Fixup on Hdr212

[herrdude]

sorry to bother you again groundhog...

on a scale of 1-10 (10 being braindead)
how stupid would it be to plug into a phone line
after changing the date...

thanks!

[herrdude]

Thanks for all the advice!


I would like to subscribe but I don't reside in the US....

I could give my credit card number on their webpage...
but for the address???

[JIm Brandon]

There are other reasons these days than just wanting to not subscribe to the Tivo service. In my situation, I now am the proud owner of three Tivo's; 2SA, one DTVo. I think it is rediculous to have to sub all three and pay out the wazoo when at least one of the units is only for recording and two are for the functionality of the replay buttons.

I've been a subscriber for over three years, but never got around to doing the Lifetime thing, so I'm definitely a member in good standing.

[groundhog]

I have an UPDATE to this thread. I originally thought that you could perform this hack as long as you weren't in boat anchor mode. Recently I tried it about 3+ weeks after unplugging the phone, and I couldn't get to the "Search by Title" screen. Apparently, the only way to do this is while you still have guide data remaining. So don't wait until your guide data runs out. You have to do the hack within the first 2 weeks of unplugging the phone....not 25 to 30 days later!

[groundhog]

Another update. I just set up another one of my Tivos with this hack & remembered a couple of bugs.

One is that all recordings prior to the hack will be at the top of your "Now playing list". New recording will show up below you last Pre-Hack recording. This is because the tivo sees the older recordings as being newer because they were recorded in 2002 & the recordings after the hack appear to be recorded in 2000.

Plus+ Before the hack, try to do a "Clear and Delete To-Do & Season Passes". If you don't, you may have some To-Do's that you will never be able to get rid of. Somehow they just always show up in the To Do list, and can't be deleted.

Also, any time you hit "record" and try to catch the 30 minute buffer, you won't get the whole thing. Mainly because with no guide data the tivo doesn't know what time the show started. I think you may get whatever was recorded beginning at the last 1/2 hour mark(example 6 pm or 6:30 pm). So if you hit record at 6:10 Pm you may catch the 10 minutes from 6Pm to 6:10. It may be that you only get 4 minutes no matter what. For some reason I recall mutiple instances of only catching four min. of the buffer, but maybe it's just because I caught it at say 6:04 several times?

Lastly, any time you are watching something that is still being recorded, don't attempt to go to "Now Playing" and hit "season passes & other options" and record for XX minutes longer! it will reboot your Tivo. The show will still record when the unit reboots, but you will lose part of the show. If there is another way to record XX minutes longer for a show that is still recording, don't use that method either. It's O.K. to set up these things before something records, it just causes problems when a show is already being recorded.

[SuperVHS]

It seems to me that a simple way to fix the lack of guide data (and remove nag screens) would be to create a one record (one channel, one show) slice file for sometime 2 years from now. One slice file for channel 2 for people with RF input and another slice file for channel 200 for video input (sat).

Also, jpaq is creating PPV slice files that you can use to get current guide data to allow you to "browse by name".

Running fixup on a standalone may get it out of boatanchor mode.

Any volunteers?

[cwingert]

My HDR112 went into BA mode yesterday, I read this thread and it scared me a bit (seemed overly complicated).

There is a real simple solution to this problem.
I set LastSuccessPGDCall to the current time and then rebooted. TiVo came out of BA mode upon reboot.

Setting the variable was commented out of my fixsub.tcl for some reason.

Good Luck

[SuperVHS]

Originally posted by cwingert
There is a real simple solution to this problem.
I set LastSuccessPGDCall to the current time and then rebooted. TiVo came out of BA mode upon reboot.
Good Luck

This takes care of BoatAnchor mode but does not eliminate lack of guide date or nag screens.

[cwingert]

Well I use TivoGuide for Guide Data and have never seen a nag screen (besides the switch to boat anchor mode).

Originally posted by SuperVHS


This takes care of BoatAnchor mode but does not eliminate lack of guide date or nag screens.

[groundhog]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by cwingert
There is a real simple solution to this problem.
I set LastSuccessPGDCall to the current time and then rebooted. TiVo came out of BA mode upon reboot.
Good Luck
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



This takes care of BoatAnchor mode but does not eliminate lack of guide date or nag screens.

Actually, I would think that it would take care of nag screens for a little while. The problem is that in another 30 days, you will have to do it again. All you did was trick your tivo into thinking that you did a sucessfull call today. The trick is to set up a hack that will keep it out of BA mode.

This is good to know. Thanks. It does avoid the problem of having to sub for a month and cancel again. However one of the advantages of my method is not having to crack the case. But if that's not a problem for you, the feel free to hack away. I would be interested in finding a good permanent solution through hacking the tivo hard drive as well.

[SuperVHS]

Well it is not so much a "Subscribe Now" nag as a
"No Guide Data Available, Please make a Daily Call" nag.

You can fool the TiVo into thinking it is subscribed and has made a recent call. But, you cannot fool it into thinking it has guide data without guide data.

[groundhog]

You can fool the TiVo into thinking it is subscribed and has made a recent call. But, you cannot fool it into thinking it has guide data without guide data.

I don't think that is exactly true. I don't remember ever getting a "No Guide data" nag With the remote backdoor type fix. I use the tivo on a daily basis and never see that nag. However, when I was subscribed, and unplugged the phone line for 3 weeks, I did get that nag screen, and from what I can recall, it locked me out of "Search by title". For some reason setting the clock back a couple of years does trick it into thinking that it still has guide data.

[SuperVHS]

quote:
------------------------------------------------------------------
For some reason setting the clock back a couple of years does trick it into thinking that it still has guide data.
------------------------------------------------------------------

The guide data is there, a few years in the future and so it fills in the holes with "to be anounced" as the titles up to the time that the guide data does exist. (check the system information and see the Program Guide Data to date - if you set your clock a week before that, you will see the actual program data)

So, you could actually put some dummy guide data on the TiVo for some time in the future to get the same effect as
keeping some current guide data and setting the clock back.

Food for thought.............

[groundhog]

I'M NO LONGER RECOMMENDING THIS HACK! At least I'm not recommending that you sub for a month, cancel & do the backdoor thing. You might want to look into supervhs's suggestion. Or, you may want to do what I'm currently doing. It will be fully tested in one month.

My subd tivo went to 3.0. I tried my backdoor thing and it didn't work. Debug mode couldn't be turned on & setting the clock without it didn't work. I restored 2.5, subd & before getting any guide data was forced back to 3.0 again .

So - I let the guide data download & I installed bash(with 3.0). From the bash prompt, I typed 'settime 20010826113500' & changed my clock back 1 year. So far it appears to be working like it used to with the backdoor method. The only way to know if it will stick is to wait a month & see if I get the "You haven't made a successfull call in over 30 days" nag.

[SuperVHS]

Yahoo Groups - TiVo Canada has a fixup3.0 in their download section. They also tell you how to make your own guide data. Of course, it is pretty complicated and my time is worth a lot more than $15 a month.