Dialup with original EPG works but AltEPG does not

[camusp]

Hello, my AltEPG program-guide modem calls / downloads have become unreliable to the point where now the dialup program guide phone calls fail 100% of the time on my TiVo recorders (I actually have 3). TiVo test calls work but EPG calls now cause my TiVos to lock-up, requiring a power-down reset to cure. I have tried with ALL the available slower modem baud rate TiVo settings, with no luck.
I have used Talktalk for several years for calls and broadband.

I still had the original 40GB (non AltEPG) hard drives; I have reinstalled these original 40gb drives in my TiVo recorders and now the dialup works reliably again all the time.
As this is consistent across all three TiVo recorders, it really looks like there is a difference with the way that AltEPG handles the TiVo's modem compared to unmodified EPG TiVos. Has anyone come across this / does anyone have any suggestions please relating to any other AltEPG modem settings to try (other than using a network card)?

[DX30]

This is a very interesting observation. Although I have seen people posting about their dialup problems I don't remember them curing them by replacing an altepg drive with an original one before.

It occurs to me it may not be the altepg modem handling as such but rather one of the bundled hacks. It might be worth stripping out all the extras (mfs_ftp, tivoweb etc) from an altepg image to see if it makes a difference. I appreciate this may not be possible without a suitable PC available to alter an altepg tivo drive (or a network card which I presume you don't have as you are using dialup).

[sprust]

I have a TiVo using dial up that was working just fine until a few weeks ago and it now displays the same symptoms as yours despite me clearing everything and re-running guided setup. The call actually hangs the TiVo with the yellow light left on. I too am on Talk Talk. I wondered if there was a problem with a modem at the server end. Any suggestions for a resolution would be gratefully accepted.

[camusp]

Hi 'DX30', thank you for your reply.
The symptoms described by user 'sprust' exactly match what I have been experiencing with my TiVos.

I should also mention that I have tried installing AltEPG 1.0c, which appeared to be a little more stable but was ultimately also unreliable.

If I was to perhaps re-run the original AltEPG 1.0d (or 1.0c) install package from CD onto a new TiVo hard-drive, is there anything that I could do to prevent the bundled hacks that you mention being installed during the install process where the new TiVo hard drive image gets created?
Or preferably;
If I connected my current AltEPG drive back in to a PC that was then booted via the AltEPG installer CD, are there any lines of code that I could that I could use to disable or delete the selected hacks that you mention from my existing AltEPG TiVo drive?

[DX30]

You can stop many of the hacks by deleting the appropriate "startup" file e.g. to disable mfs_ftp you delete the file "/var/hack/mfs_ftp/startup"

I think there are other hacks added in other ways but I'm afraid I don't know enough to be able to advise on them, or even identify what they might be. You really need someone who worked on preparing the altepg image to help.

In your situation I'd be tempted to prepare a disk based on one of your original tivo drives. If there are any hacks from the altepg image you want you can always add them to that. I'm still running the original tivo software on my main machine as I didn't want to lose my recordings and I already had endpad and tivoweb installed (it is networked). For a dialup machine I'd probably only install endpad.

[Furbag]

Only just spotted this thread which appears to be exactly the same probs mums suffering here viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1818

Whats going on, all seems a bit odd that we are all or a number of us are having these fails, interestingly I managed a test call on 08451112111 which can be seen on the stats page here http://www.altepg.com/serverStatistics.html on the 27th but a daily call just locks up, as on the other thread the 08450800300 has a recorded message on it saying its not used any more yet 3 tivos appear to connect to it every day ? and the 0161 number locks up as well
Looking at the stats of average calls per week there does appear to be a downward spiral of calls, we've lost around 50 TiVos since the begining of the year looking at the figures

Was going to swap mums machine with my spare dial up but I'm wondering if its worth trying that now. For now I've just pulled the phone line but she's rapidly running out of data now as the last successful guide data call was last Thursday now.

I cant remember if theres a way of pulling the hacks without pulling the drive, there use to be the back door thingy but its been a while since I played with that.

Oh and mums not on Talk Talk but with BT

[camusp]

Hello, I believe that I have (at last) found a work around for my AltEPG program guide phone dialup issue. Having read through the TiVo community thread below;

http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showth ... p?t=122090

I found information relating to TiVo backdoor codes; In section 5 there is a summary of TiVos 'Clear Clear Enter Enter' codes (the C-C-E-E described below stands for "Clear Clear Enter Enter"). Note that the following code needs to be entered when in the TiVo's "System Information" screen (which is in the 'Messages & setup' menu).
"C-C-E-E 0" allows you to update Tivo's "Dial-in configuration code". I replaced the AltEPG's '127' entry with '000' then another 'enter' to accept the change. Knowing that the standard EPG program guide calls worked, 000 matches the setting on my standard EPG TiVo. (also a note to just ignore the TFA=1 data)
Now the AltEPG program guide calls work reliably again without my TiVo hanging.

Some important things to note;
1. there is a word of caution in the tivocommunity thread that entering incorrect configuration codes can cause issues, so do it at your own risk and take care.
2. the updated 000 Dial-in configuration code gets forgotten after a TiVo reboot, and so will then need to be reset to again 000.
3. I believe that it is also possible to edit a TiVo config file via Telnet to make the above change permanent.
4. I am not sure if any other AltEPG functionality will be affected by changing the 127 entry, I have not come across any issues so far.

I hope that the above information is helpful.

[Furbag]

Oh thats very useful, I will try this later on mums unit and see if that cures the problem on hers to.

Other than that I'll have to replace hers with either an old TiVo dial up EPG driven machine or install my networked unit but with both those she will lose everything she has got which is bound to cause a high moan factor

[Furbag]

Hello, I believe that I have (at last) found a work around for my AltEPG program guide phone dialup issue. Having read through the TiVo community thread below;

http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showth ... p?t=122090

I found information relating to TiVo backdoor codes; In section 5 there is a summary of TiVos 'Clear Clear Enter Enter' codes (the C-C-E-E described below stands for "Clear Clear Enter Enter"). Note that the following code needs to be entered when in the TiVo's "System Information" screen (which is in the 'Messages & setup' menu).
"C-C-E-E 0" allows you to update Tivo's "Dial-in configuration code". I replaced the AltEPG's '127' entry with '000' then another 'enter' to accept the change. Knowing that the standard EPG program guide calls worked, 000 matches the setting on my standard EPG TiVo. (also a note to just ignore the TFA=1 data)
Now the AltEPG program guide calls work reliably again without my TiVo hanging.

Some important things to note;
1. there is a word of caution in the tivocommunity thread that entering incorrect configuration codes can cause issues, so do it at your own risk and take care.
2. the updated 000 Dial-in configuration code gets forgotten after a TiVo reboot, and so will then need to be reset to again 000.
3. I believe that it is also possible to edit a TiVo config file via Telnet to make the above change permanent.
4. I am not sure if any other AltEPG functionality will be affected by changing the 127 entry, I have not come across any issues so far.

I hope that the above information is helpful.

camusp you are a star



Changed mums Config code using back doors to 000 and bingo picked up from the 0845 number and loaded the data fine for the time being I'm going to leave her on the 0845 number which is still live as no one else is using that number so I can kinda remotely keep an eye, you can see my two calls on it this evening, one to test and one for the data download, so now I can just check the service status to see if her Tivo is dialing in and if it stops I'll know I expect before mum does

Lets hope this cures it, well unless theres a re-boot in which case I may need to instruct mum on how to fix it again.

[Arinda]

Yes, exactly the same happened to me and I have reinstalled my old hard drive (which is much smaller) to overcome the problem. I am with Talktalk.
Thanks very much for the solution - will try it when I have a moment so that I can go back to having room again for lots of recordings!

[Furbag]

Yep seems to have cured the problem defo, auto picked up last nights data, and has another called queued for later this evening so I think we are good to go

[Furbag]

I would like to add a LARGE word of caution to this fix if you use the 0845 number with this fix

Have just discovered mums TiVo has hung on the on several occasions now for hours and hour and left the phone line open !!!!!!

Currently the bill is at just shy of £230 in 4 days, needless to say I've reverted it back to the 0161 number. So I'm not sure if this will happen on the 0161 number but at least it shouldnt run up a huge bill