2.5.5a v 2.5.5 file differences

[Dougal]

Does anyone know exactly what files have been changed between 2.5.5 and 2.5.5a.

I'd read on another thread that the only difference was a 1 byte change to the file tivoapp. However, blindlemon has just helped me out by providing tivoapp from a 2.5.5a TiVo and it seems that this file is identical to tivoapp on my 2.5.5 TiVo :-o

I'm trying to avoid requesting a 2.5.5a update from TiVo customer services because I don't want to have to contend with the hassles of reinstalling LBA48 etc, so was wondering if anyone knows which files have change between 2.5.5 and 2.5.5a so I can just manually copy over these files. Thanks

[sanderton]

One byte in tivoapp changes, that's it. It's the same size. If the one blindlemon sent you is identical, maybe he sent you the wrong one.

My tivoapps have other hacks in, so I can't tell you the exact byte to change.

[blindlemon]

OK, I have double-checked and have verified that the original file was from a 2.5.5a image.

I have also extracted the tivoapp from a second, unrelated, 2.5.5a image - and that too is identical to both the others!

So maybe the 1 byte difference you saw Stuart was not the 2.5.5a change?

I've posted a complete tarball of the 2.5.5a system partition for Dougal to investigate...

[mini__me]

If I'm allowed to post it then I can tell you how to change it....

I didn't need to do mine in the end as the new TV worked fine so I havn't tested it!

[sanderton]

You're quite right. Must have been thinking of something else!

[mini__me]

AFAIK this should do it:

echo -n '1' | dd conv=notrunc of=tivoapp bs=1 seek=5137975


If this is not allowed I'm sure my post will be edited, and I apologize :)

[blindlemon]

Dougal,

What did you find from the tarball I sent you?

[Dougal]

Thanks for the 2.5.5a system partition blindlemon. Well using MD5 checksums, I can confirm that the only 2 files of any significance that are different are:

/lib/modules/pxmpegdecode.o
/etc/build-version

(The only other differences were different CacheCard drivers, network drivers, ftp daemon etc + your rc.sysinit file and the like).

So, I copied over the pxmpegdecode.o file from the 2.5.5a version. The file /etc/build-version is just a text file with the software build and version info in it - I presume this is what the TiVo looks at to decide what software version it thinks is installed (so I left my old version of this file in place).

And Hey Presto, it worked - great, thank you very much for your help!

I assume that if I had changed /etc/build-version as well, I would have experienced the problem referred to by 6022Tivo in this thread:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=248173

So, to fix the "teletext bug" just copy over pxmpegdecode.o with the 2.5.5a version (and leave /etc/build-version alone so that the TiVo still thinks its a 2.5.5)

Mini__me: thanks for the command to make the 1 byte change to tivoapp. I never tried this in the end as I had already sorted the problem by using the 2.5.5a version of pxmpegdecode.o. I can only assume that the 1 byte change trick is another way that someone worked out for disabling the teletext output.

[blindlemon]

Dougal,

Great stuff - and thanks for posting your results :)

In case anybody else needs them, here are the two 2.5.5a version files mentioned above.

255a.zip (http://www.tivoheaven.com/download/255a.zip)

[Cainam]

As I understand things:

Patching tivoapp fixes the MWSTATE bug. There are 2 references to MWSTATE in tivoapp, and if two programs try to write to the same thing at the same time, it can cause a problem.

So patching tivoapp just changes the second instance of MWSTATE to say MWSTAT1.

This is needed for the very useful merge.tcl program, as found in this post (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=66316)

This is nothing to do with 2.5.5a of the Tivo software, which just affects the Teletext output.

[bigwold]

So, to fix the "teletext bug" just copy over pxmpegdecode.o with the 2.5.5a version (and leave /etc/build-version alone so that the TiVo still thinks its a 2.5.5)

Another alternative is the hardware fix (so far undocumented I believe) which I've used. 'Simply' remove the TV's offending Philip's Teletext card. This will of course necessitate locating it in the first place and possibly invalidate your warranty. If anyone really needs/wants to go down this route, I can dig into the innards of my TV where I left the board in a convenient corner, retrieve it and photograph it.

[6022tivo]

Great advice, I had not thought of that, I have done a little work in Phillip's sets and this is a really easy fix.

I can not remember the last time I ever used teletext..

[Mike Jones]

Hi Sorry for the complete ignorance, but it is a long time since I did anything softwarewise inside my TIVO.

I'm networked with backdoors open. Could someone provide this idiot with an idiot's line by line instruction as to what I have to do. My shiny new tv keeps turning itself off and the wife is not impressed with my buying decision!

I will be eternally grateful. Send beer vouchers etc etc.

Cheers

[mike0151]

As posted by Dougal above.....

So, to fix the "teletext bug" just copy over pxmpegdecode.o with the 2.5.5a version (and leave /etc/build-version alone so that the TiVo still thinks its a 2.5.5)


I would suggest you download the files posted above then telnet to your TiVo, cd to /lib/modules and rename pxmpegdecode.o to something like pxmpegdecode.org and then ftp the new version to that location (binary mode) and then restart the TiVo. Unless I'm mistaken, that should do it.

HTH

Mike

[Mike Jones]

Thanks - will try that tonight when I get home. Fingers crossed.

[mike0151]

Don't forget to let us know how it goes.

Thinking on, you will most likely have to make the file system read/write first and then make it read only afterwards.

Good luck

Mike

[Mike Jones]

Help!

I've telneted in, changed directory and can see pxmpegdecode.o.

1) It says it is read only. I've tried chmod 755 * to no avail.
2) What is the copy command?

[Fozzie]

I'm guessing that the partition is set read-only. It needs to be set to read/write.

[Mike Jones]

It works.

copy pxmpegdecode.o file from attachment above (it needs renaming to delete everything after the 0)

telnet into TIVO using Run: telnet [IP address]
cd /lib/modules
mount -o rw -o remount /
cp pxmpegdecode.o pxmpegdecode.old
Leave telnet open.

ftp into TIVO using Run: ftp [IP address]
cd /lib/modules
bin
put c:\pxmpegdecode.o [It should confirm file transfer has been done]
quit

Back to open telnet:
mount -o ro -o remount /
exit

Reboot the TIVO and it should now be okay.

If anything is wrong in this please correct it.

[healeydave]

Generally whenever I want a 2.5.5a O/S , I simply restore a 255a image from archive.

I experimented with the above (to try and create a 255a from a 2555 image) by copying BOTH of the files (pxmpegdecode.o and build-version) to the appropriate directories.

In this case I would have expected the System Information screen to report 2.5.5a and should I have called into Tivo without their database knowing I had 2.5.5a, the system would have forced and update back to 2.5.5.

but copying those files over may well have cured the teletext bug (I don't know) but the System Information screen still reports 2.5.5

I thought it should only do that if I left the original build-version file intact!?!??!

[blindlemon]

AFAIK the version on the System Info screen is read from the database not the build-version file, whereas the daily call (TClient-lib.itcl) checks the build-version file and sends that version to the server. I suspect the database and hence the on-screen display will be updated after a successful daily call.

As I don't have a 'proper' 2.55a machine myself (ie. one that the TiVo servers think has 2.5.5a) I haven't been able to check this, but nobody has reported that this method doesn't work for them, so it seems reasonable to assume it does :)

If your machine is a 'proper' 2.5.5a box then maybe you could try it and report back?

[healeydave]

No, I'm in the same boat at you.

I think the process works ok, I just had a requirement to make a previous 2.5.5 image into 2.5.5a and then have it put back in a box that was registered to have 2.5.5a so hence when I couldn't see 2.5.5a in the system information screen despite putting the version file in, I figured that perhaps these 2 x files were not the only change after-all.

Your database theory sounds right though and I'm sure if I could have called home with a 2.5.5a account, the database would have been updated.

[blindlemon]

So did the version on the System Info screen change after the daily call?

I don't really want to request 2.5.5a on a box that doesn't have it just to check.... :)

[healeydave]

I don't know, I was testing the drive in a different Tivo so was not in a position to check for sure so I had to resort to putting a 2.5.5a image on after-all.

[blindlemon]

I know how you feel - I've just had to do that too :(

Maybe I'll request an upgrade on one of my spare lifetime subbed machines... in the extreme case where somebody needs to use that machine to record subtitles I guess I could always do the opposite of what's discussed in this thread and put a 2.5.5 pxmpegdecode.o on a 2.5.5a box while leaving the build-version and database at 2.5.5a ;)

[jonny m]

To
Mike Jones , mike0151, Dougal, blindlemon and the rest

You guys are stars!!!!!********!!!!!!!!

Bought a new Sony 23" WEGA LCD yesterday, got it home first thing I tried was with tivo, spent the next 2 hours wondering WTF was going on after trying every combination of DVD, ondig box's that were working perfectly and even rgbtosvid and rgbtocomponent converters both of which worked perfectly when been driven by tivo.

Went to bed at 5am ! thinking that it was the composite pin that was causing the issues and which one to pull.
After a bit of a search found the teletext bugs then the resolution of upgrade but as I have a cachecard after my modem chip refused to work at all I didn't fancy pulling the HD and doing the cachecard install again.

The solution of ftping 1 file across is brilliant and was done in 1 min.

Thanks again guys - this should be added to the sticky I think as its priceless.

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

John

[digbydel]

The zip file from tivoheaven appears to be corrupt :-(

[mike0151]

I have just downloaded the zip file again as a test and extracted it OK. Did you have problems unzipping it or in using the file in it? If the latter, are you sure you transferred it in Binary mode?

[blindlemon]

Firefox doesn't like the file.

Until I figure out why (or just how to fix it), please download it with IE or get the attachment from here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=7380)

[healeydave]

I know how you feel - I've just had to do that too :(

Maybe I'll request an upgrade on one of my spare lifetime subbed machines... in the extreme case where somebody needs to use that machine to record subtitles I guess I could always do the opposite of what's discussed in this thread and put a 2.5.5 pxmpegdecode.o on a 2.5.5a box while leaving the build-version and database at 2.5.5a ;)


I know its been a long time since we talked about this, but I thought I'd just update.

I now have a customers tivo that was already 2.5.5a
I burnt a 2.5.5 image, copied the two 2.5.5a files "pxmpegdecode.o" and "build-version" into the appropriate directories.

Checked the Sys Info screen and it still states 2.5.5
As we said before this is because this screen reads the software version value from the database which is still 2.5.5 rather than the build-version file.

On making the daily call however I can confirm a software update is still initiated!
So the cross reference with the EPG server and the Tivo system must be using the database rather than the build-version file.

[healeydave]

.....following on from the previous message:

I have now managed to test the same scenario with the additon of modifying the software version in the database to 2.5.5a-01-1-023 and it works.

So not only from a physical software modification point of view (e.g. the copying of the two files), but from also from a reporting point of view (e.g. satisfying the EPG servers that they don't need to do anything because we match software versions), the first call in just jumps straight to downloading EPG data.

[mntmouse]

Hi,

I am in the middle of redoing my 250Gb drive and Blindlemon has shown me where the 2.5.5a mods are kept and i have down loaded them. I do not have a CacheCard yet and hence need to install the mod files whilst the drive is plugged into the computer IDE cables. Can someone give me a line by line explaination of how i copy them on to over ride the 2.5.5 files. I have no Linux experience and feel on the limit of my knowledge at the moment anyway.

Thanks for all the help so far throughout the forum.

[mntmouse]

Hi,

I am off work today and was hoping to get my Tivo back up and running today. Can someone please help me by explaining where i need to extract the zip files to (CD rom i presume) and what i have to type to over write the 2.5.5 files for my previously 2.5.5a files. I am right in thinking that as Tivo CS think that i want 2.5.5a i need to copy both files accross so that they don't try and send the info again.

I just want to get my tivo back to working condition and install the CacheCard software so i can spend some of my birthday money on the card!!

Thanks

[blindlemon]

You need to boot from the SiliconDust NIC CD (http://www.silicondust.com/nic_cd_20050218.iso) then mount partition 4 of the drive with the following command:-

mkdir /mnt/tivo
mount /dev/hdX4 /mnt/tivo

(where hdX is hdb,hdc or hdd depending on which IDE port your drive is connected to)

You will also need to copy the files from the zip to a floppy and mount that with

mkdir /mnt/floppy
mount /dev/fd0 -t vfat /mnt/floppy

You should then be able to copy the files across - eg.

mv /mnt/tivo/etc/build-version /mnt/tivo/etc/build-version.old
cp /mnt/floppy/build-version /mnt/tivo/etc/build-version

mv /mnt/tivo/lib/modules/pxmpegdecode.o /mnt/tivo/lib/modules/pxmpegdecode.o.old
cp /mnt/floppy/pxmpegdecode.o.255a /mnt/tivo/lib/modules/pxmpegdecode.o

[cbottoml]

Just wanted to say a big THANLYOU to everyone. I had moved my Tivo to my new Sony TV and it just kept booting fine and then going black. If you flicked to the AUX and back to TIVO it came back for a min or so often in Grey.

I installed the revised file following Mike Jones instructions and it works perfectly now.... BIG THANKYOU.

I am a complete novice to Ftp etc but it was very simple to do

Cliff