TiVo Community Forums Archives - Please Help. Upgrade failed.

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Please Help. Upgrade failed.
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Posted by: DanTimis

Hi,

I do not have a Windows computer, but I have a Linux machine running RedHat 8. I downloaded mfstools 2.0 and just to be sure I downloaded the statically linked version.

I am trying to upgrade a TiVo Series 2 model TCD240080. I bought 2 Western Digital 120 GB hard drives. On the disks it says WD Caviar. I also bought a eWakNees bracket with cables and fans.

I opened the TiVo and took out the hard drive. It is a Western Digital 80 GB, WD Performer. I put it in my computer as Secondary IDE Master and I used the following command:

./mfstools backup -o tivo.bak /dev/hdc

It took a little while, but it completed without displaying any errors. Then, I put the two new drives as secondary IDE master and slave and used the command:

./mfstools restore -x -i tivo.bak /dev/hdc /dev/hdd

It restored and expanded sucessfully. I installed the new drives in the Tivo following the instructions from WeaKnees - I'm sure I did everything right.

When I powered up the TiVo I got "Powering Up.." and "A few more seconds.." then the screen went black. I could hear a lot of hard drive activity for about a minute. I waited for a long time.... nothing.

I put the original drive back - everything is fine. I thought I'd start again from scratch. Put only Drive A in my computer and tried:

./mfstools restore -i tivo.bak /dev/hdc

I thout that mabe expanding is a problem. Also I thought I would try with one drive first. Same result, after "A few more seconds..." the screen goes black.

I tried different jumper settings, I did another backup and another restore - same result: original drive works, new drive doesn't.

At some point as I was trying another backup, the TiVo with the new dirve was still running. At some point affter a very, very long time the screen turned blue wiith the message "There is no video signal" That was correct there was no video signal in. I pressed the TiVo button and I got the TiVo central screen, but the background is solid black not the green image. At this point pressing the buttons on the remote do nothing.

So it seems like it is running Linux and the TiVo software, but there are things missing, or things that are there, but it cannot find them.

Any ideas?

I would appreciate any help.
Thanks,

Dan

Posted by: DanTimis

I just thought about a potential problem. This particular TiVo has not been used for a while. I just got it used (but with lifetimme subscription) as a present.

I looked at the system info and the last phone call was made in February. Maybe mftools 2.0 needs a newer version.

I just started a phone call now and when it's done I'm going to try again.

Dan

Posted by: Robert S

Firstly, let me express my admiration for your independence of spirit. The TiVo hacking movement represents the combined efforts of hundreds of people, experts in all branches of information technology working together for years to figure out the best way to upgrade a TiVo and avoid the many pitfalls that lurk in its rather unusual architecture. It warms the cockles of my heart to see someone who's not prepared to take the easy way - nay, the coward's way - and spend 20 minutes reading Hinsdale and taking advantage of others' work. No, you want to make all those same mistakes yourself. Good for you.

And look, you've discovered the first pitfall right way - about 10 seconds after you first used MFS Tools, infact. Those are the wrong backup options for that model of TiVo. The options that work for earlier models don't pick up the system animations, so you get no backgrounds on the restored drive.

Another, more subtle problem you've caused, but won't notice for many months, is that your TiVo doesn't have enough swap to recover from a 'green screen of death' filing system corruption error. You need to restore with -s 127 to increase the amount of memory available.

Also, beware running MFS Tools under Red Hat 8 or later if you're using really large hard drives (>=160Gb). Not a problem in this case, but I'll mention it incase this turns up in a search. RH8 is LBA-48 compliant, but the current TiVo kernels aren't. This means that MFS Tools will see a bigger hard drive than the TiVo will (the TiVo's kernel limits it to 137Gb). This will cause the TiVo to crash when it tries to access the out-of-range blocks. As I said, though, not something that's a problem with 120Gb hard drives.

So, read the /current/ Hinsdale, figure out what the correct options are for your TiVo and try again.

Posted by: DanTimis

Thanks for the help.

I did read Hinsdale, more than once. It is a very long document and I did not memorize every option.

As I said I do not have a Windows computer. One thing I did not mentioned is that I tried first to burn a CD-ROM following Hinsdale.

I used a Mac and Toast Titanium 5.2. This application comes from Roxio, which is owned by Adaptec, which in turn makes CD Creator. But, the programs are not the same. There is no way in Toast to open a .iso file. If I drag the file it wants to burn an ISO CD-ROM with one file on it: the iso image.

If I double-click on the iso file the Macintosh mounts the image. I can use this to burn a CD-ROM. The options I have are:

Format: CD-ROM/CD-ROM XA
I chose CD-ROM

Naming:
ISO 9660 Level 1
Allow MS-DOS Names
Allow Macintosh Names
Joliet (MS-DOS + Windows)

I tried "Allow MS-DOS Names" first, then I tried "ISO 9660 Level 1" neither of them worked. All the names on the CD-ROM image are short so I figured there is no point in trying the last two options.

There are also two check boxes:

Append Version Numbers (;1)
Use Apple Extensions

I left the first one unchecked and I unchecked the second one.

After failing to burn a CD-ROM that would boot (no, it's not the BIOS settings, I know how to do that) I decided to try mfstools with RedHat. In the top directory there is a very long and detailed README file. I printed that, I read it carefully, and then I followed the instructions from the README.

I did not see anywhere in the README any reference to Hinsdale, nor did I read in Hinsdale that I should ignore the README and follow Hinsdale only.

I think I took reasonable steps and made reasonable choices. I don't think I deserve your sarcasm.

But, that's history. Now going to the future, if I understand what you are saying:

1. It's ok to use mfstools with Red Hat as long as I don't use very large disks (over 137 GB).

2. I should use the options from Hinsdale, namely:

Hinsdale: mfsbackup_ -f 9999_ -6so_ /mnt/dos/tivo.bak_ /dev/hdc

which in my case would be:

./mfstools backup_ -f 9999_ -6so_tivo.bak_ /dev/hdc

then with one of my new 120 GB drives I should use:

Hinsdale: mfsrestore_ -s 127 -bzpi_ /mnt/dos/tivo.bak_ /dev/hdb

which in my case would be:

./mfstools restore_ -s 127 -bzpi_ tivo.bak_ /dev/hdc

That should result in a disk that would work. Correct?

After I manage to get a backup and restore working I will proceed to the next step.

Thanks,

Dan

Posted by: Robert S

Yes, I think the restore worked first time and it was the missing files from the backup that caused the problems, so you should be OK. The -b option controls byteswapping, but if that had been wrong the TiVo wouldn't have booted.

The ISO's are a different can of worms - the Joliet ISO on Tiger's site doesn't boot in most PC's! MFS Tools is the same however you get hold of it - I tend to run it under Tom's Root and Boot disk.

Posted by: DanTimis

I HAVE A 247 HOURS TIVO!!!

It worked!

I really appreciate all the help and the software and documents provided here.

Since there may be other users who will not be able to boot from CD-ROM or floppy, I think it would be nice to update the documentation and warn that the README with mfstools is not the most recent documentation. In my experience a README file in the same directory with a program has the most recent information available. I think with mfstools this is an exception worth mentioning.

Thanks,

Dan

Posted by: Robert S

I think with mfstools this is an exception worth mentioning.

I'd heartily agree with that, but Tiger is the only one with the ability to change it, and he hasn't altered his files since June last year, despite the issues that have come to light since.