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Hacking the TiVO FAQ
The Whole Hacking The TiVo FAQ

The Whole Hacking The TiVo FAQ

Last changed on Thu Jun 6 14:44:10 2002 GMT

(Entries marked with ** were changed within the last 24 hours; entries marked with * were changed within the last 7 days.)


1. General information


2. Backing up your TiVo


3. Adding a second drive


4. Other TiVo hacks and information


5. Credits and contact information


1. General information


1.1. What is a TiVo?

That is a topic better handled by the TiVo FAQ. Go to the TiVo Community Forum at http://www.tivocommunity.com and read the TiVo FAQ. There are lots of helpful people on there and many good threads on there to help you understand what your TiVo is all about.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 09:57:15 2000 by mhill


1.2. Where can I get the latest TiVo hacking files?

Go to http://www.tivofaq.com/hack/ for the latest version of the BlessTiVo program for adding a second drive, and other TiVo hacking related information.

You can see programs and code from various members of the TiVo hacking community at http://tivo.samba.org/download/

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Jun 20 12:09:53 2001 by Chris Pepper


1.3. Why would I want to hack my TiVo?

Well that depends on you. The biggest reason to hack your TiVo is because you want to add more space to it. For example, by adding a 30GB drive to a 14 hour TiVo you can go from 14 hours of storage to 52 hours. Some people want to hack their TiVo just because it is fun and they enjoy the hacking experience.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 10:22:53 2000 by mhill


1.4. Why is the TiVo hackable?

The biggest reason for this is that TiVo used Linux for their Operating System. Linux is an open source OS that is widely available for many different platforms. The other reason is that TiVo uses standard off the shelf IDE hard drives. This makes the hard drive upgrade easy, since you can go to any computer shop and buy an IDE drive.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Jun 20 12:11:09 2001 by Chris Pepper


1.5. Is this hacking dangerous?

Yes. There are many ``bad'' things that could happen.

The TiVo runs on AC power so you could electrocute yourself if you touch the power supply while the unit is plugged in. Since the power supply is unshielded even when unplugged you could still receive a shock! It is also very easy to damage the power supply because it is unshielded. Make sure you do not touch the power supply, or allow any components or tools to touch it. If you fry the power supply, you will need to replace it to get your TiVo to work!

If you damage the original hard drive in the TiVo you will render your TiVo useless if you have no backup.

The other big warning is that when you open your TiVo you void your warranty. Do NOT open your TiVo unless you understand the risks noted above. Life with TiVo is great, but life with a dead TiVo is not!

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Aug 8 20:11:47 2001 by Otto


1.6. Do I need to learn Linux to hack my TiVo?

Well it depends on what you want to do. If you want to simply add a second drive to your TiVo for more storage space, the answer is no. If you want to modify the TiVo Linux kernel the answer is yes. The best way to answer this question is to read the following sections to see what is required for the hack you wish to do.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 10:49:37 2000 by mhill


1.7. How do I know if I am qualified to hack my TiVo?

If you are uncomfortable opening up your PC and adding drives and interface cards, your best bet is to avoid this entire procedure. If you already know the difference between a primary/slave and secondary/master drive setting, you are probably going to really enjoy this.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 10:55:01 2000 by mhill


1.8. How can I get involved in this TiVo hacking?

The best place to go is Underground forum at http://www.tivocommunity.com.

There is an IRC channel on irc.openprojects.net called #tivo, however they have explicitly and repeatedly asked that the channel only be used by those experienced in TiVo hacking and *NOT* users seeking help, techical support or general Q&A.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sun Nov 11 19:13:21 2001 by embeem


1.9. Is my TiVo hackable?

Stand Alone models
  Status: All models are hackable
  Current software version: 2.5.1
  - Version 1.3.0 featured a variable called "shondss" which would enabled sh on the dss port.
  - Version 2.0.1 removed the shondss variable and introduced public key signing to prevent modifications to the kernel.
  - Version 2.5.1 changes to the modules to reduce the amount of exported symbols
  Factory configuration:
    PHILIPS:
      HDR112   - 14 hour, with one hard drive 
      HDR212   - 20 hour, with one hard drive
      HDR312   - 30 hour, with two hard drives and 1.2.1 software 
      HDR31201 - 30 hour, with one hard drive (LCT10) and 1.2.1 software
      HDR31202 - 30 hour, with one hard drive (LCT10) and 1.3 software
      HDR31203 - 30 hour, with one hard drive (LCT15) and 1.3 software
      HDR612   - 60 hour, with two hard drives
    SONY:
      SVR-2000 - 30 hour, with one hard drive (LCT15) and 1.3 software
Combo (DIRECTV) models
  Status: As of 2.5.0 no filesystem changes are possible, disk upgrades are still possible.
  Current software version: 2.5.0
  - Version 2.0 featured a file check on startup, however this was easily bypassed with 'chattr +i' to prevent deletion.
  - Version 2.5 improves on the filesystem check by rebooting if any part of the scan fails, the effect is that 'chattr +i' nolonger works and sets the TiVo into a reboot loop.
 Factory configuration:
   PHILIPS:
     DSR6000  - 35 hour variable, Direct TV with Tivo Service
              - two hard drives with 2.0 software
   SONY:
     SAT-T60  - 35 hour variable, Direct TV with Tivo Service
              - one hard drive with 2.0 software

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sun Nov 11 17:13:37 2001 by embeem


1.10. Can I hack my TiVo so I don't need a TiVo subscription?

NO NO NO. This is something that will NOT be explored. TiVo has been very gracious in not coming down on all this hacking described in this FAQ and we will do nothing to harm that. Nothing will be looked at to get around the subscription service so don't ask! Regardless your TiVo will function as a VCR already with manual record mode.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 11:01:13 2000 by mhill


1.11. Are there any products that can make my computer a TiVo like device?

Yes there are some.

       PureDiva:    Software only bundled with complete PC's. http://www.purediva.com 
       Ligos:       Windows based PTV. http://www.ligos.com/news/pr_timeshift.html 
       PowerVCR:    Windows based VCR. http://www.cyberlink.com.tw/english/products/powervcr2/powervcr2.asp 
       WinVCR:      Windows based VCR. http://www.cinax.com/Products/winvcr.html 
       SnapStream:  Windows based PTV (freeware and commercial version). http://www.snapstream.com 
       ShowShifter: Windows based PTV (freeware). http://www.showshifter.com

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 11:05:32 2000 by mhill


1.12. So who are all the people I have to thank for the TiVo hacking?

Well here are just some of the people involved. Feel free to email me those I forgot.

cc, Peter Creath, TivoTechie, and Ron Curry were the guys to figure out originally how to add a second drive to a TiVo. It all started with these guys. Many of these guys are working on other projects such as understanding the MFS format, expanding the A drive, etc. If it was not for the work these guys did (and continue to do) none of this hacking would happen as soon as it did.

Dylan created a Linux boot floppy that contains the programs and utilities needed to make a backup of your TiVo A drive. This disk also contains Mike's BlessTiVo program on it. Dylan has been working on a program to automated turning on or off many of the special hacks noted in this FAQ. Kazymyr created a CD-ROM version of Dylan's boot disk, including a bunch of other utilities; DanT updated a few bits, and released an updated boot CD http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/Forum6/HTML/006392.html.

Andrew Tridgell has developed a PAL kit for the TiVo. With his software (see section 4.1) your TiVo can accept PAL video. He also donated space on one of the samba.org servers to host this FAQ. Andrew is the creator of the infamous Samba! Go to http://www.samba.org/ for more information.

Mike Hill (aka Belboz) wrote the BlessTiVo program that automates the ``blessing'' process to add a second drive. He also wrote a program (osdmngr) to convert Targa files to and from cs22 files for creating On Screen Displays for the TiVo. He compiled the Joe text editor and MicroCom Terminal program for the TiVo also. The osdmngr, joe, and microcom can be found at http://tivo.samba.org/download/belboz/ . (I am also one of the many who edit this FAQ)

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Mon Jul 23 19:34:37 2001 by Chris Pepper


1.13. Is there a How-To for performing recording capacity upgrades?

Yes. The following How-To incorporates the latest upgrade utilites, including Kazymyr's Boot Cd and Tiger's Mfs Tools, for a generally easier and faster TiVo upgrade experience:

http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to/

The How-To provides relative newbies with simplified step-by-step instruction for recording capacity upgrades only. For more comprehensive hacking, and broader TiVo information, you should refer to the TiVo Hack FAQ.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Tue Oct 9 22:51:49 2001 by hinsdale


2. Backing up your TiVo


2.1. What do I need to open up my TiVo?

The following equipment is needed.

Torx #10 screwdriver. You can find one at almost any hardware store. (Sears and Lowes had them in my area). The TiVo uses special Torx screws for the case and drive. Don't try using a regular flat head screwdriver or you will end up stripping the screws out and making the upgrade more difficult.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 11:21:35 2000 by mhill


2.2. How do I open my TiVo?

Unplug your TiVo and allow time for the hard drive to stop spinning before moving it.

Remove the three Torx screws on the back of the TiVo. The top lid should slide off. It is on very tight. Some people have used a flat head screwdriver to pry under the top of the case where the screws in the back were removed. Take your time.

Remember to avoid touching the power supply since you can be shocked even with it unplugged.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 11:37:25 2000 by mhill


2.3. What is all this cool stuff in the TiVo I see?

Well looking at the insides of your TiVo from the front you see the following items.

The board on the far left is the main circuit board. This board contains things like the CPU, MPEG decoder chip, modem, etc. This is the brains of your TiVo unit.

The top right of the unit is the power supply. This supplies power to the main circuit board and to the hard drive(s) .

To the bottom right you will see either one or two hard drives. Most units will have only one drive.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 11:39:05 2000 by mhill


2.4. Why should I make a backup?

Well there are numerous reasons you should make a backup

If something goes wrong and you damage your original A drive your TiVo is now useless

If you are upgrading your TiVo capacity by adding a second drive it can not be removed once added. If you pull a second drive from a TiVo once it has been added, the TiVo will no longer boot up.

If TiVo changes something in future software revisions it is possible user hacked units may stop working or just do ``weird things''. If this happens, a backup would get you back to your original (supported) state.

Even if you don't hack your TiVo a backup of the A drive could be handy if your TiVo A drive dies down the road and your unit is out of warranty. You could purchase a new drive and restore your backup onto that drive.

It is the smart thing to do so do it!

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Jun 20 19:34:25 2001 by Chris Pepper


2.5. When should I make a backup?

Well the ideal time is with a TiVo that has never been powered up. Getting a backup in this ``virgin'' state is ideal. The problem with this is you are going to void your warranty on a new TiVo you have never used. Some people don't mind this, but if your TiVo modem is fried and you don't use your TiVo first you will never know until after you voided your warranty. If you are going to make a backup to file a virgin TiVo is ideal because many people have been able to compress their virgin TiVo A drives down to a file small enough to compress onto a single CDR (less than 650MB). Newer units with the demo mode only compress down to a file about 3GB or so which is still small enough to fit on 5 CD's. If the TiVo has actually been in use it will not compress well and could take dozens of CD's for a backup.

UPDATE: As of July 2001, there are programs to delete the recorded TV programming data, providing single-CD backups. As this is still rapidly evolving, check the discussio fora for the latest info http://www.avsforum.com/ubbcgitivo/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&forum=TiVo+Underground&number=6.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Mon Jul 23 20:20:38 2001 by Chris Pepper


2.6. I have two TiVo units can I just backup one unit?

Yes and no. The best rule of thumb is to do a backup for each unique model TiVo you own. For example if you have a Sony and a Philips model you should backup each since the units are different.

One VERY important thing also. If you have a unit that has a serial number that starts with 002 and you don't back it up and restore an image from a non 002 unit which has version 1.2.1 or lower of the TiVo software you will run into problems. The TiVo service will still assume your 002 unit has 1.3 and will not upgrade the software to 1.3. You will also tick TiVo off when your unit is calling in with software that has not been installed on that unit. TiVo has been very kind initially when things like this happened, but it is better to not rock the boat. If you want to share a backup between multiple TiVo's you own, make sure they all have the same version software installed from the factory.

Update!!!

Do NOT use a backup of a Philips unit on a Sony or vice versa. The TiVo servers will get mixed up and TiVo will terminate your account.

With all the new units coming out this is a very important issue. So just remember to do a backup for each unit you hack UNLESS they are the EXACT same unit and EXACT same revision software. If you do otherwise you risk losing your TiVo service and or ticking TiVo off.

If you are unsure on this subject go to http://www.tivocommunity.com and ask there before you proceed.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Oct 25 18:32:01 2000 by mhill


2.7. What do I need to backup my TiVo A drive?

The following things are needed.

A PC with an IDE bus and a floppy drive.

A hard drive to store the backup on (at least temporarily, although you can burn it to CD-ROM later if desired).

A backup program of some type to backup the ``A'' drive in the TiVo. See section 2.9 for more information.

Something to store your backup on. See section 2.8 for more details.

Follow the procedures noted in section 2.1 to open the actual TiVo unit up.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Jun 20 19:37:42 2001 by Chris Pepper


2.8. I want to make a backup, but how do I do it?

Smart choice! Well there are a couple ways to do it.

You can buy an extra drive and make a complete backup of your original A drive onto the new drive. This way you can pull the original A drive out and store it for safe keeping and run using the new backup A drive. Remember that your drive needs to be large enough to hold the copy. So if you have a TiVo with a 30GB Quantum as the A drive, you should buy a 30GB drive as the backup drive. I recommend getting the same drive as your original A drive so that you ensure your copy will fit. Some people bought a Western Digital 15GB drive for backing up their 15GB Quantum in the TiVo only to find out the Western Digital was actually a tiny bit smaller and they couldn't make a backup.

You can also make a backup to a file or series of files onto another drive. You could keep them on that drive or possibly burn them onto CDROM's if you have a CDR or CDRW drive. The benefit to the backup to file method is that you do not have to worry about drive model type. As long as your drive is large enough to hold the image you are fine.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 11:57:39 2000 by mhill


2.9. I bought an extra drive for my A drive backup how can I make a copy of it?

There are currently three recommended programs to do this with. Two are DOS programs named Dolly and DiskPro Lite. The third is a Linux boot disk put together by a member of the TiVo community (Dylan). It is recommended that you use the Linux boot disk (floppy or CD version). It has proven more reliable than the DOS programs. These first steps must be done regardless of which program you wish to use for the backup.

1.Unplug your TiVo and allow time for the hard drive to stop spinning before moving it.

2.Open up your TiVo.

3.Remove the IDE connector and power cable from the back of the drive in the TiVo. Be careful to not touch the power supply.

4.Remove the two Torx screws from the front of the plate the drive is mounted to. The drive should then lift up from the front and easily be removed from the TiVo.

5.Power off your PC and open up the case. Make a note of what drives are connected to what IDE busses, and at the end or in the middle. Connect the original TiVo A drive to the Secondary IDE channel on your motherboard. Take your new backup drive and make sure it is set as the slave drive. This will vary depending on your drive type. See the manufacturer's documentation for details. Connect it to the cable connected to the Secondary IDE channel also. This will make your original TiVo A drive the master on the Secondary IDE connector, and the backup drive will be the Slave on the Secondary IDE connector. You will probably have to disconnect any CD/DVD/Zip drives to do this. Make sure each drive also has a power connector plugged into it. Unplug ANY devices from the Primary IDE port. This is VERY important if you use Dolly to do the copy. Note: if you use the boot CD, it offers a faster non-byteswapping mode, in which case you can also use primary master. If you back up without byteswapping, any RESTORES will have to be done without byteswapping too.

6.Power up your PC and go into your CMOS. This varies depending on the computer's BIOS. Some systems require hitting the delete key on power up, some F1 or F10, and some the escape key. If you don't know you will need to check your computers documentation. In the CMOS make sure the Secondary Master and Slave drives are set to AUTO. If your BIOS does not have an AUTO settings you can sometimes have the BIOS detect the drives for you. Save your settings and reboot.

7.Make sure your PC detects the drive sizes correctly. If your CMOS reports either drive's capacity wrong then DO NOT continue.

Some things to check if the drive is not detected correctly:

Your computer may be an older model and have trouble with large drives. Find a system with a newer BIOS capable of handling large drives. If you're using the Linux boot disk you can turn off the CMOS settings for the drives. Linux can detect the drives automatically without the CMOS settings. This allowed my Pentium 166 to detect a 60GB Maxtor drive. The CMOS on the Pentium 166 would lock the system up if I let it try to detect the drive.

The drive is locked. If the CMOS reports something like 19 cylinders, 16 heads, 63 Sectors (10MB) you have a locked drive. Those numbers were reported by a user with a locked 30GB Quantum A drive in his TiVo. See the sections below on how to deal with locked drives.

If the capacity for each drive is detected correctly then you may proceed to the appropriate sections below depending on which backup program you are using.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Mon Jul 23 19:40:06 2001 by Chris Pepper


2.10. How do I make a disk to disk backup with Dolly?

The following are the steps needed to backup your original TiVo A drive to a new drive. If the new drive is a Quantum also it will be bootable in your TiVo. The below steps assume you have the drives connected as described in section 2.9 above. It should be noted that Dolly detects xhd128 as the first hard drive the BIOS sees and not necessarily the Primary Master drive. Make sure you have disconnected all drives from the Primary IDE connector on your motherboard. Failure to do so could cause you to erase those drives or your TiVo drive.

1.Download Dolly at the following address ftp://ftp.bke.hu/pub/mirrors/sac/utildisk/dolly.zip

2.Format a bootable floppy and extract the files from the dolly archive to it. Do NOT run Dolly from inside Windows or from a DOS window.

3.Boot your computer with the floppy in the drive. Make sure your computers boot up screen (Post screen) detects the drives fine.

4.Type the following command from the A prompt ``dolly xhd128: xhd129: /c'' (do not type the quotes)

5.After that command is finished type the following ``dolly xhd128: xhd129:`` (do not type the quotes)

6.Make sure there were NO error messages or problems with the copy process. If there was you should go back through these steps here and make sure you followed every step. If it fails again, your likely problem is smaller destination drive.

7.After the last command finishes you can turn off your computer, wait for the drives to spin down and you are done!

This process can take HOURS to run. Do not be alarmed if it takes awhile. Once finished you can either boot your new copied A drive if it is a Quantum and store your original drive for safe keeping. If your new drive is a non quantum you will need to put your original A drive back in and keep the new drive as your backup.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 14:55:50 2000 by mhill


2.11. How do I make a disk to disk backup with DiskPro Lite?

The following are the steps needed to backup your original TiVo A drive to a new drive. If the new drive is a Quantum drive it will be bootable in your TiVo without need for the "runideturbo" setting described in later sections. The steps below assume you have the drive connected as described in section 2.9 above.

1.Download DiskPro Lite from http://www.fitusa.com/freesoft.htm. You want to download the DPCR.EXE file.

2.Execute the DPCR.EXE file to extract the files from it.

3.Format a bootable DOS floppy. Copy the diskpro.exe file to the floppy.

4.Boot your PC with the newly made floppy in the drive.

5.At the DOS prompt type ``diskpro'' and hit enter (no quotes)

6.Use the Quick Copy option

7.Select your source drive

8.Select your destination drive

9.Make sure the above choices are correct before starting the copy

10.Relax while the drive is copied to a new drive. A user with a 14 hour A drive reported this copy took about one hour. Your mileage may vary.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 14:59:13 2000 by mhill


2.12. How do I make a disk to disk backup with Dylan's Boot Disk, or the CD version?

Dylan's boot disk is a ``Linux on a floppy'' that one of the AVS members (Dylan in case you didn't guess!) put together. It has everything on it you need to make either a disk to disk copy of a TiVo A drive, or a disk to image copy. It also contains Mike Hill's BlessTiVo program which will be described in later sections. The process to do this is as follows. There is also a CD-ROM version http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/Forum6/HTML/006392.html, that includes a bunch of other tools, including TiVoMad and the TiVoNet installer.

1a.Download Dylan's disk at the following site http://www.sonnik.com/tivo/download.asp.

1b. Download the CD ISO from http://stamasda.darktech.org:8080/tbd/experimental/ or http://www.darkmage.net/tivo/. Note: the CD should automatically unlock Quantum drives; if they show as 9-10mb while booted from the CD, reboot once to see if that clears the problem.

2a.Extract the files from the archive. Get a blank formatted floppy ready and run the batch file from the archive. It will prompt you to insert a floppy in drive A, and it will create the boot disk for you.

2b.Use a CD recording program to burn the .iso file onto a CD-R disk (works from Linux, Windows, and Toast on a Mac).

3.Reboot the PC with the floppy diskette in the A drive or CD in the CD-ROM drive. Make sure the BIOS is configured to boot from floppy or CD as appropriate.

4a.Once the floppy has booted you will see a login prompt. Login as ``root'' (no quotes) and hit enter.

4b.The CD will offer you a few different settings. If they don't make sense, just press RETURN to accept the default. Alternatively, you can use a non-byteswapping mode which makes backups faster, but such backups can only be restored on another non-byteswapping system.

5.Type the following command to make your image. This assumes you have the drives connected to your PC as described in section 2.9 above. Do NOT connect either drive to the Primary IDE channel as the master drive. It will NOT work. Connect them as detailed here unless you know what you are doing.

6. "dd if=/dev/hdc of=/dev/hdd bs=32k" (no quotes)

If that command eventually returns an error, use this one instead. "dd conv=noerror,sync if=/dev/hdc of=/dev/hdd bs=32k"

7.This can take a LONG time. The dd program does not give any visual feedback until it is finished. You hard drive activity light should show activity though through the entire process. The backup time can take anywhere from 2-8 hours. The time varies due to drive size, CPU speed, etc.

8.Make sure when the command is finished that no errors were reported. The program should report X number of blocks in and X numbers of blocks out. These numbers should be equal. If there were errors, you need to go back through this section and see if you skipped a step. Record these numbers, so you can make sure you get the same if and when you do a restore later.

9.Turn off the PC and wait for the drive to spin down. Your backup is complete.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sun Sep 9 17:41:18 2001 by Chris Pepper


2.13. Isn't my TiVo unit's serial number stored on the drive?

No. This has been a common misconception. The TiVo unit's serial number is stored in a crypto chip on the motherboard. This has mainly been a fear with users with two TiVos who want to make one backup to use with both units.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Jun 20 20:03:10 2001 by Chris Pepper


2.14. Where can I download a virgin backup image on the Internet?

Nowhere! This would violate TiVo's copyrights. If you want a backup you are going to have to make it yourself. If your unit has been in use for awhile this is going to be a large backup. Your best bet in this situation is to just buy an extra drive and do a sector to sector copy of the original.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 15:05:25 2000 by mhill


2.15. My TiVo A drive is locked, what do I do?

Thanks to Gene Plantz for discovering that users of IBM PC based system can do the following to unlock the drive.

You should already have the drives connected to your PC as noted in section 2.9 above.

1. Download dlgcheck at http://www.westerndigital.com/service/ftp/dlgtools/dlgchk.zip . Place the files in the zip archive on a bootable DOS disk.

2. Make sure the PC's CMOS is set to AUTO for the locked drive.

3. Boot up with the dos floppy you prepared in step 1.

4. Run the DLGCHK program. Just press Enter on all the screens until you exit.

5. Insert your disk with your backup program of choice (the Linux boot disk, Dolly, or Diskpro Lite).

6. Reset the computer (do not power it off). Hit CTRL-ALT-DEL, or hit the reset button.

7. Proceed with the backup instructions as you would for an unlocked drive.

**Note: If your drive is still locked after this procedure, http://www.9thtee.com hosts a file called qunlock. This file will permanently unlock your hard drive. Use this file if the above doesn't work: http://www.9thtee.com/qunlock.exe

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Thu Nov 8 16:08:09 2001 by Controlio


2.16. Can I make a backup with my TiVo instead of a PC?

Yes. This is actually a good method for people with locked drives who don't have a PC clone. You can only do a drive image copy with this method. Here are the steps needed.

0.Get bash working on your TiVo, with the devbin tools. See section 4 of this FAQ if you don't already have bash working on the TiVo.

1.While the TiVo is powered off and unplugged you need to connect your blank drive into your TiVo as the B drive (set the jumpers to slave for this drive). This new drive will contain a complete image of your A drive when finished.

2.You need to be able to access the TiVo diagnostic menu detailed in section 4.3. If your system does not support the factory password you must use one of the other methods of backup.

3.You need to enable the Bash prompt as detailed in sections 4.4-4.6.

4.Type the following from the bash prompt

5."/devbin/dd conv=noerror,sync if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb bs=32k" (no quotes) Note if this fails with a message about "dd not found" proceed to step 6. If the command works skip to step 7.

6.You need to mount the partition with dd. Type the following. "mount /dev/hda4 /mnt" (no quotes). Then type "/mnt/devbin/dd conv=noerror,sync if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb bs=32k" (no quotes). If this command still fails with the "dd command not found" message, your unit does not have a devbin directory, and you cannot do a backup with your TiVo. Proceed to step 9.

7.Let the process run to completion. Depending on the size of the drive this could take 4-8 hours.

8.When completed make sure there were no errors.

9.If you had to use step 6 above, type the following ``umount /mnt''

10.Turn off the TiVo and remove the B drive.

11.You now have a complete image of your TiVo A drive.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Jun 20 20:05:36 2001 by Chris Pepper


2.17. How do I make a backup to a single compressed file on another hard disk?

To do this type of backup you will need Dylan's boot disk, your original A drive to backup and a DOS FAT formatted hard drive to put the backup on. The drive needs to have enough space to hold the backup. It should be noted that if your TiVo has been used much the backup will be exceedingly large and doing a disk to disk image is generally a better idea. If the A drive is from a virgin TiVo this compressed image could be anywhere from 600MB to 20GB. The size will vary even for virgin TiVo's because some have the store demo mode on them and some don't. For the example below we will assume the following drive connections.

 Original A drive connected to secondary port as the master drive ( /dev/hdc ) 
 DOS/Windows formatted drive connected to Primary port as the master 
  drive ( /dev/hda ). The partition can be either a FAT16 or FAT32
  partition. Dylan's bootdisk does support Ext2 partitions also if 
  you wish to use one. 
 Do not connect the DOS/Windows drive to anything but Primary master. 
  Byte swapping is used for all other devices and Linux will not be 
  able to mount DOS partitions connected to them. 
(Note: The following will almost always give an error since Dylan's bootdisk does not support files larger than 4gb. We recommend you use the split file or disk to disk method).

The following are the steps needed to do the backup.

    1.Connect the drives as stated above 
    2.Boot the computer with Dylan's boot disk in the floppy drive 
    3.Login as root 
    4.Type "mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /mnt" (no quotes) 
    5.Type "dd if=/dev/hdc bs=32k | gzip -9c > /mnt/tivodisk.gz" (no quotes).
    Use "dd conv=noerror,sync if=/dev/hdc bs=32k | gzip -9c > /mnt/tivodisk.gz" (no quotes) if the first gives an error.
    6.Go relax because this will take awhile. Depending on the speed of
      the computer, size of the A drive, this could take anywhere from 
      3 to 24 hours! 
    7.When finished make sure there were no errors. 
    8.Type "umount /mnt" (no quotes) 
    9.Power down the PC. 
To restore the backup do the following. Remember that this will erase whatever is on the drive connected to the secondary master port.

    1.Connect the drives as stated above 
    2.Boot the computer with Dylan's boot disk in the floppy drive 
    3.Login in as root 
    4.Type "mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /mnt" (no quotes) 
    5.Type "cat /mnt/tivodisk.gz | gzip -d -c | dd of=/dev/hdc 
      bs=32k" (no quotes) 
    6.Go relax because this will take awhile. Depending on the speed of
      the computer, size of the A drive, this could take anywhere from
      3 to 24 hours! 
    7.Make sure there were no errors reported 
    8.Type ``umount /mnt'' (no quotes) 
    9.Power down the PC

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Jun 20 20:14:14 2001 by Chris Pepper


2.18. How do I split a compressed backup into smaller files onto another hard disk?

This type of backup is typically done by those who want to split the archive into smaller chunks to fit on a CDR or to avoid the 2GB file size limitation. To do this type of backup you will need Dylan's boot disk, your original A drive to backup and a DOS FAT formatted hard drive to put the backup on. The drive needs to have enough space to hold the backup. It should be noted that if your TiVo has been used much the backup will be exceedingly large and doing a disk to disk image is generally a better idea. If the A drive is from a virgin TiVo this compressed image could be anywhere from 600MB to 20GB. The size will vary even for virgin TiVo's because some have the store demo mode on them and some don't. For the example below we will assume the following drive connections.

 Original A drive connected to secondary port as the master drive ( /dev/hdc ) 
 DOS/Windows formatted drive connected to Primary port as the master 
  drive ( /dev/hda ). The partition can be either a FAT16 or FAT32 
  partition. Dylan's bootdisk does support Ext2 partitions also if 
  you wish to use one. 
 Do not connect the DOS/Windows drive to anything but Primary master. 
  Byte swapping is used for all other devices and Linux will not be 
  able to mount DOS partition connected to them. 
The following are the steps needed to do the backup.

    1.Connect the drives as stated above 
    2.Boot the computer with Dylan's boot disk in the floppy drive 
    3.Login in as root 
    4.Type "mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /mnt" (no quotes) 
    5.Type "dd if=/dev/hdc bs=32k | gzip -9c | split -b 650m - /mnt/tivodisk_" (no quotes).
    Use "dd conv=noerror,sync if=/dev/hdc bs=32k | gzip -9c | split -b 650m - /mnt/tivodisk_" (no quotes) 
    instead, if the first command gives you an error.
    6.In the step above 650m denotes 650 Megabytes. This size file 
      should fit on a CD later for burning. You can make this value 
      whatever best suits your needs. 
    7.Go relax because this will take awhile. Depending on the speed of 
      the computer, size of the A drive, this could take anywhere from 
      3 to 24 hours! 
    8.When finished make sure there were no errors. 
    9.Type "umount /mnt" (no quotes) 
   10.Power down the PC. 
To restore the backup do the following. Remember that this will erase whatever is on the drive connected to the secondary master port.

    1.Connect the drives as stated above 
    2.Boot the computer with Dylan's boot disk in the floppy drive 
    3.Login in as root 
    4.Type "mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /mnt" (no quotes) 
    5.Type "cat /mnt/tivodisk* | gzip -dc | dd of=/dev/hdc obs=32k" (no quotes) 
    6.Go relax because this will take awhile. Depending on the speed of 
      the computer, size of the A drive, this could take anywhere from 
      3 to 24 hours! 
    7.Make sure there were no errors reported 
    8.Type "umount /mnt" (no quotes) 
    9.Power down the PC

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Mon Mar 26 07:11:23 2001 by Otto


2.19. Why can't I use Ghost or Drive Image to backup my drive?

These programs examine the partition information of all drives connected. Since the TiVo disks use their own partition type and it is byte swapped, programs like Ghost only allow the TiVo drive to be a target drive for a copy (which is NOT what you want). You basically need a disk copy program that does a sector by sector copy only. It is recommended that you stick with one of the programs detailed in previous sections.

The latest Ghost 6.5 was tested by various people and was proven not to work. The raw sector copy mode was tried also.

Many people assume that since Ghost supports Linux ext2 partitions now that it will work with a TiVo. It should be noted that the TiVo Linux partitions are not standard ext2 format. They are slightly modified and are byte swapped. The TiVo disk also contains 2 MFS partitions which are not ext2 format and the format is unknown at this time.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 16:05:21 2000 by mhill


2.20. Can I zero out certain partitions to make my backup to file smaller?

Not currently. If you have a virgin TiVo that has never been powered up you will get the smallest backup to file possible (if you use compression). Once the TiVo has been in use though it will store all the MPEG encoded video on the drive. This MPEG data will not compress any further when a backup is done. Once we get a better understanding of the TiVo partitions a selective backup may be possible.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 16:06:41 2000 by mhill


2.21. Can I zero out the drive by having TiVo record up to its max capacity of a static picture?

No, this will not help.

The reason being you are feeding a static ANALOG picture into the TiVo which is then decoding it with an Analog to Digital converter. Because of this you will not get static data from the MPEG compression.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 16:08:54 2000 by mhill


2.22. Will a factory reset zero out the drive for better compression?

No. Although the shows recorded will be removed from the "Now Showing" screen, their MPEG data is still on the drive.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 16:10:34 2000 by mhill


2.23. Can I backup my 15GB A drive onto a 30GB drive and get a 30 hour single drive unit?

No. Currently the only way to upgrade a single drive 14 hour unit into a single drive 30 hour unit is to purchase a 30 hour TiVo and copy that A drive and put the copy into the 14 hour unit.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 16:11:38 2000 by mhill


2.24. Can I make a sector copy of my TiVo A drive to a larger drive?

Yes you can. Some people have trouble finding the Quantum 15GB drive used in the TiVo 14 hour unit and are purchasing a 30GB Quantum. You can copy your TiVo A drive to a larger drive and it will run in your TiVo, but it will only look like the original size drive to the TiVo.

So if you copy a 15GB TiVo A drive to a 30GB drive the 30GB drive will look like a 15GB drive to the TiVo.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 16:12:43 2000 by mhill


2.25. I want a virgin backup, but I want to be sure my TiVo is good before cracking the case!

Virgin backups refer to backups of TiVo's that have never been used, their popularity is due to the high compression ratios that can be achieved on an empty drive. New backup software such as mfstools and zaptivo allow you to make small backups (100-800MB) of existing TiVo units, eliminating the need for a virgin backup and alowing users to use their TiVo units before commiting to hacking. See section 1.13 for instructions on the use of mfstools.

If you still want a virgin backup then here's the suggested testing method:

Connect your TiVo to your TV, Cable Box/Antenna, and phone line as detailed in the TiVo manual. Power up the TiVo. Proceed into guided setup and make the first initial test call. Once the call is completed "DO NOT" proceed on with the final call (the program call). Just power down the TiVo and proceed with the backup instructions. This test proves that your TiVo powers up, can output video to your TV, and the modem works. This test is not 100 percent, since you are not testing things like the TV recording, or cable box control. But it does test many things (the modem being the most important). If you still don't feel comfortable then you should probably configure and use your TiVo like normal until you are happy and just backup the A drive to another drive as detailed in latter sections below.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sun Nov 11 17:27:48 2001 by embeem


2.26. Why are some virgin unit backups less than 650MB and others 20GB??

Originally the large difference was thought to be because of the demo mode in newer units. But with some backups of virgin (never powered up units) taking 20gb and others taking less than 650mb this theory doesn't seem to hold water.

The actual reason for this is that at the factory Philips and Sony actually do a test recording of a TV signal. On some units this test recording can be quite small and on others it has been quite long. Some units don't seem to have any test video (more than likely the < 650mb backups) at all.

A 14 hour virgin drive was backed up with compression to a 2.7gb file. When examining the drive there was about 45 minutes of "Fox Kids Cartoons" from Channel 2 in San Francisco.

So even though the virgin backup could be a gamble on how big the backup will be, it is still recommended that it be tried if possible. A 3gb backup is much better than 20gb.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Jun 20 20:18:54 2001 by Chris Pepper


2.27. Using rsync to transfer files to/from your TiVo

Getting data onto and off your TiVo is made a lot easier using rsync. You can get a tivo binary of rsync from http://tivo.samba.org/download/tridge/ , then you need to follow these steps to use it:

1) Setup PPP to your TiVo as described in Section 4.27. Make sure you can ping.

2) install rsync as a daemon on your Linux box (_not_ on the tivo). To do this you add a line like this in /etc/inetd.conf:

   rsync stream tcp nowait root /usr/bin/rsync rsync --daemon
then send a HUP to inetd like this "killall -1 inetd"

3) create an /etc/rsyncd.conf something like this:

	  [tivo]
		path = /tmp/tivo
		uid = root
		read only = no
You may wish to set "uid=" to your own username rather than root. Then do "mkdir /tmp/tivo" as that user.

NOTE: If you are on an open internet connection then the above will have opened the directory /tmp/tivo to the world. See the rsyncd.conf man page for security options. You may want to use private network numbers and run NAT on your PC -- NAT routers are available as hardware devices and as software for Windows and various UNIX operating systems (including Mac OS X).

4) test your rsync setup locally (i.e., without the TiVo). Use a command like:

        rsync -Pavz /etc/hosts localhost::tivo/
5) copy the TiVo rsync binary to your TiVo (maybe using http_get).

You can now transfer files between /tmp/tivo on your linux box and your tivo. Note that you must use the IP address of your Linux box in the rsync commands; the host name will not work, because the TiVo doesn't have DNS support. See the rsync man page for all the options, but the following will give you some ideas:

     rsync -Pavz /var/log 192.168.2.22::tivo/
     rsync -Pav 192.168.2.22::tivo/foo /tmp/

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Jun 20 20:23:39 2001 by Chris Pepper


2.28. Why are people in the Underground calling me a MORON?

This refers to two posts made by Richard Bullwinkle (a TiVo Representative) in the Tivo Underground hacking forum at http://www.tivocommunity.com .

A Type I Moron is someone who takes a box that came with some version of software (1.3, for example), and restores a backup of an earlier version of software (1.21, for example). The result of this is that the box will not upgrade itself to the latest version of software, without TiVo manually intervening and forcing it. However, some people did this and caused TiVo a lot of confusion trying to figure out why the boxes had 1.21 on them in the first place. See http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?threadid=33408 for more details.

A Type II Moron is someone who takes a drive from a Philips unit and uses the image or the drive itself in a Sony unit, or vice-versa. While this will appear to work at first, what will happen is that the TiVo servers will see that the software version is incorrect, and try to update the unit. However the update will fail due to differences between the two units. Thus, every daily call will try an update, thus costing TiVo a lot for the phone calls, and eventually disabling your service to make it stop. They cannot fix this remotely by forcing it to upgrade or anything, so just don't do it. See http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?threadid=32011 for more details.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Tue Jun 4 12:54:58 2002 by Otto


3. Adding a second drive


3.1. How can I add a second drive to my TiVo?

There are a couple ways to do it. The easiest is to download Dylan's Linux bootdisk and run Mike Hill's BlessTiVo program which is included on the disk. There is the original way which requires more work but is more fun for the ``hacker'' crowd. Both will be described below.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 16:22:29 2000 by mhill


3.2. Are all TiVo's upgradeable?

The answer is yes. With the release of Mfs Tools, even dual drive units can now be upgraded.

Any single drive standalone and most two drive standalone TiVo units are fully upgradeable. You are able to expand recording capacity by using a single larger A drive, adding a new large B drive, or combining any two drive sizes you wish - as long as your A drive is at least as large as your original A drive image.

DirecTiVo combos and some factory true dual drive TiVo units are not currently able to take advantage of larger A drives. However, these units are able to add a new large B drive to expand recording capacity.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Tue Oct 9 22:31:04 2001 by hinsdale


3.3. What type of drive do I need to add to my TiVo?

For the most part any IDE drive will work fine in the TiVo.

The TiVo generally comes with Quantum Fireball drives which have been "locked" to only appear a fraction of their actual size (section 2.15).

Only Quantum drives work out of the box as A drives. If you wish to use a non Quantum drive as the A drive see section 4.9 on how to do this.

TiVos with locked drives initially won't boot with a Quantum as a B drive. The explanation for precisely why this is the case is long and boring, but there is a work-around. See section 3.18 on how to do this.

7200 RPM drives seem to work fine. They usually cost more than 5400 RPM drives, and will not give you any speed improvements by using them. It should be noted that 7200 RPM drives will draw more power and generate more heat than their 5400 counterparts. The long term consequences of using 7200 RPM drives is still being debated.

Quantum has phased out the lct10 series. They were superceded by the lct15 series, which is in turn in the process of being superceded by the lct20 series. The lct15 and lct20 drives are 4400 RPM instead of 5400. TiVo has shipped machines with all of these drives. Older machines had lct10's (and their predecessors), and new machines have lct20's.

Note that newer drives tend to run quieter, consume less power, and produce less heat. This may be important on the DirecTV/TiVo combo boxes, which run fairly hot even with the cooler drives (lct15 and later).

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sun Nov 11 17:50:36 2001 by embeem


3.4. How much space do different size drives give me?

Here is a handy table that breaks down many popular capacity settings.

 Quality    Hours/GB   14 Hour    30 Hour    52 Hour    70 Hour    91 Hour      108 Hour
                      (13.6 GB)  (27.8 GB)  (43.6 GB)  (57.2 GB)  (73.6 GB)    (87.2 GB)
 Basic        1.2       16.32      32.64      52.32      68.64      88.32        104.64
 Medium       0.7        9.52      19.04      30.52      40.04      51.52        61.04
 High         0.55       7.48      14.96      23.98      31.46      40.48        47.96
 Best         0.35       4.76       9.52      15.26      20.02      25.76        30.52

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 16:35:45 2000 by mhill


3.5. Can I add a CDR or CDRW drive to my TiVo for removable storage?

No. The format of the partitions containing the video is not known at this time, so there is no way to put a video onto a CD in a format that a PC could read.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 16:37:40 2000 by mhill


3.6. Can I add a second drive using my MAC?

Yes. Download the MacTiVo Disk Blesser at http://homepage.mac.com/ewagner. See the readme file for the program if you need any more detail than the info below.

1.Extract the files from the archive using Stuffit Expander which you can download at. http://www.aladdinsys.com/downloads/index.html

2.Shutdown your Macintosh

3.Connect the new drive you wish to add to your Macintosh. The program doesn't care which part or where on the IDE buses that you connect the drive. You just have to make sure that there is only one master per bus. PCI cards that add on IDE buses will also work if they don't pretend the attached drives are SCSI (the older ones do this to be backwards compatible with pre IDE macs).

4.There is a problem with the original beige G3's IDE implementation and some clones, they don't support slave drives. The setup on recent computers without SCSI cards is Harddrive as master on one bus, CD/DVD as master on the other bus. The zip drive is placed as a slave on the CD/DVD bus. Mac's with SCSI cards have the first bus empty with the second holding the CD/DVD and zip drive. Its luck of the draw if a SCSI equipped Mac will have the IDE cables for the first bus.

5.When you restart the Macintosh, the new drive should not be seen on the desktop. You can verify that the drive is connected correctly by opening the program "Drive Setup" which came with your Macintosh. It should show you the drive, unformatted, as one of the choices to format. Do not format the drive with Drive Setup.

6.Launch MacTivo Disk Blesser. Agree to the warning telling you that the author is not responsible for anything you do.

7.Choose the drive you added and click on Format.

8.The program will warn you about what you are going to do. Make sure you have the right drive connected and are specifying it correctly before answering yes.

9.The program will give you feedback noting if the process was successful. If you run the program on a 30GB drive and MacTivo Disk Blesser reports it as a 9GB drive you have a problem.

10.DO NOT insert a blessed drive into your TiVo that had the size reported wrong. If the size is wrong, the most likely issue is your using an older drive that does not support LBA mode. Every practical drive for upgrading a TiVo with (20GB and up) should all support LBA mode.

11.If everything went fine you should be able to add the drive to your TiVo. Make sure the new drive is set as slave before placing it into your TiVo.

12.Boot your TiVo. Go to your ``Messages and Setup'' screen and then the ``System Information'' section. You should see your Storage capacity in this screen. If you had a 14 hour TiVo and added a 30GB drive you should be at 52 hours and change. A 30 hour TiVo upgraded with a 30GB drive should give you about 68 hours and change.

13.Do NOT remove this blessed drive once added to your TiVo. Once a blessed drive has been powered up and seen by a TiVo the two drives are married together. You can't remove a blessed drive and insert a new blessed drive once the first has been married. If you want to install a new blessed drive, or revert back to a single drive you will need to use your backup!

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 16:42:45 2000 by mhill


3.7. How can I add a new drive to my TiVo with Dylan's bootdisk and the BlessTiVo program?

1.Download Dylan's boot disk at http://www.tivofaq.com/hack.

2.Read the readme for Dylan's disk if you need more detail for any of the below items.

3.Extract the files from the archive. Get a blank formatted floppy ready and run the batch file from the archive. It will prompt you to insert a floppy in drive a, and it will create the boot disk for you.

4.Connect the new drive you wish to add to your PC. You can connect it to either the Primary Slave, Secondary Master, or Secondary Slave. I recommend using either of the above Slave settings. Regardless of which you pick you must set the appropriate jumper on your drive to reflect the master or slave setting.

5.Make sure your PC BIOS auto-detects the drive and its size correctly. If your BIOS does not detect the drive correctly, try setting it to NONE for that drive. The BIOS does not always need to see the drive, and Linux doesn't generally care what the BIOS thinks anyway.

6.Boot the PC with the new drive connected and Dylan's floppy in the A drive.

7.When the login prompt comes in type in ``root'' (no quotes) and hit enter.

8.Type one of the following commands without the quotes depending on what port on your motherboard the drive is connected to. Case is important on the command. Only type ONE of the below commands.

9.If the drive is connected as the Primary slave type ``BlessTiVo /dev/hdb''. It should be noted that there is a space between the word BlessTiVo and the /dev/hdb in this example and the two below.

10.If the drive is connected as the Secondary Master type ``BlessTiVo /dev/hdc''

11.If the drive is connected as the Secondary Slave type ``BlessTiVo /dev/hdd''

12.The program will warn you about what you are going to do. Make sure you have the right drive connected and are specifying the right port before answering yes.

13.The program will give you feedback noting if the process was successful. It will report the size of your drive also. Make SURE this value is within about 2-3GB of your drives actual size. If you run the program on a 30GB drive and BlessTiVo reports it as a 9GB drive you have a problem.

14.DO NOT insert a blessed drive into your TiVo that had the size reported wrong. If the size is wrong, the most likely issue is your CMOS is not correct. See the documentation with Dylan's disk for more troubleshooting with the blessing process.

15.If everything went fine you should be able to add the drive to your TiVo. Make sure the new B drive is set as slave before placing it into your TiVo.

16.Boot your TiVo. Go to your ``Messages and Setup'' screen and then the ``System Information'' section. You should see your Storage capacity in this screen. If you had a 14 hour TiVo and added a 30GB drive you should be at 52 hours and change. A 30 hour TiVo upgraded with a 30GB drive should give you about 68 hours and change.

17.Do NOT remove this blessed drive once added to your TiVo. Once a blessed drive has been powered up and seen by a TiVo the two drives are married together. You can't remove a blessed drive and insert a new blessed drive once the first has been married. If you want to install a new blessed drive, or revert back to a single drive you will need to use your backup!

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Thu Apr 19 07:09:32 2001 by Otto


3.8. How can I add a second drive to my TiVo the true hacker's way?

This information has been cut and pasted from the original hackers' site: http://tivohack.sourceforge.net. I apologize for editing this into steps, but it makes it easier for me to convert to and from HTML. It should be noted that the comments about the 33.8GB barrier below are incorrect.

1.Here's how to add a B drive to your TiVo by "blessing" it. This is approximately how we did it. We've only done it a few times so far. We will be refining the process. We simply wanted to get the initial information out quickly.

2.This has only been verified to work on a few units so far. A HDR112 has been upgraded to 52 hours with a 30 gig Quantum, another HDR112 has been upgraded to 40 hours with a 20 gig Quantum, and a Sony 30 hour unit has been upgraded as well with a Maxtor B drive, although the newer Sony/Philips units have a drive locking mechanism that makes it very hard to mount their A drives in a non-TiVo Linux box.

3.WARNING: This modification is not "easy". You take all responsibility for modifying your TiVo in this way. It does involve opening the case and breaking the warranty sticker. Do not call TiVo support if you make a mistake and break your TiVo. If you break it, you own both pieces. If you mess up, don't expect us to fix it for you either. Maybe some day someone will release a utility that will just bless a drive in 1 easy command on your PC, but at this point, it's pretty tricky. It requires that you have various technical knowledge about Linux and other software tools. You could easily render your TiVo inoperable and possibly unrecoverable.

4.WARNING 2: There hasn't been a lot of testing so far on this procedure of course. Mine seems to be working perfectly at 52 hours, but you must accept the risk that something bad may happen down the road. We suggest that you back up your original A drive in some fashion in case you make a mistake. How to do that we leave up to you.

5.PDISK DISCLAIMER: We had to modify the source code to pdisk. Use it at your own risk. There may be bugs. We're not responsible for any loss of data.

6.And PLEASE - be careful when you open the unit. It's power supply is unshielded. Stay away from it.

7.In short - if you don't _understand_ what is going on below, don't do it. Just being able to read a list of steps may not be enough at this point.

8.When I refer to hard drive partitions on the Linux box, I'll use hdX where X is whatever letter is appropriate for that drive.

9.I used a Quantum lct10 30 gig drive (part number QML30000LB-A) that I bought from http://www.onsale.com. My off the shelf Quantum seems to have the Quickview and TiVo extensions in it, perhaps they all do. It is the same drive used in HDR31202's and presumably the newer Sony's. Any drive may work as a B drive, but I've only tried my Quantum. Also be aware - the version of Linux on the TiVo doesn't seem to support drives larger than 33.8 gig. I don't know if TiVo patched their older kernel to support them. Set the B drives jumper to slave.

10.You need to be able to access the original A drive and new B drive from another Linux box. To do this on an x86 box, you need to integrate TiVo's modifications to the Mac partition code. There are some patches on http://tivohack.sourceforge.net and http://www.wasteland.org/tivo. Please, if anyone can mirror these few files it would be very helpful. If we get hit too hard, we'll have to take the files down. You also need to be able to turn on byte swapping for those 2 drives (hdX=bswap). I had the most luck with Linux 2.4.0-test1. You also need to enable the Mac partitioning in the kernel.

11.If that all works, you'll see the TiVo's partitions on the A drive hooked to your Linux box. There should be 11 of them. Mount partition 4 (hdX4) somewhere, it's an ext2 filesystem. Edit the bottom of etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit so it starts a bash shell on /dev/ttyS3. Also you need to blank out the first few sectors on the new B drive, with this command: "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hdX bs=512 count=32".

12.Get the hard drives back in the TiVo (both of em) and hook up the DSS serial cable to your computer. You'll need a null modem adapter and gender changer at the minimum. The terminal settings are 9600,8N1. You should get a bash prompt shortly after the "please wait a few more seconds" screen. Run this command: "/sbin/bootpage -D /dev/hdb". Then shut down your TiVo and hook the B drive back up to the Linux box.

13.Now you need a modified version of pdisk which is available on the sites I mentioned above. Compile it if necessary (it's in RCS format). With the B drive in the Linux box, run "pdisk /dev/hdX" and type in these commands (hit return after each character below):

14.i

15.w

16.y

17.q

18.Then run: "pdisk -d /dev/hdX" and type these commands:

19.C 2p 4M "Second MFS application region" MFS

20.C 3p 3p "Second MFS media region" MFS

21.x

22.m

23.3

24.x

25.w

26.y

27.q

28.That will create the new partitions. Shut down the Linux box now and mount the B drive in the TiVo permanently. Turn the TiVo back on and get into the bash shell on it again.

29.You need to mount the diagnostics partition next. Type this on your TiVo: "mount -t ext2 -o ro /dev/hda7 /mnt". Then run this to add the magic bit sequence to your new B drive: "/mnt/diag/genAddDiskTiVoID /dev/hdb3". Type "umount /mnt" to unmount that diagnostics partition, and reboot your TiVo. That should do it. Check the system information and see if your capacity increased. If not, you can try this one last thing that I don't believe is necessary, but it might be: mount the diagnostics partition again, and run "/mnt/diag/setkeys -globalkeys /dev/hdb".

30.That's it. If you want to now, you can edit the rc.sysinit to stop the bash shell from starting (or if you were smart, you made a backup copy when you started and can just copy the backup over the modified one).

31.Credit for figuring out this procedure goes to cc, Peter Creath, TivoTechie, and Ron Curry.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Jun 20 20:27:31 2001 by Chris Pepper


3.9. Should I expect any problems after adding a blessed drive?

Well, that's hard to judge accurately since most people only speak up when they do run into problems.

If you run into problems here's a few ideas:

- Many users resort to shreading the IDE cable or stretching it to fit, this can damage the cable enough to interfere with recordings. We suggest replacing the factory cable with an ATA66 cable, they're longer than the factory cable and have extra ground wires to better protect the signal from noise.

- The TiVo will start to skip pause or skip if there's heavy CPU use. The use of extremely large drives requires extra CPU usage for the daily opperations such as housekeeping and suggestion scheduling. Some users have reported that the problems went away after 'record suggestions' was disabled in setup.

- The use of 3rd party software on the TiVo can interfere with the normal useage of the TiVo, either use software to change the priority levels to their lowest setting or disable the 3rd party software. The TiVO does not use normal UNIX priority levels so you'll need getpri/setpri/nicepri from http://tivo.samba.org/download/mbm/bin.

- It's been suggested that hdparm could be used from the startup scripts to tune the harddrive performance and disable standby modes, the command to do this from rc.sysinit would be "hdparm -M1 -c1 -d1 -m 16 -S0 /dev/hda /dev/hdb"

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sun Nov 11 18:49:26 2001 by embeem


3.10. How do I mount this darn drive in my TiVo?

Good question. I am sure there have been many creative ways to mount the new TiVo drive into the case, but the simplest seems to be getting some little ``rubber feet'' and sticking them to the bottom of the drive in all four corners. Then holding it down with some cable ties lengthwise along the unit (between the power and IDE connectors) to hold it sturdy. You could also make a mounting bracket, but the rubber feat and cable tie seems to be a nice cheap and safe approach.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 16:58:50 2000 by mhill


3.11. Does anybody sell a hard drive bracket to mount the second drive with?

Yes. Mark at http://www.9thtee.com/TiVoUpgrades.htm is selling drive mounting kits, hard drives, and torx screwdrivers. Everything you need to mount a second drive in your TiVo.

For detailed instructions on installing your drive and bracket into the computer, Mark has information at http://www.9thtee.com/TiVoMtgBracket.htm

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Jun 20 22:01:54 2001 by mhill


3.12. What is this about this 12 hour loss with 2.0?

It seems TiVo will be coming out with some new feature that will use up to 12 hours of storage for some unknown features at this time. TiVo has stated self upgraded units larger than 30 hours will lose up to 12 hours for these new features. Nothing is specific at this time though. Worst case a 14 hour unit upgraded to 52 hours may become a 40 hour unit when this hits.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 17:04:01 2000 by mhill


3.13. Can I take out a drive I have blessed and put in a larger or different blessed drive?

NO! NO! and again NO!

Once you bless a drive and power up your TiVo with it the drives become "married", removing the drive will make your TiVo unbootable. Either restore from a single drive backup and start over, or use MFSTools to attempt a "divorce".

You can NOT simply take it out and replace it with another blessed drive.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sat Nov 3 14:39:28 2001 by embeem


3.14. Is there an easy way to back out from an upgrade without restoring the whole A drive?

If for some reason you need to remove your B drive from your TiVo the best option is to restore your A drive from your backup. Depending on how you did your backup you could restore partition 10 only and your TiVo should be back to a single drive unit again. If this doesn't work you can always do a full restore.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Jun 20 20:30:57 2001 by Chris Pepper


3.15. My PC BIOS and/or BlessTiVo reports my xx GB drive as a yy GB drive. Help!

If your PC BIOS or BlessTiVo don't report the size of your drive correctly you have a few options.

1.Go into your PC BIOS and change the drive in questions settings to NONE. Linux does not need the BIOS (but will use it sometimes). Some people have said they had to turn plug and play off in their BIOS too. I myself was able to bless a 60GB Maxtor drive on an old Pentium 166 by setting its BIOS settings to NONE. The drive would lock up the computer if the BIOS on the PC was allowed to try detect it.

2. If you have PC clone try the trick for the locked drive problem detailed in section 2.15.

3.If the above doesn't work try checking your PC or motherboard manufacturer's site for Flash BIOS updates for your motherboard. Be very careful when doing this and follow the directions to flash your motherboard EXACTLY .

4.Try a different computer (friend's, work's, etc).

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Jun 20 20:32:39 2001 by Chris Pepper


3.16. Who can upgrade my TiVo for me? It seems too complex.

Nobody offers this service since nobody wants to profit from this hacking. Your best bet is to find a computer savvy friend to help you. If you can't find someone DON'T try to upgrade your TiVo yourself unless you are sure you know what you are doing.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 17:13:54 2000 by mhill


3.17. Will an upgrade kill my Now Showing or Season Passes?

No. The only thing the upgrade will do is give you lots more recording space!

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 17:14:29 2000 by mhill


3.18. Help! My TiVo won't boot with a Quantum B drive!

This problem has been seen mostly on the initial Sony TiVos. It manifests itself on machines with locked drives. It would seem that machines shipping with TiVo software 2.0 do not have this problem.

To get around this problem, you need to turn off the TiVo's automatic disk-locking feature. Enter the diagnostic mode (see section 4.3). In that menu,

 5 - Toggle auto disk locking
 8 - Save changes to configuration
Saving the changes takes a few seconds, so be sure to wait for the prompt to return. Then reboot your TiVo.

Your TiVo should now boot happily with the Quantum B drive.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Thu Jan 11 17:37:20 2001 by pjc


3.19. How can I make my unit even bigger? (Expanding the A drive)

Thanks to TivoMad, you can now expand your A drive and add a second drive, all at once. It is possible to expand your Tivo to hold up to 200+ hours this way (with two 80 gig drives).

The TiVoMad utility is a Linux utility that will allow for a larger A drive to replace your current A drive. The utility creates a second partition that is used to record shows to take all available space on the A drive. For example: if you have a 14 hour TiVo you could replace the 14GB hard drive in your unit with an 80GB drive and get approximately 88 hours of recording.

All TiVoMad files can be found at http://www.btinternet.com/~t.heartfield/tivo .

(Note: The backout.zip file can be used to restore a drive that has not been booted in the TiVo yet. If you mistakenly run TiVoMad on you original drive, use this to fix it.)

Q: Can the TiVoMad disk be used with BlessTiVo from the Dylan disk?

A: Yes, but the TiVoMad disk will automatically bless a second drive if you want to have a 2 drive TiVo. If you have already installed a second drive with BlessTiVo see below on how to upgrade.

Q: Can TiVoMad be used without BlessTiVo from the Dylan disk?

A: Yes, TiVoMad does not need a second drive that has been blessed.

Q: Do I need the Dylan disk if I have the TiVoMad disk?

A: Yes. The TiVoMad disk does not replace the Dylan Disk. TiVoMad does not allow you to backup your drive and will only be useful during the drive expansion operations.

Q: How is the TiVoMad utility different than the BlessTiVo utility?

A: BlessTiVo prepares a second drive to work with the TiVo A (primary) drive. The TiVoMad utility allows you to use a larger primary drive. The two can be used together to create a truly massive TiVo.

Q: Do I need to backup my TiVo before using the TiVoMad utility?

A: The process of using TiVoMad requires that you copy your original TiVo Disk to your new larger replacement drive. If you do not re-use the original TiVo Disk it is not necessary to create another copy. Just place your original TiVo drive in a safe place.

Q: Can I upgrade a DirecTiVo with the TiVoMad utility?

A: No. Currently TiVoMad will not work with a DirecTiVo.

Q: Can I upgrade a two drive TiVo with the TiVoMad utility?

A: Maybe. If you have a backup of a single drive TiVo you can restore that backup to the new larger drive and then remove both drives. If you wish you could also wipe one of the original drives clean and then use BlessTiVo to marry one of the old drives to your new larger primary drive. This process will revert your TiVo to the same state it was in at the time of backup. All of your recorded shows will revert to what ever was on the backup and your TiVo software will be the version on your backup. If you have a TiVo that came with 2 drives and you do not have a backup of a single drive TiVo then you can not at this time expand your TiVo.

Q: So where's the instructions already?

A: Okay, okay, here you go:

Things you will need:

 Latest copy of the Dylan Boot Disk.
 Latest Copy of the TiVoMad disk.
 Torx Screw driver.
 New larger drive.
Optional Items:
 New secondary drive.
 New ATA66 hard drive cable. (See section 3.9)
 Mounting bracket for second drive. (See section 3.11)
I. Confirm that you new drive works and has no bad sectors. Most drives manufactures have a utility disk that you can download to check that the drive is functioning. Make sure that the disk is good before continuing on.

II. Open the TiVo and remove you original drive. See section 2.2 & 2.3 on how to do this.

III. Open up you computer and configure the hard drives. See section 2.9

IV. Backup Original TiVo disk. See section 2.12

V. Remove Original TiVo disk. In order to reduce the chances of TiVoMad being run mistakenly on the original TiVo disk remove it before continuing.

VI. Run the TiVoMad utility.

From the TiVoMad readme:

Put the TiVoMad disk in the PC and power-up. You will see a lot of Linux stuff fly by and eventually, my upgrade script will announce itself. Occasionally, the boot process gets stuck before the script starts. This is a problem that exists on the Dylan disk as well - I haven't worked out why. If you don't see the script start running then simply reset your PC and it will probably run the next time. If you want to stop the script and get back to the shell prompt, just hit Ctrl-C. There is also a second shell running on tty2. To switch to the other shell, press Ctrl-Alt-2. As you probably guessed, you get back to tty1 via Ctrl-Alt-1!

If anything goes wrong during the upgrade process, the error will be reported and the script will abort. If the partition map has already been altered, the script will restore the old version to save you having to re-copy your image again after you sort out the problem. The old partition map gets saved in a RAM disk (/dev/ram1). The script has been heavily tested and does not normally fail. If it does fail on you, try to do a little detective work to find the problem - it is usually obvious from where the script died.

You will now be asked a series of simple questions. The answers should be obvious but I will go through them here for completeness. Note that when asked for device names, hdb = Primary Slave, hdc = Secondary Master, hdd = Secondary Slave.

Question 1: Enter the device name (hdb, hdc or hdd) of your new TiVo A Drive.

Put in the device name as per the instructions above regarding device names.

Question 2: Will your target TiVo have two drives in it? Answer y or n!

Question 3: Is your second drive connected now?

Won't appear if you answered n to question 2. Answer y or n!

Question 4: Enter the device name of your TiVo B drive:

Won't appear if you answered n to question 2 or 3. If you have both drives connected to the PC, enter the device name (hdb, hdc or hdd) of your new TiVo B Drive. Put in the device name as per the instructions above regarding device names.

Question 5: Is your A drive a Quantum Fireball?

The answer to this question determines if the 'runideturbo=false' setting will be applied to the boot parameters. The script is aware that V2 onwards doesn't need this setting and it will remove it for V2. However, this should be answered Y for any Quantum drives, not just the "Fireball" series. Thus, if you are putting a new Quantum drive as drive A (The original Tivo A drive is a Quantum, do not consider it), then you need to answer Y to this question. This is important.

Question 6: Does your TiVo have version 2.0.1 software (or greater)?

The answer to this question affects the addition of the 'runideturbo' flag. You should answer yes for Znn or Version 2 onwards.

Question 7: Is your target TiVo > 140GB?

You should answer Y to this question if you ever plan on adding a second drive to this system. If you answer y to this question, the script will create a new swap partition that is 128MB (as opposed to 64MB). This is done to ensure that the MFS repair utilities fsfix and mfscheck will not run out of virtual memory. In my testing, I found that it failed around the 150Gb mark on a UK TiVo without extending swap. Answering y to this question also has the effect of creating a spare partition of 64MB using the hole left by the old swap file. The partition will be called 'hack' and will have an Ext2 file system in it. You will find it mapped at /dev/hda14.

Question 8: Do you want to continue?

This is the last chance to back out. If you are happy with your answers, enter y.

You will now see a series of messages scroll up the screen as the script does it's work. The whole process should only take between 10 and 20 seconds! Once complete, press Ctrl-Alt-Del to shutdown. When you see the message 'No more processes left in this runlevel', you can power off the PC.

VII. Put the new drive in the TiVo

Before placing your new drives in the TiVo make sure that you have the new primary drive jumpers changed so that it will be the "Master", if you have a second drive make sure its jumpers are set to "Slave". Put your drives back in and make sure that your cables are firmly attached. Put the case back on.

VIII. Startup the TiVo.

The first time your TiVo boots after the upgrade it will automatically reboot shortly after it turns on DON'T PANIC, THIS IS EXPECTED. You may see a flash or two on your TV screen - that's normal. What happens is the TiVo starts and runs a special script that marries the drives and optionally creates the bigger swap file.

IX. Check your total space in the System Information screen to make sure it worked. (Note that if you used dual 80 gig drives, your expected space will be somewhat uncertain. Some people have gotten 196 hrs, some have gotten 198 hours, and at least one person got 203 hours. The Maxtor 80 gig drives are not all the same and that may explain some of the variation.)

- Most of this FAQ entry was adapted from Steven McCaa's Unoffical TiVoMad FAQ at http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/Forum6/HTML/005496.html . Thanks Steve!

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Mon Jun 25 14:38:23 2001 by Otto


4. Other TiVo hacks and information


4.1. Converting your TiVo for PAL input

The current models of TiVo only handle NTSC. While TiVo is planning a release of a model in the UK that does PAL, those of us who live in PAL countries (like Australia) might want to get my "palkit" PAL patch from http://tivo.samba.org/download/tridge/

This patch works by modifying the registers on the SAA7114 and CXD1922 to select PAL input. Only input is affected. I am working on another patch for PAL output and will release it when it's done. Luckily most modern TVs do both NTSC and PAL input.

UPDATE: I now have PAL output working as well. Run the program "setpal" from my download area above.

UPDATE2 (October 10th): I've released a new version of palkit (version 1.2). This version uses a much simpler method and does good quality PAL on both input and output. More recently I've also fixed a problem with running at other than best quality.

UPDATE3: TiVo now sells UK units: http://uk.tivo.com/home.asp.

(NOTE: currently palmode will NOT work with 2.0.x of the TiVo software, Tridge is aware of this and looking into it.)

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sun Jul 1 08:48:53 2001 by Chris Pepper


4.2. Can I extract videos from the TiVo?

No. The format of the partitions that contain the video is not known at this time. Work is being done on this though so stay tuned.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 23:10:08 2000 by mhill


4.3. How can I access the secret TiVo diagnostic mode?

Upon power up if the TiVo receives a return key within a second or two it will ask the user for a secret password to get into a diagnostic mode (also known as the ``ROM Monitor''). This diagnostic mode is no longer available on the DirecTV/TiVo combo boxes.

The following are the steps to access this mode.

1.Connect your DSS port on the back of the TiVo to your PC's serial port. Your TiVo should have came with a connector that plugs into the DSS Serial port on the back of the TiVo and has a 9 pin D-Type connector on the other end. You will need to put a ``null modem'' adaptor on the 9pin and also a gender changer to be able to use it with your PC. You can buy these at most computer stores, or Radio Shack.

2.Run your favorite terminal program on Linux or Windows. Minicom works great and comes with most Linux distributions; Hyperterminal with Windows works fine also.

3.Connect the serial cable between the TiVo and the PC using the above-mentioned cables and adaptors.

4.Set your terminal program to 9600, N81 with no flow control (hardware or software). Also make sure the COM port you're using in the terminal program matches the COM port the TiVo is plugged into.

5.Power up the TiVo and IMMEDIATELY hit enter in your terminal program ``once''. The timing on this is a tad tricky. If you're having trouble getting the timing right you can press enter repeatedly, just be careful not to overshoot the prompt.

6.The TiVo will prompt you with a ``Verify: '' prompt. The password is ``factory'' (no quotes). The password was discovered by sorphin. This password seems to work with some units. If your unit doesn't take the factory password see section 4.8 on how to change the password.

NOTE: currently it is not possible to get to the PROM prompt/into the PROM (aka "diagnostic mode") with newer TiVos (including DTiVos), using PROM version of 1.88 or higher.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sat Nov 3 14:30:16 2001 by embeem


4.4. Getting a BASH prompt on your TiVo with the Diagnostic Mode

This procedure is for 1.3 or previous units only. This will NOT work in 2.0, as the "shondss" variable has been removed.

1.Follow the steps needed to get into the diagnostic screen.

2.From the diagnostic menu type ``X'' to see the extended menu.

3.Use option ``P'' to change the boot parameters.

4.The system will display your current boot parameters. You will want to append the string ``shondss=true'' to the current boot parameters. Also if you have added any other parameters you should append them also.

5.For example, if your current parameters are ``root=/dev/hda7'' you will change the parameters to ``root=/dev/hda7 shondss=true''. It is very important to maintain whatever the current boot parameters in your unit are. The boot parameters can vary from unit to unit.

6.Type ``B'' to continue booting.

7.Remember to remove the ``shondss=true'' if you need the DSS serial port for control of your DSS receiver. If you use the IR port for control you can leave the BASH mode active. Your TiVo will still function.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sun Jul 1 08:53:52 2001 by Chris Pepper


4.5. Getting a BASH prompt using a hex-editor

Somebody add me!!!!

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Fri Sep 22 23:16:41 2000 by mhill


4.6. Getting a BASH prompt with Dylan's bootdisk

"Bash" is a command shell (the "Borne Again SHell"); you enter command file names and arguments, it executes those commands -- much like running "command.com" in DOS. A TiVo doesn't have a console, so we have to create a command shell on the available serial port.

To do this, we have to modify the TiVo disk from a regular PC where we can already get a command shell.

If you use Dylan's bootdisk or a Linux system (compiled with the TiVo partition support), you can mount the partition containing your current kernel on your TiVo "A" drive, then edit the /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit file to get a bash prompt on the TiVo's DSS serial port.

1.Connect your TiVo "A" drive to your PC. Either boot Dylan's boot disk or your modified Linux kernel that supports TiVo's special partitions.

Special Note: If using Dylan's bootdisk remember that you CAN'T connect a TiVo disk drive setup as "master" on the primary IDE bus, it will not mount. While booting Dylan's bootdisk, just before displaying the "login:" prompt, the console should display all the Tivo partitions on the disk. If they are not displayed (and you can't mount the disk), then the TiVo disk was probably put on the primary IDE bus as a master. Note that the TiVo disk drive is jumpered to master by default. You can cable the drive on the secondary IDE bus, OR, (for the standard Quantum drive -- see instructions on the disk for other drives) move the jumper from the first to the third pair of pins in order to make the disk a "slave" rather than a "master" on the primary IDE bus. If jumpered as master on the primary IDE bus, you'll get the following errors trying to mount the drive:

	/dev/hda4: Success
	FAT bread failed
	FAT bread failed
	mount: you must specify the filesystem type
Special Note #2: When connecting cables to a disk drive, it's usually not a problem to put the IDE cable in backwards (it won't boot/mount but it usually doesn't hurt anything), unless it's keyed, in which case, improper mounting can break off a pin:

	http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/Forum6/HTML/004264.html
The 1 pin is on the red striped edge of the cable.

The rule of thumb is: the 1 pin is next to the power connector on the disk (but not always). You can also look for a "1" on the circuit board by the connector on the disk. Also, the connector might be keyed: a hump on the outside of the cable connector should match the divot on the disk side of the connection. The cable might also have one pin-hole filled in: this should match the missing pin on the disk side of the connector.

All power connectors are keyed: while they require extreme force to remove, they should be simple to insert. If you're trying to use excessive force to connect the power connector, then you're probably putting it in backwards. If it's backwards, you'll fry the disk controller.

2.Your TiVo disk drive has many partitions. Two have bootable kernels stored on them, and can be mounted as the root partition ("root" is the main partition, like the DOS "C:" partition). They can't be mounted as root at the same time -- one is backup should the other fail, and the dormant partition gets upgrades when available. So all changes that you make to one root partition, you should mirror (copy) on the other. Both root partitions contain an rc.sysinit file, much like a DOS "autoexec.bat" file that is executed at boot time. This file must be modified to get the "bash" command shell prompt on the serial port. You should edit both files on both partitions.

If you'd rather just edit the file on one partition, then you can determine which partition will boot as root by examining the 2nd byte on the first sector of the TiVo "A" drive. If the value is a 3 then edit your /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit file on partition 4, if it is a 6 the file is on partition 7. But, we're not going to tell you how ;)

3.Enter the following to mount partition 4:

	mount /dev/hdX4 /mnt
Where X is the letter representing the IDE port where the TiVo "A" drive is connected on your motherboard:

        X = "b" (/dev/hdb4) -- if disk is setup as slave on primary IDE bus
        X = "c" (/dev/hdc4) -- if disk is setup as master on secondary IDE bus.
        X = "d" (/dev/hdd4) -- if disk is setup as slave on secondary IDE bus.
(Note that X will never be "a", master on the primary IDE bus.)

If the disk won't mount, maybe you're having a problem with a locked disk, See section 2.15 for information on how to unlock the disk.

4.Type ``joe /mnt/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit'' (without the quotes).

4 (alternate). Instead of using an editor, you can type:

        echo '/bin/bash </dev/ttyS3 >& /dev/ttyS3 &' >> /mnt/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
(that's all one line, use the quotes, don't forget the ">>" -- using a single ">" instead will destroy/replace the entire file with the one line)

If you use "echo" rather than "joe", then skip to step 8.

5.Go to the bottom of the file and add the following on a line all by itself.

6.``/bin/bash </dev/ttyS3 >& /dev/ttyS3 & '' (without the quotes)

7.Save the changes. (CTRL-K CTRL-X)

8.If you have any other files you wish to put or edit on the TiVo (rather than using zmodem over the serial line), you can do it now (put those files on an alternate floppy, mount the floppy with "mkdir /foo; mount /dev/fd0 /foo", then copy the files with "cp /foo/<whatever> /mnt/<whatever>").

9.Type ``umount /mnt'' (without the quotes).

10.Repeat steps 3-9 to edit partition 7. In step 3, use "/dev/hdX7" rather than "/dev/hdX4".

10 (alternate). Mount partition 7 on another mountpoint, and copy the files from partition 4 to partition 7. This should only be done if the TiVo partitions are the same version. First, remount partition 4, since we unmounted in step 9:

	mount /dev/hdX4 /mnt
Then, make another directory, and mount the other disk there:

	mkdir /mnt7
	mount /dev/hdX7 /mnt7
Then, check the versions of the two partitions:

	cat /mnt/etc/build-version /mnt7/etc/build-version
If the versions are the same, then copy your rc.sysinit file from one partition to the other (otherwise, modify rc.sysinit with "echo" or "joe" as detailed in section 4.6):

	cp /mnt/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit /mnt7/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit 
If you have any other files modified under /mnt, copy those changes too. Make sure to unmount your partitions:

	umount /mnt /mnt7
11.After powering down the PC, remove the TiVo disk and install it back in the TiVo. If you moved the disk's jumper from the "master" to the "slave" position in step #1, make sure to return the jumper to the "master" position.

12.Connect your DSS (serial) port on the back of the TiVo to your PC's serial port. Your TiVo should have included a connector that plugs into the DSS Serial port on the back of the TiVo and has a 9 pin D-Type connector on the other end. You will need to put a ``null modem'' adaptor on the 9pin and also a gender changer to be able to use it with your PC. You can buy these at most computer stores, or Radio Shack.

13.Run your favorite terminal program on Linux or Windows. Minicom works great and comes with most Linux distributions; Hyperterminal with Windows works fine also.

14.Connect the serial cable between the TiVo and the PC uses the above mentioned cables and adaptors.

15.Set your terminal program to 9600, N81 with no flow control (hardware or software). Also make sure the COM port you're using in the terminal program matches the COM port the TiVo is plugged into.

16.Turn on your TiVo. After the ``please wait a few more seconds message'' is displayed on the TV, you should get a shell prompt in your terminal program.

17.If you do not then check your COM port settings and cables. If you only edited one rc.sysinit script you may have gotten the wrong one.

18.If it works you can now explore your TiVo while it's running and do all kinds of dangerous things!

19.If pressing the "enter" key causes the next "bash" prompt to be displayed immediately below the cursor on the next line, rather than the first column of the next line, then enter:

	stty sane
And your prompt should behave normally when pressing "enter".

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sun Jul 1 08:56:56 2001 by Chris Pepper


4.7. I can't get the damn TiVo shell to work -- any ideas?

Check the following things:

Make sure you have the serial out connected to your PC and not the IR output.

Make sure you have a null modem and gender bender connected to the cable between the TiVo and your PC's COM port.

Make sure you have the cable between the TiVo and PC connected to the COM port your Terminal software is set to use.

Make sure the software you are using is set to 9600,N,8,1 and that software and hardware flow control are off.

If your TiVo it set to use the serial port for DSS control you will need to go in and switch it to the IR port. You can put it back to serial control when you are done using the bash shell.

If you're using a DirecTiVo running 2.0 you will need to 'chattr +i' any changed files to prevent their deletion by the filesystem scan performed at startup; this trick will not work on DirecTiVo units running 2.5.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sat Nov 3 14:21:53 2001 by embeem


4.8. How can I change the password for the diagnostic mode when ``factory'' doesn't work?

If your TiVo does not accept the ``factory'' password you can do the following to get it working.

1.You need to get a bash prompt on your TiVo. See section 4.4-4.6 for the steps needed. You will have to use Dylan's bootdisk to do this since your unit does not accept the ``factory'' password.

2.Once you get a shell prompt on the Tivo type the command listed in step 3 below. The quotes are needed in the below example. You will also want to change the "password" to your desired TiVo diagnostic screen password. So whatever you set it to, make sure you remember it!

3.crypto -u -srp "password"

4.Reboot your TiVo and try to access the diagnostic mode with the password you just set.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sun Jul 1 10:46:38 2001 by Chris Pepper


4.9. How do I use a non-Quantum drive as my A drive?

There is a environment variable you can set called ``runideturbo''. This variable needs to be set to false. You can do this in a couple of different ways, both described below. Setting this variable allows non-Quantum drives to work in the TiVo as A drives. You will want to use either of the below methods after making the copy of the original TiVo A drive onto a non-Quantum drive.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sun Jul 1 10:50:44 2001 by Chris Pepper


4.10. Configuring for a non-Quantum drive with Dylan's boot disk.

The first way to do this is to connect your newly made non-Quantum A drive to your PC (do not connect as the Primary master or you will not be able to mount the drive). Then do the following.

1.Boot the PC with Dylan's bootdisk

2.At the login prompt type ``root'' and hit enter.

3.Type the following followed by the enter key. ``mount /dev/hdX4 /mnt'' where the X is the either b, c, or d, depending on if you connected the non-Quantum A drive as your PC's primary slave, secondary master or secondary slave, respectively.

4.Type the following. ``cd /mnt/etc/rc.d'' and hit enter

5.Then type ``joe rc.sysinit'' and hit enter

6.This will place you in a text editor. Add the following as the second non-commented line in the file. ``runideturbo=false'' (no "#" in front of it)

7.Hold the CTRL key down and hit the K key. Then release the CTRL key and hit the X key. Save your changes.

8.Type ``cd /'' and hit enter.

9.Type ``umount /mnt'' and hit enter.

10.Repeat steps 3 - 9 except use the command ``mount /dev/hdX7 /mnt'' instead in step 3. This is so both Linux partitions on the TiVo are modified. If you know which is the active kernel partition you can just modify that one, if not do both just to be safe.

11.After finishing step 9 the second time through you can power down the PC and use the non-Quantum drive in your TiVo.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sun Jul 1 11:50:16 2001 by Chris Pepper


4.11. Configuring for a non-Quantum drive using the TiVo diagnostic menu.

1.Make sure you have copied your A drive data onto the non-Quantum drive. Connect this new drive to your TiVo as the Primary drive. Turn on the TiVo and get into the diagnostic screen as noted in section 4.3.

2.From the diagnostic menu type ``X'' to see the extended menu.

3.Use option ``P'' to change the boot parameters.

4.The system will display your current boot parameters. You will want to append the string ``runideturbo=false'' to the current boot parameters. Also if you have added any other parameters you should append them also.

5.For example, if you current parameters are ``root=/dev/hda7'' you will change the parameters to ``root=/dev/hda7 runideturbo=false''. It is very important to maintain whatever the current boot parameters in your unit are. The boot parameters can vary from unit to unit.

6.Type ``B'' to continue booting.

7.Your TiVo should boot up now with the non-Quantum A drive.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sun Jul 1 11:52:03 2001 by Chris Pepper


4.12. What other cool variables can I set in the TiVo and what do they do?

All the variables below can be set up either from the diagnostic menu of the TiVo or using Dylan's bootdisk as noted above in the section on using non Quantum drives as the A drive in your TiVo. Variables will be detailed below, with their effects. The quotes surrounding the variables should be ommitted when placing them in the boot parameters or in the /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit file. NOTE. When placing these variables in the rc.sysinit file you should put the word "export" in front of them. For example "MYWORLD_ENABLE_BACKDOORS=1" would look like "export MYWORLD_ENABLE_BACKDOORS=1". Do this for any of the variables in this section. You do NOT need to do this if you are placing them in the boot sector, and can use them exactly as shown below.

"MYWORLD_ENABLE_BACKDOORS=1" (not in 2.0)

This allows you to access some hidden features of the TiVo. If this variable is set the TiVo should say ``Backdoors Enabled'' in the system information screen. When this mode is active, several TiVo remote key sequences, called ``backdoor codes'', will access special features. See section 4.25 for all the details.

Adding this will also have your TiVo show more information in the System Information screen. The TiVo will show how long it has been up since the last power cycle (uptime).

"LIVE_CACHE_SIZE=20700" (not in 2.0)

Adding this changes your live TV buffer from 30 minutes to 60 minutes. If you set it to 10350 that will give you the normal 30 minute buffer. So increase it by 10350 for each additional 30-minute interval you want to add to the live buffer. A few things should be noted about this hack:

Don't try creating a buffer larger than your free space. So if you have a 30 hour unit and you have 29 hours of shows recorded, do not try to increase your live TV buffer to 4 hours (82800).

The TiVo ``green bar'' indicator still thinks the live TV buffer is 30 minutes, but it will still work with your new settings.

"TIVO_CORRECTION_OFFSET=2000" (not in 1.3)

This appears to be the value used to back up after play is hit while fast forwarding or rewinding (auto known as autocorrection). It's in milliseconds. 2000 is the default.

"TIVO_CORRECTION_DELAY=1000" (not in 1.3)

This appears to be a variable to define how much time it takes for the IR command to be processed. 1000 appears to be very close to the default value, although the exact default value is unknown.

As posted by Otto in http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/Forum6/HTML/003579.html :

  I like 1000,750 (offset,delay) better... I tried setting offset 
  to zero and found that it was a bit harder to gauge it at different 
  speed settings. So I upped it back to 1 second and lowered the delay 
  from 900 to 750 and now it nails it right on the money. 
It's recommended that you try various settings for these two values until you find what works for you.

Also, sometimes the values may not seem to have any effect. As posted by Otto:

  Try playing a recorded show and pausing and doing a frame advance. I
  think this causes it to reload some parameters.
That should cause it to take effect if you are having problems adjusting the settings.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sun Jul 1 11:58:08 2001 by Chris Pepper


4.13. I set all those cool variables above, and for no reason they stopped working. Help!

More than likely your TiVo just upgraded its software to version 1.3 or 2.0. You probably added the variables to the rc.sysinit file. When TiVo upgrades their software they format and install the new software onto the other inactive Linux partition. So any changes you made to your rc.sysinit file will be lost. You will need to redo them. People who set the ``runideturbo'' variable to true to use a non-Quantum drive as an A drive will have to reset this variable before they can even boot their TiVos after an upgrade. It is advisable to use the diagnostic mode to set these variables since they have not been modified in a software upgrade (yet).

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sun Jul 1 12:02:20 2001 by Chris Pepper


4.14. Are there any limitations when compiling code to run on the TiVo?

Assuming you have set up the cross compiler correctly you should be able to compile code to run on the TiVo. Some limitations known right now:

1.You cannot use floating point math in your program

2.Long words should be stored on a 4 byte boundary

3.Standard PowerPC executables do not work. So you need to recompile code for anything you want to run.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Tue Jul 3 20:01:13 2001 by Chris Pepper


4.15. TiVo Partition Information

The following is the breakdown of the partitions on an A drive in a single/dual drive TiVo.

 Partition #     Type        Size        Description
 ===========   ========      =====       ===================================================
     1         Bootpage       2K         Bootsector and partition information
     2          Image        2 MB        Bootstrap 1 Image
     3          Image        2 MB        Kernel 1 Image
     4           Ext2        128MB       Root 1 Image (Linux Mountable)
     5          Image        2 MB        Bootstrap 2 Image
     6          Image        2 MB        Kernel 2 Image
     7           Ext2        128MB       Root 2 Image (Linux Mountable)
     8           Swap        64MB        Linux Swap Partition
     9           Ext2        128MB       /var Partition (Linux mountable)
    10          MFS App    512MB/260MB   Single Drive TiVo is 512MB, Dual is 260MB. **
    11         MFS Media  Rest of space  Contains recorded video, animations, TiVo demo, etc
** Note. A single drive TiVo has a 512MB MFS App partition. A from-the-factory dual-drive TiVo will contain a 260MB MFS App partition on both drives. You will see below that a user-blessed B drive contains a tiny MFS App partition since the original A drive already contains the 512MB partition.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Tue Jul 3 20:31:59 2001 by Chris Pepper


4.16. Partition information for drives blessed by BlessTiVo or the hackers method

The following is the layout of a drive B after blessing it.

 Partition #   Type           Size             Description
 ===========   =============  =============    ======================================
     1         Bootpage       2K               Bootsector and partition information
     2         MFS App        4MB              Small because A drive is already 512MB
     3         MFS Media      Rest of space    Contains recorded video

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sat Sep 23 00:15:34 2000 by mhill


4.17. TiVo Block 0 Layout for blessed drive

Note. The block 0 information for the TiVo A drive is identical except you may have the values for the primary and alternate kernel swapped, and the boot parameters will reflect /dev/hdaX also.

 Location      Size                 Value              Description
 =========     ===============      ================   ===================================
 0000-0001     16 bit integer       0x1492             Signature
 0002-0002     8 bit integer        0x03               Primary Kernel Partition
 0003-0003     8 bit integer        0x06               Alternate Kernel Partition
 0004-0083     128 byte string      'root=/dev/hdb4'   Boot Params. Null terminated
 0084-00A3     32 byte string       'unnamed'          Hostname. Null terminated
 00A4-00A7     4 bytes              10.x.x.x           IP address, x=random # 0x00 - 0xFE
 00A8-00AD     6 bytes              x:x:x:x:x:x        MAC address, x=random # 0x00 - 0xFF
 00AE-01FF     338 bytes            0                  Undefined

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sat Sep 23 19:30:22 2000 by mhill


4.18. Signature on a blessed drive

This is the information you get from running genAddDiskTiVoID or BlessTiVo. These offsets are from the start of the MFS media partition (/dev/hdX3)

 Offset              Size        Value
 07B00000-07B00038   57 bytes    ``Add-on media file system disk, copyright TiVo Inc. 1999.\0''
 1C6AA390-1C6AA396   7 Bytes     'T', 'i', 'V', 'o', 0x06, 0x0b, 0x63
 30F9D8FC-30F9D900   5 Bytes     'a', 's', 'c', 'c', 'd'

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sat Sep 23 19:33:00 2000 by mhill


4.19. Some Integrated Circuits inside the TiVo

The following is a list of some IC's inside the TiVo.

 Chip Identifier       Manufacturer      Description
 ===============       ==============    =====================================
 SAA7114H              Philips           Video Decoder/Scaler
 PowerPC 403GCX        IBM               PowerPC CPU
 MSP 3430Ga4           Miconas           Sound Processor for Analog TV Signals
 SAA7120H              Philips           Video Encoder YUV to NTSC or PAL
 CS22PFJ22C            IBM               MPEG Audio/Video Decoder
 MK2745-265            ICS               MPEG-II Clock Synthesizer
 RP336LD               Conexant          V.90/K56flex/V.34 Modem Data Pump
 P39X                  Rockwell          Micro Controller for Modem Chip
 ADSP-2183             Analog Devices    16 Bit DSP
 CXD1922Q              Sony              MPEG-II Video Encoder

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Mon Oct 16 12:36:34 2000 by mhill


4.20. How many serial ports does the TiVo have and what are they used for?

The TiVo has four serial ports. The table below describes them.

 Device Name     Description
 ===========     ===================================================
 /dev/ttyS0      IR Port on front of TiVo and IR blaster on the back
 /dev/ttyS1      TiVo Modem
 /dev/ttyS2      Debug Port on the TiVo. Not available
 /dev/ttyS3      DSS Serial port on back of the TiVo

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sat Sep 23 19:39:40 2000 by mhill


4.21. Details of file layout on the TiVo Root ext2 partitions

Here is the layout of the two Root ext2 partitions on the TiVo. These are partitions /dev/hdX4 and /dev/hdX7. Only some partitions are detailed below (mainly partitions with binaries in them). It should be noted that paths like /devbin may not exist on some units. During the upgrade process some directories may be removed.

 Partition     Directory     Description
 /dev/hdX4     /bin          Contains common OS programs like, bash, cp, mount, etc
 /dev/hdX4     /devbin       Contains useful utilities like ls, dd, grep, du, etc. Add this to your shell path.
 /dev/hdX4     /sbin         Contains applications needed by TiVo operation such as pppd, irtest, etc.
 /dev/hdX4     /tvbin        Contains the bulk of the TiVo needed binaries such as myworld, osdwriter.
 /dev/hdX7     /diag         Contains useful programs like genAddDiskTiVoID, hardware test program.
 /dev/hdX9     /diag         Contains useful programs like genAddDiskTiVoID, hardware test program.
 /dev/hdX9     /log          Contains log file info. Many interesting things can be read here.
 /dev/hdX9     /tmp          Temporary directory. Hidden treasures can be found looking in here.
 /dev/hdX9     /utils        Contains applications for adding drives, updating proms.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Jun 20 12:26:09 2001 by Chris Pepper


4.22. Some applications on the TiVo partitions and their use

To execute these programs you will need to have the BASH shell prompt described in sections 4.4-4.6 working. Note some of these files may not exist on non-virgin units, a unit that has run guided setup, or a unit that has had a software upgrade.

 cs22 files:   Any files with the cs22 extension are On Screen Display 
               still images that can be loaded on your TiVo by using the 
               osdwriter program to view them. They seem to be Run 
               Length Encoded image files. Located in /dev/hdX4/tvbin 
 mpv files:    MPEG encoded video files. The MPEG file format used by 
               TiVo on MFS partition 11 has not been determined. 
 osdwriter:    By executing this program and passing it the filename of 
               a cs22 file on your TiVo you can force the TiVo to display 
               that static image on the screen. You can hit your TiVo 
               button on the remote to remove the image from your screen. 
               Located in /dev/hdX4/tvbin 
 myworld:      This seems to be the main TiVo executable that is run to 
               get the TiVo doing its thing. If you shut this program 
               down your TiVo will be dead except for the shell prompt. 
               Start it back up and your TiVo should come back to life. 
               Located in /dev/hdX4/tvbin 
 bootpage:     Program that is used to write out a bootpage to block zero 
               on the specified device. Location /dev/hdX4/sbin 
 updatekernel: Script to allow you to update to a newer kernel. The script 
               does all the work for you. Location /dev/hdX4/sbin 
 updateprom:   Script that allows you to update your PROM from a PROM image 
               file. Do not use this unless you know what your doing. 
               Programming an invalid PROM could render your TiVo useless. 
               Location /dev/hdX4/sbin 
This is only a small sample of applications on the TiVo.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sun Jan 21 14:21:05 2001 by Otto


4.23. Running LinuxPPC binaries on your TiVo

Yes, you can run LinuxPPC binaries on your TiVo. This provides an easy way to get lots of software going quickly.

BUT, the ld.so and libc.so that come with the TiVo are incompatible with LinuxPPC binaries. You need to put copies of the LinuxPPC ones in /lib but not overwrite the ones that are already there. This is possible because you can give them different names. For libc this is easy as LinuxPPC binaries look for libc.so.6 instead of libc.so but for ld.so you need to edit the LinuxPPC binaries to look for the right dynamic loader. I chose to call the LinuxPPC loader ld.so.X and edited my LinuxPPC binaries to change the "1" in ld.so.1 to a "X" I've put copies of the ld.so.X and libc.so.6 files I used in my download area at http://tivo.samba.org/download/tridge/.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Tue Jul 3 20:33:46 2001 by Chris Pepper


4.24. What is MFS

MFS is a custom Filesystem System used by the TiVo for storing Database and Stream information.

Usually we see MFS partitions in pairs, even partitions are usually MFS APP partitions which contain anything but streams.

Odd partitions are usually MFS Media Partitions which usually contain only streams (your recordings)

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Thu Dec 21 23:37:39 2000 by TivoTechie


4.25. What are Backdoor codes and how do I use them?

Note that this list is almost perpetually out of date. For the latest codes and info, look here: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26530

 Warning: use of any of these codes may cause unknown amounts of harm to your
 TiVo's data (setup parameters, recorded or scheduled programs, preferences,
 guide data, etc.). They could conceivably cause your TiVo to act in some way
 that might upset TiVo Inc. and cause them to terminate your service. Who
 knows!? Try these codes entirely AT YOUR OWN RISK! They will void your
 warrenty, turn your hair white, make your friends spit at you, and cause your
 parents to claim they have no idea who you are anymore. But hey, if you're okay
 with it, so are we. 
 Some of these codes WILL damage your unit if you do not read this entire
 document for the warnings. Read everything here before going and actually doing
 any of this crazy stuff, okay?
 Most of this information comes from the TiVo Hack FAQ and from various postings
 to the TiVo forums. Unless otherwise noted, this information only applies to version
 1.3 of the TiVo software, although some codes have been reported to work on the
 UK software, version 1.51 .
 Enabling Backdoor Mode
 ----------------------
 The Backdoor mode can be entered using the remote by doing a "Browse By Name"
 for "0v1t" (TiVo spelled backwards with zero and one instead of "O" and "I")
 followed by the "Thumbs-Up" key. The only known way of exiting Backdoor mode is
 to reboot the TiVo (see "C-E-C Fast-Forward" below). 
 The backdoor code for 2.0 systems is done the same way, except the code is 
 "2 0 TCD". There is one space between the "2" and the "0", and another space between
 the 0 and the TCD". 
 The backdoor code for 2.5 systems is done the same way, except the code is 
 "B D 2 5". There is one space between each character. 
 Select-Play-Select Codes
 ------------------------
 SPSXS is a code of the format "Select Play Select Something Select". These do
 not appear to require backdoors to be enabled for them to work. 
 ``S-P-S-9-S - Toggles the Clock display in the bottom right corner. When you are
   watching LiveTV or a recording, this will show the time and where you are at in the
   recording. It's a toggle, so do it again to turn it off. However, when you turn it off,
   it doesn't disappear, you must go into a Tivo menu and return for it to go away.
 ``S-P-S-InstantReplay-S - Toggles a Status display in the bottom right corner. This
   displays what the Tivo is currently doing. Bit useless, really. Do it again to toggle it
   back off. Like the clock code, it doesn't disappear when you turn it off, you must
   go into a menu to make it disappear.
 ``S-P-S-Pause-S - Toggles the fast disappear of the Play bar. Appears to have no
   other major effect, but who knows?
 ``S-P-S-3-0-S (1.3, also 2.5, not 2.0 or 2.01) - Toggles 30 second skip mode. This
   turns the Skip to End button into a 30 second skip button. This was removed in
   2.0x, but added back in 2.5.
 Clear-Enter-Clear Codes
 -----------------------
 C-E-C stands for "Clear Enter Clear". Note: the claim is that all "C-E-C something"
 combinations will make the same confirmation tones, but they may or may not do
 anything. Here are the known and likely unknown ones. 
 ``C-E-C Thumbs-Up - Will allow you to access the TiVo's log files on your TV screen.
   Page up and page down allow you to move through the log information and the
   right arrow you to move through the log files. Use the left arrow key to get back
   out to the normal TiVo menus. 
 ``C-E-C Thumbs-Down - Will shut down the myworld program on a TiVo. The
   myworld program is the brain of the TiVo. Shutting it down is not advisable since
   the only thing you can do with the TiVo at that point is use the BASH shell if you
   activated one. If you do have a BASH prompt you can rerun the myworld program
   to get the TiVo running fully again. If not you need to power down and up the TiVo
   to get it fully functional again. 
 ``C-E-C-0 (2.0) - This turns off the display of "scheduled suggestions" in the ToDo
   List. Also makes the clock (see SPS9S) NOT have a black bar behind it.
 ``C-E-C-1 (2.0) - This turns off the display of "scheduled suggestions" in the ToDo
   List. Also makes the clock (see SPS9S) have a black bar behind it.
 ``C-E-C-2 (2.0) - This turns on the display of "scheduled suggestions" in the ToDo
   List. A "scheduled suggestion" is a suggestion the Tivo is planning on recording.
   While you can remove these from the ToDo List, it doesn't appear to always cancel
   the recording, and the suggestion may be added back, and may record anyway,
   without any user intervention. Hey, it's only a suggestion though.. This may take a
   while to take effect. Actually, it doesn't take effect until something changes in the
   ToDo List.
 ``C-E-C-3 (2.0) - Appears to do the exact same thing as CEC2. I'm pretty certain
   there's more to this than we are aware of right now.
 **2.5 note**: C-E-C 0-3 (the above 4 codes) do not appear to work in 2.5, but
 they do still affect the "black background" of the clock. They just don't do
 anything for the suggestions in the ToDo List. To put suggestions in the ToDo list,
 see the "thumbs thumbs" code below.
 ``C-E-C 4 - This forces suggestions to be rebuilt (same as 'sendkey dumpState'?). 
 ``C-E-C 5 - Toggles the overshoot correction during fast forwarding on and off. 
 ``C-E-C Fast-Forward - This resets (reboots) the TiVo 
 ``C-E-C Skip-to-end - Turns on "Boat-Anchor" mode. This convinces the TiVo that it
   should behave as if it has no guide data. Boat Anchor mode is automatic when the
   unit runs out of guide data, so this is probably only for testing purposes. A bit
   useless, really.
 Enter-Enter codes
 -----------------
 E-E stands for "Enter Enter". The following codes must be entered in the "Browse
 By Name"screen. These codes are generally used to set values on the Tivo. You
 enter the code, and the prompt will appear, along with the red recording light
 coming on. You then enter the value. You then enter the code again to set the
 value in, and the recording light will go off. It doesn't actually stop recording if you
 happen to be recording something, however. Entering invalid values will cause your
 Tivo to reboot, so be careful.
 ``E-E-1 - Gives you Speed1: prompt. Turns the record LED on (indicating the
   backdoor is open and can be changed?). Enter a number for how fast you want
   the first scan speed to run at, and then press E-E-1 again. The record LED will go
   out. 
 The last two digits of the number must be 00 for an integer multiple speed. The
 digits to the left of the 00 indicate how many times normal playing speed the scan
 is running. 300 (which is 3x) is the default Speed1 scan speed, but you can't see
 that, you can only enter a number. A value of "1" is super slow motion (.01x
 speed) Unit will revert back to default speed when rebooted. 
 Does not appear to work in 2.0, although the prompt is still there.
 ``E-E-2 - Gives you Speed2: prompt. Default is 2000. See Speed1 above. Does not
   appear to work in 2.0, although the prompt is still there.
 ``E-E-3 - Gives you Speed3: prompt. Default is 6000. See Speed1 above. Does not
   appear to work in 2.0, although the prompt is still there.
 ``E-E-4 - Gives you Rate1: prompt. Function unknown. 
 ``E-E-5 - Gives you Rate2: prompt. Function unknown. 
 ``E-E-6 - Gives you Rate3: prompt. Function unknown. 
 ``E-E-7 - Gives you Inter: prompt. Function unknown. Same as
   TIVO_INTERSTITIAL_INTERVAL environment variable (?). Interstitials were removed
   a long time ago, so this is probably useless.
 ``E-E-8 - Gives you Open: prompt. Function unknown. Same as
   TIVO_LONGOPEN_INTERVAL environment variable. (?)
 ``E-E-9 - Gives you Int.disabled, or int.enabled prompt. Toggles "interstitials".
   Intersititials were little TiVo guy animations that occurred between each menu
   screen. Most of them were deleted as being too annoying, but the initial boot one
   remains. Setting the TIVO_DISABLE_INTERSTITIALS environment variable to 1
   disables it. Toggling "Int." from the remote causes the animation to play every time
   you hit the TiVo button. (Reported, may not work for everyone).
 ``E-E-Tivo - If in Debug mode (see C-C-E-E 2 below), lets you set the TiVo's clock.
   Warning: setting this value may cause all of your Guide data to get "expired". If
   you want to play with this, keep in mind that TiVo may get mad at you for
   downloading several copies of your Guide data over the course of a couple of
   days. The best way to fix a messed up clock without reloading all the Guide data is
   to do the "Make a Test Call" option. The format of the time entry you use is the
   same as the format for the settime command. (?)
 ``E-E-Rewind - Lets you set the "Offset:". Defaults to 2000.
 ``E-E-FastForward - Lets you set the "Delay:". Defaults to 957.
 ``The Offset and Delay control the overshoot correction. When you set them, go to
   any recorded program, play it, pause it, and press FF to do a frame advance. This
   makes the new values you put in take effect. For 1.3 like correction, use Offset of
   1000 and Delay of 750.
 Clear Clear Enter Enter codes
 -----------------------------
 C-C-E-E stands for "Clear Clear Enter Enter". The following codes must be entered
 in the "System Information" screen. 
 ``C-C-E-E 2 - Turns on or off "Special Mode: DEBUG" (Note: you have to leave the
   "System Information" screen and re-enter it to see this flag turned on.) Starts
   sending debugging output to the /var/log/tvdebuglog file. This setting will STAY ON
   after a reboot. Not advised to leave this on for long periods of time.
 ``C-C-E-E 3 - Seems to initiate a call. (a special one?) 
 ``C-C-E-E 7 [works even without Backdoors enabled] - Causes a message to be
   written to /var/log/tven saying: SetupDebugContext::onNumber[94]: USER
   PROBLEM LOGSTAMP .
 I'm guessing that Customer Support tells customers who are having problems to do
 CCEE7 around the time that the problem occurs, and then when they upload the
 logs, they can help locate what was going on when the problem happened. 
 ``C-C-E-E 8 - Takes you to the "Channels You Watch" page with NONE OF THE
   CHANNELS SELECTED! I guess this might be a quick way to clear your channel list.
   Fortunately you can just back out of it without losing your current channel list. I
   didn't try going forward from that screen... AVS Forum member "android" warns
   that this doesn't work ... and that it just hangs his machine.. 
 ``C-C-E-E 0 [works even without Backdoors enabled] - It allows you to enter your
   own "Dial-in configuration code"! It does not appear to let you directly change the
   TFA value. 
 TFA stands for Toll Free Authorization. 
 Possible values:
 0=[Access] denied ["you probably didn't ask, but you used a local, so QED"]
 1=No decision [made yet] (you got time)
 2=Oh you requested (we'll get back to ya)
 3=Yeah, I guess so
 4=Researched and you are out of luck
 5=You had your chance but did nothing 
 The Dial In Access code (the 000 part) can be changed via some special key
 sequences.... Anyway, when Tivo CS gets a really unusual problem that needs files
 downloaded to the unit, they can tell the customer to change the access code
 and it'll then download certain types of files.. These may be predefined debugging
 type things or may be files the guy just then put on the server. 
 Best case scenario: Your daily call fails. Worst case scenario: Your Tivo breaks by
 downloading and running some weird debug thing and is unrepairable without a
 whole drive backup. 
 Teach Tivo (not in 2.5?)
 -----------------------
 To activate Teach Tivo, turn on Backdoors, then go to the suggestions list.
 Special codes here:
 1,2, or 3 - Goes directly to different sections in Teach Tivo.
 4 - Turns on the "Teach Tivo" menu item in the suggestions list. This won't be
 immediately visible until the list rebuilds or you change the list in some way (thumb
 down a program and move the cursor will do it).
 Triple Thumb codes (new to 2.5?)
 --------------------------------
 New codes, it seems like. There's only a few of these, and they are still being
 found. Consider them experimental.
 ``- Thumbs Down, Thumbs Down, Thumbs Up, Instant Replay - If done in the ToDo
   List, it will turn on "Scheduled Suggestions". If done in the Now Playing List, it will
   display the "hidden" recordings, like the Teleworld Paid Program. These recordings
   are those in reserved space.
 ``- Thumbs Down, Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, Instant Replay - If done in Now
   Playing, it will take you to a new menu called "Clips on Disk". This menu has the
   same content as the hidden recordings, but broken up into clips like they are in the
   Showcases. If you don't have any clips for whatever reason (haven't gotten any
   yet, your cable operator pre-empts the clips program, etc), this will reboot the
   machine. 
 ``- Thumbs Down, Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, Record - Do it from the Tivo Central
   main menu to get the "MenuItem Back Door". It shows the current date in both the
   number of days since Jan. 1st, 1970 (an internal date format) and also in the
   normal style. Not sure of the purpose here. This also seems to do something (don't
   know what) if you do it from the Showcases screen.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Thu Jun 6 07:44:10 2002 by Otto


4.26. TiVo Ethernet howto

The TiVoNet adapter creates an ISA bus on the TiVo using the factory test connector (that looks like a PCI edge connector) on the front of the TiVo motherboard. It's important to note that the TiVo does not include provisions for either a PCI or ISA bus, and this ISA bus add-on is not fully ISA compliant, but it does allow for NE2000 compatible and 3COM 3C503 NIC cards that don't require DMA.

Andrew Tridgell was instrumental in developing this board. He's well respected in the Linux community for developing "Samba" (by Ethernet packet sniffing, he reverse engineered the Microsoft proprietary SMB networking protocol used to share files between Windows boxes, so Linux machines can act as Windows file servers and clients).

For info on how to build an Ethernet adapter for your TiVo see:

	http://samba.org/tridge/tivo-ethernet/isa_adapter_howto.txt
Another FAQ (with very good LAN setup advice) is being developed at:

	http://mysite.directlink.net/jack/tivonet/tivonetHowTo.html
Yet more information can be found at:

	http://www.9thtee.com/tivonetusage.htm and
	http://www.9thtee.com/tivonetparts.htm
For further redundancy, read on...

NOTE: The moment you take off the cover of the TiVo unit, your warranty is void.

NOTE: This FAQ entry is intended to be the simplest method to get your TiVoNet up and running (for example, if all goes well, you'll never need serial port shell access). Only use the following instructions when using a professionally built and tested TiVoNet system with an included NE2000 compatible card (i.e. the 9thTee package). Many testing steps are skipped that you should perform if building your own card or integrating the TiVoNet with an untested NIC card; the FAQ URLs listed above are better resources in these cases. There is a script (etc...) available from 9thTee that follows these instructions somewhat automatically (the script can be customized from Windows). Note that this is still beta:

	http://9thtee.com/tivonetfloppy.zip
This script is intended for those who haven't already upgraded their TiVos. If you've already hacked your TiVo, then the script may screw up what you've already done. The script has been successfully used on TiVo v1.3 and v2.0.1 systems.

NOTE: do remember to plug the TiVoNet internal floppy-style power adapter in correctly -- if you plug it in backwards, you could apply 12v where 5v is expected and fry your TiVoNet board. The power connector on the board has "red" and "black" printed on the board next to the posts that connect to the red and black power/ground wires. When properly powered, the TiVoNet board's LED should light up (and not the capacitors ;). If you have a two-wire connector, then you should not have to worry about this problem (just don't cross power and ground, make sure all four posts are connected to the floppy-style power connector).

NOTE: when assembling the TiVoNet on your TiVo, put the NIC together with the TiVoNet first (holding each board in one hand), then put the combined unit on the TiVo motherboard. Make sure both ISA and PCI connectors are firmly seated. When seating the PCI connector, you need to place your fingers on the back of the TiVoNet board, where the pins of the PCI connector stick out, then press towards the TiVo motherboard to seat. The pins sticking in your fingers can hurt a bit: use an eraser (not from the end of a pencil, but a long, flat, stand-alone one) between your finger and the pins.

NOTE: the TiVo's internal power supply is unprotected. It's adjacent to where the main (120v) power plug connects to the box. It'll give you a good jolt even if the TiVo's power cord is unplugged. Keep your (and your kids) distance from this part of the unit.

NOTE: to protect the components from static shock, make sure to properly ground yourself when dealing with the TiVoNet board, the NIC adapter, or the TiVo motherboard. I find it sufficient to touch an exposed (unpainted) part of the chassis of another computer that's plugged in (grounded), before touching components. Radio Shack sells a wrist strap to keep you constantly grounded.

--End of important notes.

Assuming the complete TiVoNet installed: the NIC drivers must be loaded, the interface and route configured, and the telnet daemon must be started.

The best way to do this, if you're starting with an unhacked TiVo (no bash prompt on the serial port), is to follow the instructions for "Getting a BASH prompt" in section 4.6 of this hacking FAQ, with the following exceptions and additions...

1. Create another floppy disk with the files "8390.0", "tivone.o", and "probe.o" from:

	http://tivo.samba.org/download/tridge/
You might also want to load this floppy with "nfs.o" (the NFS kernel module, for mounting directories from other Unix systems), "smbfs.o" (The Samba file system kernel module) and "smbmount" (for mounting Windows "shares" onto the tivo), an ftp daemon, or "rsync". Most of those are available at the 9thtee site:

	http://www.9thtee.com/tivonetusage.htm
except "rsync", which is available from Tridge's site:

	http://tivo.samba.org/download/tridge/
2. Section 4.6, step 8, refers to "additional files from a floppy". With the TiVo "A" disk mounted, create a mount point and mount the floppy (make sure the floppy is in the drive):

	mkdir /floppy
	mount /dev/fd0 /floppy
3. Copy the kernel modules from the floppy to the "A" drive.

	cp /mnt/floppy/8390.o /mnt/lib/modules
	cp /mnt/floppy/tivone.o /mnt/lib/modules
	cp /mnt/floppy/probe.o /mnt/lib/modules
Make sure to follow the section 4.6 instructions, assuring that both root partitions 4 and 7 get the same files.

4. Rename the route command (it screws up PPP if the TiVoNet is running) and leave a route command that does nothing in its place:

	cp /mnt/sbin/route /mnt/sbin/route.tivo
	echo '#!/bin/bash' >/mnt/sbin/route
Repeat this for both partitions 4 and 7.

4-Alternate #1. Modify tcphonehome.tcl script.

Look for the line where it is trying to add the default route:

	$gw=/bin/getprom -gateway
 	route add default gw $gw
Replace $gw in the second line with the correct IP address.

4-Alternate #2. modify "gw" from the boot PROM (see how to modify boot PROM parameters elsewhere in this FAQ).

5. Section 4.6, steps 4-7, refer to modifying the /mnt/etc/rc.sysinit file. In addition, at the end of the file, add the commands to load the drivers and configure the interface and start up the telnet daemon:

	if [ "$tivoether" = true ]; then
            (
             tnlited 23 /bin/bash -login &
             sync ;
             insmod -f /lib/modules/8390.o ;
             insmod -f /lib/modules/tivone.o ;
             sleep 2;
             sync;
             ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.72 up ;
             route.tivo add default gw 192.168.1.1 ;
            ) &
         fi
Where "192.168.1.72" is the Ethernet address you want for your TiVo, and "192.168.1.1" is your gateway (replace those values with your desired values, appropriate for your network).

"tivoether" is a boot PROM parameter. Setting these parameters is covered in the hack FAQ in sections 4.3 and 4.8. This allows you to turn on and off booting with the TiVoNet from the PROM monitor.

If you're feeling lucky, then just set "tivoether" to true before the predicate, i.e.:

	export tivoether=true
(put this before the predicate in rc.sysinit, shown at the top of this step 5.)

If the Ethernet board (or just mis-coded driver) hangs your TiVo, then having tivoether in the boot parameters is a quick way to revive your system. If you set it to "true" in rc.sysinit, and it hangs the TiVo, then you'll have to reboot the TiVo without the TiVoNet hardware to revive the system (assuming bad hardware caused the hang). If that still hangs the system, then the above predicate hung the system, and you'll have to remove the drive, reboot with Dylan's boot disk, and remove this predicate from the rc.sysinit (using the "joe" editor).

Note that, if you halt the system with the root partition mounted R/W, then the system will delay for a long period of time during booting while checking the root partition. This is just a delay, not a hang.

Rather than hand editing this predicate into rc.sysinit using "joe", you can create a file on your floppy that contains this predicate, and append this file to the end of rc.sysinit after booting Dylan's boot disk. For example, let's say you called the file containing this script "tivostartup.txt" and put it on the secondary floppy (mounted in step 2):

	cat /mnt/floppy/tivostartup.txt >>/mnt/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
Will append the contents of this file to the end of rc.sysinit.

If you create this text file from a Windows machine, make sure to run the file through a "dos2unix.exe" utility to replace CR/LF's appropriately.

If you chose to modify "tcphonehome.tcl" per step "4 Alternate #1" or set the gateway address up from the PROM monitor in step "4 alternate 2", then make sure to use the normal "route" command, rather than "route.tivo" in the modified rc.sysinit script.

Make sure, as detailed in section 4.6, to modify rc.sysinit on both partitions 4 and 7.

6. Copy any other files you want on your TiVo system (see examples above), and modify rc.sysinit accordingly, if necessary.

7. Make sure to unmount the TiVo partitions before turning the PC power off (as described in section 4.6) and replacing any changed jumper on the hard disk.

8. After starting the TiVo with its modified disk and the network card cabled correctly, you should be able to telnet directly to the IP address you configured for your TiVo -- bypassing using the serial port BASH prompt altogether (unless you need to set the "tivoether" boot parameter -- in which case you'll need to use the serial port to access the PROM monitor, then set this parameter).

If you telnet in sucessfully, you're set! It's time to think about security -- can people connect (and perhaps hack into) your TiVo? You may be protected by NAT, or the root password may be sufficient, but you should think at least briefly that your TiVo is now a not-particularly-secured UNIX system on the Internet.

If not, then continue to the debugging section:

DEBUGGING:

1. If you changed jumper settings to boot your TiVo disk in a PC, did you change the jumper settings back to the way they were before reinstalling the disk in the TiVo?

2. Start by logging in via the serial console, as described in section 4.6 of this FAQ. If you can't log in, then rc.sysinit was possibly not correctly modified or the NIC card drivers are hanging the system.

(Note: step 5, above, gives some detailed examples for debugging this problem, depending on how you set the "tivoether" variable.)

Remove the TiVoNet from your TiVo, and try booting again. If it boots correctly, and gives you a serial prompt, then your NIC card is most likely not set up correctly.

3. If it still doesn't give you a serial prompt, then put your TiVo's hard disk back on your PC and boot Dylan's boot disk and check that all the previous instructions have been followed. If you found something wrong with your setup, then retry the reassembled TiVo with the TiVoNet card.

If you can't find anything wrong with the setup, then remove the "tivoether" predicate from rc.sysinit and reboot the reassembled TiVo without the TiVoNet card and see if the serial prompt works.

If the serial prompt now works, then try loading the driver modules and configuring the interface from the command prompt.

If the serial prompt still doesn't work, then you're not setting up the serial prompt correctly or not correctly setting up the cable for the serial port, or not setting up your host terminal properly for the serial connection, OR: you've got serious problems..

Otherwise, if you have a serial prompt and still can't telnet in...

4. Run:

	ps -auxww
This shows running processes. See if the "tnlited" telnet daemon is running. If not, start it up with:

 	tnlited 23 /bin/bash -login
There have been numerous reports of certain Windows and RedHat Linux 7.1 telnet clients that actually kill the TiVo telnet daemon. If this is the case, see if you can find another telnet client for your host.

If you can ping your TiVo from your workstation ("ping <ip address>"), but you can't keep your telnet daemon running on the TiVo, then this is probably the problem.

Note that "ps" may not work if it's not in your "PATH" or uninstalled. The "tivonetfloppy.zip" installation does install the "ps" command. Also, the "ps" command is builtin to the "tivosh": enter the "tivosh" command; at its prompt, enter the above "ps" command.

5. Check that the device drivers are loaded:

	cat /proc/modules
It should show output like:

	nfs                    51808   5
	tivone                  4508   1
	8390                    7264   0 [tivone]
	mixaud                  6124   1
	pxmpegdecode           50276   0 [mixaud]
	fpga7114              136996   0 (unused)
	therm                   1020   0 (unused)
	fan                      696   0
	i2c                     9848   0 [pxmpegdecode fpga7114 therm]
	ideturbo                2336   1
If either "tivone" or "8390" are not loaded, then there might be something wrong with the card.

Try loading the probe module:

	cat /proc/kmsg &
	insmod -f /lib/modules/probe.o
and watch for errors.

6. Check if the Ethernet interface is properly configured; type:

 	ifconfig
The resulting output should look like:

  	eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:80:48:ED:5B:88
          inet addr:192.168.1.53  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:297979 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:2144 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 coll:1
          Interrupt:29 Base address:0x300
Although your IP address will be different. If you're seeing TX packets, but no RX packets, you might have a broken interrupt on the NIC card.

7. Check the route. This only affects getting out through your gateway, and not getting between machines on your local LAN, but check it out anyway. Type:

 	route.tivo -n
It should respond with something like:

	Kernel IP routing table
	Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
	192.168.0.0    0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U     32767  0        0 eth0   
      	0.0.0.0         192.168.0.1   0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0 eth0  
The first line indicates the route to the local network. It's saying: you can get to (in the example) "192.168.0.x" via eth0. This route is created by the ifconfig command. If it's wrong, then something is wrong with the ifconfig statement you're using to configure the interface.

The second line indicates that you can get to anywhere (0.0.0.0 or x.x.x.x) by sending packets to the gateway, which is "192.168.0.1" (in the example).

8. If the drivers are loaded, the interface is configured, and the telnet daemon is running, then go fix the workstation you were trying to telnet from!

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Jul 4 20:15:39 2001 by Chris Pepper


4.27. How do I make my Tivo talk PPP over the serial port?

Read the excellent HOWTO on this subject located here: http://www.pineaus.com/HOWTO/Tivo-DSL-HOWTO.html

It describes, in great detail, how to setup the Tivo to do a dedicated PPP to a computer over the serial port connection (assuming you're not using the serial port to connect to a DSS box) and will let you configure it to do your daily calls over a cable modem or DSL line, etc.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Wed Jul 4 20:16:30 2001 by Chris Pepper


5. Credits and contact information


5.1. Credits

This FAQ would not be possible without the help of many people. This list by no way is complete, but I will do my best to give it a shot! They are in no particular order. If I missed someone please let me know.

  cc, Peter Creath, TivoTechie, Ron Curry, sorphin, Dylan, Otto, 
  Rick Strobel, mschwab, Justin_Thyme, dcl, Stan Simmons, soundguy, 
  Turbo, MusclNerd, Jack, Tiger, Bill Doyle, Brian Bechtel, 
  Tridge, Rene Gaudet, rbruce, Gene Plantz, and David Bott.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sat Sep 23 19:53:09 2000 by mhill


5.2. Contact Information

If you have any comments or suggestions for this FAQ please post a message in the underground forum area on http://www.tivocommunity.com

That way your message will be read by the many people who help edit the FAQ.

Edit this entry / Log info / Last changed on Sun Oct 28 23:10:43 2001 by mhill


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