Prob. getting updates, season passes won't record

[VTJoeK]

I am probably not the first one with this problem so if it's easier just point me to the thread describing this problem/solution. I tried searching, but found too many unrelated topics.

I bought a 40 hour Series 2 in April of 2004. In August I upgraded the hard drive to 120GB using one of the auto scripts (used a CD to boot into a Linux op sys and ran the scripts from there after mounting the drive). Unfortunately the scripts did more than I thought they would. I wan't paying much attention and at the time didn't know much about Linux (still don't know much more), but I think I remember something about keeping the updates from happening, etc.

Now I have a Tivo that always seems to have problems. It always seems to be pending restart and just recently (the last 3 days) it has run out of programming info. I manually onnected and forced some downloads to get a weeks worth of data, but the season passes aren't picking up the shows. They say no upcoming episodes or something like that.

I am stuck now because I have to manually search and record things I want to watch. Any ideas?

Also, I still have the original drive that hasn't been touched. So I guess at the end of the day I could just start over, but I would like to know if anyone has an idea of what has happened.


Thanks,

Joe

[Stormspace]

I am probably not the first one with this problem so if it's easier just point me to the thread describing this problem/solution. I tried searching, but found too many unrelated topics.

I bought a 40 hour Series 2 in April of 2004. In August I upgraded the hard drive to 120GB using one of the auto scripts (used a CD to boot into a Linux op sys and ran the scripts from there after mounting the drive). Unfortunately the scripts did more than I thought they would. I wan't paying much attention and at the time didn't know much about Linux (still don't know much more), but I think I remember something about keeping the updates from happening, etc.

Now I have a Tivo that always seems to have problems. It always seems to be pending restart and just recently (the last 3 days) it has run out of programming info. I manually onnected and forced some downloads to get a weeks worth of data, but the season passes aren't picking up the shows. They say no upcoming episodes or something like that.

I am stuck now because I have to manually search and record things I want to watch. Any ideas?

Also, I still have the original drive that hasn't been touched. So I guess at the end of the day I could just start over, but I would like to know if anyone has an idea of what has happened.


Thanks,

Joe

It's a WAG, but you could have put the wrong image on the drive. I'd pull the drive and do a diagnostic on it, then double check the image and put it back on from the original drive.

Go here for the instructions:

http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com

Edit: I didn't mean image. If you look at the directions the model number of the TiVo has to be specified for some reason. Their may be some switches on the transfer that didn't get done, or switches that didn't need to be done.

[VTJoeK]

Would this have affected me down the road or instantly? My Tivo worked for almost a year then stopped getting program information and was constantly pending restart. I know you didn't mean to say image but it does have the image from the original drive (not sure if I mentioned that in the first email).

[Stormspace]

Would this have affected me down the road or instantly? My Tivo worked for almost a year then stopped getting program information and was constantly pending restart. I know you didn't mean to say image but it does have the image from the original drive (not sure if I mentioned that in the first email).

Depending on the drive manufacturer and quality of the drive, it may be failing with bad sectors on it. That's one reason I said to check it out with a diagnostic utility. If it's bad, it may still be under warranty. I know Maxtor drives used to carry a 3 year warranty.

Also, good for you that you kept the original drive. :)

[VTJoeK]

If I remember correctly you can't just plug the drive into windows to run diagnostics on it. Is there a recommended utility for running the diagnostic?

[Stormspace]

If I remember correctly you can't just plug the drive into windows to run diagnostics on it. Is there a recommended utility for running the diagnostic?

Oh that's definately true. However my experience with Linux is sketchy. There might be a utility on the Ubuntu live CD. It's basically a complete linux OS distribution that runs on a bootable CD. There may be others.

If it were me, I'd format that puppy in windows and run the diagnostic. It will certainly make your call easier if it is still under warranty. Then if everything checks out transfer the image back using the same process you used before.

A little research should give you a neat command line linux utility to check the drive. You probably could find a floppy image that would do it by googling for linux boot disk and disk utilities. I'll do a search later and see what I can find.

[VTJoeK]

New Development.......Drive checks out ok.

I also went in to see what I did before. I followed Hinsdales instructions and upgraded according to the 240 version. That is the correct version that I have.

Also, I noticed that my software seems to be stuck at version 4.01b. Any idea why my Tivo won't upgrade?

Edit - I did not reimage my Harddrive (first reply suggestion).....just pulled it for diagnosing and then replaced

[VTJoeK]

Another new development....

If I setup a new season pass for a show it fills the To-do list.

My old season passes still do not recognize that shows are coming on that it should record. If I delete them and re-enter them they work fine.

Does this make sense?

[Dan Collins]

The season pass problem would occur if the channel identifiers were changed from what they were when you created the season passes. Why that would happen I don't know. Did you change your source configuration (new cable company, for example)?

As to why your software is stuck at release 4, if you JUST followed the Hinsdale instructions, it should not have any effect. There ARE things you can do to the bootpage configuration that will prevent updates, but they are not part of the Hinsdale instructions.

When you reboot, does the TiVo attempt to install the upgrade? If so, but you end up back at 4.01, it may be a disk format problem. If so, there are several options, depending upon how important the existing recordings are to you.

[VTJoeK]

I have not changed configurations, changed cable companies, etc.

I did not JUST follow hinsdales. I tried to get tricky and ran scripts that installed an ftp server and more programs that I have no clue about what they did. That was my real problem. Can I undo what the other scripts did to keep me from updating. I don't ftp into the box, I don't take recordings off, I just watch what I record then delete.

It does not try to install the SW updates. After it reboots normally, if I look under the system settings and network settings it will have changed the dates of last connections, etc. Something fishy is going on and I am sure it has to do with those scripts I used and didn't know enough to tell what they were changing.

I did find the scripts I ran if that would help anyone identify how to undo the changes they made.

Thanks,


Joe

[Stormspace]

I have not changed configurations, changed cable companies, etc.

I did not JUST follow hinsdales. I tried to get tricky and ran scripts that installed an ftp server and more programs that I have no clue about what they did. That was my real problem. Can I undo what the other scripts did to keep me from updating. I don't ftp into the box, I don't take recordings off, I just watch what I record then delete.

It does not try to install the SW updates. After it reboots normally, if I look under the system settings and network settings it will have changed the dates of last connections, etc. Something fishy is going on and I am sure it has to do with those scripts I used and didn't know enough to tell what they were changing.

I did find the scripts I ran if that would help anyone identify how to undo the changes they made.

Thanks,


Joe

AH HAH! <sorry>

Well, seeing that you did do something out of the norm if it were me and I didn't need all those fancy thingamabobs, I'd hose that drive and start over. Of course something must be keeping you from pursuing that angle as it has been mentioned in this thread before, so you must have a connection to the shows remaining on the TiVo. Good luck getting someone to walk you through troubleshooting the tivo program innards, it's going to take someone much more knowledgeable than myself to do it. Although it may be painful, reimaging your drive is the quickest way to a solution. When I did it I used the weaknees upgrade wizard, so I don't know if the one you used is better or not. I just booted to a CD and entered a command on the PC and the data transferred, shows and all.

[VTJoeK]

I thought that since I had to use my old original Tivo drive to upgrade I would lose any programs I have saved on the drive I am using now.

Can I use the Weaknees upgrade wizard to reimage my current drive and save the shows I have recorded on it? Sorry if you were eluding to that fact in a previous email. I missed that point if it was true.

Thanks much for all the help.

[Stormspace]

I thought that since I had to use my old original Tivo drive to upgrade I would lose any programs I have saved on the drive I am using now.

Can I use the Weaknees upgrade wizard to reimage my current drive and save the shows I have recorded on it? Sorry if you were eluding to that fact in a previous email. I missed that point if it was true.

Thanks much for all the help.

You know, all along I was thinking, to myself apparently, "This guy just needs to reimage that drive", but the question of errors on the drive kept me from saying it outright even though a reformat will sometimes correct drive errors. But now that you point it out I reread the thread and I didn't say that explicitly and I apologize for the tone of the previous post.

To move on though, the quickest solution is to reimage your drive. You will loose everything on it at present, though you can save the shows on your original drive if year old shows are a thing for you. As a last ditch effort you could do a clear and delete, but I don't think that will fix it and you will still loose your shows.

Wait until this weekend and pull out that VCR and get the shows that won't repeat off it, then do your upgrade over again without all the bells and whistles. You might also want to check the "other" forum for some help as well if you are committed to working through the linux configuration settings. Sorry, I couldn't be more helpful.

[Dan Collins]

To save your recordings, you'll need to pull the drive, reattach it to a PC, and boot with a Linux boot CD. You will also need the bootpage utility (it is available for download at DDB, or it is probably on the CD you used to run the "script" that caused the problem).

Once you are into Linux, you'll need to issue the following commands (assuming the TiVo drives is hdb, substitute the drive name that refers to your TiVo drive):

bootpage -p /dev/hdb

This will return some text, most probably something like:

root=dev/hdb4 console=2,115200 upgradesoftware=false

or

root=dev/hdb7 console=2,115200 upgradesoftware=false

What you want to do is get rid of the "upgradesoftware=false" part, at least. The "console=..." part enables serial port bash access. You can keep that if you want, but the "default" setting is just the "root=..." part. The safest option is to use exactly what it returns, just minus the "upgradesoftware=false" part. For example, given the earlier returned text, to restore software updates, the command is:

bootpage -P "root=/dev/hdb4 console=2,115200"

Again, if it said hdb7 earlier, use that instead of hdb4, and if your TiVo is some other drive, substitute it for hdb. Be careful about case, lower case p queries the current setting, upper case P writes the new setting. You can check it by reissuing:

bootpage -p /dev/hdbIt should return whatever you put inside the quotes.

Your TiVo should then install the software update when you boot.

WARNING: If any mistakes are made, your TiVo will not boot, and you'll have to "reimage" the drive from your backup (but that's your alternative anyway). I am also assuming that you only need the enlarged drive space of your 120GB drive. The software update will remove ALL other hacks or add-ins that may be installed. You'll have a plain vanilla standalone TiVo running 7.2x with a 120GB drive.