Series1 DirecTiVo Software Update (3.5.0) Migration Thread

[jsharper]

Have you scanned the drive in a PC with the drive manufacturer's testing app to see if it has some bad spots?

[PyroMan]

Originally Posted by tivoupgrade

updated 5/12/06
...snip...
Note that TiVo has not yet released the source code modifications for 3.5 on their site, but it is expected that they will do so shortly. Once that happens, work can begin on creation of a newly modified kernel with LBA48 support. We will release a utility (at no charge) to the community, to aid in installation of the new kernel.

update: 5/10/2006 - 5:02CDT

Thanks to Todd Miller, we have an EXPERIMENTAL kernel that appears to be working for us in the lab. It is a recompiled version of the 3.1 kernel (the new config file is included in the tarred and gzipped contents along with the kernel).

You can download it from here, use tpip to install it and post your experiences to this thread. If you are unfamiliar with the kernel updating techniques and wish to not learn the details of updating your kernel and using tpip, then please be patient, we will update CopyKern and our free CD soon.

3.1+ Experimental Kernel

update: 5/12/2006 - 7:31CDT

New Release of the LBA48 CD (ver 4.04) includes a revised copykern and a recompiled kernel (labeled 3.10+) in the s1_kernels directory. We have done preliminary testing with this kernel in conjunction with version 3.5 of the Series1 DirecTV TiVo release and early tests are encouraging. If you have built LBA48 drives which are spuriously rebooting, or contain content that is not accessible through the "Now Playing" list, we encourage you to use copykern to transplant this newly updated kernel. Also note that you will need to use killinitrd to zap the new initrd (or use nic_config in the silicondust network driver release to achieve the same result).
...snip...

TiVo has posted the latest source, but apparently not on all of their web servers. Depending on which IP address your DNS resolves to you either see it or you don't. I have uploaded the source to my website and you can download it from there.

Tivo-3.5-cmd.tar.gz
372448D947299EEDDF2442F07F30A610 MD5
8EB164315748D40A223EF829A5A1C9C44501097A SHA1
7E842E2C CRC-32
TiVo-3.5-linux-2.1.tar.gz
93614277E35A2A8147D17AE28CCC756E MD5
5B3C04AA111F47FF5B4AAD6018E49A1E217249FB SHA1
AEE98094 CRC-32

Hopefully this will help to release an official hack.

[maerativo]

Originally Posted by master cylinder

update 2 hours later:

It finally came back to life, " IT'S ALIVE!! ITS ALIVE!! but wait........

Now the doggone thing is rebooting every 30 minutes !

Damn, I hate being right all the time.

Have you resolved your problem with your SAT-60? I found the only way to stop having problems with the unit was to format my SAT-60 HDD on my computer, install the PTV instant cake for v3.1 and reinstall the HDD into my SAT-60 to let the unit download the upgrade v3.5 software and install it at 2 AM. Before it had a chance to record anything I pulled the HDD and installed the 3.1.0+ kernel using the downloaded ISO from PTV ($19.95). Put it back into the SAT-60 and have not had any problems. Of course you loose all your recordings and season passes.

[john_o]

tivoupgrade-

Do you have any plans on encouraging a 3.5 build with LBA48 support? I notice that you are still selling > 120GB upgrades for the Series 1 DirecTiVo boxes.

In the meantime I am still dealing with reboots when entering To Do or Pick Programs to Record, (though I can still pick programs to record from within TivoWebPlus...) and video in the background after during the "do you want to delete this recording" prompt.

mfscheck and mfsassert (aka kickstart 57 and 58) didn't help.

At this point I am pretty much resigned to the fact that I am going to have to re-install from scratch, but I'd rather not lose the majority of the HD.

-johnny0

[master cylinder]

Thanks to all for support on the GSOD issue after caking my system with 3.5. I decided to go the other way and put the 3.1 cake back on and apply all the old hacks. I am going to wait a while until the dust settles on the 3.5 before going that route. BTW I did set the noupgrade option up. So far so good with the 3.1.

[Francesco]

Mine's been getting flakier and flakier over the past six weeks. Finally last week the UI kept locking up with a press of the TiVo button, overlaid on live TV. I left it plugged in and took off for the weekend. It now shows the "CANNOT BOOT KERNEL" screen despite repeated reboot attempts.

Luckily it's re-run season, or the wife would kill me. I complete rebuild is in order, it seems. Hopefully it sticks this time.

[newbr]

Is there a way to get recordings that have been messed up, because of the LBA48 issue? For example when playing I get shows jumping around. Is there any way to fix the LBA48 thing by flipping the partition to 3.1?

[dschoner]

maerativo wrote:
Of course you loose all your recordings and season passes.

Same scenario -
SAT-T60 w/2 X 160GB hdd's with about 200 hrs. of programs & passes - got the dreaded automatic upgrade, first indication was the IP access went away - but the Now Playing list was OK. 3 weeks later (?) the unit locks up whenever the TiVo button was pressed - spousal unit lost the season finale of "Lost" while I was on the road - that was NOT a good phone call.

Tried the free LBA48 kernel from PTVupgrade, didn't work, bought the new InstantCake and all works fine now - got over 300 hrs. of empty disk space and no season finale of "Lost"

Just a month out of my life messing with it.......

BaldGuy

[ptcartman]

Well, I've been watching this thread and pondering on my chances of success (see my earlier posts here), and I've decided that my best bet is to return my 120GB PTVUpgrade HDD and have it recertified. I would rather do that than mess around with the hacks and ruin something. What the heck, it's only money.

My questions:
1) What do I need to do to return the drive for recert?
2) Will it come back running 3.5 AND be NETREADY AND allow my CacheCARD to operate?

Looking forward to putting this behind me.

[tivoupgrade]

Originally Posted by ptcartman

Well, I've been watching this thread and pondering on my chances of success (see my earlier posts here), and I've decided that my best bet is to return my 120GB PTVUpgrade HDD and have it recertified. I would rather do that than mess around with the hacks and ruin something. What the heck, it's only money.

My questions:
1) What do I need to do to return the drive for recert?
2) Will it come back running 3.5 AND be NETREADY AND allow my CacheCARD to operate?

Looking forward to putting this behind me.

You've got a couple of different options; if you are under warranty, you can order a warranty recertification; or if you are not, order a regular recertification. Your drive will come with whatever "package" was on it previously. If your drive was a NetReady drive previously, it will come back as NetReady (except running 3.5); if it had TiVoWeb on it, it will have the latest version of TiVoWebPlus.

This also includes the TurboNet/CacheCard drivers.

Take a look at the archived newsletters here for more details and links to the aforementioned services; or just contact us and we'll look up your order and give you some guidance.

Thx

[tivoupgrade]

Originally Posted by PyroMan

TiVo has posted the latest source, but apparently not on all of their web servers. Depending on which IP address your DNS resolves to you either see it or you don't. I have uploaded the source to my website and you can download it from there.

Tivo-3.5-cmd.tar.gz
372448D947299EEDDF2442F07F30A610 MD5
8EB164315748D40A223EF829A5A1C9C44501097A SHA1
7E842E2C CRC-32
TiVo-3.5-linux-2.1.tar.gz
93614277E35A2A8147D17AE28CCC756E MD5
5B3C04AA111F47FF5B4AAD6018E49A1E217249FB SHA1
AEE98094 CRC-32

Hopefully this will help to release an official hack.

Thx for these links. Actually, we've had the latest kernel source for a few weeks now, but we are sort of in, "if it aint broke don't fix it" mode. The reality of the situation is that the kernel source isn't different as far as I can tell, and the only difference was in how it was built between the two software releases. Once the kernel source that was released in 3.1 was configured to be compiled differently, everything has worked fine and we see no reason to actually change it...

So I'd consider the 3.1.0+ release that is part of the LBA48 CD and used by copykern to be official at this point. If there is another upgrade or something ugly happens, we'll revisit the situation....

[ptcartman]

Thanks for the response.

The drive was Netready/TurboNet/CacheCard ready when I bought it, so I can expect to get it back ready to go. The drive will be 1 year old next week, so I believe that's out of warranty, just my luck.

I have submitted a Customer Support query at your site, so I will wait to hear back with instructions.

[tivoupgrade]

Originally Posted by ptcartman

Thanks for the response.

The drive was Netready/TurboNet/CacheCard ready when I bought it, so I can expect to get it back ready to go. The drive will be 1 year old next week, so I believe that's out of warranty, just my luck.

I have submitted a Customer Support query at your site, so I will wait to hear back with instructions.

Our warranty is only six-months and although it technically does not cover software modifications, if you read this you'll see how we are treating kits that are still "in warranty."

In your case, you just need a standard 'recertification' which is discussed in the aforementioned link, as well.

Thx

[ptcartman]

Thanks, guys. The turn-around on the recertification was almost dizzying. Excellent service.

One problem, though, and I'm sure it's just something I'm forgetting.

The unit seems to be net-aware: I can FTP and it is making it's daily call via the net. However, telnet is not active and I can't tivoweb.

Do I need to download and install NETREADY again? I was afraid to try that for fear that it wouldn't be a compatible version with the newly installed software.
....................
Update: After copying .NETREADY to /var and restarting it appears that telnet is active, but for only a short period. I use Look@LAN to locate and monitor the IP. FTP remains active but telnet stops as soon as the unit finishes booting.

[Sbmocp]

Originally Posted by tivoupgrade

Thx for these links. Actually, we've had the latest kernel source for a few weeks now, but we are sort of in, "if it aint broke don't fix it" mode. The reality of the situation is that the kernel source isn't different as far as I can tell, and the only difference was in how it was built between the two software releases. Once the kernel source that was released in 3.1 was configured to be compiled differently, everything has worked fine and we see no reason to actually change it...

So I'd consider the 3.1.0+ release that is part of the LBA48 CD and used by copykern to be official at this point. If there is another upgrade or something ugly happens, we'll revisit the situation....

I'm sorry to hear this, as I've been waiting for the "official" changes to upgrade my unit. I'd rather know that my unit is running the latest, officially-released software, and not something hacked to work. Not that there's anything wrong with that...as the saying goes. I just don't want to do the work, then redo it in a month when a 'gotcha' comes along. In the past that's always been my luck.

[sbl]

I have a couple questions related to two V3.5 upgrade methods I've used to install large drives in SAT-T60 units...

In one case I used the instant cake software from PTV and the upgrade yielded 235hrs w/ a 250GB drive. I another case I let a factory 40GB drive take the 3.5 upgrade during normal operation, then I removed the drive, backed up an image of it, applied the saved image to a 250GB drive, used copykern to apply the updated large drive support kernel, then installed the upgraded drive in the unit. In the later case the upgrade yielded ~221hrs. Why the difference? In the past, the factory s/w version 3.1 w/ large drive support would yield 235hr w/ a 250GB.

The other question is related to what happens during initial boot up of a instant cake upgraded unit. I set up a T60 for a friend using the instant cake image. I didn't have his subscribed access card with the unit when I did the upgrade so I booted it with another card as a surrogate. Later, when he received the unit back he had to have DTV do some kind of reset to re-marry his card, then the unit reported a serious error. It did recover on it's own, but I'm wondering if this is because I had another card installed during the initial boot up process and the unit somehow married to it . Would this have happened if I left the surrogate card out during initial boot up, then installed it after the unit was fully booted (so I could finish checking out the unit)?

[sbl]

Originally Posted by sbl

I have a couple questions related to two V3.5 upgrade methods I've used to install large drives in SAT-T60 units...

In one case I used the instant cake software from PTV and the upgrade yielded 235hrs w/ a 250GB drive. I another case I let a factory 40GB drive take the 3.5 upgrade during normal operation, then I removed the drive, backed up an image of it, applied the saved image to a 250GB drive, used copykern to apply the updated large drive support kernel, then installed the upgraded drive in the unit. In the later case the upgrade yielded ~221hrs. Why the difference? In the past, the factory s/w version 3.1 w/ large drive support would yield 235hr w/ a 250GB.

The other question is related to what happens during initial boot up of a instant cake upgraded unit. I set up a T60 for a friend using the instant cake image. I didn't have his subscribed access card with the unit when I did the upgrade so I booted it with another card as a surrogate. Later, when he received the unit back he had to have DTV do some kind of reset to re-marry his card, then the unit reported a serious error. It did recover on it's own, but I'm wondering if this is because I had another card installed during the initial boot up process and the unit somehow married to it . Would this have happened if I left the surrogate card out during initial boot up, then installed it after the unit was fully booted (so I could finish checking out the unit)?

Can anyone help with my questions?

[mr.unnatural]

It sounds like the image used for the Instantcake CD may have been a more minimalistic image than what you had when taking the update naturally. In other words, PTVUpgrade may have trimmed out some of the fat when creating the image.

The error your friend received on his T60 was probably the hardware error #51 message that everyone gets when using an image from one Tivo in a different machine. This will always happen when using an InstantCake image since it was pulled from a different Tivo. A Clear & Delete Everything will get rid of the error. It has nothing to do with your unsubbed access card.

[mr.unnatural]

I finally took the plunge and dusted off one of my old retired DSR6000's to start playing with the 3.5 update. I started with a fresh 2.5Xtreme image on a spare hard drive but didn't set up the fixsub hack so the unit could dial out. I forced a daily call and it downloaded the 3.5 update on the first attempt.

Since I hadn't hacked a S1 DTivo in many years my mind was a little rusty on the process so I used Steve Jenkins' guide as a reference. I set up telnet and serial bash as well as a static IP address in rc.net but I couldn't get either to work via ethernet or serial connection. The 9th Tee website indicates that OS version 3.0 and above has built-in support for ethernet and has the Turbonet drivers already installed.

I have been reading conflicting reports where may posters said they followed the same guide and everything went hunky dory whereas many others said they had to use the nic_install script from the Turbonet install CD to set up ethernet connectivity. I ran the script and bingo - I'm now connecting via ethernet using my static IP as well as via the serial connection. I'm assuming that the ethernet drivers are only installed in the factory OS for the SA models and not the DTivos. Now, I can certainly understand the ethernet suddenly working but the serial port should have worked regardless of what ethernet drivers were installed. Has anyone else seen this or have a clue what's happening? I've got to admit it's got me stumped.

[ronsch]

So Lou,

I would really like to get my unit up to 3.5 for the start of the new TV season on Monday(for me at least). I have reviewed all the salient posts from this thread as you recommend but am not sure of the best course to take.

I am running on my 250GB drive on my DSR6000. The 3.5 update has been downloaded but not installed thanks to the use of the bootpage parameter. Therefore, I have a reboot performed about once a week after my TiVo calls home and realizes that he has the new software but is still running on the old software. I use the Jenkins hack method and have a cachecard installed. I have my 300GB drive that was hosed by the 3.5 update in April that I want to restore to service.


The first part of my plan is to dd the 250 to the 300 so I have a pristine fallback and use mfsadd to expand to the full 300gb. I was wondering if I could use your procedure from the "Experiment #1" post to manually install 3.5 and then pull the drive and use copykern to put the new kernel in place prior to a reboot that might corrupt the file system?

Also, the Jenkins method encourages copying hacks to both active and inactive partitions so I was thinking that apart from redoing the cachecard install with killinitrd that I could just copy my other hacks into place, and change tivowebplus to V3.

What think everyone who has tried something like this? Has the new kernel been reliable given the three months of experience so far?

[PeteEggebeen]

Hey,

I didn't try anything as complex as what you mention, I had very good success with a GXCEBOT and an SAT-T60 doing the following:

Start with 160GB drive and 'bake' with instant cake 3.5
Put drive in TiVo and do 'clear and delete everyting'
take drive back out and run 'jenkins' hack on it. I did everything on that doc but the install of tivoweb plus
put drive back into tivo
set dial in prefix to ',#401' and forced daily call

I did notice after both of these that i lost my local channels after this process. the first time i called directv and they fixed it for me. This time i did some searching on the ptvupgrade forum and found that you are supposed to either go to a failed channel and call directv and enter '1 7 1 1' or just wait a day or two. i tried the phone call and it didn't work, so i am waiting patiently. i will give it another day or so and the have a directv tech fix if needed.


hope this helps.

[ronsch]

Thanks but the requirement for me is to keep current recordings intact.

I just don't want to have to risk the database corruption between the post 3.5 reboot and pulling the drive to use copykern if I can get away with the manual install and copykern prior to a reboot. I'm perfectly willing to reinstall the Jenkins hacks and TivoWebplus if I have to.

[blips]

Originally Posted by ronsch

Also, the Jenkins method encourages copying hacks to both active and inactive partitions .....

Why does he recommend the copying to both partitions? If DirecTv send a new download down doesn't it wipe the inactive partition, make it active and then your old active partition becomes inactive. Thus your stuff is still on the inactive side. Or do I not understand how it works?

[PyroMan]

Originally Posted by ronsch

Thanks but the requirement for me is to keep current recordings intact.

I just don't want to have to risk the database corruption between the post 3.5 reboot and pulling the drive to use copykern if I can get away with the manual install and copykern prior to a reboot. I'm perfectly willing to reinstall the Jenkins hacks and TivoWebplus if I have to.

ronsch,

I finally have the time to sit down and work on my 3.5 upgrade. Did you have any success updating to 3.5 and keeping your recordings? If so, how did you do it?

Thanks!

[lew]

Originally Posted by PyroMan

ronsch,

I finally have the time to sit down and work on my 3.5 upgrade. Did you have any success updating to 3.5 and keeping your recordings? If so, how did you do it?

Thanks!

There isn't any problem with removing the reboot command, running the install script, hacking the new software then completing the installation by rebooting.

My memory is you can just use the DD command to copy the new hacked kernel.

As long as you don't skip a step or make a typo you'll be OK.

[PyroMan]

Ok, let me make sure I understand since all the steps seem to be rather spread out when it comes to keeping your recordings.

1. Take drive from unit (already done)
2. Attach HD to PC, disconnect XP HD. (done)
3. Boot LBA48 CD and run copykern
4. Boot Silicondust ISO and run nic_install
5. Put drive back and watch old shows that have been sitting on it for nearly one year

Am I missing any steps here? Also I receive a message when running copykern that states "tpip: unknown boot block signature: 0x44a8ac9d." From some quick searching online it looks like I may need to run mfsrestore -s 300. I suppose this needs to be done before copykern, but what parameters should be used for a single drive where I am not connecting anything but the 300GB TiVo drive (hdc) and a CDROM (hda) drive to the PC?

***EDIT***
I noticed when searching under /cdrom/s1_kernels/kernel-3.1+/ that the vmlinux file is GZipped but it is referred to without the .gz in the filename for the tpip command line. Should the file be unzipped first or does tpip take care of this?

[lew]

What is the current status of your unit? What about the 3.5 software? Has your drive already been upgraded to 3.5? Did you use the unit after the 3.5 upgrade? Did you previously use he LBA48 hack?

You could have done the upgrade without pulling your drive.

Originally Posted by PyroMan

Ok, let me make sure I understand since all the steps seem to be rather spread out when it comes to keeping your recordings.

1. Take drive from unit (already done)
2. Attach HD to PC, disconnect XP HD. (done)
3. Boot LBA48 CD and run copykern
4. Boot Silicondust ISO and run nic_install
5. Put drive back and watch old shows that have been sitting on it for nearly one year

Am I missing any steps here? Also I receive a message when running copykern that states "tpip: unknown boot block signature: 0x44a8ac9d." From some quick searching online it looks like I may need to run mfsrestore -s 300. I suppose this needs to be done before copykern, but what parameters should be used for a single drive where I am not connecting anything but the 300GB TiVo drive (hdc) and a CDROM (hda) drive to the PC?

***EDIT***
I noticed when searching under /cdrom/s1_kernels/kernel-3.1+/ that the vmlinux file is GZipped but it is referred to without the .gz in the filename for the tpip command line. Should the file be unzipped first or does tpip take care of this?

[PyroMan]

lew,

First, thank you for getting back so quickly each time and for the assistance so far.

Here is exactly what has occured with this drive to date:

Pre-3.5 rollout:

• Upgraded from 40GB HD to 300GB HD
• Added support for cachecard, telnet and ftp but did NOT add a cachecard (I didn't want to have to pull the drive when I finally decided to purchase a cachecard)
• I can't remember exactly where I went, but I used a site that will create a guide for you after entering your model number, number of drives, and whether you want to keep all recordings
• Obviously I had LBA48 from the free LBA48 CD before since this was a large HD
• Unit had 3.1 at the time this was done (around Sept. 2005)
• These steps were followed for two SAT-T60's, the only difference is that one does have a cachecard

After-3.5 rollout:

• Forgot to unplug phone cord from unit without cachecard and it updated to 3.5
• Unit would no longer boot, error: Cannot load kernel
• Pulled 300GB drive and replaced 40GB stock drive
• Waited until I had time to work on this and a stable modified kernel with LBA48 support was released
• 40GB drive now has 3.5

If you need further information to assist, let me know.

Again, thank you!

***EDIT***
Found the site I used: http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com/index.php

[lew]

I don't know what, if any, corruption occured when you got the boot error. Others in your position were able to boot and run their tivos but got problems later on.

Try your luck, I'm not sure anyone knows what the result will be. People seem to think you're OK if you didn't actually run with the 3.5 but YMMV.

I don't know why the upgrade guides don't suggest blocking updates in the software.

Originally Posted by PyroMan

• Forgot to unplug phone cord from unit without cachecard and it updated to 3.5
• Unit would no longer boot, error: Cannot load kernel
• Pulled 300GB drive and replaced 40GB stock drive
• Waited until I had time to work on this and a stable modified kernel with LBA48 support was released
• 40GB drive now has 3.5

If you need further information to assist, let me know.

Again, thank you!

***EDIT***
Found the site I used: http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com/index.php

[PyroMan]

Do you know how I need to use mfsrestore in my situation (i.e. CDROM in hda and TiVo Drive in hdc, no other drives connected)?