# What did I do wrong...



## dcorbin (Mar 31, 2002)

I have a Sony SAT-T60, that I upgraded a long time ago. I replace the original 40GB drive with a 120GB drive. Then, when that failed, I replaced it with 160GB drive (but did nothing to increase actual video storage capacity). Now I'm having to replace the 160GB drive, as it is starting to show signs of failure.

I bought 320GB drive because they were the cheapest where I was shopping. I don't need more capacity, but....

I did a "dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb bs=1024" and the command ran for 6-7 hours. However, when I put the new 320 GB back in, the T60 never gets past the very first powering up mode. I double-checked all my connections. When I put the 160GB back in, it boots OK, so I don't think I got my HDA/HDB backwards.

Any ideas on what I've done wrong? Even though the drive is "really large" won't it work like the smaller one with maybe just some of it inaccessable?

Thanks in advance
David Corbin


----------



## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

If the original drive was failing how do you know the copy wasn't corrupt?


----------



## dcorbin (Mar 31, 2002)

Well, I don't /know/ that it is not. But the original continues to boot and run.


----------



## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

Is it getting stuck at powering up or rebooting at some point?

Delete all the files in the log folder of the new drive and try to boot it again. Then pull the drive and post the few lines of the kernel log.


----------



## dcorbin (Mar 31, 2002)

It's stuck at powering up. Never gets past the first screen.

So that I get it right, what partition should I be mounting to access the logs directory?
Thanks
David


----------



## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

From memory it should be /dev/hd_9/ and then look for logs/kernel


----------



## dcorbin (Mar 31, 2002)

When hook my drive, and boot to linux, I cannot see a partition table. It says there isn't a valid one. I remember seeing this on the original (mostly working) drive too. Does TIVO use a standard partitioning system?

David


----------



## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

Don't use fdisk. Try pdisk -l /dev/hd_


----------



## dcorbin (Mar 31, 2002)

No joy. I tried booting "naturally", and with "hdc=bswap". pdisk just does not see a partition table.

I'm booting off a recently downloaded MFS tools CD.

I'm an experienced linux user and programmer if I need to do something "more technical", just ask. I just don't know the TiVO stuff.

David


----------



## dcorbin (Mar 31, 2002)

Well, I finally got to the log files. Turns out I needed a different boot CD.
I see now that I didn't follow the instructions quite right, but it may help anyway.
i deleted the kernel file (and just the kernel), put the drive back in the T60 and waited two minutes for it to start booting (the working drive changes the screen about 55 seconds in). Pulled the drive and went to look at the kernel log file.

There is no kernel file. 

I'll do it again where I follow the instructions and delete them all, but it'll be tomorrow before I do.

Thanks
David


----------



## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

If there was no log created then I'd say your initial copy didn't work properly.


----------



## dcorbin (Mar 31, 2002)

OK. I'll try it again.

Seems odd that all the partitions are there, and the 9th partition seemed "right".


----------



## dcorbin (Mar 31, 2002)

Well, after numerous attempts including just doing an image backup and restore, I've made no further progress. At this point, my best guess is that the T60 doesn't like the hard drive for some reason. 

It is a brand new "PATA" 320GB Western Digital hard drive. Any reason to think it shouldn't work?

David


----------



## JamieP (Aug 3, 2004)

Serial console output could be helpful.

You aren't byte swapping either drive when you do the dd are you? If one was byteswapped and the other wasn't, you'd end up with a drive that won't boot.

You might want to do a dd_rescue instead of dd if you suspect the source drive is failing.

Check the jumpers too. Some WD want to be in "cable select" mode rather than Master in a TiVo.


----------



## dcorbin (Mar 31, 2002)

JamieP said:


> Serial console output could be helpful.


Yes. I'm sure it would be. But that looks like a non-standard connector. If it were a DB-9, I'm sure I could find something to hook it up to.



JamieP said:


> You aren't byte swapping either drive when you do the dd are you? If one was byteswapped and the other wasn't, you'd end up with a drive that won't boot.


Nope.


JamieP said:


> You might want to do a dd_rescue instead of dd if you suspect the source drive is failing.


I can try to do that.



JamieP said:


> Check the jumpers too. Some WD want to be in "cable select" mode rather than Master in a TiVo.


I tried it as both CS and Master. No joy either way.


----------



## JamieP (Aug 3, 2004)

dcorbin said:


> Yes. I'm sure it would be. But that looks like a non-standard connector. If it were a DB-9, I'm sure I could find something to hook it up to.












If you don't feel like making your own, there are places that sell premade cables. Google around a bit.


----------



## dcorbin (Mar 31, 2002)

Much unhappiness. Sigh.

I have a Tivo Serial cable. I connect to that to Null Modem cable, and then that to a female-female gender bender. (all this based on various google hits). Then I've tried connecting that to my linux box using minicom (ttys0 and ttyS1) and my Mac with a USB serial cable using zterm.

On the mac, I got a little bit of "line noise", I think from plugging and unplugging the cable.

I set both comm programs to 9600 8N1 (no hardware flow control).

I'm batting 0 for 4 or there abouts. What's wrong with this cabling that I can't get serial port access?

Thanks 
David Corbin


----------



## JamieP (Aug 3, 2004)

dcorbin said:


> Much unhappiness. Sigh.
> 
> I have a Tivo Serial cable. I connect to that to Null Modem cable, and then that to a female-female gender bender. (all this based on various google hits). Then I've tried connecting that to my linux box using minicom (ttys0 and ttyS1) and my Mac with a USB serial cable using zterm.
> 
> ...


My experience is only with Series2 and Series3 boxes. I always run at 115200 8N1 with no flow control. I use minicom from linux and it works fine. I have "dsscon=true console=1,115200" set in my tivo disk bootpage boot params. The console port # (1 in the above) may be different on a Series1; I don't remember that far back. The bootpage options tell the kernel to enable the serial console, if you are getting that far.

Just hitting enter a few times when the unit is first powered on should at least get you to a PROM password prompt.


----------



## dcorbin (Mar 31, 2002)

My research leads me to believe I can't change the bootpage parameters from an external system. Is this correct?

On the assumption it is, and because I cannot find any evidence that my serial port is "working", I tried to get bash running using my serial port. if nothing else, it should be easier to test the serial connection that way rather than rebooting all the time. At this point, I've had no luck with that either. I'm going to test end-to-end connectivity for my cable next.

More ideas?


----------



## dcorbin (Mar 31, 2002)

The cable seems good according to the diagram above. Couldn't test the USB converter, but it's brand new and zTerm appears to see it OK.


----------



## JamieP (Aug 3, 2004)

dcorbin said:


> My research leads me to believe I can't change the bootpage parameters from an external system. Is this correct?


Yes, you can. There is a "bootpage" progrram that can be run on a linux PC. Most of the tivo upgrade ISO's probably have it.


----------



## dcorbin (Mar 31, 2002)

Well, MFSTools 2.0 doesn't and neither does tbdv2_6i.iso. Those are the two I have.

Does anyone know of an ISO that has bootpage on it?

Thanks
David


----------



## JamieP (Aug 3, 2004)

dcorbin said:


> Well, MFSTools 2.0 doesn't and neither does tbdv2_6i.iso. Those are the two I have.
> 
> Does anyone know of an ISO that has bootpage on it?


Try mfslive?


----------



## dcorbin (Mar 31, 2002)

Well, mfsLive worked great for setting bootpage parameters. But I've still seen nothing on my serial port. I tried it with console=1, 2 & 3 with 115200. I assume the first number corresponds with the /dev/ttySX.

I also tried another backup/restore operation using a different system. Still no joy. Very frustrating.

David


----------

