I have an old Tablo - the 4-tuner model from ca. 2017. been working well, until recently. The Tablo is connected via Ethernet to a switch that connects to the router and gives connectivity to all devices. We primarily use Tablo for playback on a TV via an Amazon Fire Cube.
Some time back I had to replace the original HDD. That of course resulted in a loss of all stored programming.
Recently it appeared the switch died and I had to replace it. Since then - there is some type of buffering or delay in playback - a spinning circle will often appear while playing back a recording.
I should point out that all other devices on my network that is connected via the switch seem to work without an issue, so I doubt the switch can be root of the issue.
I’d like any advice on troubleshooting.
Additionally, my thinking it that perhaps there is an issue with the hard drive again. But I’m very reluctant to swap out the HDD again and lose all the cooking and gardening shows my wife likes to keep for reference.
So, a 2nd question is whether there is now, in 2024, a supported method to migrate on the same Tablo to a replacement HDD?
Technically I didn’t get a new switch. I ordered a new one, but the new switch was a 5-port model and I needed more ports at the router. So I swapped the new one with an older Trendnet TEG S89G.
The reason I asked… if you have a faulty NIC on a device. It can fire off STP (spanning tree) because the NIC becomes “chatty”. STP can start “blinking” the ports.
It fills up the error logs, once it runs out of memory, it reboots.
This would happen on a “smart” switch or a L2/3 switch. Since its a “dumb” / unmanaged switch, then that wouldn’t happen.
I had Tablo, and Sonos issues using the following network switches:
Linksys SE2800 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch
Linksys LGS308: 8-Port Business Gigabit Ethernet Smart Switch
Tablos, and Sonos Controller, and Speakers would lag, or become completely unresponsive.
My workaround was to keep powercycling the Tablos, Sonos devices, and network switch, but the issues kept coming back.
Problems went away when I the network switch was removed.
I should be more specific. The devices I’ve connected to the switch are:
the incoming Ethernet from the central router (TP-Link Deco)
2 outgoing links to the mesh router nodes.
My Ooma Internet phone
The Tablo
My Synology NAS
one computer
I “tested” for what it’s worth the connection speed between the various mesh routers and found no issues. I also get good Speedtest results running Speedtest on the computer and the NAS seems fine.
I dont believe the issue here is my switch. I’m suspecting that either the Tablo is wonky (it’s getting old) or that the HDD is again acting up.
I’m mainly soliciting advice on whether there is any test that can be done on the Tablo or the HDD to try and isolate the issue.
The Sonos speakers run off multicast traffic and run off MDNS.
You would have needed an L2/3 switch to funnel that multicast traffic properly. Sonos data just floods the switch cuz it doesn’t know what to do with it.
I don’t think there is a way still of transferring saved data from one HDD to another but there are tools to copy them off the HDD to archive, if they are still available on the web. I think there are some posts about it in this forum somewhere. I have not used them.
I think you can test by following these steps.
Remove HDD from Tablo and reboot the Tablo. Rebooting is IMPORTANT.
Test if playback of Live TV is buffering. If it still is then you know it is not the HDD. Put the HDD back in and reboot the Tablo. If it isn’t continue on…
Put the HDD back into the Tablo and reboot the Tablo. Again, rebooting is IMPORTANT.
Once the Tablo detects the HDD try to playback live TV again or a recorded show and see if the buffering is back.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say I believe it is the HDD unfortunately but testing will determine this. If the buffering goes away after putting the HDD back in then maybe it just needed to be reseated and now all is good.
I ordered a new one, but the new switch was a 5-port model and I needed more ports at the router. So I swapped the new one with an older