About to give up

[rhmoore]

Ok, I've searched the forums for days... I tried to piece this together, piece by piece. I even managed to get a 3.1.5 kernel copied over to my HR10 and was able to create and keep a rc.sysinit.author file even after re-installing into the DirecTivo. I got the Linksys USB200M connector, plugged it up and VOILA... nothing. I had the 10/100 light for a while, then nothing. Never got any link to come on, never got any activity light.

Then I went and bought the Linksys 100 connector. Even found the driver for this and managed to copy it into the /lib/modules directory, even though I'm no Linux guy at all. This time I got 10/100 light, got activity light, but still unable to ping the static ip address assigned in the rc file.

I'm not lazy, but I am tired. I wanted a TIVO with ftp and telnet access. All I really managed to do was copy my original recordings to a new drive (since the old drive was failing) and I did manage to upgrade my recording time from 30 hours to over 60 with an additional 250GB hard drive.

But again, I really wanted a TIVO with ftp and telnet access. I have searched, prodded, poked, tested and dd'd my heart out to try and find the solution, but I must lack the requisite skills, luck or both to get past this particular hurdle.

If anyone can point me in the right direction (before I steer off the cliff), I would appreciate it. If not... it's been real, it's been fun, but it hasn't been REAL FUN!

Cheers!
Robert

[cheer]

But again, I really wanted a TIVO with ftp and telnet access. I have searched, prodded, poked, tested and dd'd my heart out to try and find the solution, but I must lack the requisite skills, luck or both to get past this particular hurdle.
We need more specifics. What did you do, other than put the killhdinitrd'd kernel over there? Are you insmod'ing the USB drivers?

Post a serial log (if you have it) and a copy of your rc.sysinit.author file.

[rhmoore]

Well, among other things, I tried to follow IronMan's guide and originally used that format for the rc file to insmod the drivers. When that didn't work and then after reading somewhere (can't find it again right now) that VER 2 of the Linksys USB200M didn't work, I went out and bought the Linksys 100 USB. Then after some more searching I found a modified rc entry that supposedly referenced the right driver for this device... rtl8150.o. I found this driver on the web, downloaded it and copied it to the lib/modules directory in the mounted tivo device. At this point, I actually got link light and activity lights, but was never able to ping.

Cheer, I was just reading a post you made over at http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43599 and discovered that maybe I needed to install some other things.

I'll be honest though, my head is swimming after reading and trying so many different things. I'm not a dumb guy, been in the computer biz for over 25 years. Used to do assembly programming for a living. But I feel so lost now, I wonder if I just didn't fake it all that time.

Anyway, I originally had 3.1.5e on my original hard drive. Copied the $5 3.1.5 kernel over to the boot partition, I know they claim it was already killhdinitrd'd, but I wanted to prove to myself that I could run this command without getting the fatal error that I was getting when trying to run it on my native kernel. When that finally succeeded, I thought the rest was GRAVY TRAIN! But I am stuck at this networking step. I can't figure out if I need to install new USB backplanes, or if I need to string dixie cups together to make this work.

I really didn't even want to post as I know how thankless it can be to help seemingly stupid people over and over again. I thought I could figure this out, but I'm waving the white flag now...

I really appreciate the response. If you can help steer me in the right direction, I'll give you my wife. She can't operate the damn thing anyway. :)

Cheers!
Robert

[RavenStL]

Post your Author file and a serial output if you got a cable.

[rhmoore]

I am now recopying my original Tivo drive to the new 250gb hard drive again, so I no longer have the original author file, but I can tell you that it is the one in Ironman's guide. At least that was the original one that I tried. As I explained earlier in this post, I modified this file to replace the ax driver with the rtl driver. And for serial output, I got bumpkus.

Cheers!
Robert

[JJBliss]

None of the above matter.

Didn't you say you were doing all of this on a R10?

R10s are not hackable without replacing the PROM

[rhmoore]

No, I guess I am using the abbreviation improperly. I mean an HD10-250, the Hughes High Def model. Sorry...

[JJBliss]

No, I guess I am using the abbreviation improperly. I mean an HD10-250, the Hughes High Def model. Sorry...

Well, in that case, carry on

[PlainBill]

Saying you are "using the rc.sysinit.author in Ironman's guide" isn't good enough. If you used that exact rc.sysinit.author it should work. The two most likely causes are a typo or a file missing or in the wrong place.

The serial console (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?p=234467#post234467) output is the best way to troubleshoot these problems. If you won't do that, delete the kernel log, (in the /log directory of partition 9), try the drive again (it'll still fail), pull the drive, pull the newly created kernel log and ATTACH that and your rc.sysinit.author to this thread. (I suggest deleting the old kernel log so we don't have to search through 2 megs of useless data).

PlainBill

[cheer]

I am now recopying my original Tivo drive to the new 250gb hard drive again, so I no longer have the original author file, but I can tell you that it is the one in Ironman's guide. At least that was the original one that I tried. As I explained earlier in this post, I modified this file to replace the ax driver with the rtl driver. And for serial output, I got bumpkus.
I dunno anything about Iron Man's guide -- I don't do guides. :)

The key is to make sure you're loading the drivers that match your hardware. It's probably just as easy to install the backported drivers as any other.

[rhmoore]

I think that's what my problem is, is the drivers. As far as typos, I guess I could have made a mistake, but it's unlikely, since I checked it at least three times.

But I did manage to find and download the .bz2 backport package offered in another thread. But I couldn't figure out which version 2.4.1 or 2.4.4 I should be installing. This is where my head started swimming. Then I decided, ok, I 'll just start installing the latest version of backport drivers but then I couldn't figure out how to extract the bz2 files natively. And I'm sure that's important somehow in the Linux world. And in fact, that's just about where I left off before posting here in the forums.

Again, I could have mistyped, no one is perfect. But probably not what the issue was since I checked it three or four times.

[cheer]

This may be your problem.

For the HR10-250 running 3.1.5x, you actually need the 2.4.20 drivers. Check this thread (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38167) for details.

Also, you can extract .bz2 files using tar with the -j parameter.

[PlainBill]

Actually, the stock drivers work fine for the Linksys USB200M V1, but not for V2. Jamie's backported drivers work with both versions.

Until you are willing to give us some real information (serial console output), it's unlikely we will be able to help you. Given you didn't even know which drivers to use, you should probably spend more time reading, or try TCF.

PlainBill

[rhmoore]

Thanks PlainBill: That's pretty much the conclusion that I came to when I first decided to post, that I was using the wrong drivers. But I was unable to find anywhere in these forums where I should be using backport driver ver 2.4.20 for USB200M V2, until Cheer posted that response above you. That at least points me in the right direction, and I very much appreciate it.

But is there a trick to using the Tar command with the -j option using PVT's LBA48 Boot CD? For some reason, I keep getting an error that it doesn't recognize the j option.

[PlainBill]

Thanks PlainBill: That's pretty much the conclusion that I came to when I first decided to post, that I was using the wrong drivers. But I was unable to find anywhere in these forums where I should be using backport driver ver 2.4.20 for USB200M V2, until Cheer posted that response above you. That at least points me in the right direction, and I very much appreciate it.

But is there a trick to using the Tar command with the -j option using PVT's LBA48 Boot CD? For some reason, I keep getting an error that it doesn't recognize the j option.
I used WinRar on my pc to extract the tar file from the bz2, then used tar to expand the tarball.

PlainBill

[rhmoore]

well I didn't give up...
I stayed with it and continued reading and continued trying.

And here's where I think I initially went wrong. I believed I could do this first, maybe second time around, without any errors by just reading. I was way wrong. It takes time, patience, and most of all, trial and error to discover what works and what doesn't work. I finally went out and bought another HD DVR just so I could test and not worry about screwing up my current system. And that my friends, is what did the trick.

But after several days of trial and error, VOILA!!!! I have a hacked HR10-250 running the Linksys USB200M Version 2, with all the hacks in place I wanted, including telnet ftp and mfs_ftp.

But the coolest hack of all so far, is the daily call over the Internet. No more tying up the phone, instant downloads (although my upgradesoftware=false). The thing dials, connects and hangsup on a test call in less than 10 seconds.

And so I could quickly upgrade my other HD receiver (same model) I created a Linux script that I have now tested for MY configuration and it works flawlessly to bring a virgin killhdinitrd'd 3.1.5f kernel, up and running on my network within 5 minutes. Kewlest thing ever ... :)

Anyway, just so you know, here's what I did.

1. HR10-250 with a 250gb drive
2. I paid for and downloaded Instant Cake for the HR10 from PTV
3. I also paid for and downloaded the Series 2 Kernels boot cd from PTV
4. I ran InstantCake on the (now) corrupt hard drive
5. I did the clear and delete everything on Tivo
6. I ran my script
7. I reinstalled in the TIVO and everything comes up including, telnet, ftp, mfs_ftp, tivoweb, all hacks in place.

I am using the USB backported drivers from Jamie and I do have a question. I notice that I have to reboot the TIVO at least once after this virgin install in order to get the device to be recognized and come on line. Anyone know what this is?

Anyway, thanks for the help in this thread. Without evaluating the kernel log as suggested above, I would have never figured it out.

Oh, and btw, I did this without a serial cable. But guess what... I ordered one from 9th Tee and it's now sitting on my desk for the next one in case I have any more issues. I can see now how that would have been a big help.

Maybe I should call Lou and ask him how to hook it up? ... What do you think? ... Anyone...? Anyone...? Beuler...?

Cheers and Big Thanks,
Robert

[cheer]

Just an FYI...general consensus around here is that you probably don't want to make the daily call at all.

You don't need it for guide info -- that comes from the satellite. If you've got Alphawolf's utilities installed, you can just run fakecall to get rid of the nags.