it or to watch a recording. 
Or
It WAS a heat issue and sitting it up on that heat sink and waiting several hours resolved it - meaning it’s going to do this every single time I record something and that will mean it goes back as heat related issues are a clear manufacturing defect - it’s a quad and it was recording 1 show for 2 hours, nothing more. If recording a single show means it over-heats then watch out if we want to record one and watch another!
Or
There’s some other hardware or firmware defect but I find that extremely unlikely since simply sitting for a few hours “resolved lack of access” and we all know that a computer that has crashed does not magically come back from the dead simply by walking away from it. Network interfaces that have gone south or start to jabber do so until or unless power cycled or reset - or replaced. You don’t just walk away and magically the bug is gone, clearing itself out. 

So either it WAS due to lack of access to their server
or it WAS a heat related issue and since it was warm and NOT hot and it had only been recording ONE single show, and doing nothing else at all in the world and it’s a quad tuner
I’m in for a rough ride with this particular Tablo because if “warm” is too hot and causes it to break down, or - if it’s their server or web access, I’m in for trouble for as long as I own a Tablo device.

I hope I can give them the MAC and they can check logs. 
IF they do verbose logging at all, it should either give indications of internal issues, or show no issues meaning it was an issue with their servers up at the Arctic circle
(see, I still have my sense of humor and some hope, even though I’m not happy and dancing in the streets and am rather frustrated - and worse, I still have to explain to my wife that a multi-hundred dollar investment she paid for is, well, less reliable than a $100 DVD recorder made in China several years ago! And that’s the truly scary part…don’t mess with a wife and her TV. Worse than a guy missing the winning touchdown with a tied score in the Super Bowl.)

I wish I could afford to have redundant devices and systems. I barely afforded the first and waited until it was on sale on Amazon. 
So the DVD recorder stays connected and in the system until they can help figure out what went wrong and aid in a resolution. 
I still love the concept but am gun-shy with all the “connecting” issues we’ve had and all I’ve been reading about dead units, over-heating and so on. If the unit dies, we lose all of the recordings. 
I may do a mass export tonight (thanks to the hard-working parties who developed scripts and add-ins, etc.) - even 640x480 is better than nuttin. 
Well, when you get into bleeding-edge technology, you get cut now and then. 
I’ll just say - I don’t trust it right now. It was not my network and a reset or power cycling did not resolve it, so it’s in that area of  - it’s very likely to happen again. 
It was definitely the Tablo or their servers.
17

@ShadowsPapa - Let us know how this turns out for you, very interested to hear what they tell you they find in the logs and what you decide to do from there.

18

I have had this problem in the past as well, and it was always via laptop chrome browser, and not with other devices (samsung s4 phone, galaxy tab4). Just reconnecting in 5…4…3…2…1…repeat. Usually clearing all history/cache/cookies then un/replug usb hard drive seemed to help. If you hit f-12 in chrome while its connecting (or trying to), you can see a bunch of code fly in the console, possibly spot where its going wrong.  I’m no code monkey tho, so its all jibberish to me anyways.  Good luck.

19

It did the same from any device, including Android phones so it wasn’t the browser on the PC - although after years of experiences with browser caches, etc. - I DID try to flush all history and cached files, no difference. 

This is a case of “I wish it was my fault” or due to me doing something stupid. i’d rather take the heat for something dumb. 

I’m extremely anxious to hear what the find, too. At work, when I deal with network equipment, software, servers and so on, I judge a company almost as much on support as I do product. I can handle a less than perfect product if the company responds and is friendly and prompt.  A first rate product that fails and there’s no support, though, really stinks. I did go in and get a support ticket started but thus far, no response so we’ll see how tomorrow goes. Granted it DID come back to life so it’s possible they need to handle totally dead product first.
20

Here’s what we’ve discussed. They looked into the logs and found no entries indicating firmware crashes or any internal failures that would be logged. 
Since it was happening with multiple devices, meaning I used phones, computers and it did the same regardless we can’t blame the browser or the browser history/cache, etc. so we can say it’s not the interface device, not the computer or browser otherwise the phone would have worked fine. 

He called it a “loop” which is IMO an excellent description! It looped constantly between sync and connecting. It would say syncing, then it would say connecting in 5…4 and so on, back and forth. 
Heat? Nothing logged but I sort of doubt that heat-related issues would be logged, and I also doubt heat myself since it never has felt “hot” or overly warm (but I could be wrong, hot is a very subjective term)
The only comments they could make, especially since it was online by the time they looked, is it if happens again, use the browser, and when it goes into that loop thing, hit F12 and then choose console (I’d like to see a picture as I’m not sure what I’d be seeing or how/where to choose console) anyway, F12, console, copy the logs and send the log entries found in the browser to them. It’s only computers that can do that because Android devices don’t allow that sort of writing to the file system. 
So, as long as it’s working, nothing can be done, if it acts up again, grab the computer, try connecting and if it fails, hit F12, console and copy and past the logs into a message to them. 
Since my PC is on all the time, it rarely sleeps and I hate hibernation mode, that sucks in Windows, and the browser is almost always open, I’m curious to see if there’s any log traces left at all after all this time has passed. I doubt it but now I’m curious!
They DID get back to me later yesterday afternoon but for some reason my email interface, gmail, didn’t directly indicate a new message so I missed it until this AM. 
That’s where we stand now.