Now Playing List is blank for 30+ seconds

[JackS]

I used The Zipper on a 160GB HD to replace the original HD
in my HDVR2. The s/w version I am running is 6.2-<mumble>.
My telephone line is NOT connected to the HDVR2.

To celebrate DST, I set the time zone to MST and DST=off.
(I'm near Los Angeles) So far, so good.

Well, that's enough background... let me get to the point now


The "Now Playing List" appears blank. I can scroll up and down
through a blank NPL.

After 30 seconds or more, the NPL finally fills in with my list
of folders and other recorded programs. It does this every
time I go to the NPL.
I tried rebooting, which did not offer any improvement.

Anyone have suggestions on how to fix this annoyance?

-Jack Hughes HDVR2, 140 hrs.

[HellFish]

Read here:

Empty Looking NPL? (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=248850&page=1&pp=30) or
Troubleshooting - Zipper Wiki - Blank entries in the "Now Playing List" (http://www.dvrpedia.com/Zipper_-_SApper_-_Enhancement_Script#Blank_entries_in_the_.22Now_Playing_List .22)

[JackS]

Last Friday I decided to stop using the endpadplus feature.
So I ran the script and it wanted me to download the latest
version of the rbauch script from the internet. It downloaded
and ran ok. I chose two different options this time:
endpadplus = no
USB2.0 drivers = yes.

The Now Playing List was blank before AND after I did this.

Thanks for the URLs. I will doublecheck the DNS settings
when I get home from work.

-Jack

[goony]

FYI, when I hack my DTivos I say "yes" to endpadplus, but tell it "0" minutes for both start and end padding of the program. That way it's there if I want to use it but basically dormant.

[dishdudes]

Last Friday I decided to stop using the endpadplus feature.
So I ran the script and it wanted me to download the latest
version of the rbauch script from the internet. It downloaded
and ran ok. I chose two different options this time:
endpadplus = no
USB2.0 drivers = yes.

The Now Playing List was blank before AND after I did this.

Thanks for the URLs. I will doublecheck the DNS settings
when I get home from work.

-Jack

I have this same problem. I posted my problem as a slow NPL but it's identical to what you are describing. Most of the time my NPL comes up with the exception of the Tivos at the bottom. For some reason over the past week it's gotten better but it's not like it used to be. For reference sake heres what I did..

I bought the slicer and upgraded all my machines to 6.2a for DST on Monday Mar 12. After the upgraded I applied the new superpatch then uninstalled the enhancement script then allowed it to download the new one and install. I don't use endpadplus so don't think that's the culprit. Even since my NPL comes up slow. Tried playing with dns didn't seem to help, although my limited knowlege of changing ip settings didn't allow me to change all my machines. I used the module in TWP 2 out of my 4 worked the others just kept the old dns.

Let me know if you get any further than I did..

BTW here is my original post..

Here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=344909)

[JackS]

Hellfish, thank you for the URLs you posted. I read through them both
and decided to try one solution which seems to be working pretty well
thus far.

At this time I am not exploiting the networking capacity of my TiVo full-time.
I am not using HMO or MRV (yet) because I have only one TiVo, no wireless
bridge or 80' cat5 cable. I bring my hard wired router and PC (ubuntu linux)
to where the HDVR2 lives, and set up a LAN temporarily for this kind of activity.


Since I zippered, I chose to use tivowebplus's netconfig tab and set the
DNS = 0.0.0.0 then rebooted. Now the NPL responds quickly time and time
again!

Thank you very much,

-Jack

[HellFish]

Jack,
Anytime. I had the same problem you did until I figured out a way to have a 50' wire going from my 2nd floor down to my 1st floor through the wall. I only have 1 tivo zippered too, but I need the network connection for tivoserver.

Dishdudes,
Have you tried to change your dns settings any other way besides TWP?

The wiki link I have above also shows you how to manually setup the dns settings in nsswitch.conf, which is the route I took instead of using TWP. Now I'm not 100% on this, but I don't think you need to edit resolv.conf like you said in your thread, only nsswitch.conf. I've don't think I've ever touched resolv.conf.

If your tivo is not permanently hooked up to your home network, this (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=3627517&&#post3627517) post advises you how to remove the dns from the hosts file so it won't even know about your dns settings. This is what I had to do originally because I didn't have my TiVo setup permanently to my network and every time it was disconnected, the slowness occurred. Since I now have my Tivo setup correctly, I have properly set up the dns. Remember, removing the dns from the hosts is only recommended as a last resort because then your Tivo won't be able to access the internet without you putting in a valid dns.

This (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=3628750&&#post3628750) post by Russ also offers some troubleshooting by setting up your DNS several different ways. If your router IP isn't working as the dns, it suggests using your actual DNS Server (this is what I do and it works great).

I've also noticed if I have a slow internet connection, then that will slow down my NPL, even if everything is setup correctly.

[dishdudes]

I stumbled across the problem after reading some year old posts. There was a line or I guess I should say lines, in my author file the zipper put in that was putting my network settings back to default.

######### One-time Zipper network setup. May be deleted. ######################
#mount -o remount,rw /
#tivosh /hacks/network.tcl 192.168.1.57 192.168.1.1
#mount -o remount,ro /
######### End of Zipper network setup. ####################################

Once I commented those lines the DNS stuck. Only 2 out of my 4 tivos had this, must be from an older zipper build.