Help how do I change Tivo with Cachecard to Use DialUp

[Jo.Cassady]

I have acquired one of these things on eBay

I'm a bit thick so please be patient with me

I can use a MacBook Pro, via ethernet I can do

mbpro:~ v$ arp -a
? (10.0.0.50) at 0:b:ad:2:68:48 on en0 [ethernet]
? (169.254.255.255) at ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff on en0 [ethernet]
? (224.0.0.2) at 1:0:5e:0:0:2 on en0 permanent [ethernet]
? (224.0.0.251) at 1:0:5e:0:0:fb on en0 permanent [ethernet]
? (239.255.255.253) at 1:0:5e:7f:ff:fd on en0 permanent [ethernet]

Another forum member has told me I must get a router (as this 'assigns the IP address to each thing')

Cos when I tried doing


Okay, another complication - I move house tomorrow! New student digs - ethernet socket in each room. It's £20 a month for broadband (when I asked they said - 'oh - it's great - it's 2 8meg lines'...so I said 'the same connection shared between everyone' . they said 'erm.. yeah').. so that's ONE broadband connection shared between HUNDREDS of students

mbpro:~ v$ telnet 10.0.0.50
Trying 10.0.0.50...


telnet: connect to address 10.0.0.50: Operation timed out
telnet: Unable to connect to remote host


(That's not a problem - I don't need megaspeeds ... but can I still buy a router)


Please can people recommend specific products , rather than saying 'get a router'... cos like I said.. i'm a bit thick when it comes to comptuers..and I will buy the wrong one! (Pcworld.co.uk have some good deals - web only prices - you get a reference number from the internet, and you quote it in store to get the discount)

[threadkiller]

TiVo's in the UK dont need a router as they work on static IP address's. if your plugging into an existing network you will need to asign an IP in the correct range of the new network. at a guess the place you are moving into will have a router to share the connections. so ask whoever manages them for a fixed IP number & also the gateway address.

To change these on your TiVo & also to change to dialup (if you still want to) then you need to telnet into your TiVo & run nic_config_tivo & choose the options to change. If you want to connect a PC & tivo to the network point in the room, then you will need a switch but they are pretty cheap

[Jo.Cassady]

TiVo's in the UK dont need a router as they work on static IP address's. if your plugging into an existing network you will need to asign an IP in the correct range of the new network. at a guess the place you are moving into will have a router to share the connections. so ask whoever manages them for a fixed IP number & also the gateway address.

To change these on your TiVo & also to change to dialup (if you still want to) then you need to telnet into your TiVo & run nic_config_tivo & choose the options to change. If you want to connect a PC & tivo to the network point in the room, then you will need a switch but they are pretty cheap

okay, cool - so a switch will still work (even though the entire building is sharing one broadband connection) [seriously - I know nothing about computers!]

[CountryDriver]

To change these on your TiVo & also to change to dialup (if you still want to) then you need to telnet into your TiVo & run nic_config_tivo & choose the options to change. If you want to connect a PC & tivo to the network point in the room, then you will need a switch but they are pretty cheap

I have recently been trying to help a friend who has bought a Tivo on Ebay with a Turbonet card already in it and that he wants to set up on a network point on a shared networked broadband system in a block of flats, similar to the one in this guy's student halls of residence.

Although I believe you can just plug the Tivo network card directly into the network point if the ip gateway is in a range supported by the network and if the ip address is one the network administrator is happy with you are surely going to have problems without a router in Telnetting into the Tivo box to change the mac address, ip address or ip gateway if any of these are not in a range supported by the network? A Tivo network card seems to require a Router of some kind between it and the PC which wishes to access it. Of course I suppose if you could get the remote network administrator to Telnet into the machine on the remote network and change these details this might overcome the problem? Although the security aspects of disclosing these details to someone outside your home are a little worrying.

But still I would have thought buying a cheap secondand non wireless non ADSL modem router on Ebay to do the job might be the better way ahead.

I'm way out of London in the countryside here but I wonder if one of you chaps who live in Central London couldn't possibly pop round and try and lend this guy a hand? After all if someone likes gadgets but is not a networking specialist then some of thus stuff can be a little hard to get to grips with.

[Jo.Cassady]

Yes, please can someone come over and help me

I live minutes away from Barbican (about 10mins from Baker Street on the circle line)


I would be ever so grateful - any time is okay - even Sunday or late night/early morning

[threadkiller]

again, you dont need a router to access a TiVo, they have static address's. as long as the PC & Tivo are in the same IP range on the same subnet then you can connect both via a switch or directly using a x over network cable. I have 2 TiVo's connected to a switch, & can access them both directly.

Jo, yes a switch will work, plug the switch into the network point in your room, & connect your PC & TiVo to the switch, they will both use the network. If you look at the network IP's given to your Mac / PC this should give you the IP/Subnet/gatway address's to enter onto your TiVo

[Jo.Cassady]

So went out to pcworld and got a netgear router... I'm actually using EyeTV on the Mac.. can get freeview reception here... it's not bad at all ... I mean .. it's no tivo, but it's the next best thing... but it ties up my mac... would prefer a real tivo.. with season passes that work...

[threadkiller]

So went out to pcworld and got a netgear router... I'm actually using EyeTV on the Mac.. can get freeview reception here... it's not bad at all ... I mean .. it's no tivo, but it's the next best thing... but it ties up my mac... would prefer a real tivo.. with season passes that work...confused :confused: you said you had a TiVo, so why not use that?

The router is not needed but I guess you can use it as an expensive switch,

start at the beginning, when you bought the TiVo did the previous owner tell you what the IP & subnet was set for? if not get in touch & ask him.

[Jo.Cassady]

confused :confused: you said you had a TiVo, so why not use that?

The router is not needed but I guess you can use it as an expensive switch,

start at the beginning, when you bought the TiVo did the previous owner tell you what the IP & subnet was set for? if not get in touch & ask him.


Yes, the router is an expensive switch

Yes, the previous owner did tell me the IP and subnet.


Now I am just procrastinating opening up the netgear box, connecting up ethernet cables and getting very angry when things don't work.

If only someone in London could lend me a helping hand [*hint* *hint* @ Cyril]

[threadkiller]

ok so whats the existing IP & Subnet? you need to set your MAC to a similar fixed IP & same subnet to gain access to your TiVo then plug them both into your router so they can talk to each other.

I know its frustrating but stick with it, you'll get there

[Jo.Cassady]

ok so whats the existing IP & Subnet? you need to set your MAC to a similar fixed IP & same subnet to gain access to your TiVo then plug them both into your router so they can talk to each other.

I know its frustrating but stick with it, you'll get there


This is the info the previous owner gave me:

IP 10.0.0.50
Subnet mask 255.255.255
Gatway 10.0.0.1

Tivo web is configured on port 8090

[threadkiller]

ok, so set a fixed IP on your Mac to 10.0.0.51 subnet 255.255.255.0 and you should be able to ping or Telnet into your tivo at the least

[atari_addict]

ok, so set a fixed IP on your Mac to 10.0.0.51 subnet 255.255.255.0 and you should be able to ping or Telnet into your tivo at the least

Best way to do this would be to open System Preferences/Network, and then from the Location drop-down, choose New Location. Call it something like TiVo Temp, and then enter the details given here.

To make life a little easier I'd probably want to use a crossover cable or a straight one plus an adaptor to go directly from the Mac to the TiVo.

Then you can use Terminal:

telnet 10.0.0.50 [Return]
(you should get a success message and some sort of prompt).

Then type:
nic_config_tivo [Return]

Then you should get a menu, from where you can change various network settings including whether a network connection or phone call is used for the daily call. Type "quit" in at the Telnet prompt to log out, or "reboot" to restart the TiVo.

Changing the TiVo's network address to lie within the range ordinarily used by the Mac will also be needed (check what's set in Network Prefs). I've given all the devices within my home network fixed IP addresses, including the router, which address I've entered into the ip gateway section of the nic_config menu. Also in the router, make sure that it doesn't try to allocate any IP addresses using DHCP to any that have already been fixed.

Once the IP address has been changed, then go back to the Network Prefs pane and select the Location previously set. Telnet back in to the new address to make sure it still works, and then the temp. Location can be deleted.

The TiVo will need to be restarted after each change of config.

TiVoWeb will have to be called using http://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXXX:8090 (where the X's must be replaced by the IP address that has been allocated) until its config file has been changed; it does sound like the previous owner had it exposed to the Internet.

I hope this helps.

[Jo.Cassady]

A big thank you to everyone who has helped me (both in person & by email)..


I am amazed at how fast the menus & stuff are (cachecard & 512 Mb RAM - never seen a tivo with this before)

[Jo.Cassady]

I've been using the new tivo for only 2 days

It is like having a tivo on steroids! (the cachecard with ram - the speed etc)

I have been without tivo for 1 year. In that time I have driven myself crazy with missed/failed recordings etc. on a different pvr


This whole experience reminds me why tivo is the best gadget invented ever, period. I asbolutely love it to bits.

(but if I had never been introduced to tivo I would never know... now I cannot live without it...)