Dtivo updates without subscription

1772 Views 15 Replies 6 Participants Last post by BTUx9, Jul 27, 2007

tsanga

Discussion Starter · Jul 10, 2007

Couldn't find the answer anywhere....

Will a non-subbed Dtivo download updates if the satellite lines are hooked up?

Specifically, if I have a Zippered Dtivo that is functioning as an MRV box, will it download update slices from the satellite (e.g. 6.2a)?

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

whitepelican

· #2 · Jul 10, 2007

I'm not sure you even need the satellite lines connected. You probably need the phone line connected, though. You will probably need to comment out the "route" statements in your rc.sysinit.author in order for the phone call to go through. I don't know if the 6.2a update is still in the satellite stream, but it should be able to download it via phone.

Edit: Oh, to answer your question, I've always been able to get updates via phone on non-subbed boxes in the past. I would assume that's still possible.

tsanga

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 10, 2007

Thanks. So you just force a call to Tivo, even as it is un-subbed? Sounds too simple to be true.

whitepelican

· #4 · Jul 10, 2007

Yup, that's all I've done in the past. Like I said, you may need to comment out the "route" statements in rc.sysinit.author or you might find it fail while negotiating the call.

tsanga

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 10, 2007

Yeah, I know how that works. Thanks again.

Edit: For the record and completeness sake, to do the upgrade the upgrade software flag also needs to be set to true.

Da Goon

· #6 · Jul 11, 2007

tsanga said:
Yeah, I know how that works. Thanks again.

Edit: For the record and completeness sake, to do the upgrade the upgrade software flag also needs to be set to true.

You can just remove the "upgradesoftware=false" flag completely. If you do a manual upgrade, it doesn't matter whether or not that is set.

tsanga

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jul 24, 2007

Will have to give this thread a bump....

So I've called and restarted and called and restarted and called and called....

Still no updates. This is on an un-subbed un-hacked HDVR2. I've read that it sometimes just takes a lot of persistences. Am I doing it right?

I just want to update to the latest software so 1. I can get a good backup image and 2. I can sell it with the latest.

tsanga

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jul 24, 2007

Update: I have been trying this update by repeating guided setup, rebooting, and forcing calls, to no avail. I finally contacted D* customer service and they deflected me to TiVo customer service. TiVo CS was stumped why they had to answer a D* question, then finally just told me that an un-subbed unit (with "closed" account) won't receive updates from their servers.

Can anybody verify this, or did I get a load of BS?

whitepelican

· #9 · Jul 24, 2007

I suppose it is possible that I gave you a bad answer up above, but I know I did this several times before. I did it with 3 or 4 different unsubbed DirecTivos to get them updated to 6.2. But that was probably 1.5-2 years ago. Maybe DirecTV has changed something about the process.

tsanga

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jul 24, 2007

I think I'm going to try pulling the drive out of the non-subscribed unit, putting it into the subscribed box (where the hacked drive sits currently), and see if that does the trick.

Yeah, quite possible that either Tivo or D* changed how they do this, especially as they continue to give each other the cold shoulder.

captain_video

· #11 · Jul 25, 2007

You can definitely upgrade DTivos without a subscription. I've upgraded my S2 DTivos and HDTivos recently to the latest OS and even upgraded my older S1 DTivos to 3.5d. I haven't had an active DTV sub since February.

6.2 is probably no longer in the datastream so you can only get it via a phone connection nowadays. DTV tech support doesn't know squat about Tivos so they're pretty much useless. Their cure is to swap out the box when they don't know what the problem is. There is a script floating around that will allow you to grab the slices if they're still in the datastream. I believe it's called add62.tcl or something to that effect.

You'd need to hack your DTivo to use it but the Zipper will make short work of that. Just run the initial Zipper script and then transfer the file over to your DTivo, make it executable, and run it from bash. If the slices are still in the datastream they'll show up in mfs in short order. A couple of phone calls will then initiate the upgrade automatically or you can run it manually if you prefer.

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Yog-Sothoth

· #12 · Jul 27, 2007

Which unit is it? I have the slices for a Samsung unit around here somewhere.

tsanga

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jul 27, 2007

HDVR2. I'll take a raincheck for now. I'm trying to get an up-to-date image on the unmodified, stock "virgin" drive for my backup purposes. No hacks on it to slice.

Thanks for the offer.

BTUx9

· #14 · Jul 27, 2007

A thought occurs --- WHY?

the only major fix in 6.2a seems to be for DST changes, and for an unsubbed box, that's not terribly necessary.

tsanga

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jul 27, 2007

True. But when I started, I thought it would be really easy to plug the drive in, make a couple phone calls, get it updated, and put the drive away for another year. I already had the cover off the box for a drive swap, so I thought I would just do a quick update.

Of course, now it's looking like more trouble than it's worth.

BTUx9

· #16 · Jul 27, 2007

tsanga said:
Of course, now it's looking like more trouble than it's worth.

and then some. If you end up having to restore the 6.2 image, you can always use my script to upgrade to 6.2a... it'll still SAY 6.2, but the files the tivo runs would be 6.2a

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