New and Need Help

[dravenj]

I have been reading these forums for the last week and I am lost, I ask that someone please help me and not make fun of me or point me somwhere that some-what generalizes what I am looking for. With that said I want to give you an advance THANK YOU, and here we go:

What I have
I have a SA S2 Tivo TCD240040
I have a 40GB WD HDD for it
I have installed a Tivo 4.0.1 Instant cake image on it with the help of a instant cake companion boot cd. (the default swap file was to large so I had to modify the swap size in PTVspecial-bake)

I want to be able to hack the kernal and get bash access to the Tivo then it would be nice to run the super patch that NutKase put together.

I have a pc booted with the instant cake cd and the cdrom is hdb and the HDD is hdc. How do I hack the kernal? My understanding is that I get killhdinitrd (which I have version 0.9.2) and run the following command:
killhdinitrd /dev/hdc6 -- this leads to "fatal: no exploit found for this kernal"

I also have the following kernals, provided by someone who has already killhdinitrd themed, 3.1.1C, 3.1.5, 4.0.1A. Could someone please explain to me how to get a bash for my sytem.

thanks
James

[Narf54321]

Most of the folks on this forum will tell you that you should go to PTVupgrade for support, since you used their software to make your image. Having mentioned that disclaimer, I'll see if I can point you in the right direction.

First, I like the Instant Cake CD and its a good way to get a known-good software install running on your TiVo. Know that Instant Cake is pretty much just MFStools with an installer script.

You mentioned a TCD240 series-2 which is good, since it is software hackable. For your software version (v4.0.1b on the Instant Cake CD) you'll need a 4.0.1a kernel (which is actually a Linux 2.4.18 kernel -- you'll need to know that for any advanced network drivers you may wish to add). The so-called 4.0.1a kernel is killhdinitrd-able, and perfectly usable with the v4.0.1b TiVo software.

You can get a pre-killhdinitrd'ed 4.0.1a kernel off the PTVupgrade LBA48 boot disc (It was $5 last I checked). It also has several Series-1 and other Series-2 kernels (e.g. 3.1.1c and 3.1.5). You mentioned you already had a few modded kernels, so you will want to use the 4.0.1a one on your TiVo box.

Of course, you'll still need to copy it (dd) to your /dev/hda6 (or hdc6 depending on how you plugged in the TiVo drive into your computer).

Add the following lines near the end of your TiVo's /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit file:

/bin/bash </dev/ttyS2&>/dev/ttyS2&
tnlited 23 /bin/bash -login &


BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL EDITING RC.SYSINIT. Any screwups and you TiVo likely won't boot. Also be sure to use the bootpage tool to fix the bootpage. Since you say your TiVO drive is in your PC on hdc, your command should look somehting like this (note the capital "P"):

bootpage -P "root=/dev/hda7 dsscon=true console=2,115200 upgradesoftware=false" -C /dev/hdc

That should get you going. If it doesn't work the first time, well... welcome to the club.

[dravenj]

I appreciate the response and have the kernal you mention, 4.0.1a. I will install it on hdc6 partition.

I am a little confused about the:
"Add the following lines near the end of your TiVo's /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit file:"

because I do not know how to mount the Tivo drive. Every time I do a:
mkdir tivo - just the mounting directory, I know you know, this is just so you know I know.
mount /dev/hdc /tivo - This gives me an error, my computer states that I need to specify the filesystem. So I do not know how to edit that file and I do not know how many partitions the tivo has or which partition that file is on.

I also was wondering if there is a place that has a chart of which killhdinitrd kernal work for which version of Tivo OS? First, I am very appreciative about the help you gave me, but I also feel like I have been reading this forum a long time the past week and yet I am missing something basic, which leaves me feeling embarrased to have asked you these questions.

Thank you again, please continue to help me.

James

[Narf54321]

I am a little confused about the:
"Add the following lines near the end of your TiVo's /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit file:"

because I do not know how to mount the Tivo drive. Every time I do a:
mkdir tivo - just the mounting directory, I know you know, this is just so you know I know.
mount /dev/hdc /tivo - This gives me an error, my computer states that I need to specify the filesystem.

You're trying to mount the entire device. You need to specify which partition on the drive. Since (I assume) your kernel is on 6, then you'll want to mount the tivo system from 7 (this goes with the whole 3+4 vs. 6+7 tivo partition scheme):
mount /dev/hdc7 /tivo


Now, if your tivo's bootpage is set to boot from partition 3, then none of this will matter much, anyway.

[cheer]

Most of the folks on this forum will tell you that you should go to PTVupgrade for support, since you used their software to make your image.

This isn't just meanness. PTV has its own support forums...and most of us here did not/do not use Instant Cake, so (at least in my case) we don't even know what it does. But ok, let's move on.

You mentioned a TCD240 series-2 which is good, since it is software hackable. For your software version (v4.0.1b on the Instant Cake CD) you'll need a 4.0.1a kernel (which is actually a Linux 2.4.18 kernel -- you'll need to know that for any advanced network drivers you may wish to add).

Or any other kind of driver or module. For example, if you want to monte.

Of course, you'll still need to copy it (dd) to your /dev/hda6 (or hdc6 depending on how you plugged in the TiVo drive into your computer).

CAREFUL NOW! How do you know it's /dev/hda6?

Before you do anything, boot up from the PTV upgrade CD and do the following (assuming that you have the Tivo HD connected to your PC as Secondary IDE Master): bootpage -p /dev/hdc

That will tell you whether your boot/root pair is 3/4 or 6/7. Bootpage should show you the root (4 or 7) but some bootpage implementations are broken and report the boot (3 or 6) instead. Regardless, you should be able to figure it out.

NEVER assume what the correct partition is.

Add the following lines near the end of your TiVo's /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit file:

Not advised. Instead create a file in /etc/rc.d called rc.sysinit.author. Put your modifications in that file. This way you don't run the risk of hosing up your rc.sysinit.

[dravenj]

Christopher,

thank you for your response, I have a follow up question though. Which partition is the /etc/rc.d/ and do I just mount it by doing a mount /dev/hd# /tivo?

Do I dd the kernal to both partitions?

Also is this a correct partition map that I found by Plain Bill?

PlainBill

Partition map (with 512 byte blocks) on '/dev/hda'
#: type name length base ( size )
1: Apple_partition_map Apple 63 @ 1
2: Image Bootstrap 1 4096 @ 77261888 ( 2.0M)
3: Image Kernel 1 4096 @ 77265984 ( 2.0M)
4: Ext2 Root 1 262144 @ 77270080 (128.0M)
5: Image Bootstrap 2 4096 @ 77532224 ( 2.0M)
6: Image Kernel 2 4096 @ 77536320 ( 2.0M)
7: Ext2 Root 2 262144 @ 77540416 (128.0M)
8: Swap Linux swap 260096 @ 77802560 (127.0M)
9: Ext2 /var 262144 @ 78062656 (128.0M)
10: MFS MFS application region 1048576 @ 78324800 (512.0M)
11: MFS MFS media region 33100800 @ 44161088 ( 15.8G)
12: MFS Second MFS application region 1048576 @ 79373376 (512.0M)
13: MFS Second MFS media region 44161024 @ 64 ( 21.1G)
14: MFS New MFS Application 1024 @ 80421952
15: MFS New MFS Media 154017792 @ 80422976 ( 73.4G)
16: Apple_Free Extra 880 @ 234440768


Thanks Cheer

[cheer]

Christopher,

thank you for your response, I have a follow up question though. Which partition is the /etc/rc.d/ and do I just mount it by doing a mount /dev/hd# /tivo?

It's in the root partition. So, for the sake of an example only, let's assume your root partition is 4.

After booting from the PTVUpgrade CD, do a "mkdir /tivo" and then "mount /dev/hdc4 /tivo". At this point, /tivo/etc/rc.d is the place you wanna be.

Do I dd the kernal to both partitions?

You should dd it to your active boot partition (normally either 3 or 6).

Also is this a correct partition map that I found by Plain Bill?

<snipped>

Generally, yes, depending on whether the drive has been expanded or not, etc.

[Narf54321]

This isn't just meanness. PTV has its own support forums...and most of us here did not/do not use Instant Cake, so (at least in my case) we don't even know what it does.

I as well as many others feel that the outfit charging money for its product should also support it. dravenj's comment was about hacking a (assumed) successful Instant Cake install, so I decided to anwer. [Warning... Tangent -- Again, Instant Cake is a legal and easy way to get a known good TiVo image, albiet with an annoying installer shell script.]

CAREFUL NOW! How do you know it's /dev/hda6?

NEVER assume what the correct partition is.

dravenj's opening post noted he installed to /dev/hdc on his computer. You're totally correct about using bootpage to determine where the tivo wants to boot from.


I might take a moment to add this bit (sorry if this is more confusing): No matter what IDE plug you use while the tivo drive is in the PC (hda, hdb,hdc,hdd) when placed back in the tivo, the Tivo itself will recognise the drive as /dev/hda.

Not advised. Instead create a file in /etc/rc.d called rc.sysinit.author. Put your modifications in that file. This way you don't run the risk of hosing up your rc.sysinit.

Matter of choice. I suppose for sooper n00bs, rc.sysinit.author is a lot safer. dravenj so far seems pretty competent. OTOH I know my way well enough around vi so its not a big deal to me, it may be a huge handicap to others. There was a reason I stuck it in the rc.sysinit file originally, but that reason has long escaped my memory.

[cheer]

Matter of choice. I suppose for sooper n00bs, rc.sysinit.author is a lot safer. dravenj so far seems pretty competent. OTOH I know my way well enough around vi so its not a big deal to me, it may be a huge handicap to others. There was a reason I stuck it in the rc.sysinit file originally, but that reason has long escaped my memory.

I think you'll find even many/most of the veterans use rc.sysinit.author. Just makes it easy to avoid mistakes -- I'm pretty good with vi too but one fatfinger can cause a lot of grief. Then again, a fatfinger in .author can too, but at least if things go haywire you can just clobber the .author file.

There's a lot of stuff going on in rc.sysinit. I printed it out once and went through line by line just to try and understand what it did...yowza.

[dravenj]

Cheer, Narf

THANK YOU

I am going to try this stuff tommorrow. I will let you guys know how things go.

late

[Narf54321]

I think you'll find even many/most of the veterans use rc.sysinit.author. Just makes it easy to avoid mistakes -- I'm pretty good with vi too but one fatfinger can cause a lot of grief. Then again, a fatfinger in .author can too, but at least if things go haywire you can just clobber the .author file.

There's a lot of stuff going on in rc.sysinit. I printed it out once and went through line by line just to try and understand what it did...yowza.

Running a quick tnlited and bash on the serial interface in rc.sysinit doesn't change much and you'll know right away if the tivo doesn't work. That allows me to do a lot of experiments on rc.sysinit.author with little worry I can't get remotely into the box. Just my opinion, of course. It would be nice if there were a better editor on tivo, but vi has been a unix standard for years (much like the ugly edlin on DOS systems) so if you can learn it, you can slog your way through just about any unix-based system you encounter.

Perhaps it is time to petition AlphaWolf to include a pico or joe into his all-in-one utilities package.

Also, if you ever decide to do the hackemr kickstart 5 0 thing, you'll need to be very confident in editing rc.sysinit.

Sorry for getting OffTopic.

[Gunnyman]

you need to specify the actual system partition
hdc isn't quite enough. try hdc4 or hdc7

[dravenj]

Ok here is what I have done so far, sorry it has taken me awhile to get back.

I instant caked the drive with 4.0.1
i then did a bootpage -p /dev/hdc
the result was root=hdc7
so I did dd if=/4.0.1a/vmlinux_ /dev/hdc6 and a dd if=/4.0.1a/vmlinux_ /dev/hdc3 (figured it couldn't hurt)

Next I created a rc.sysinit.author and put three lines it.
#!/bin/bash )cant exactly remeber, I copied the first line from rc.sysinit, and gave it +x rights)
/bin/bash </dev/ttyS2&>/dev/ttyS2&
tnlited 23 /bin/bash -login &

Then I reconnected the HDD in my tivo, plugged it in, but get no term.

Any ideas?

thanks

[Wolffpack]

so I did dd if=/4.0.1a/vmlinux_ /dev/hdc6 and a dd if=/4.0.1a/vmlinux_ /dev/hdc3 (figured it couldn't hurt)

If that was the syntax of your dd command(s) I can see where you could be having problems. Neither would have executed. What was the output from these commands?

[Narf54321]

It sure looks like it should work, the stuff in your /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.author file.

I think you're still missing something, you need to explicitly specify where to put the new kernel. You may need to pull the drive again more along the lines of this (example only, be sure to adjust the filenames and syntax for your setup):

dd if=/4.0.1a/vmlinux of=/dev/hdc6

Also, are you sure you made it executable? Try a ls -l and see if it looks like this:

> ls -l rc.sysinit.author
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 736 Sep 30 23:47 rc.sysinit.author


Edit: Oh and you didn't say whether you had a good serial cable attached. With bash running on the serial port interface, you can often save yourself a lot of effort from taking the TiVo apart (again) and pulling the drive.