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Thread: Reimaged Tivo and cant get TivoWebPlus to run

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
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    Christchurch, NZ
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    31
    So here's a thought...

    Found this link http://archive.tivocommunity.com/tiv...c/21596-1.html

    which seems to tell me that the crypto -gsn command reads the chips stored ID and that then ends up in some other variable. My good tivo just returns the same number system info shows as my tivo service number when I run on the good box.

    Now, if I hack the launch script so that instead of reading the real Tivo ID using the crypto -gsn command, I simply assign an arbitrary number of the right format to the variable the real S/N normally ends up in, I should be able to fool the script into thinking it has read the crypto chip OK?

    And outside US the actual number doesn't really matter so long as I have one(and I'm not unlucky enough to pick an ID someone else in NZ has), the script should run successfully...

    Going to give that a try now...

  2. #12
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Victoria
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    Quote Originally Posted by neilp View Post
    Well there's a question for the NZ emulator guys - why DOES my second tivo get guide data then if effectively it doesnt have a Tivo ID???
    Probably like Peter says, it don't utilise the ID. But I can confirm that we do here in Australia and that is how I know about the Crypto chip being unresponsive as I have had to fix several TiVo's that won't get guide data.

    Here's a couple of pix of the appropriate corner of the board
    What about to the left of the IR connector? Those are the two tracks I mentioned in an above post, and around the locking tab hole?. You have shown to the right hand side of the IR connector, but not to the left. Show a bit more of the discrete components than you have on the left hand photo as these are all to do with communications to the crypto chip.

    Starting to feel like if I can get guide data in NZ OK, the only thing I am missing is TivoWebPlus so probably not worth fixing...
    That's a good move as a round trip of shipping the board would make it a little expensive just to fix something not used on the NZ system - provided of course they don't start using it
    Darren King
    OzTiVo Repairs and Modifications
    If your TiVo requires repairs or modifications
    then visit: http://kingey1971.wix.com/tivorepairs

    NOW ALSO REPAIRING FETCH TOO!

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Christchurch, NZ
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    Quote Originally Posted by neilp View Post
    Going to give that a try now...
    WOOO HOOOO!!

    That worked perfectly! I just copied the ID of my good tivo and changed it a bit to make this change to httpd-tt.tcl :

    if { [info exists env(SerialNumber)] && [string trim $env(SerialNumber) "0"] !
    = "" && [string length $env(SerialNumber)] == 15 } {
    set sn $env(SerialNumber)
    } else {
    set sn [exec crypto -gsn]
    }
    ## get service number

    and changed the red bit to

    set sn "0020000203C2AD9"

    And it all works fine now - TivoWebPlus runs up without complaining and seems to be operational after a few mins checking.

    The guide data seems fine also - so I dont really have a problem to fix now...

    Still interested to know if the NZ emulators going to keep on working for me though - I expect this change only influences the startup of Tivowebplus and I'd have to do something similar in the guide data downloading scripts if I had to fake a serial number to the GD download process.

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Perth, Western Australia
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    Congrats on the successful TWP workaround, I've given your thread a 4 star rating for getting your own issue resolved.

    We need to use the ID here because with over 1000 TiVo's hitting the server, we need to keep a better record of who is getting which slices, and what slices to advertise for them to pickup.

    I don't see NZ getting into those sort of figures for a while.

    Peter.
    Please search this forum and our Website for your TiVo questions before starting a new thread. Thanks!

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Wellington, NZ
    Posts
    16
    Quote Originally Posted by neilp View Post
    WOOO HOOOO!!

    That worked perfectly! I just copied the ID of my good tivo and changed it a bit

    --snip--

    Still interested to know if the NZ emulators going to keep on working for me though - I expect this change only influences the startup of Tivowebplus and I'd have to do something similar in the guide data downloading scripts if I had to fake a serial number to the GD download process.
    Just in case anyone is doing this in the future, please do choose an ID number that is derived from the TiVo serial number on the back of the chassis (not the manufacturer s/n though) as opposed to a slightly modified or random ID number. Take a gander at the back panel and you'll see it's identical to the "System Information" page TiVo Service Number.

    This just might be a good idea in case the number of "subscribers" reaches astronomical heights and conflicts do start to arise.

    I actually generate my TiVo MAC address from the least significant (right-hand) six hex digits too. eg. If my TiVo ID just "happened" to be 002-0000-203B-5655, then my MAC address would be 00:11:D9:3B:56:55. The 00:11:D9 manufacturer prefix OID belongs to TiVo Inc, so you can guarantee you'll never have a MAC address conflict with any other type of device on your local network either (or anywhere in the world for that matter).

    Just 2c.
    Tim.

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Christchurch, NZ
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    Quote Originally Posted by timl View Post
    Just in case anyone is doing this in the future, please do choose an ID number that is derived from the TiVo serial number on the back of the chassis (not the manufacturer s/n though) as opposed to a slightly modified or random ID number. Take a gander at the back panel and you'll see it's identical to the "System Information" page TiVo Service Number.

    This just might be a good idea in case the number of "subscribers" reaches astronomical heights and conflicts do start to arise.
    That's not a bad suggestion and very easy to implement, I can just change the number I assign easily enough. I'll get the one off the Tivo's box, even though the case and the motherboard are not a matched pair - long story.

    However it does strike me that given the point where I have implemented the workaround, it will only change it for the process TivoWebPlus is running under, and will make absolutely no difference to the ID used when it gets guide data.

    So right now I am probably the only NZ user coming through with a null ID... until someone else's crypto chip fails then we'll both be in trouble.

    Can one of the emulator guys see my null id on the emulator I wonder?

    A better fix would probably be to do the workaround in the init scripts as linux is waking up. I think from looking more closely at the TivoWebPlus launch script snippet I posted, it only tries to read the crypto chip if no value has already been assigned to the 'SerialNumber' environment variable, if it has then it simply copies it and does not bother reading the crypto chip.

    I'd assume that if I do a similar workaround where the init scripts read the crypto chip then that SerialNumber environment variable would be exported down to child processes. (and why don't linux programmers use a few more comments?? )

    I'll give it a try and post the refined workaround if it goes OK.

    And thanks Pete for the 4 stars!

    Neil

  7. #17
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    Perth, Western Australia
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    Quote Originally Posted by neilp View Post
    However it does strike me that given the point where I have implemented the workaround, it will only change it for the process TivoWebPlus is running under, and will make absolutely no difference to the ID used when it gets guide data.
    Correct

    Quote Originally Posted by neilp View Post
    So right now I am probably the only NZ user coming through with a null ID... until someone else's crypto chip fails then we'll both be in trouble.

    Can one of the emulator guys see my null id on the emulator I wonder?
    They will be able to see your ID is missing. It may not even be an issue if 2 or more users have the same problem with the open way the NZ emulator is setup.

    Quote Originally Posted by neilp View Post
    I'd assume that if I do a similar workaround where the init scripts read the crypto chip then that SerialNumber environment variable would be exported down to child processes. (and why don't linux programmers use a few more comments?? )
    You can do it, and may help other addins that look for a value. But what ever you do in software you will not be able to get it work for a daily call. The only option is to swap the chips. This is to stop people stealing TiVo service.

    Quote Originally Posted by neilp View Post
    And thanks Pete for the 4 stars!
    No problem, very happy you were able find a solution for yourself once steered in the direction of the cause.

    Peter.
    Please search this forum and our Website for your TiVo questions before starting a new thread. Thanks!

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    The Mainland
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    542

    Quote Originally Posted by neilp
    So right now I am probably the only NZ user coming through with a null ID... until someone else's crypto chip fails then we'll both be in trouble.

    Can one of the emulator guys see my null id on the emulator I wonder?
    Yes, you are the only one, and you have had a null id since Aug '06

    Quote Originally Posted by petestrash
    They will be able to see your ID is missing. It may not even be an issue if 2 or more users have the same problem with the open way the NZ emulator is setup.
    The NZ system does require an id, its used at database level. In this case since you are the only one with a null id, the NZ system will serve you fine. At least until another one comes along...
    1 x Philips TiVo Series 1, Cachecard, 1 x 1TB SATA (with recent TradeMe sourced adaptor), Mk II Pal Tuner Mod, NZ Emulator, Previously Dual A/V Source, Now Pay Satellite
    2 x TiVo HD, Freeview, HNP, 2TB (WD-AV) jmfs upgraded
    1 x Thomson UK TiVo, Cachecard, 200GB, Testing Work

  9. #19
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Victoria
    Posts
    1,239
    Great going on the workaround. Beats taking to the board with a soldering iron
    Darren King
    OzTiVo Repairs and Modifications
    If your TiVo requires repairs or modifications
    then visit: http://kingey1971.wix.com/tivorepairs

    NOW ALSO REPAIRING FETCH TOO!

  10. #20
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    Nov 2004
    Location
    Christchurch, NZ
    Posts
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    Quote Originally Posted by DJC View Post

    Yes, you are the only one, and you have had a null id since Aug '06

    Well that's kind of interesting - I only built the tivo and fired it up for the first time last weekend...

    I came by the mother board and case separately as spares in case the main tivo blew up (would result in WWIII in our house) and never got around to finding an HDD until last weekend when I wanted to try the latest image in a sandbox.

    I guess there must be somebody else with a dud crypto chip who beat me to it by a few months.

    So I'm interested to understand the behaviour of the emulator a bit better - my impresssion was that the emulator remembers the guide data its given you already and doesnt give you that chunk again.

    Unless the emulator code handles a null id differently from valid ones perhaps?

    I seemed to get a full download of guide data not just an increment. As its a spare I dont keep it powered up, its only had 2 or 3 GD downloads probably.

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