Hi

Any modified TiVo won't need activation as they already are - and you are right as the official TiVo server/website is now defunct so it is all run by the OzTiVo (which incorporates NZ) community.

Unless things are different in NZ (sorry I'm in AUS and probably should be more up to speed on things over in NZ than I have been) the TiVo should make a successful daily network connection around once every 24 hours.

When you are experiencing no EPG if you go to the network settings does it say it has made a successful network connection and the time/date it did that?