thinking of resurrecting my TiVo after many years

[amtrakuk1]

Hi there.

At the moment I'm using MythTv, although this is good it isn't quite as polished as I remember my TiVo Series 1 so i'm thinking for a Sunday project to see if I can get TiVo running again. The last time I played with it I believe was soon after the TiVo service was stopped in the UK after trying early attempts with the privately run service however after trying many guides I failed to configure my TiVo to work, so in the loft it went.

Anyhow before I delve in the loft and un-box the TiVo I just wanted to know what the status of the service is?

I have come across altepg (http://www.altepg.com/altepgiso/index.php) which appears to be a disk image for a blank hard disk? if there a guide on how to use this disk image once burnt to a CD?

I can't remember if my TiVo has a TiVo net card so I'll assume I will be using a dial-up service.

I'm really hoping to get my 'old girl' up and running again. Is the service there and how to do I best "bless" (the words are coming back to me!) a new hard disk to run with the TiVo service - with guide please

Excitedly looking forward to some help

Andy

[amtrakuk1]

I've just found the guide. viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1242 Is this still working?

[steveroe]

I've just found the guide. viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1242 Is this still working?

Yes, yes it is.

[DX30]

Finding a suitable PC may be a problem. The version of linux on the bootable CD is old so you'll need to find an old PC to run it, say something over 10 years old that is IDE only (even then it might not be suitable).

If you don't have and cannot beg/borrow such a PC you might be able to restore the altepg image using mfslive - see http://www.tivoland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1714

Once you have prepped the hard drive and put it in the TiVo when it starts up the detection and configuration of a network card is automatic, so in that case you can just run a guided setup. You say you may be dialup in which case be aware there are problems with some of the dialup numbers - most people find 01612329094 works best. Do a couple of Test calls to make sure dialup is working then run guided setup.

[amtrakuk1]

Finding a suitable PC may be a problem. The version of linux on the bootable CD is old so you'll need to find an old PC to run it, say something over 10 years old that is IDE only (even then it might not be suitable).

If you don't have and cannot beg/borrow such a PC you might be able to restore the altepg image using mfslive - see http://www.tivoland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1714

Once you have prepped the hard drive and put it in the TiVo when it starts up the detection and configuration of a network card is automatic, so in that case you can just run a guided setup. You say you may be dialup in which case be aware there are problems with some of the dialup numbers - most people find 01612329094 works best. Do a couple of Test calls to make sure dialup is working then run guided setup.

Ah the old PC bit is fine. I have a couple of old Compaq deskpro Pentium 133s laying around upstairs - built like battleships. Thanks for the heads up, I'm going to hoof the old girl down from the loft this evening...

[amtrakuk1]

good news and bad. Good news is the old girl has plenty of life in her. Powered her up, fan spins, the 500 gig Hard disk spun up and sprang into life and green light came on. On the flip side - I don't have a TiVonet card and realised I'm on VOIP so unable to use the modem. Does anyone have a working TiVonet card they want to sell?

[DX30]

I don't have a TiVonet card and realised I'm on VOIP so unable to use the modem.

You could always try using a serial PPP connection to a networked PC. The altepg image has support built in using the network configuration menu here http://www.altepg.com/networkConfiguration/index.php Change Auto detect NIC to PPP on Serial Port for the code used on the TiVo end.

Configuration of the PC end depends on what the PC is running. In the past I've used both Windows XP and Windows 7 for this successfully (XP was easier to configure if you have a choice). This thread is worth a read if you want to try this http://www.tivoland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=464

You will need a special cable. If you can use a soldering iron the pinouts are given here http://www.garysargent.co.uk/tivo/images/tivoserialcable.jpg

[amtrakuk1]

Thanks for the info, you sure sound like you know your beans.... I'll hangout for a tivonet card on chewbay as I want to keep it as simple as possible.

[amtrakuk1]

Oh one last thing. Before I used to use an "ITV Digital" Philips digibox. Can anyone recommend a suitable box compatible with current DTV standards to work with my TiVo?

[DX30]

The boxes currently available new don't seem to be that reliable with a TiVo, and you will probably find they aren't in the list of supported boxes. It is possible to teach a TiVo required IR codes for a new box but it's an extra complication. So I'd recommend a 2nd hand Sony VTX-D800U - there is usually a selection of them on ebay.

[amtrakuk1]

Thanks

[amtrakuk1]

just been raking though the net for a turbonet card. Is this good to go for and compatible with the disk image?

http://www.laser.com/product_info.php/i ... ts_id/1364

[DX30]

The TurboNET is supported and should be auto detected by default.

FYI - Given you have a 500GB drive you may find the TiVo UI slowing down as the drive fills up. A SiliconDust Cachecard would help this but they are difficult to find. They do however appear occasionally on ebay e.g. This one sold last month http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silicondust-Cachecard-for-TiVo-512MB-RAM-/121637150283?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1c52239e4b

If you cannot find a Cachecard go with a TurboNET. If you do encounter a slow UI just be ruthless in deleting old recordings.

[amtrakuk1]

Ah so they still do appear on ebay.. I'll keep an eye out. I was just getting too keen lol

[amtrakuk1]

right,

In preparation - and curiosity i thought I'd connect my TiVo to the TV and boot it up. It turns out it already has Altepg installed (I'm guessing an early version). However one thing concerns me - the remote control. On the first boot (after the "slide" animation up came the main menu however the remote control doesn't seemed to be working. I pulled the power and left it for a while then tried again. After about 2 or 3 minutes the remote started working, i went to have a look at the messages which revealed 3 messages about the tubonet card failing. As far as I knew this TiVo never had a turbonet card installed. I went and looked at if there were any recordings, none but there was a progress bar that seemed to be show 1%. At that point the remote stopped working again.

I tried another power cycle which resulted in a message saying the TiVo hasn't updated for over 30 days. I have left it alone for about 15 minutes now and on screen is the message "The Recorder cannot display live TV.".

Ahh It now seems to work after pressing Rewind/FF repeatedly. Was worried there

Just got onto the System Information. The software version is 2.5.5-01-1-023. Trying a full reset