TiVo Community Forums Archives - Service number on Tivo MB??

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Service number on Tivo MB??
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Posted by: lovebomber

I see that the Tivo creates the service number from combining a hard drive number with a coded number unique to each Tivo motherboard.

Thus, putting a hard drive from one Tivo with a MB from another creates a new unique service number, killing your lifetime service, obviously.

For purposes of having old series one backup units, and stealing the MB for use with a lifetime service HD from another unit, does anyone know which chip houses this code on the motherboard?

AND, for that matter, does powering down the Tivo with a spent or missing MB battery erase this number?

I could easily see Tivo purposely making the service number go bad when the MB battery is finally spent. The battery goes bad, during the next T-storm the power goes out, and viola! No more Tivo!! ..AND, as a bonus, the customer thinks that the storm did it when it was the designers all along!! (Or am I being too cynical, what with Tivo's wonderful customer service and all.....???)

-Thanks in advance!!

-LB

Posted by: wannabeahacker

WOW! I'm having the same exact problem. My tivo was "upgraded" to the new version 3.1.1b software and I didn't have a good backup. Needless to say you can't hack this version using all the guides that are posted out there. So I have a friend that gave me his image and I burned it to my hard and I was back in business. Unil I read the messages that said sorry you have a hardware problem call this number. So I called and they said to do a clear and delete, problem with that is it upgrades your software to version 3.1.1b. So I think I'm screwed unless that battery trick works (-;

If anyone was sucessful at using another persons image please post and let us know how you did it.

Posted by: lovebomber

I don't think that battery 'trick' will do what you think it will. Removing the battery may erase the number all together, making the motherboard useless!

My Tivo worked fine with the disc image from one tivo and the MB from another....no hardware error. The service number was completely new though....first 2 series of numbers matched the hard drive...the second set didn't match anything, including the last 2 sets of numbers from the Tivo the MB came out of. It came up as a code 7...number not registered yet or something. But the Tivo worked fine.

I would look for another problem like a loose cable or something. And, I think Tivo will update your program version regardless. I actually didn't know that mfs won't work on a version 3.1, so I better do all of my backups pronto.

I've seen some posts from people looking to get images from others. But I was always under the impression that every disc image had the unique tivo service number in that image.....ie, using an image from another Tivo would carry IT'S original number.

I always thought that, since I had a backup of my lifetime service image, If the drive ever went, that number would still be backed up (partly true), and if the motherboard went, I could use that drive in another tivo to retain my lifetime status (not true....yet). I had no idea that Tivo was coding half of the tivo service number with the board as well.

I guess they did that so no one would copy a lifetime drive and put it into multiple units. (I'm sure their software would detect the multiple dial-ins from identical service numbers with non-matching program and settings and shut that number down, anyway.)

What we really need is MFStools to write an image without copying over the tivo service number on the disc.

Posted by: bsnelson

There's no issue with hacking using the 3.1.1b software. It can be hacked in the exact same ways that 3.1.0 can.

Brad

Posted by: wannabeahacker

Very true. Or what would be just as good is a hard drive number clone tool. I would have to assume that it would act in a similar fashion as MAC address cloning. Wouldn't that be great! Or if someone knows where the hard drive identification tag sits couldn't you copy the tag off your old drive and restore it to your new drive?

Me thinks the possiblities are endless. Just need someone with more knowledge than I.

Posted by: lovebomber

Good news on 3.1.1. I can take my time now.

It is my OPINION that Tivo's use of the coded MB number is beyond just fraud control. It prevents you from swapping the most basic of parts...the MB and the HD.

Tivo has basic security features that don't let the same service ## on multiple Tivo's get guide data. I can't imagine why they would not let a HD from one Tivo get paired with a different MB other than to force the consumer to get 'authorized' repair.

For that matter, does anyone know of mfstools can copy just the programming from one tivo HD to another?

-LB

Posted by: Robert S

There's an encryption scheme that ties the recordings on a hard drive to the service number on the mainboard. If you use a hard drive that isn't tied to you mainboard then you get the 'hardware error' that wannabehacker saw. Doing a 'Clear and Delete Everything' reset ties the hard drive to the mobo.

The service number is not volatile. A battery failure does not affect it (the only thing the battery does is keep the clock running during a power cut).

The subscription is tied to the mobo service #. If the mobo dies then your subscription and your recordings die with it. As the subscription is sold 'for the life of the TiVo', having it come to an end when the mobo fails seems quite reasonable.

Posted by: lovebomber

WooHoo!!!

That, my friends, is a textbook example of how these posts should go.

No flaming, no sarcastic remarks, and all the answers in one pop!

THANKS!!!!

This is good news, as now we know the hardware is interchangeable even if we lose programs. I didn't get a hardware error, but I also only played for about 2 minutes.

Posted by: Ingineer

I was reasonably sure the service # was stored in the Atmel secure microcontroller on the main board.

Posted by: ADent

I know on at least the SA S1 you can easily change the service number, but the battery does not affect it.

Posted by: lovebomber

Very good. Thanks both of you.

ADent.... what is your definition of 'easily'???

Posted by: wannabeahacker

Well I found the place that allows you to change your service number on a unit. It's at the "other" place. I also figured out that if you do a clear and delete everything with the phone unplugged then you re-match the hard drive with the motherboard and you don't get stuck with the 3.1.1b software version (which I was having WAY too much difficulty hacking). Granted you loose everything you might have had.

Posted by: wmcbrine

wannabe,

All you need to do to hack 3.1.1b is to use the kernel monte method. It works splendidly. It doesn't work to just substitute the U5 kernel; but then, for me, that didn't work even with 3.1.0. (I never quite understood those who claimed it did!)

Posted by: lovebomber

At the risk of really getting flamed, AND after 2 years of minor tivo playing, I've tried and failed to find the other world everybody refers to.

Can I get this info at my e-mail or my alias e-mail fat_kelly@hotmail.com?

Thanks!!!

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