Problems with Prom Mod (Split from: Series 2.5 prom mod wanted)

[davidlallen]

I have a TCD540. I would like to pay somebody to upgrade the prom so I can load my own software. I would prefer to drive the board to somebody in the San Francisco bay area, but if not then I will ship the board. Please PM me.


Update. No reply after four days. I also sent PMs to the previous posters on this thread to ask them their experiences.

* Six no-replies. These were mostly one time posters, a few months ago, who have probably dropped off the forum.

* Two people said they hadn't gotten any replies either, but I should let them know if I found anything. Here you go.

* Two people recommended buying the PROM from tbielawa, taking the PROM and the motherboard to a local electronics repair shop from the phone book, and having them do it. Neither of these people actually did it that way.

* One person suggested throwing away the tivo and buying a Windows Media PC :-)

So, I will PM tbielawa about the PROM, find an electronics shop, and let you know my result. But my experience shows nobody on the forum is actively offering the upgrade service anymore.

[jasch]

The main problem... it's a risky procedure. It's not easy to remove the chip without damaging, and soldering the new one (or the socket) it's even more difficult.

The friend I gave my motherboard to, told me if he would have known how hard it was going to be in the first place, he would have either charge me more, or refused to do it.

He was really nervous that whole thing would not even turn on after he gave it to me....

[Jamie]

Update. No reply after four days. I also sent PMs to the previous posters on this thread to ask them their experiencesCompwiz312 did mine back in January. He did a fine job, and I have no complaints.

I can't help but think that you'd be happier with a Series2, e.g. a 240 model. I can think of no advantage of a 540 over a 240 other than the nightlite, and the 240s definitely have faster network transfers.

Unless you really want a series 2.5 to play with (as I did), I'd suggest you sell your 540 on ebay and buy a 240. I'll bet that will be cheaper than $50+roundtrip shipping for a prom mod.

[davidlallen]

The friend I gave my motherboard to, told me if he would have known how hard it was going to be in the first place, he would have either charge me more, or refused to do it.

Hm. New plan. First I will take the motherboard to a place and ask them if they will do it, then I will buy the prom.

[jasch]

Compwiz312 did mine back in January. He did a fine job, and I have no complaints.

I would stay away from Compwiz312. He held captive my motherboard (and money) for about 2 months. He finally returned them after dozens of mails and a PayPal complaint was filed.

He didn't do the modification, he claimed he didn't have time and/or was afraid he would fry the motherboard. I really didn't care, I was just glad I had my tivo back, and it was in perfect condition.

[davidlallen]

I can't help but think that you'd be happier with a Series2, e.g. a 240 model. I can think of no advantage of a 540 over a 240 other than the nightlite, and the 240s definitely have faster network transfers.

Unless you really want a series 2.5 to play with (as I did), I'd suggest you sell your 540 on ebay and buy a 240. I'll bet that will be cheaper than $50+roundtrip shipping for a prom mod.

Yes, maybe. It is just frustrating that without the skills to change the prom myself, I am stuck using last-generation hardware.

[Jamie]

I am stuck using last-generation hardware.Last generation is good when the new stuff sucks!

[jasch]

Exactly. The new 2.5 motherboard has cheaper parts, and are of less quality that the 2.0 boards.

[GrowlTiger]

I have a TCD540 that I've successfully upgraded to 200GB capacity. I would like to have someone upgrade the PROM so I can mod the software to my liking.

I can drive to anywhere in Northern California, but am willing to ship, too.

Please PM me.

GrowlTiger
------------
TCD240040 4.0.1b w/ killhdinitrd, bash, ftp, etc.
TCD540080 200GB looking for a PROM

[ride_red]

Compwiz fried my tivo and never emailed me back. He could care less about you or your tivo.

STAY AWAY FROM COMPWIZ!!!!!

[davidlallen]

So, I will PM tbielawa about the PROM, find an electronics shop, and let you know my result. But my experience shows nobody on the forum is actively offering the upgrade service anymore.

After a bunch of phone calls I found a hole in the wall computer repair shop across the street from a local computer superstore. I brought in a 32 pin plastic plcc package along with my motherboard, and explained that I just wanted soldering services. I asked to unsolder the prom, put in the socket, and then put back in the original prom. This seems to be a good compromise to make sure the board works and not expose them to anything bad.

The guy looked at it and offered me a choice. Either he can replace the chip directly for $50 in ten minutes, or I could leave the board for a couple of days, pay $125, and have them put in the socket. He said since the socket is plastic, soldering it without melting the plastic is pretty complicated.

I just had a $1.70 cheap plastic socket. Is there a better kind? Does this really make the process so much harder? I'd prefer to have the flexibility to pop the prom myself if I needed to, but not for $75.

[tbielawa]

Almost all sockets are "cheap". I paid about 50 cents for mine. In my opinion if you cut out the bottom of the socket, soldering the socket is much easier than soldering a LCC32 package because you have direct access to the leads of the socket. It may be difficult to solder the socket without damaging it if the bottom is left intact.

[jasch]

Almost all sockets are "cheap". I paid about 50 cents for mine. In my opinion if you cut out the bottom of the socket, soldering the socket is much easier than soldering a LCC32 package because you have direct access to the leads of the socket.

You know, mine still has the bottom, so the chip seats perfectly when pressed on. The guy that did mine was very careful, and I have to says he's a master at what he does.

Still, I was unable to boot my Tivo :(

[alldeadhomiez]

He said since the socket is plastic, soldering it without melting the plastic is pretty complicated.

Charring the plastic is not fatal. In my experience the damage is merely cosmetic.

[NutKase]

The main problem... it's a risky procedure. It's not easy to remove the chip without damaging, and soldering the new one (or the socket) it's even more difficult.

The friend I gave my motherboard to, told me if he would have known how hard it was going to be in the first place, he would have either charge me more, or refused to do it.

He was really nervous that whole thing would not even turn on after he gave it to me....


I agree with your friend.

I've been reading and thinking about prom modding for a while.

What gets me is that people think that it should cost about $30-$50.


I paid an electrician $155, sight unseen, to come to my house and spend an hour looking at a room circuit that wouldn't allow the lights to come on... (that was the minimum charge just for him to show up.) In less than 30 mins (with no soldering expensive parts that he'd be liable for if he had a microscopic sized accident) he'd replaced a faulty wire between 2 outlets and everything was 100%. I paid him. I didn't really like it BUT he had the knowledge and skill.


The point is: What everyone wants, vs wants to pay, seems way underpriced. I think that everyone is used to getting their boxes for free and the service for $5/month and their view is skewed on the risk and skill involved in prom socketing a tivo.

I personally don't know how much I'd charge to incur the risk of having to buy someone another tivo but, I'm sure it'd be way more than $50.

Since I don't have the skill... it doesn't really matter.

Just a thought.


NutKase

[eastwind]

I paid an electrician $155, sight unseen, to come to my house and spend an hour looking at a room circuit that wouldn't allow the lights to come on... (that was the minimum charge just for him to show up.) In less than 30 mins (with no soldering expensive parts that he'd be liable for if he had a microscopic sized accident) he'd replaced a faulty wire between 2 outlets and everything was 100%. I paid him. I didn't really like it BUT he had the knowledge and skill.


NutKase
Sort of like the old joke that about the woman with a plumbing problem. She calls the plumber and he comes. She tells him the pipes are making weird noises. He turns on the water and listens, goes under the house and hits a pipe with a rubber mallet, and tells her, "That'll be $150, ma'am." She says she wants an itemized bill, so he gives her one.
Hitting the pipe. $10.00
Knowing where to hit $140.00
------------------------------
Total $150.00

ew

[NutKase]

Hitting the pipe. $10.00
Knowing where to hit $140.00
------------------------------
Total $150.00


I purposefully omitted that I, the pretty-smart computer geek, went without various lights in two rooms, for more than six months, in my new 'used' house before I gave up and called...


NutKase

[cordless]

I will offer free prom socketing service and chip programming in exchange for software and code.. If you are smart and playing with tivo 540 looking for code and hacking directly at the prom level.. Email me for my address and I have plenty of references.. I work soldering electronics all day..

You only pay shipping at around 20.00 each way ups ground.. :)

[davidlallen]

I will offer free prom socketing service and chip programming in exchange for software and code.. If you are smart and playing with tivo 540 looking for code and hacking directly at the prom level.. Email me for my address and I have plenty of references.. I work soldering electronics all day..

You only pay shipping at around 20.00 each way ups ground..

Interesting. I have already paid tbielawa $30 for the prom, and I am planning to spend $50 for soldering locally. If I paid you the $40, do you provide the programmed prom? Does it really cost $20 to ship just the motherboard (not the whole box)?

If $40 buys me just the soldering service, I will pay $50 to have it done locally while I wait rather than with shipping delays.

Please post in the appropriate forum about the software services you are looking for. If it's an interesting project, the rest of the forum might jump in for free.

[davidlallen]

Update: well, the modded prom is installed and the unit doesn't work. I have started a support thread over here (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?p=230555#post230555).

I see tbielawa has sold a few proms recently. Any success stories?

UPDATE: 7-28-05: after disassembling and reassembling the unit, it runs fine. I have been able to get ftp and telnet working from the supplied CD as well.

[GrowlTiger]

I recieved my PROM and socket promptly and well packed from tbielawa.

After asking around, I found a local electronics shop that had a good reputation for working with SMT chips. $60 to place the socket.

They socketed the PROM and were able to save my original PROM chip, which worked fine in the new socket when I test booted it.

After replacing the PROM with tbielawa's modified PROM, taking out the drive and making the software modifications, I was able to boot the machine with serial capability and bash access. Success! I must say it was great to see a command line on a series 2.5!

According to instructions, I ran tivopasswd to set the telenet password.

I'm having trouble with ftp and telnet, though. I suspect it has something to do with my LynkSys USB wireless adaptor not being recognized by the ftp and telnet apps. When I go to the configuration screen it verifies the TiVo sees the adaptor, and it will use it to connect with the mother ship. ifconfig from bash also verifies the network is up, and ps shows ftp and telnet are running.

But I cannot ftp or telnet in.

Any suggestions?

-=GT=-

540040 200GB 7.1b PROM mod w/bash, no ftp/telnet yet
2 TCD240040s both with 4.0.1b 120GB killhdinitrd, bash, ftp, Superpatch-4all

[tbielawa]

I recieved my PROM and socket promptly and well packed from tbielawa.

After asking around, I found a local electronics shop that had a good reputation for working with SMT chips. $60 to place the socket.

They socketed the PROM and were able to save my original PROM chip, which worked fine in the new socket when I test booted it.

After replacing the PROM with tbielawa's modified PROM, taking out the drive and making the software modifications, I was able to boot the machine with serial capability and bash access. Success! I must say it was great to see a command line on a series 2.5!

According to instructions, I ran tivopasswd to set the telenet password.

I'm having trouble with ftp and telnet, though. I suspect it has something to do with my LynkSys USB wireless adaptor not being recognized by the ftp and telnet apps. When I go to the configuration screen it verifies the TiVo sees the adaptor, and it will use it to connect with the mother ship. ifconfig from bash also verifies the network is up, and ps shows ftp and telnet are running.

But I cannot ftp or telnet in.

Any suggestions?

-=GT=-

540040 200GB 7.1b PROM mod w/bash, no ftp/telnet yet
2 TCD240040s both with 4.0.1b 120GB killhdinitrd, bash, ftp, Superpatch-4all

I’m glad to hear of your success!!!

From the serial console, can you:
1. ping localhost?
2. ping the gateway?
3. telnet localhost?
4. telnet somewhere else?

From another machine, can you:
1. ping the TiVo
2. telnet to the http server running on the TiVo (telnet tivo 80).

When you say that ps shows telnet running, I assume you mean that you see: “/bin/bash /tivo-bin/securelogin”.

My initial guess is a misconfigured firewall. I doubt this is a network adapter problem unless you have a really strange setup, like a multi-homed TiVo. Once you have network connectivity through a network adapter you should have it for all situations. Network adapters generally aren’t picky about who they let through. Firewalls on the other hand are.

[GrowlTiger]

I’m glad to hear of your success!!!

From the serial console, can you:
1. ping localhost?
2. ping the gateway?
3. telnet localhost?
4. telnet somewhere else?.

Yes to all four.

From another machine, can you:
1. ping the TiVo
2. telnet to the http server running on the TiVo (telnet tivo 80).

Yes, I see the TiVo with ping from another machine on the LAN. And I can connect to the http server. (I didn't even realize that was there! Hmm, I'll bet that gets in the way of TiVoWebPlus.)

When you say that ps shows telnet running, I assume you mean that you see: “/bin/bash /tivo-bin/securelogin”.

Yes, that process is running.

My initial guess is a misconfigured firewall. I doubt this is a network adapter problem unless you have a really strange setup, like a multi-homed TiVo. Once you have network connectivity through a network adapter you should have it for all situations. Network adapters generally aren’t picky about who they let through. Firewalls on the other hand are.

Yes, this is behaving like a firewall issue. On the original software hack I did replace the /etc/netfilter-enable with the modified copy.

It looks like the modified version differs by two additional lines of code:

bash-2.02# diff netfilter-enable.orig netfilter-enable
28a29,32
> # allow telnet and ftp connections
> $iptables -A block -p tcp --dport telnet -i eth0 -j ACCEPT
> $iptables -A block -p tcp --dport ftp -i eth0 -j ACCEPT
>

I guess that's not enough to open the firewall to my ftp and telnet clients.

So I tried an old trick (and I realize this has about as much finesse as a gorilla with a sledge hammer).


/sbin/iptables -F

This flushes all of the firewall's rules from memory, effectively shutting it down for the session.

Lo and behold, I can now telnet and ftp to the box.

Now I'm going to have to rely on the ip masters out there to help me through doing something a little more refined to the firewall to let outside ftp and telnet traffic through. Any suggestions?


-=GT=-

540040 200GB 7.1b PROM mod bash/ftp/telnet
2 TCD240040s both w/ 4.0.1b 120GB killhdinitrd, bash, ftp, Superpatch-4all, etc.

[tbielawa]

(I didn't even realize that was there! Hmm, I'll bet that gets in the way of TiVoWebPlus.)


It can cause TiVoWebPlus all sorts of headaches. Fortunally we can just make TWP run on a different port. ;)



I guess that's not enough to open the firewall to my ftp and telnet clients.

So I tried an old trick (and I realize this has about as much finesse as a gorilla with a sledge hammer).


/sbin/iptables -F

This flushes all of the firewall's rules from memory, effectively shutting it down for the session.

Lo and behold, I can now telnet and ftp to the box.

Now I'm going to have to rely on the ip masters out there to help me through doing something a little more refined to the firewall to let outside ftp and telnet traffic through. Any suggestions?


-=GT=-

540040 200GB 7.1b PROM mod bash/ftp/telnet
2 TCD240040s both w/ 4.0.1b 120GB killhdinitrd, bash, ftp, Superpatch-4all, etc.


The extra two lines in netfilter-enable allow telnet and ftp traffic on the standard ports (23 and 21 respectively). Are you running them on a special port? If they are running on standard ports try modifying netfilter-enable to allow ports 21 and 23 by number instead of name. Finally I would try modifying netfileter-enable to allow lots of port (maybe 0-1023) and see if that clears things up, then you could start cutting down the range until you find the offending port.

[GrowlTiger]

The extra two lines in netfilter-enable allow telnet and ftp traffic on the standard ports (23 and 21 respectively). Are you running them on a special port? If they are running on standard ports try modifying netfilter-enable to allow ports 21 and 23 by number instead of name. Finally I would try modifying netfileter-enable to allow lots of port (maybe 0-1023) and see if that clears things up, then you could start cutting down the range until you find the offending port.

I changed the two lines to


$iptables -A block -p tcp --dport 23 -i eth0 -j ACCEPT
$iptables -A block -p tcp --dport 21 -i eth0 -j ACCEPT


The results are the same: No telnet or ftp unless I invoke /sbin/iptables -F

[tbielawa]

I changed the two lines to


$iptables -A block -p tcp --dport 23 -i eth0 -j ACCEPT
$iptables -A block -p tcp --dport 21 -i eth0 -j ACCEPT


The results are the same: No telnet or ftp unless I invoke /sbin/iptables -F


I think I got this one figured out. You’re using a wireless card, so your network interface probably won’t be called eth0. I’ve never used a wireless card in Linux, but I belive ifconfig will tell you the name of the wireless card, then you can substitute that name for eth0 after the –j switch.

[tbielawa]

Is everything working now?

[tbielawa]

For anyone else following this thread:

The following two lines open the default ports for telnet and ftp access on the default wired Ethernet adapter.


$iptables -A block -p tcp --dport telnet -i eth0 -j ACCEPT
$iptables -A block -p tcp --dport ftp -i eth0 -j ACCEPT


As I suspected, in some cases your Ethernet adapter may not be “the default wired” adapter even when you only have one adapter installed. An obvious case is when you are using a wireless adapter, but there are other more subtle cases. The open the firewall for other adapters the word “eth0” must be changed to the name of the network adapter being used. The name for the default wireless card is “wlan0.” There may be situations were other names need to be substituted. The following two lines show the modifications needed for a wireless card.


$iptables -A block -p tcp --dport telnet -i wlan0 -j ACCEPT
$iptables -A block -p tcp --dport ftp -i wlan0 -j ACCEPT

[tbielawa]

Here's an even better solution. If we don’t specify a network adapter, the rule applies to all adapters.

$iptables -A block -p tcp --dport telnet -j ACCEPT
$iptables -A block -p tcp --dport ftp -j ACCEPT

[netoguy]

I've spent the last couple days going through post after post trying to figure this out myself, but I'm not catching on I guess. .. :confused:
I have a DirecTV DRV R10. I'm wanting to hack it. From what I've gathered, I will need to perform the Prom Mod. If that is correct, then where can I find a pre-programed prom for this unit? It seems all the posts I've found concerning this are fairly old, many from last year. Am I totaly missing something?

Also, from what I've read, the R10 is refered to as a Series 2.5. If that is the case, then why does the System Information Screen refer to it as a "Series2" just like the real Series 2 does?

Any help or advice would definitly be appreciated!

[tbielawa]

I've spent the last couple days going through post after post trying to figure this out myself, but I'm not catching on I guess. .. :confused:
I have a DirecTV DRV R10. I'm wanting to hack it. From what I've gathered, I will need to perform the Prom Mod. If that is correct, then where can I find a pre-programed prom for this unit? It seems all the posts I've found concerning this are fairly old, many from last year. Am I totaly missing something?

Also, from what I've read, the R10 is refered to as a Series 2.5. If that is the case, then why does the System Information Screen refer to it as a "Series2" just like the real Series 2 does?

Any help or advice would definitly be appreciated!

That is correct, you will need to perform a PROM mod to hack the R10. The Series 2 TiVos fall into two categories, an older generation and a newer generation. Although they are all official called “Series 2,” there is enough difference between the models that several people have unofficially started to call the newer generation “Series 2.5.” While this won’t show up in the information screen, it helps to distinguish which units need a PROM mod, and which can be hacked through software techniques alone.


Here is a thread dedicated to the sale of hacked PROMs:
http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43911
Everything you need to know is there, and several people have posted their experiences there.

[Tesla1886]

* One person suggested throwing away the tivo and buying a Windows Media PC :-)



Is it possible to get a Windows Media PC system to work on Direct TV? How does the picture look on a regular TV.?

If a Windows Media PC will work I would rather use that method. I diffenetly have the skills to build a custom PC being a Network Engineer. No soldering involved n building a PC. The only problem would be what Tuner cards would be need and the Direct TV software that would be needed to decode the sat signal.

Having the possiblitity of a dual layer DVD Burner, three 200+ gig hard drives seems a lot more attractive, not to mention network access, all with out having to mod anything.

[cheer]

Is it possible to get a Windows Media PC system to work on Direct TV? How does the picture look on a regular TV.?

If a Windows Media PC will work I would rather use that method. I diffenetly have the skills to build a custom PC being a Network Engineer. No soldering involved n building a PC. The only problem would be what Tuner cards would be need and the Direct TV software that would be needed to decode the sat signal.

Having the possiblitity of a dual layer DVD Burner, three 200+ gig hard drives seems a lot more attractive, not to mention network access, all with out having to mod anything.
So far as I am aware (and I looked for this extensively not long ago) there is no PC solution for D* tuning/decoding.

[PlainBill]

So far as I am aware (and I looked for this extensively not long ago) there is no PC solution for D* tuning/decoding.

Look at it from an economic point of view. The cheapest Digital Satellite cards cost $70 - $100. If you were able to use one of them to receive DirecTV (AFIK, this would only be possible with a subscribed access card), you would be able to record only one channel at a time. It would also require a fairly fast computer. One of Fry's $150 Friday specials MIGHT be able to handle it.

On the other hand, a DirecTiVo purchased on eBay costs less than $100 delivered, can capture TWO channels at the same time, and doesn't impose any overhead on the computer except when extracting video. The USB-ethernet adapter will cost $20, the rest requires nothing but brain work.

PlainBill