Tivo Account Closed (?)

[okeemike]

Here's the short, short story:

DSR 6000
TurboNET
v 2.5

My Tivo account suddenly was marked as CLOSED, and DTV can't tell me exactly why. They sent me a new P4 card, and said that I needed the new v3 software. Got the card, forced a dozen calls, and got nothing.

Questions:
(1) Will the v3 software download via TurboNET?
(2) Is there a way to force the download?
(3) Is there a way to unlock the account?? (DTV says I'm paid up in full, and doesn't understand why it's not working).

Thanks for any / all help.

[captain_video]

Are you running the stock 2.5 OS or 2.5Xtreme? If you're still at 2.5 then your DTivo has not been dialing out, even with a phone line connected so I suspect you have 2.5Xtreme installed. If that's the case then I suspect somewhere along the line you had the fixsub hack running but for some reason it decided to quit on you.

Give us some more details on your setup and we can probably get this figured out. Where did you buy the unit? If you got it on ebay or from some other individual was it supposed to have a lifetime service with it? Have you hacked it in any way and, if so, what hacks did you install?

[okeemike]

Thanks for the assist. To be honest, I'm not sure if I have Extreme or not...however,I would guess not. I am able to access the box from here...is there an easy way to tell?

I AM running Telnet and TivoWEB, but I manually installed them independent of each other.

Everything is legit, I pay for Tivo, and locals, etc...

[captain_video]

If you are unable to dial out and you don't have 2.5Xtreme installed, then I'd say you have a dead modem. If you had Xtreme then most likely your account status would indicate lifetime service. An easy solution would be to install 2.5Xtreme and then upgrade it to either 2.5.2 or 3.1 and then activate the nophone hack. This precludes the requirement for having a phone connected and will show your account status as having a lifetime sub. If you want to order any PPVs then you will need to do it via the DTV website since you need a phone connection to upload the PPV data to DTV for billing purposes. The only other reason for having a phone connected would be to download future software updates which would definitely not be desirable if you have your hacks installed.

Check out my upgrade tutorial on page 4 of the How Tos Only sticky thread in the DirecTV Tivo Hacking Forum for the most painless way to upgrade with the fewest hassles.

The other options would include repairing the defective modem or setting up your DTivo to use an external one via the serial port. Weaknees has external modem kits for Tivos but charges way to much for them. You may be able to get a generic modem and configure it with your DTivo but I can't say for sure. 9th Tee has modem repair kits and also provides a modem repair service through ElectricLegs. Check their websites for details.

[okeemike]

That's the core issue:

I am using an ethernet connection, not a dial up. The phone calls are made successfully.

Must I use a modem to download v3?

[captain_video]

From what I understand about setting up your DTivo to the internet, it cannot currently perform any software downloads via that route. You will need to connect it to a phone line and set up your dialing prefix back to its original setting to dial out and obtain the 3.1 update. It may take a while before it downloads the update so be patient. If you force the daily calls it should eventually download the update. Using the ethernet is probably why your account status got closed since the DTivo doesn't know how to connect to DTV via the net.

[BubbleLamp]

I disagree to some extent. A phone call to Tivo, either over the phone line or via the 'Net is the same thing. The call to DirecTV is the only one that MUST go over the phone line.

[okeemike]

Originally posted by BubbleLamp
I disagree to some extent. A phone call to Tivo, either over the phone line or via the 'Net is the same thing. The call to DirecTV is the only one that MUST go over the phone line.

Ah ha...so you guys are now seeing my dilemma. I haven't been able to find anyone who knows for sure (i.e. actually gone through the 2.5 to 3.1 update via the ethernet...)

[BubbleLamp]

Originally posted by okeemike
Ah ha...so you guys are now seeing my dilemma. I haven't been able to find anyone who knows for sure (i.e. actually gone through the 2.5 to 3.1 update via the ethernet...)

Check the thread here (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=117338#post117006).