How can I force a 6.3.(any) upgrade from 3.1.5f ?

PLug in the phone line and phone home or wait and I will have a virgin 63e image up on the web

 

you said the drive was hacked... in that case, it's probably set NOT to allow upgrades... there are plenty of threads here dealing with that situation.

re: slicer... I'm pretty sure that runs on a working tivo, not on a PC

 

many people have complained of not getting slices on a dtivo box... I'm not sure a phonecall actually gets the slices for dtivos since satellite downloads have proven basically reliable.

Unfortunately, if the slices are no longer in the stream (like with plain 6.3), you end up in this situation.

At this point, your best bet may be to see if you can track down somebody with the original slices (I'm pretty sure it has to be the pure 6.3, because of the major changes to mfs)

of course, it is POSSIBLE to mfsbackup and mfsrestore on running tivos (without pulling the drives), but is likely to involve much more work than actually pulling them.

p.s. I'm sorry I misread your intent on your first post, but we're just trying to help, so you may want to tone down the responses

 

If you have another HDTivo with the current software then shut one down and make a backup image (you should have done this already if you do any sort of Tivo hacking). Creating a backup image won't put your other HDTivo out of service for more than 20 or 30 minutes, worst case. I just don't understand why you're screwing around with getting the slices when you can restore an image from another unit that already has the latest software. You can rehack your new drive using the Zipper or do it manually, whichever you feel the most comfortable with. If you've hacked as many Tivos as you claim then this should be a snap for you (although the use of an automated script really doesn't constitute hacking in any real sense).

 

I recently migrated from 3.1.something (on an unhacked drive) to 6.2a by forcing daily calls several days in a row. I started making the calls on Monday or Tuesday, and the slices appeared by Friday. This was before the 6.3e roll-out.

Even though you've had the phone line connected, you didn't mention if you were forcing daily calls. If you start this process today and force one or two calls each afternoon, perhaps this might work for you. If nothing else, it's easier than the drive pulling you're trying to avoid.

My 3.1.something was on the original drive from several years ago. BOTH upgraded drives in the unit failed (2 months after the warranty expired; amazing how the drive people plan their MTBF) so I replaced them with the original. I laughed out loud when it complained about the 1000+ days since the last daily call when it booted up.

 

Look at this post here for a pointer to 6.3c slices : http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4973418#post4973418
It has you download a script which then initiates a wget download and dbload of the 6.3c slices. Or you could just follow the trail and download, dbload, and upgrade yourself.

 

as I said in post #6, I don't think you can jump major s/w versions because of the mfs changes involved.
If I'm right, he'd have to upgrade 3.1.5f -> 6.3 -> 6.3c (or d or e), so the 6.3c slices aren't enough.
If I'm wrong, please let me know (and provide a link, if available) because I HATE disseminating inaccurate info.

 

I'm not sure it's necessary to step from 3.1.5x to 6.3 before going to 6.3x. What makes you think that it is?

Even the most minor steps (6.3c to 6.3d for example) display the "updating database," so I was under the impression that included in the slices were any MFS changes.

I'm trying to think of the biggest jump that I've taken a box through. Perhaps it was 4.0.1b to 7.x or 8.x? That should be nearly equivalent to 3.1.5 to 6.3x (~7.2.1).

I'd recommend the OP get the 6.3c slices as advised and install.

 

I've done it on a few times on a few of my boxes. I've never run any 6.3x version that was previous to 6.3b.

 

I made a call in with a backup image restored to a new drive, and after a restart, it went from 3.1.5e to 6.3e in one call. And now another fresh backup.