Table Box Freezes - Have to unplug to reboot

I have been using the Tablo 4 channel for a few months now. Three times in the past week I lose connection. iPad, Android box, iPhone, amazon fire stick all cannot make a connection. It seems as though the Tablo box itself freezes up. The only way I know to reboot it is to unplug the power for a few seconds and then all connectivity is back up? Could this be from the recent update? I didn’t see any other complaints like this on the forum.

Next time this happens, can you please reboot your router first? Then see if you can connect to the Tablo?

It may not be the Tablo, could be a networking issue.

@jpwdesign - The best way to reset your Tablo is to press the blue button on the back (don’t hold it down) vs. yanking the power. That way Tablo can do a controlled shutdown.

Next time this happens, I agree that you should reboot your router, your Tablo and then the device you’re trying to access it on. That usually makes sure that everything gets talking correctly again.

I had this same issue and heat was the major culprit. I bought a laptop cooling mat and put the Tablo on that and it has been behaving much better since then.

I have seen this a couple of times as well, since the 2.2.8 upgrade. It happened just yesterday and I tried resetting using the blue reset button as you suggested but it wouldn’t reset. I had to pull the power cord to get it cleared, and then everything started working again

I think the problem with pulling the power cord is that there could be some background maintenance or other hard drive access that is being pushed to the Tablo at that moment that you may not be aware of and if you pull the power cord and disrupt it, you could corrupt the data stored on the hard drive (which would then require a factory reset). So that is why the reset button and controlled reboot is a much better alternative.

@jdoe, but in my case the button push was non-responsive. I tried it five times in a ~10 minute period and it wouldn’t reset. It was as if the device was indeed frozen

This was also in the late afternoon/early evening time, about the time the evening news was ready to start. I believe most maintenance is done late at night.

I totally agree that the blue button should be the right form of action. When my machine freezes totally, blue button no response and not one of my devices can communicate - that’s a problem. I’ve let it sit frozen for more than 30 minutes that I know of. It could have been frozen all day for all I know. This freezing issue started after last update. I will however try a cooling pad to see if that helps.

I would suggest that you open a ticket if you have not done so. If you have to keep pulling the cord, it will be both frustrating and eventually you will pull it at the wrong time (when hard drive access is taking place) and corrupt the hard drive. I would echo Tablo’s suggestion that when the issue occurs next - reboot the router, Tablo and streaming device in that order waiting 2-3 seconds between reboots. That does seem to fix a large number of issues. I used to be a cord puller (Seagate drive issues) until Tabl fixed the underlying problem. During that period, Tablo warned me about pulling the cord (although that was the only thing that worked). So I am passing it on to you for what it’s worth.

Mine used to do that and it stopped happening when I removed some recording from my almost full hard drive 2tb

I think the reason you’re not able to connect to Tablo after a prolong period of time is because the power saving mode on the Tablo is very aggressive. It may have shut off the power to the NIC. I had this issue when I first got Tablo, and I didn’t setup any scheduled recordings. I could go 12 hours without connecting to Tablo, and when I do I couldn’t connect to it and I had to unplug it.

I also bought a laptop cooling mat and things seem to be better for the last week. Will update in a month!

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Tablo froze today despite the cooling mat! Blue button wouldn’t work.

Just doesn’t sound right. I presume you pull the power to get it to recover? Does it operate normally after that? Are you on the latest build?

@gastrohep Very odd! Some electronic devices can get into that ‘state’ from time to time, but we don’t see it too often with the Tablo. Don’t hesitate to give us a shout if you want us to take a look.

Also seen this numerous times. Cannot connect to the Tablo from any of my devices. (Mac with Chrome browser, Android TV or Android Phone) and blue reset button does nothing. Have to pull the plug.