Problems downloading EPG data via POTS

[rondun]

Have you tried implementing kickstart 57 or 58?

No, how do you do that?

[Mike Sugar]

When the Tivo first boots up, the left "receiving" LED light on the front bezel is green.

As soon as this left LED turns yellow, immediately, and within (2) seconds, press and hold down the yellow
PAUSE button on the remote control.

Within seconds, the right LED should turn yellow. However should you be unable to catch the change
in color or timing, you can also hold the PAUSE button down continuously during the boot-up until the
second LED comes on.

When this second LED lights up, release the PAUSE button and then press the one or two digits of the
kickstart code, i.e., either (57) or (58) - within approximately (10) seconds.

The Tivo will re-boot with the GSOD eventually appearing.

Allow the Tivo to complete its re-work when hopefully you will have resolved your problem.

[DX30]

Unfortunately, the reboot loop doesn't offer either opportunity, it just goes to green screen for a couple of minutes and then restarts - unless someone knows a way around it?

I hope I'm wrong but it could be your TiVo drive has too small a swap partition. The green screen drive check software needs a lot of swap space, much more than normal operation does, and if this runs out during the drive check the TiVo reboots and you get stuck on a loop like this.

How big is the TiVo drive? Smaller drives like the original 40GB are unlikely to run out of swap space but the larger the drive the more swap is needed.

How much swap space was the drive created with? I appreciate you may not know this but if you do this information would be very useful. The rule of thumb is 1MB of swap is needed for every 2GB of drive.

If you don't know the swap size where did the drive come from? A reputable supplier like tivoland would have given it adequate swap but if the drive came from an unknown source it may be too small.

[rondun]

Thanks Mike - tried that but it didn't seem to make any difference. Are the kickstart codes an altepg thing or were they also there on older images? I'm not using altepg one.
I already have the GSOD and it's seems to stay there for a constant 1 min 45secs or so before rebooting again.

DX30-
It's a 1TB seagate drive that I upgraded from a 250gb one a year or so ago. I remember reading about the swap partition and think I may have made it 1gb but am pretty sure I would have followed the advice.
The only thing I did have a bit of trouble getting to work back then - and tried various setups so can't be 100% sure.
I used software to copy the 250gb drive including all the recordings and then expand it onto the 1tb one but can't remember exactly what I did now.
It worked fine when I did it without the recordings but always seemed to cause problems when they were copied.
In the end I think it was something to do with the network connector that was causing the issues and not the disk at all!

[Mike Sugar]

The Kickstart codes were developed for the original EPG, and work also for AltEPG.

Should you have no other alternative, and you were to provide me with a HDD, I would be willing to
write the AltEPG image on to it.

Mike.

[lloyd]

Having replaced my psu (thanks Mike), I exhibiting exactly the same symptoms. Stays on GSOD for a few seconds and then reboots. (This behaviour started Friday, psu died when I unplugged over Friday night).

I suspect that my swap may only be 127MB - just wondering if booting mfstools or something similar will allow me to confirm this. I suppose adjusting swap or adding second partition is out of the question?

[lloyd]

Just booted mfslive, and pdisk -l shows as 127MB. Do I have any options to retain recordings?

[DX30]

Just booted mfslive, and pdisk -l shows as 127MB. Do I have any options to retain recordings?

One option might be to use mfslive to copy everything to a larger hard drive and create a bigger swap partition in the process. One caveat is how well mfslive would cope with an mfs file system in mid GSOD. Another is whether the TiVo kernel can handle a larger drive (e.g. if you need to use a 2TB drive).

The other option that comes to mind is using the alternative boot partition as a temporary swap partition. I don't know linux so don't really understand the details but this thread may help http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?postid=628370#post628370

[lloyd]

The other option that comes to mind is using the alternative boot partition as a temporary swap partition. I'm don't know linux so don't really understand the details but this thread may help http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?postid=628370#post628370

Interesting thread, but I can't see at the moment if this replaces the existing swap with a new one on the spare boot partition, or it can add to the existing - I suspect the former, and the two are nearly the same size so will not be an improvement.

[DX30]

I wonder if it is possible to fit a "B" drive and create a new temporary swap partition on that? I don't mean by using mfsadd, just standard linux utilities, then revert back to a single drive with the old 127mb swap after the GSOD has completed.

[lloyd]

The other option that comes to mind is using the alternative boot partition as a temporary swap partition. I don't know linux so don't really understand the details but this thread may help http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?postid=628370#post628370

I'm pondering seeing if I can use the alternate boot partition, and add it as an additional swap file by editing the startup file whilst the drive is attached to the PC. Reading around on this just asks more questions than it answers (such as do I need to run tpip?).

Adding a second drive brings it own issues with IDE/SATA adaptors etc.

Or maybe I just take the inevitable grief and blow away the whole thing.

[rondun]

The Kickstart codes were developed for the original EPG, and work also for AltEPG.

Should you have no other alternative, and you were to provide me with a HDD, I would be willing to
write the AltEPG image on to it.

Mike.

Thanks Mike - hopefully that would be a last resort. The PC & accessories for such endeavours is safely back in the attic and only a dodgy back and a cleverly placed shower rail blocking the hatch are stopping me ...

I tried kickstart code 58 but that only added a "installing software from the tivo service" screen for a while before the GSOD & rebooting

I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe the time has come to replace that trusty old standard pace sky box with one of them fancy new plus thingies.
If I can lay my hands on a sky HD+ box - would I be able to use my existing card & sd subscription in it? (with only 1 lnb cable connected)

[Mike Sugar]

Hi,

I originally brought down Sky Freesat into my Tivo using an Amstrad DRX 550.

I updated last year to a Sky HD DRX 595 - and was able to use my existing subscription card -
but I don't know if this would be possible with a Sky HD+.

I obviously connect the Sky box to Tivo via scart, and Tivo to TV via scart - connecting the Sky directly
to TV using HDMI.

Hope this information helps.

Mike.

[cerihp]

On my TiVo the mfscheck found nothing wrong, the reboot and GSOD was triggered automatically by the problem data in the dodgy slice. If this is also true of yours then it might be possible to reset the flag that is telling the TiVo to do the GSOD, if you are able to boot using mfs tools and access the disk. I've not used this approach so don't know if it is possible, but it may be worth a go as an alternative to wiping the disk.

[DX30]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe the time has come to replace that trusty old standard pace sky box with one of them fancy new plus thingies.
If I can lay my hands on a sky HD+ box - would I be able to use my existing card & sd subscription in it? (with only 1 lnb cable connected)

I'm not sure exactly what you intend to do.

If you mean to record on the SkyHD+ box then you will need a sky subscription to do so. If you already have a Sky subscription you should be able to phone Sky and get the existing card paired to the new box and also get recording activated on the card. With only 1 lnb cable it will work (use the installer menu to set single lnb mode) but not that well.

Unless there is a reason you are stuck with 1 lnb (e.g. a communal dish) I would look at getting the Sky HD+ box from Sky and getting a dual lnb feed from them as part of the install package. Sky were doing some very good deals to get people to upgrade a few years ago.

If you don't want a Sky sub but do want to record HD look at Freesat.