Serial access to HR10-250

[rrr22777]

How do you use a serial cable to get the bash prompt? I found these instructions and they seems to be old. Do they still apply to 6.3?

What you'll need to do is access the TiVo's diagnostic mode. It's a little like trying to catch your BIOS screen when your computer first boots. If you can't get this next part to work right, go read the Hack FAQ for more troubleshooting info. This part is not strictly necessary, but helpful. See below.

Once you have a good hardware serial connection to your TiVo, fire up your favorite terminal program (I used Minicom) and set it to use the serial port, no dialing strings, flow control, or anything, 9600, 8,N,1 (if that doesn't work, try 38400,8,N,1). Plug your TiVo in and hit enter on your terminal once. The timing is a little tricky here. I've found that you need to do it within three seconds of plugging in the TiVo. Your mileage may vary. Don't wait for the TiVo to start showing graphics.

At the prompt, use the password "factory". Then, select X for "Extended Menu". Then select P for "Boot Parameters". The system will display your current boot parameters. They will include a reference to either hda4 or hda7. This is your primary boot partition. Remember it for later. Write it down if you have to. Select B to continue booting.

[BTUx9]

those instructions are VERY old... the default password is no longer factory, so that method isn't usable (plus, there is new anti-hacking protection that can't be overcome via serial only -- at least nobody has published it, if it does exist)

Hacking the tivo requires pulling the drive and modifying it using a PC running linux.

[rrr22777]

those instructions are VERY old... the default password is no longer factory, so that method isn't usable (plus, there is new anti-hacking protection that can't be overcome via serial only -- at least nobody has published it, if it does exist)

Hacking the tivo requires pulling the drive and modifying it using a PC running linux.

Some how the guys on DDB are managing to get in via the serial cable.

Step 10 in the following post.

http://www.************.com/forum/showpost.php?p=263471&postcount=235

[rrr22777]

Some how the guys on DDB are managing to get in via the serial cable.

Step 10 in the following post.

http://www.************.com/forum/showpost.php?p=263471&postcount=235

I have asked the guy who posted about how he used the cable. Waiting for my newbie thrashing :)

[sethjvm]

They have hacked Tivos to begin with.


Some how the guys on DDB are managing to get in via the serial cable.

Step 10 in the following post.

http://www.************.com/forum/showpost.php?p=263471&postcount=235

[cheer]

As sethjvm states, a serial cable will only get you bash if you've already hacked the Tivo and configured it for serial bash.

[BTUx9]

gee... isn't that what I said?

[rrr22777]

gee... isn't that what I said?

Sorry. Yes my Tivo is hacked with Instantcake and PTVNet CD which I belive adds lines to .author to enable serial. Of course I have no way of checking my .author file now.

So once it is hacked how do I use the cable to get to the prompt?

[cheer]

Sorry. Yes my Tivo is hacked with Instantcake and PTVNet CD which I belive adds lines to .author to enable serial. Of course I have no way of checking my .author file now.

So once it is hacked how do I use the cable to get to the prompt?
Plug it in. Once the Tivo is booted, just hit enter from your terminal program and you should see a bash prompt.

[cheer]

gee... isn't that what I said?
Sorry -- I read your post but for whatever reason it did not register with me! :)

[rrr22777]

Plug it in. Once the Tivo is booted, just hit enter from your terminal program and you should see a bash prompt.

Man that is simple. Thank you. I had tried this on a Series 1 a long time ago and could not get it to work. This one is probably hacked correctly with the entries in .author.

[madgrizzle]

It took a setting of 115.2Kbps for mine to work on my Windows XP Pro laptop.

[boody]

Will serial console access be preserved after 6.3 is allowed to autoinstall (after a phone call), or is it one of the hacks that will disappear?

[BTUx9]

it'll disappear if you allow any software upgrade to proceed automatically... user intervention is required to keep the machine hacked (except for more exotic self-hacking setups)

[tivoupgrade]

PTVnet (currently only available on the HR10-250 on 3.1.5f) does enable serial/bash access. It does not do this from the rc.sysinit.author file. It does do this with an invocation of bash that occurs using a startup file in the /init directory.

We recommend you use TERATERM PRO (its free and you can google for it) and I'm pretty sure you need to have your serial port set up for 9600,8,N,1 for everything to work smoothly.

[boody]

OK, so besides adding "console=2,115200" to the bootpage what are the (manual/actual) steps to get bash over serial cable?

[aaronwt]

After the 6.3 update all I did was load Tera Term Pro on my PC and connected the serial cable to the TiVo. I rebooted the Tivo and started Tera Term after giving the TiVo a few minutes to boot and I had the bash prompt. Now if I just knew how to re-enable network access and TiVoWeb plus I would be very happy.

[sgerbode]

After the 6.3 update all I did was load Tera Term Pro on my PC and connected the serial cable to the TiVo. I rebooted the Tivo and started Tera Term after giving the TiVo a few minutes to boot and I had the bash prompt. Now if I just knew how to re-enable network access and TiVoWeb plus I would be very happy.
It sounds like what you are saying is that in the 6.3 distribution, after the upgrade, serial bash is already enabled without your having to set the boot parameters. Is that correct? And did you need to give any particular parameters to teraterm to make it work?

I would assume that with a bash prompt, you should be able to take the necessary steps to enable telnet access without having to pull the drive, but maybe I'm wrong about that...

[Finnstang]

It sounds like what you are saying is that in the 6.3 distribution, after the upgrade, serial bash is already enabled without your having to set the boot parameters. Is that correct? And did you need to give any particular parameters to teraterm to make it work?

I would assume that with a bash prompt, you should be able to take the necessary steps to enable telnet access without having to pull the drive, but maybe I'm wrong about that...
His was a prehacked HR10, so bash was setup already. He upgraded via slices and access was still there.

[boody]

Can someone confirm/deny these are the steps to get it setup:

bash-2.02# bootpage -p /dev/hda
root=/dev/hda7 brev=0x100A

bash-2.02# bootpage -P "root=/dev/hda7 brev=0x100A dsscon=true console=2,115200"

the following lines should be in rc.sysinit.author:

export TERM=xterm
export PS1='\h:\w$ '

#Setup HOSTNAME
hostname HDVR2

#Start BASH
/bin/bash</dev/ttyS2&>/dev/ttyS2&

[rrr22777]

PTVnet (currently only available on the HR10-250 on 3.1.5f) does enable serial/bash access. It does not do this from the rc.sysinit.author file. It does do this with an invocation of bash that occurs using a startup file in the /init directory.

We recommend you use TERATERM PRO (its free and you can google for it) and I'm pretty sure you need to have your serial port set up for 9600,8,N,1 for everything to work smoothly.

Thank you for confirming this. Does it use /dev/SA0?

[sgerbode]

His was a prehacked HR10, so bash was setup already. He upgraded via slices and access was still there.
Hmmm. I guess there is no Santa Claus...

[tnedator]

Plug it in. Once the Tivo is booted, just hit enter from your terminal program and you should see a bash prompt.

I know this should be simple, but I couldn't get connected last night. I am on XP using hyperterminal.

I plug the cable into the Tivo, have the other end in a com port on the PC. Open hyperterminal and tell it to connect at 115k? Then I reboot the Tivo, and at some point during the reboot, hit enter?

Those are the steps I tried, and I didn't have any luck.

[BTUx9]

is the cable wired correctly? You shouldn't hit ENTER too early, otherwise you'll get the prom menu, which won't help you

[tnedator]

When should you hit enter? At what point in the reboot? What should be displayed on the TV?

[BTUx9]

any time after the 2nd screen is displayed, though you may have to hit it more than once, depending on when bash is called in the startup code... you DO have it starting up correctly, I hope (how is the box hacked?)

[tnedator]

any time after the 2nd screen is displayed, though you may have to hit it more than once, depending on when bash is called in the startup code... you DO have it starting up correctly, I hope (how is the box hacked?)

I used the zipper. I am beginning to think my cable is no good.

[BTUx9]

quite possible... you can check for continuity by shorting the last 2 pins on the tivo side, then hyperterm should echo whatever is typed... but that won't tell you if it's cross-wired or not (has to be xmit to rcv and vice-versa)

[tnedator]

quite possible... you can check for continuity by shorting the last 2 pins on the tivo side, then hyperterm should echo whatever is typed... but that won't tell you if it's cross-wired or not (has to be xmit to rcv and vice-versa)

Ok, thanks. I might try that, if not I think I have a real Tivo cable at work that I will look for.

[rrr22777]

I have a stupid question... I bought the serial cable. One end is serial the other end is a 1/8" stereo plug. Where on the HR10-250 is a place to plug in the stereo plug?

[Finnstang]

In the back there is a connection labelled serial and one labelled IR. Plug it into the one labelled serial. :)

[rrr22777]

In the back there is a connection labelled serial and one labelled IR. Plug it into the one labelled serial. :)

That was embarassing but thank you. Found it!

:D :D :D

[BTUx9]

did you check the back, near the USB ports? I don't have an HDTivo, but that's where it is on other S2s

[rrr22777]

Starting to wonder what the Slicer preserved? I had a drive imaged with PTVNet. Used Slicer 1.1 to update to 6.3 - no bash prompt. Not a single characted on Tera Term. So no networking and no serial access!

[sgerbode]

I have a different problem: I connected the serial cable, set it up with bootpage for speed of 115200 and /bin/bash < /dev/ttyS2 >& /dev/ttyS2 &

I attached the serial cable, fired up hyperterm on my PC with speed=115200,8 data bits, 1 stop bit, and flow control = none, and I had a bash prompt. Also, if I did cat > /dev/ttyS2 and typed a few things or cat'ed a file to /devttyS2, it showed up on hyperterm just fine.

But when I tried hitting a few <return>'s on my screen in hyperterm -- nothing happened on the screen. It did not respond to whatever I typed.

I also tried teraterm -- same result.

Am I missing something?

[rrr22777]

I have a different problem: I connected the serial cable, set it up with bootpage for speed of 115200 and /bin/bash < /dev/ttyS2 >& /dev/ttyS2 &

I attached the serial cable, fired up hyperterm on my PC with speed=115200,8 data bits, 1 stop bit, and flow control = none, and I had a bash prompt. Also, if I did cat > /dev/ttyS2 and typed a few things or cat'ed a file to /devttyS2, it showed up on hyperterm just fine.

But when I tried hitting a few <return>'s on my screen in hyperterm -- nothing happened on the screen. It did not respond to whatever I typed.

I also tried teraterm -- same result.

Am I missing something?

You may have to do something like ttyS2 sane

[BTUx9]

might also want to check the cable... shorting the last 2 pins should make hyperterm echo what you type... if it doesn't, your send line is shorted or disconnected.

[BigBearf]

Any one use a Mac to gain serial access.
I have a serial cable but Ratshack wants $35 for a USB to serial adaptor which is a lot. Before I spring for the adaptor. What program would be good to use. If anybody uses a Mac to gain serial access please post
Thanks,
Jeff

[STL]

PTVnet (currently only available on the HR10-250 on 3.1.5f) does enable serial/bash access. It does not do this from the rc.sysinit.author file. It does do this with an invocation of bash that occurs using a startup file in the /init directory.

We recommend you use TERATERM PRO (its free and you can google for it) and I'm pretty sure you need to have your serial port set up for 9600,8,N,1 for everything to work smoothly.So if I used files from ptvlba48-4.04 then I don't need to add anything to my author file to have access via a hyperterm?

I verified my cable is good, but I'm getting nothing in my hyperterm after I reboot my HR10.

[BTUx9]

So if I used files from ptvlba48-4.04 then I don't need to add anything to my author file to have access via a hyperterm?

I verified my cable is good, but I'm getting nothing in my hyperterm after I reboot my HR10.depends on which files and how you used them :rolleyes:

As he said, if you used PTVnet to hack the tivo, it would have installed the serial bash hook early... if you used a different method to hack, then whether or not you have serial bash early depends on the method you used to hack