@TabloSupport, sitting it on it’s side did stop the many reboots I had… Just sayin’ 
You have to put the hard drive on its side too, otherwise they will be out of sync. 
I haven’t noticed any significant heat problem. The Tablo runs a lot cooler than my Roku. I have been wondering if the sudden reboot occurred following a guide update. Is there a way I can pull the device logs?
I have several programs scheduled to record and in most all cases the recording begins about 3 to 4 min into the program. Any ideas on how to correct this problem
@TabloSupport, sitting it on it's side did stop the many reboots I had.... Just sayin' :-P
See of helps if you raise the Tablo by say 1/4". I noticed that it has a metal bottom and the really thin pads just lift it off the surface enough to prevent any heat conduction to the surface and the resulting thin air gap also prevents convection cooling (i.e the worst combination for cooling).
Add me to the list of lockups/reboot required. Two nights in a row for me now.
@TechNerd We’re heading straight into another round of testing for the next build. Once we’ve confirmed the build is stable, we can try and load this to a couple of folks who are being effected by this issue to test it a little more thoroughly in the field (and to help alleviate this problem).
3rd lockup tonight… this one was different in that the shows currently being recorded turned out ok but during the lockup, all interfaces (Roku, iPad, and PC) could not connect to the Tablo. I’m willing to test your new build if you need a beta tester. Thanks for the support.
The fact that it’s been over a month with no fix for this is unacceptable. Our tablo is basically unusable, forcing our roku 3 to restart minutes after launching the Tablo app every time it’s launched. I appreciate the responses here, but we’re paying a monthly fee for something that isn’t working. Any updates on this fix?
@chrisd
Is yours the 4 Tuner version also?
@Chrisd No updates yet. I understand that it’s frustrating, but we want to make sure the build is stable before releasing it out - we don’t want to cause any new issues when we fix the existing ones. We’ll post updates as soon as we can - we’re still testing now.
I have a 4-tuner. Only had it two days. Wired network and Toshiba Canvio HDTC720XK3C1 2TB drive. Roku receivers and iPad app. I could NOT get this setup to stay working (as short as a minute and as long as 3 hrs) and the connection out of the Tablo would randomly fail. When it failed the LED would flash. Tech support suggested I set the router to reserve the IP address for Tablo. I did that and for good measure for 3 Rokus too. I even put the box on its side. With all the issues over hard drives I keep wondering. The drive formated fine and recorded two shows. Interesting the Tablo didn’t fail while recording (I wasn’t streaming at the time). So I disconnected the HD and the Tablo hasn’t failed with the HD disconnected. There hasn’t been enough time for a long term test but three times the Tablo WITH HD crashed within minutes of starting streaming to a Roku, and removing the HD it hasn’t crashed yet. I’m taking the HD back to Best Buy and getting a different brand. I’m excited about the potential of this DVR, but I would prefer it just work.
Same problem here but the LED does not flash when the client loses the stream. I’ve been fighting with my new dual tuner for over a week now on this. I have yet to get through a recorded 1 hour show without a lockup (everything hardwired, static IP on the Tablo, multiple clients show the problem). Did a fairly controlled test last night of playing with both live and recorded shows, with and without the HDD attached (a new 2TB Seagate Backup Plus Slim). Conclusion - I have yet to see it lockup without the HDD attached. With it attached it always locks up within an hour regardless of client type or being a live/recorded show. I don’t have another compatible drive to test with or I’d swap it and I really don’t feel like buying a second drive just to see if this is the problem. I’m formatting an older 1.5TB Seagate Extreme drive now (which has been going for over an hour… I’m skeptical it will complete) in hopes that might work for another data point even though they are known not to work well.
I’m working with Tablo support and they have been responsive but I wish Tablo would give users access to the logs/diagnostics (just in raw form via a URL) like Sonos does, it would help tremendously in troubleshooting. I’ve spent at least 16 hours on this, first thinking it was network related and now coming full circle to maybe the hard drive is flaky. Without the logs it is just painful trial and error.
Wow. I always thought it seemed like shortsightedness on Tablo’s part, not to offer a “vetted” hard drive bundle with new purchases.
Sad to see to new customers troubleshooting this issue.
Someone should put up an affiliated link to a known good hard drive on amazon and cash in on Tablo’s folly.
I returned the Toshiba drive and bought a 2TB Seagate STDR2000100. Attempted to format four times, and each time it resulted in showing no drive. But when I reset it found the un-formated drive again. Did a 30-second reset. No help. Returned the 2TB and bought a 1TB same brand STDR1000100. It formated fine and shows up. Live TV did not crash with one Roku for over 30 min, but comm stopped when I added a second Roku TV to the stream (live). It lost the current TV listing but without a time stamp I have no idea what listing was posted. After two retries I got two streams working. I’m not happy right now. I understood I was an early adopter, but I don’t want to work this hard. I’m not sure how much more I will take before I return the Tablo and attempt to get my subscription refunded. Simple TV is also an unknown, but it’s worth a try.
@Rockymtnrick By holding the reset button for so long, you may have put your Tablo in “heartbeat” mode, as indicated by a regular flashing of the blue Tablo LED. Who knows if that contributes to your issues, as that mode is for support to remote connect to your device… Probably enables debugging mode as well, who knows.
Look… come Monday, if support can’t give some definitive info on what drive to use… move on to something less frustrating. We are all responsible for managing our own stress in life. Finding a working hard drive for a new PVR shouldn’t have to be stressful.
If your lucky (I guess) you could just shelve the Tablo until the next firmware comes out… Just maybe, that will resolve all this. Something defiantly broke with Roku live TV mode with this recent firmware release. I’m sure it’s a contributing factor. If you have the patience, wait it out like the rest of us.
Thumbs, thanks. The 1TB hard drive formated fine and two live streams ran for hours. When I ended one stream the second continued. I wish there was a tech reference that describes the Tablo and the reset you mentioned. I seem to have to discover this thing one item at a time. As an old electronics engineer, I used to enjoy designing toys like this, but as an OLD electronics engineer, there are times I’d rather not be part of the experiment. With the Tablo now seeming to work better, I will give it a fourth chance. I still want this product to succeed, and be a part of my cable-cutting quest.
I think I’ve confirmed it is a hard disk problem for me. With my non-recommended, non-USB powered old Seagate FreeAgent XTreme 3.5" 1.5TB I have yet to lose a stream or have any issues. I’ve played 4 hours of live TV, a 4 hour HD recording to the webapp, and the same 4 hour recording to the Roku 2XS without problem.
My Seagate Backup Plus Slim is the exact one recommended by Tablo, purchased new, model STDR2000100. Seems to be fine on the computer. Not sure if I’m going to try a WD Elements at this point or not since things are finally working. I like the notion of using a portable USB powered drive but was already worried about how well a drive mainly meant for portable file access would hold up in a 24x7 environment (I’m leery of another painful trial and error round of troubleshooting by enabling sleep mode).
Two more drops out of my Roku today. Only one stream running.
@voidstar I’m glad to hear that you’re results are improving.
@Rockymtnrick We’ve been communicating via email - will pick up there.