[nrupaw]

hi,
I was wondering if someone on this forum can help me out. first time tivo user. I basically got a series 2 single tuner tivo unit as a hand-me-down from my buddy. I hook it up to my cable and tv. got it up and running fine. it logged on to the tivo servers and downloaded service updates and installed them fine too. no errors so far.
my buddy told me he has a grandfathered lifetime plan on that tivo unit and all I have to do is hook it up and it will work fine. But for some reason I don't get any data into my tivo guide at all. all its says is "to be announced" next to the names of the channels.
so basically right now all I can do is pause/rewind/fast forward live tv. I don't have any access to the tv guide and can't schedule any sort of show recordings.

my question is... would I have to call into support to get them to activate the lifetime plan that's attached to the unit? my buddy says I wouldn't have to because he never had to and it worked fine for him

or

do i have to sign up for one of tivo's current plans to use their service.

any help is appreciated

 

[ZikZak]

If you just set it up, it will take about 3-4 hours to process the service information and start populating the guide.

You can confirm that this is a lifetime service box by going to Messages and Settings/System Information.

 

[nrupaw]

oh okay... yeah I just gave it a couple of hours last night. so maybe will give it a few hours today to populate

also you mentioned checking "Messages and Settings/System Information" where exactly in there would I look? because I checked messages and it was empty. no new messages.

thanks for the help

 

[ZikZak]

Not in messages, but in the "Messages and Settings" menu, then scroll down to "system information."

What do you mean you gave it a few hours last night and will give it a few more today? Did you unplug it? The tivo should always be left on.

 

[nrupaw]

thanks

yup it was on since last night. I just meant that I waited for the guide to populate yesterday and it never did and haven't checked it this morning and won't be able to till I get back home from works (hence "a few hours")

will post again what happens later tonight. will appreciate it if you can check this thread later tonight or tomorrow morning incase I have any questions...

thanks zkizak

 

[mick66]

hi,
I basically got a series 2 single tuner tivo unit as a hand-me-down from my buddy.

my buddy told me he has a grandfathered lifetime plan on that tivo unit and all I have to do is hook it up and it will work fine.

It may have a lifetime subscription, but certainly doesn't have a "grandfathered" lifetime sub. The early series 1 Tivos that had lifetime subscriptions purchased before January 20, 2000 are the only Tivos that could possibly have a grandfathered lifetime subscription. Why? because there was some confusion between Tivo and consumers as to what a lifetime subscription was. So as of the 1/20/00 date, Tivo made it very clear that a lifetime subscription was for the life of the unit itself and not transferable to another Tivo and not the lifetime of the consumer. The Tivos that had already been subscribed with the lifetime option were grandfathered in as having a single transfer option to any future Tivo unit. The series 2 units hit the market in 2002, well after the fact. Even if the lifetime subscription on your Tivo was transfered from a grandfathered S1 Tivo, it is no longer grandfathered, it's just a lifetime subscription.

 

[nrupaw]

hmmm....
will look into this. the buddy I got the unit from did mentioned that he has transferred his subscription from his old tivo to the series 2 (the one he gave me).
so will check it out tonight. if the service still works then good... if not I will just go ahead and buy a years worth.

I am allowed to buy a service plan for a 'used' Tivo right? or are they gonna be like... since you want a new service, you gotta buy a new tivo unit....

 

[funtoupgrade]

I have read the original post and all the replies but am still confused. Did you run a new guided setup from the reset menu when you got this? If not, that is the problem. If the unit actually has lifetime on it, and you run a new guided setup it will work normally on completion of the guided setup. As several have noted it does take some hours after the guided setup for all the programming info to be in place.

 

[mick66]

guided setup - someone needed to think of it
but even w/o repeating guided setup, he would get guide data for whatever lineup it was set to.

 

[nrupaw]

updates....

thanks for all the help guys. now this is where I am at.

1) I checked system information and it does say it has a lifetime service subscription
2) when i got home and checked the unit, the channel list had populated itself. guess I just had to give it a day
3) I had not run a guided setup earlier and I had to do it tonight because I had to change the zip code. the earlier code was a different one. this corrected the smaller problem I had, which was all the channel names were mismatched.

so all in all, after a change of zip code, a guided setup, a few hours of waiting... things seem to be on track.

:up: