Can I do that with an old DirecTivo? That would be awesome. What about the DirecTV box that isn't a Tivo?

You had documentation? o.O

Not to worry! I have given a lot of consideration to that. I don't have a lot of wish lists, but the ones I have are highly customized, some of them with as many as a dozen title or keyword restrictions to keep from recording stuff I don't want. Additionally, I will have to write down all the channels I receive that I want TiVo to ignore, and take a few notes about what channels I do receive so that I can be sure to tell TiVo the correct cable lineup during setup. I'm not concerned about saving anything already recorded. With only 30 hours of recording time available, I don't hang onto a lot of programs!

tanstaafl.

I used Instantcake to upgrade my tivo. It was EXCELLENT. The time it saved me was well worth the extra $20 versus a free DIY. PLUS you don't need a valid image to begin with. I used this after my HDD just gave up, leaving me with no upgrade path.

Bit dubious that it doesn't require the original TiVo drive. They must be distributing the TiVo image which contains copyrighted TiVo stuff...

I really meant to mention that in my post. That is the only negative to the "glow" remote. I find I have to replace the AAA's about every few months, which is a lot for a remote.


I am almost positive that it's a bad hard disk. Those last two symptoms I am very familiar with

The critical items of activation, account numbers, and lifetime service, are stored in a chip on the motherboard. As long as you install an image meant for that specific unit, there is no problem.

But tivos have rigid drive mounting, and the drives are read/writing constantly. You do not never want to move a tivo when it's operating.

The S1 TiVos just had the machine ID in the EEPROM. Everything else was kept on the server side. No clue what they do in S2 and S3 TiVos.

Dubious as in distributing copyrighted software not as in risk of losing your sub. Unlikely that TiVo will do that much about it considering the image is pretty useless if you don't have the TiVo hardware. The main things that do annoy them is switching software images between different types of unit and stealing service.

Oh, totally agreed. But I don't have a problem imaging another drive if mine is toast. I even told tivo support on the phone that I had done this when I reactivated it and they didn't bat an eye. The tech just commented on how nice it must be to have that much space. -=shrug=-

Not sure, but if it runs Tivo software I'd be really surprised if it didn't work...

Apparently DirecTV have disabled networking. You can enable it if you hack it tho...

It does depend on which version of a TiVo you have. I know my buddy hacked his old DirecTiVo's to do show sharing, but it definitely isn't there by default. It's also not available on series 1 TiVo's.

Well, TiVo lives with the new hard drive. Installation was amazingly simple, well worth the premium over just buying a new hard drive, installing the software, etc. TiVo says that the new drive has a maximum recording time of "variable up to 422 hours". At highest quality (it's not HD) I'm guessing it will be about 120 hours.

We'll see if this fixes the problem.

tanstaafl.

I'm glad to hear it was so easy! That's what I've heard from others who have ordered from them. I really like that they give you everything you need to do the job.

My fingers will be crossed for you

No joy.

Three reboots and one lockup (that I can document, there may have been others that occurred when the TiVo wasn't recording) in the first 24 hours.



tanstaafl.

Damn! I'm so sorry to hear that. My apologies for leading you down the wrong path.

It just sounded like exactly what I was seeing...

Not your fault. I knew going in that it was about 80% likelihood to fix the problem (based on posts in various TiVo forums) and it looks like I lucked out and got the other 20%.

Weaknees wrote back to me and suggested that I disconnect the IDE cable to the DVD burner and see if that helps; and if not, then they recommend a small UPS that Amazon sells (~$30 incl. shipping) but I wonder if that isn't overkill. I already have a pretty good APC brand surge protecting power strip, and while I know that won't protect against under-voltage situations, in the 14 months I have lived here I have never seen a power failure, nor have the lights ever flickered or dimmed. Power seems to be pretty stable. I'll go ahead and disconnect the DVD and see if that helps, but I'll hold off on the UPS for now.

tanstaafl.

A UPS isn't going to help you here. The DVD burner disconnect might. But keep in mind that a Tivo is a small computer and all the things that might plague a small computer can plague the Tivo: Power supply. RAM. Bad capacitors on the main board. Dry solder joint. Blah blah blah.

Yes, My early Series 1 Sony had a failing power supply. They were easy to get on the surplus market. Not expensive to replace. YMMV

DVD disconnected, so far 22 hours with no reboots/freezes. I know it's too early to know, but initial symptoms (i.e., lack thereof) are at least promising.

tanstaafl.