Kickstart 52 with TIVO S2

[TK1247]

I am having trouble with one of my TIVO S2's. It is a Humax not sure on the model number. This TIVO cannot install the 9.1 upgrade. I have read on here about kick start 52 and how to do it but for some reason it will not work.

Here is what I am doing. Holding pause button during the powering on screen, two yellow lights come on and I enter 52. One yellow light goes off then it goes to installing new service update like always. Then it goes to TIVO Central but it has still not upgraded to 9.1. Plus one of the yellow lights does not go off even when I go to live TV.

TIVO says that I have a bad sector on my hard drive but it seems like allot of people have had the same thing since the last update. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

TK

[richsadams]

Sorry to hear that you're experiencing problems with your Tivo. Two things to clear up first.

v9.2 is currently only available for TiVo Series3 and Tivo HD models. v9.1 is the latest software for Series2 TiVo's.

KS52 will only download and install the version of the software currently running on the box, not anything newer or older.

I'm not sure what issues you're having, but you might want to try using TiVo's diagnostic programs to resolve them, KS57 and KS58.

Click here for KS57 and KS58 instructions.

[TK1247]

Sorry I am talking about updating to ver 9.1, i edited my post to show the correct ver.

My problem is that the update does not load when TIVO reboots. After every call to TIVO it says pending restart. My other S2's have 9.1 now but this one will not install it, TIVO said that the update was saved on a bad sector of the hard drive and it will never update, so I need a new TIVO. Just trying to find somethings that might work. I asked TIVO about the kickstarts and they would not talk about them. Thank for any help

I have done KS 57. How do you know if TIVO has done KS 58 or KS 52? Do you get a screen telling you that it is complete?

Thanks

TK

[richsadams]

Originally Posted by TK1247

Sorry I am talking about updating to ver 9.1, i edited my post to show the correct ver.

My problem is that the update does not load when TIVO reboots. After every call to TIVO it says pending restart. My other S2's have 9.1 now but this one will not install it, TIVO said that the update was saved on a bad sector of the hard drive and it will never update, so I need a new TIVO. Just trying to find somethings that might work. I asked TIVO about the kickstarts and they would not talk about them. Thank for any help

I have done KS 57. How do you know if TIVO has done KS 58 or KS 52? Do you get a screen telling you that it is complete?

Thanks

TK

No new screens w/KS52 or KS57. (Again, KS52 will just download what you already have, not an upgrade.) TiVo will simply reboot after running the programs and you can try to force a connection to get the latest upgrade.

If there are bad sectors and you still can't get things to work after running KS57 and KS58, TiVo apparently isn't able to fix the situation. Other things that can appear the same way are bad read/write head issues.

If all of that doesn't work the TiVo folks may be right...time for a new TiVo. It does sound like a HDD issue. You could replace the drive, but it's probably more economical to just buy a new TiVo. IIRC there are rebates that will get you one for almost free and others that offer some significant discounts right now depending on the model you buy.

Best of luck and keep us posted!

EDIT: Just a thought...when it says "Pending restart", what are you doing? Once it says that you can do one of two things; wait and it will automatically install the update at 2 a.m. your time. Or you can do a reboot - unplug TiVo for 10 to 15 seconds and plug it back it. That will cause the update to install immediately.

[billb914]

how long are you supposed to hold the pause? I have a series 2 and after 30 seconds I gave up. It booted back to "installing service update". The yellow light never came on.

[richsadams]

Originally Posted by billb914

how long are you supposed to hold the pause? I have a series 2 and after 30 seconds I gave up. It booted back to "installing service update". The yellow light never came on.

You actually only have to hit the pause button just before the screen changes from the "Welcome, powering up" to "Almost there. Just a few minutes more...". At that moment you'll see the yellow light come on briefly and that's when you can initiate a kickstart command.

That said, it's almost impossible to know exactly when the moment will arrive so it's recomended that you hold the pause button down from the time you do a reboot. If you have the pause button down when the yellow light comes on it will stay steady for about 10 seconds. That's when you need to release it and enter the KS numbers.

If it's trying to install a service update, what is happening that you need to run a KS command?

[billb914]

I was stuck in the "wont update guide w/o service update" and "service update requires restart" which never took.

Ended up doing the guided settup which fixed it.

Thanks.

[richsadams]

Originally Posted by billb914

I was stuck in the "wont update guide w/o service update" and "service update requires restart" which never took.

Ended up doing the guided settup which fixed it.

Thanks.

Good news.