# Airnet trouble with Series 1 Tivo



## Lowella (Apr 23, 2010)

I'm having a real problem with my Airnet card on a Series 1 Tivo. With the card installed the Tivo simply won't start up. If I remove the card it works, but when it's installed there's no fan or anything. It's almost like it's unplugged, but the light on the wireless card is on so I know it's getting power. Does anyone here have an idea what's going on? 

I recently got AT&T U-verse and only after my Tivo started running low on program guide data did I realize it uses VOIP for the phone - and that is not compatible with the Series 1 Tivo. Now I really need to get internet access to my Tivo!


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

Lowella said:


> I'm having a real problem with my Airnet card on a Series 1 Tivo. With the card installed the Tivo simply won't start up. If I remove the card it works, but when it's installed there's no fan or anything. It's almost like it's unplugged, but the light on the wireless card is on so I know it's getting power. Does anyone here have an idea what's going on?
> 
> I recently got AT&T U-verse and only after my Tivo started running low on program guide data did I realize it uses VOIP for the phone - and that is not compatible with the Series 1 Tivo. Now I really need to get internet access to my Tivo!


Have you had this card in the TiVo all along? Sounds like the power supply is marginal and cannot run both all of the TiVo and the card, although I suppose something on the card could have failed and is causing it to draw more current than it was designed to, so that even a good power supply would be overtaxed.

Do you own a voltmeter?

There's supposed to be a way you can plug into the serial jack on the back and a regular (not USB) serial port on a computer and get internet access through the computer. This would let you remove the card.

Search the forums for S1 and ppp


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## Lowella (Apr 23, 2010)

I tried to install the card when I first purchased it over a year ago and had the same response of the Tivo. I didn't pursue it then because the Tivo worked without it, but not I really need to make a change. I just got AT&T U-Verse, and it uses VOIP for the telephone. VOIP doesn't work well for the Series 1 Tivo (although some people have gotten it to work) so I need to update over the internet. Is there any way to test the card or the motherboard (or the power supply)? I have a voltmeter and access to more equipment if I need it. I really appreciate the help here.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

Lowella said:


> I tried to install the card when I first purchased it over a year ago and had the same response of the Tivo. I didn't pursue it then because the Tivo worked without it, but not I really need to make a change. I just got AT&T U-Verse, and it uses VOIP for the telephone. VOIP doesn't work well for the Series 1 Tivo (although some people have gotten it to work) so I need to update over the internet. Is there any way to test the card or the motherboard (or the power supply)? I have a voltmeter and access to more equipment if I need it. I really appreciate the help here.


Okay, a year ago you had a TiVo that worked. Installing the AirNet stopped it from working. Removing the card let it work again, which it did for a year.

If the first time was because the TiVo's power supply was failing, chances are it would have gotten worse this past year, so I suspect the card has a fault that causes it to load down the power supply more than it should.

(Are you running one hard drive or two?)

Clip the voltmeter's black, negative lead to the metal chassis on the side away from the power supply.

Use the metal probe tip on the red, positive lead to stick down into the holes on the white-ish plug that goes to the motherboard from the power supply deeply enough to contact the metal ends on the wires.

The black wires are ground.

The orange wire is +3.3V

The red wire(s) is/are +5V

The yellow is +12V

There's a brown or gray or purple or something which is a low current 30 or thereabouts Volts which I think is just the tuning voltage supply, and you don't need to worry about it.

Take measurements without the card installed.

Then install the card and measure again.

(obviously unplug the TiVo in between)

I suspect the second time around you'll find one of the lines has been pulled down and I suspect it's the card itself with a faulty component.

Feel around it and see if anything on it is getting hot.


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## Lowella (Apr 23, 2010)

Thanks for the help, Unitron. Here are the results of the voltage tests:

Without Airnet
Red: 4.99v
Yellow: 11.77v
Brown: 3.37v
White: 31.4v
Fan blue: 0.33v (with fan unplugged)
Fan red: 11.75v (with fan unplugged)
Fan blue: ~7v (with fan plugged in)
Fan red: ~12v (with fan plugged in)

With Airnet
Red: 4.98v
Yellow: 11.85v
Brown: 3.37v
White: 31.1v
Fan blue: 0.0v (with fan unplugged)
Fan red: 11.85v (with fan unplugged)
Fan blue: 11.1v (with fan plugged in)
Fan red: 11.7v (with fan plugged in)

The only difference I can see is with the fan voltages. The fan isn't running, and is only dropping the voltage by a little bit. There are only three components on the Aircard and they're not running hot.

Is there anything else I can check? Any way to see if the Aircard is faulty or functional?

Thanks again for your help!

Lowell


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

Lowella said:


> Thanks for the help, Unitron. Here are the results of the voltage tests:
> 
> Without Airnet
> Red: 4.99v
> ...


I wasn't expecting you to measure the fan header voltages.

Because of the way the fan is powered, you can't really judge the power supply by the fan header voltages.

Basically the motherboard takes the 12V line and pulse width modulates it to feed the fan no more electricity than necessary to spin it fast enough to keep the internal temp below a certain threshold.

If you feed it pulses of 12V that average out to 6V, the fan runs more slowly but without risk of stalling because every pulse is a full voltage "kick".

The same technique is used nowadays with model trains and slot cars and avoids the old crank it up and nothing happens until you reach the point where it takes off all of a sudden and then you have to scramble to back it down and risk it stalling.

Also, with the cover off of the TiVo, the fan isn't going to need as much power as it would with the cover on and more heat to get rid of.

Leaving the fan out of the discussion, that 12V line is a little on the low side with or without the card, but the difference doesn't seem to be great enough to explain the problem, especially since it reads a little higher with the card.

Okay, I just went and did a little looking into the Airnet, which I was thinking of mostly as a wi-fi version of the TurboNet and Cache cards.

If you remove the actual wireless adapter from the AirNet board that's stuck onto the edge connector on the TiVo motherboard, but leave the AirNet itself still connected, does the TiVo boot?

Have you performed the necessary software modifications?


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

As long as you've got the cover off of that thing, it wouldn't hurt to eyeball the capacitors on the power supply, just in case.

Go read the Wikipedia page on "capacitor plague" and then look at the picture here

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=479176

to see how subtle the visual difference can be between a good one and one that's going bad.


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## Lowella (Apr 23, 2010)

OK, the Tivo does not boot with the Airnet card installed and the wireless adapter removed. I looked at the capacitors, and they look good - no bulging. The Airnet card only has three components, and they don't feel hot. Do you have any other ideas I can check on? I'd really like to get this working.

I've installed the software for the Airnet and flashed the wireless adapter, but it's possible I haven't gotten it right. Even so, the Tivo should boot with the Airnet card installed, shouldn't it? And then just ignore it if the software is not set up correctly.

BTW, since I can't call in over the Airnet card I've been trying to get the serial port connection going through a laptop I have that has a serial port on it. The Tivo connects to the serial port, but the test call fails every time. I've been watching the connection to see what's going on, but there's not much data transfer - only up to about 475 bytes before it declares a failed connection. I'm still working on that, too - hoping I can get a program update through the serial port.

Lowell


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

Lowella said:


> OK, the Tivo does not boot with the Airnet card installed and the wireless adapter removed. I looked at the capacitors, and they look good - no bulging. The Airnet card only has three components, and they don't feel hot. Do you have any other ideas I can check on? I'd really like to get this working.
> 
> I've installed the software for the Airnet and flashed the wireless adapter, but it's possible I haven't gotten it right. Even so, the Tivo should boot with the Airnet card installed, shouldn't it? And then just ignore it if the software is not set up correctly.
> 
> ...


If you can communicate between the laptop and the TiVo via serial ports, then you should be able to use the laptop's internet connection instead of having to futz around with VOIP.

I've never had to do it myself, as we have a real phone line, and now I have a cache card in one S1 and a TurboNet card in the other.

Start reading:

http://www.b-lan.com/otto/tivo3xp/

http://black-widow000.150m.com/TiVo-PPP/pppwin.htm

http://black-widow000.150m.com/TiVo-PPP/index.htm


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