Renable Telnet

[kucharski27]

I currently have a hacked Series 2 Tivo with 6.2 software on the drive. I been having some problems keeping the static ip address instead of going to DHCP. I reboot the tivo twice and for some reason it is keeping the static ip, but now TELNET is not working but FTP is. How do I get TELNET renabled manually without rebuilding the hard drive again? Also, every 2 weeks, the phone message keeps poping up? Any ideas on how to fix this.

Thanks,

Michael

[BTUx9]

if you're getting a phone nag, you probably haven't run superpatch
it's VERY odd for ftp to work and telnet not work... if ftp is the ONLY thing working, you may be in trouble because you won't be able to set root to r/w

[ttodd1]

If he has TWP w/hackman on it he may

[BTUx9]

if TWP is running, there are definitely ways... as I said, it's if ftp is the ONLY thing running that he may be screwed

[Da Goon]

Pull your drive and check your author file to make sure the correct telnet commands are there (assuming this is where you kept telnet startup commands). If not, add them or delete the file and build it from scratch. If you've recently used hackman to change any settings, you could've inadvertently borked your author file.

[kucharski27]

I can actually set root to read/write through Tivo Web Plus version 2.0., but telnet still doesn't work. Any other ideas? Also, is there a way to use ftp to download the author file and edit with UltraEdit and then ftp it back up and reboot? If so, can you tell me the location of the file.

if you're getting a phone nag, you probably haven't run superpatch
it's VERY odd for ftp to work and telnet not work... if ftp is the ONLY thing working, you may be in trouble because you won't be able to set root to r/w

[kucharski27]

I rebooted the tivo deivce again this morning and now I have telnet access. Is there any patches I should deploy to the tivo device?

Thanks...

[JWThiers]

I rebooted the tivo deivce again this morning and now I have telnet access. Is there any patches I should deploy to the tivo device?

Thanks...
None that I know of. That was odd.

[kucharski27]

Telnet stopped working again, it looks like it only works for a few hours and then stops. The only way to get it working again, is reboot the tivo device. Any ideas?

Thanks...

[BTUx9]

this is very odd... telnet is usually more stable than things like TWP
one thing to try would be to start up 2 copies of telnet, one on a different port (maybe 2323)
then, when the original stops, check to see if you can get in on 2323... if so, then you'll at least be able to see if the original telnet process is running and look around for anything else suspicious

[kucharski27]

How would I go about setting both of them up and which files do I need to modify?

Thanks

[BTUx9]

the command to start telnet is usually in rc.sysinit.author... find that line, make a duplicate of it, and change the 23 to 2323
(be careful when editing author that the file is executable when you are done, or you'll probably have to pull the drive again to fix it)

[kucharski27]

Ok, I was able to change the telnet port from 23 to 2323. It is 4:02pm Central Time, I will check back in a couple of hours to see if I can still telnet to that port.

[Markman07]

Same type of issue with my two hacked Directv Tivos.

Odd thing is that I have two hacked Series 2 Directv* Tivos. One HR10-250 and one Hughes. Everything has been working for ever it seems but just yesterday I noticed I couldn't telnet to either of the two boxes yet FTP and TIVOWEBPLUS works fine. I scanned my network and the telnet service is not being detected.

I rebooted the HR10-250 last night and then got busy. Testing today still no Telnet. The other box I haven't had a chance to look into. Both don't have hackman currently installed so I don't see a way to force a reboot via the software. FTP'ed the author file and checked it out and it appears just fine. Weird indeed.

[BTUx9]

if TWP is truly still running, it's definitely possible to start up telnet on a different port...
One way, off the top of my head: you should be able to run backup, remove the innards, replace them with an exec command to start tnlited, then restore the file

[Markman07]

My Two Directv* tivos both losing telnet access while still having FTP and TWP access is very very super odd. Maybe I should buy some lottery tickets. Rebooted them both and still no telnet on port 23.

I guess I could also FTP an updated author file with a second telnet session using port 2323 or something.

[BTUx9]

I guess I could also FTP an updated author file with a second telnet session using port 2323 or something.
only if root is mounted r/w

[Markman07]

only if root is mounted r/w

I mounted it to RW using TWP 2.0 using the SysAdmin module. I then used FTP to download the author file. I added a telnet line to start using port 2323. Of course I am not at home now to reboot the Tivo and don't see a way to reboot it using TWP (without hackman), so I will have an update after I reboot it.

I am still very curious on how both of my zippered D* tivos stopped running Telnet from what I can tell during roughly the same time.

Thanks BTUx9 for the great suggestions.

[Markman07]

Wow am I going backwards. Using TWP to grant RW access and then FTP to copy a backup of my author file to the /etc/rc.d directory I now have no TWP, FTP, and still of course no Telnet! Yeee haaa... oh wait.. ummm.. so anyways...

So I try to use my serial cable to get the bash prompt..no matter what I can never get to a bash prompt but I do note in all the text going by in my terminal session that when it attempts to load my /etc/rc.d/sysinit.author file it says permission denied. So is this telling me the truth, that the permissions of this file is screwed to the point now it won't even load it and cause other loading issues including my author file?

If true it appears I have to pull the drive.

[BTUx9]

author needs to be executable... there's a modified ftp that defaults xferred files to +x, but I assume yours doesn't... yes, it looks like you need to pull the drive, as I mentioned here:the command to start telnet is usually in rc.sysinit.author... find that line, make a duplicate of it, and change the 23 to 2323
(be careful when editing author that the file is executable when you are done, or you'll probably have to pull the drive again to fix it)

[Markman07]

With this busy TV schedule it is hard to find time to pull the drive from my HD Tivo! But I wll this weekend and try to fix the author file and go from there. Then it is on to my SD tivo (which also has no telnet but still FTP and TWP).

Thank God for Beer. :p

BTW - here is the beginning of my author file on the Series 2 Hughes D* Tivo. (ftp & TWP) work.

#!/bin/bash
# Zipper author file
echo "starting rc.sysinit.author"

echo "set environmental variables"
export PATH=./:.:/utils:/bin:/sbin:/tvbin:/tivobin:/busybox:/enhancements
export TIVO_ROOT=
export MFS_DEVICE=/dev/hda10

echo "starting telnet and ftp"
tnlited 23 /bin/bash -login &
tivoftpd

echo "starting serial bash"
/bin/bash </dev/ttyS2&> /dev/ttyS2&

echo "running fakecall"
fakecall.tcl
route add -host 204.176.49.2 gw 127.0.0.1
route add -net 204.176.49.0 gw 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0
------------
so it appears TELNET should be loading like everything else, doesn't it?

[Da Goon]

Thank God for Beer. :p

yep.

so it appears TELNET should be loading like everything else, doesn't it?

yep. It all looks ok.

[BTUx9]

given that telnet USED to work for you, unless you've made changes to author, I'd look other places for reasons that it isn't.

[Markman07]

on the Hughes Series 2 Directivo, I went ahead and installed Hackman. It did let me start Telnet. After a few minutes though it closes/crashes. I am guessing this was what was happening on my HD tivo! Something is very very odd here! Two zippered Tivos used for 9 months on one and forever on this Hughes and now Telnet no longer wants to work. Anyone have any ideas I'? It is the same from no matter what PC I use.

[BTUx9]

try starting it on a different port, to see if it crashes

It is odd... I had telnet crash on me a few days ago, for no apparent reason, but when I restarted (using a telnet running on 2323 and then running the regular port 23) it worked, and hasn't crashed since.