Series 3 PROM Hack

[avpman]

I found a commercial DVR repair facility that will do the removal and socket rework for $45 plus shipping. You can send in the entire unit, in which case they will be able to test the work before returning the unit to you. Or, you can just send in the board. Although, if you do that they won't be able to test the rework.

Two things to keep in mind:
1) You will have to supply the socket when you send in the unit.
2) They do not have the ability to re-program the chip. You'll have to get that done somewhere else. (I may consider offering the pre-programmed chips and sockets for cost plus shipping).

I am checking with the repair facility and asking permission to post their info here. Anybody interested in this service or in my supplying them with the chip and socket? Total cost of chip & socket plus shipping would probably be $10-15, depending on overall interest (volume). I also need to ask permission to distribute the patched PROM code from the folks that put their time and intellectual effort into modifying the PROM code.

Just to update you guys. I did the socketing myself using Buechel's "Chipquik method". (I couldn't stand the thought of being w/o my Tivo while I sent it off for socketing). I have to say it went a lot easier than I had expected. The only thing I would add to Buechel's instructions is carefully to mask off the ENTIRE area around the prom before trying to remove it (thanks Narf!). There is one very tiny surface mount chip very close to the prom that could get damaged if you're not careful. I used a layer of blue painter's tape, a layer of aluminum foil and another layer of painter's tape to mask off the area. After I applied the ChipQuik I was able to simply slide the old prom right off it's pads and onto the masked area.

To make sure I was able to successfully burn a working prom, I made a copy of the original prom. The socket and the new unaltered prom worked great. Next step is to try the modified code and if all goes well, I'll have chips available.

[avpman]

TivoWebPlus 2.0 seems to work well on the S3. However, looks like the Tivo OEM software is already using port 80. To get TWP working, go to the config directory below where you installed TivoWebPlus e.g. .../TivoWebPlus/config and edit the tivoweb.cfg file. Change the “Port” line from 80 to something else, like 8080. Then restart tivoweb. When you open your browser use the 8080 as the new port for the Tivo. E.g. http://192.168.1.37:8080

[superwagon@mac.]

The modding went so well on my beloved THD that I decided to buy a Series 3 off of craigslist. I upped the HD to 1TB and socketed it. Anyway, when I pulled the code off of the working PROM (3.16-rel), I can't find the gzip signature anywhere.

Here is what I find:

0x6D4C  00 00 00 00
0xB5C8  00 00 7F FF

1F 8B 08 is no where to be found.

The TiVo boots up and works fine.

Am I missing something? (I am new to this.)

UPDATE: I figured it out. The willem programmer I was using needed a jumper change when switching between the SST37 and SST39 chips. It would read all of the data but half of it would be corrupt.