7.2 works, 7.3 causes reboots.

[dougyp]

I was amazed that I couldn't find anyone complaining of this so I either have a unique problem or don't know how to search forums well. I'm not a total newbie so I think I've done my due diligence, pardon me if I'm missing something obvious.

I just upsized a used TCD240040 to a WD 120 GB drive. I used the Weaknees "interactive" method using the $5 download at PTVUpgrade as my boot CD (v4.04 w/enhancements). Since I want to be able to telnet to the box I also loaded the 7.2 kernel using instructions provided elsewhere (I do forget exacty where, it involves mounting the filesystems and "tpid"ing the chosen kernel).

Things were fine, system was stable and everything checked out - I HAD A STABLE 7.2 telnet-enabled system. So I went on to hook it to the network and go through guided setup including it phoning-home to grab the latest software...

As soon as it rebooted it went to the "almost there" screen... started to continue the guided setup and then... reboot again! I thought maybe I had bad hardware so I put the original drive back in, booted everything and once again had a stable system. I tried the upgrade again, this time I didn't go for the custom-kernel and just let it "upsize". It went through the same routines but this time completed guided setup and I had a fully stable 7.3 system - the only difference was no telnet-enabled kernel! I believe that proved that I had no hardware issues, so out comes the drive again to try the hacked kernel and sure enough, as soon as I try that telnet-enabled kernel with 7.3 software it gets into the reboot-cycle...

I am certain I am not the only one using the PTV upgrade on a 7.3 versioned machine! Everything is stable with 7.2 but I cannot get to 7.3 with the telnet-enabled kernel.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I thoroughly expected with all you experts out there that I'd find out there's a telnet-enabled 7.3 kernel out there that I would have to download but alas, no such discussion could I find!!

Please help, I don't want just a plain-old 141 hour Tivo! :-) thanks!

[sucram65]

You are missing some critical information. That's the problem with using prepackaged utilities to do your hacking. I'd suggest you start here (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37058). You can also read about how I did it here (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46334). I had a few extra challenges that you should not have with your particular hardware. You can ignore the sections on doing a monte. The rest is applicable though.

[dougyp]

Thanks - I have actually read both of those posts, in fact the word DOC in the main FAQ basically tells me to go elsewhere for a 6.2 version. But that's now old although it appears to be current for at least up to 7.1.

So - I did follow that primary FAQ thread before and it seemed to lead me to where I am but I'll try again and see if I can't find what I missed. I had also read your thread - believe me, I've been reading a heck of a lot of pages. I am not sure people know just how hard it is to decipher what is still valid and what is not. SO much is from 2004 that you had to read everything with a grain of salt.

I really thought I was following the killhdinitrd method actually, which I THINK is the currently-preferred method of hacking?! Even your thread seems to mention PTV and I thought that was killhdinitrd - so I'll have to re-read it but I thought I was following the right method, I'm obviously not catching something obvious...

[Narf54321]

You keep mentioning "telnet-enabled kernel" which I am not sure what that means, as telnet is enabled by a daemon run later in the boot process. Perhaps you meant killhdinitrd kernel.

Anyway, you want to make sure you are using the 7.2-oth-K1 killhdinitrd kernel on your boot partition. Your boot partition will either be 3 or 6. People mention the $5 PTV boot disk because it works with huge hard drives (LBA48 stuff for drives >137GB) and includes the various killhdinitrd kernels.

Make sure you are unpacking the kernel from the archive file (gzip -d ) included on the PTV CD. This seems to be a step often messed up.

Also, once you copy over the new kernel (usuing the dd tool) it may be worthwhile to do a "shutdown" or "reboot" command on your PC to force any write delays to the hard drive.

[dougyp]

Thank you for your reply. Yes, "telnet enabled" kernel is my own coin, bad-bad-bad. I do mean killhdinitrd.

I am definitely unpacking and have the 7.2 kernel from the PTV boot disk. I am also doing a sync and haltsys but I'll try shutdown next time (I think they are functionally equivelent).

I am going to pull the drive again and give it another whack. I do know I'm only dd'ing to one partition and it's quite possible my active boot is the other - so that's something I'll definitely keep my eye on.

I think I made a big mistake in following the "hacking 102.5 for newbies" document. I missed the "branch" in the instructions for series 2 SA tivos: "This OS can be hacked using the killhdinitrd method outlined below for the HDTivo". In other words, I should have stopped that path and moved to the section on HDTivo, instead I was continuing in the direction of the 6.2 support and superpatch. I was coming to a somewhat circlular path as a result (it became aparent that that path was depricated/somewhat dead).

Ok, so I missed the "branch" and think I found the right thread. Good chance that makes a world of difference!

Thank you both for all your help! I hope to try again in the next few days.

[dougyp]

I did try the dd to both boot partitions but I am now convinced that what was missing was the "iptables" fix. Basically replacing the existing iptables with a script that "exit 0"'s.

At least this time I set my bootparms to not upgrade. I would have caught that later on I think - now I can do my research for next steps with more leasure since I've got telnet access and the tools loaded on my drive.

Thanks folks!