# "The Parameter is Incorrect" ???



## AbMagFab (Feb 5, 2001)

I've installed TD 2.5.1 on one of my Vista Ultimate machines, and it's fine.

I've installed it on my other one, and I always get "The Parameter is Incorrect" on startup of TivoServer.exe. So I can't run TD or get the server to start up.

I've reinstalled, I've uninstalled, I've rebooted, I've cleaned the registry of all "tivo" items, I've purged I think the only couple of areas on the HD.

Anyone seen this before, or have any other ideas on how to fix it?


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## winter (Jan 28, 2002)

I had the same error appear on the two different WinXP machines I installed the latest version of TTG on. Neither machine ever had TTG installed previously and they are different software & hardware configurations (other than them both being WinXP) 

I googled around and checked the forums expecting that tons of people would have been reporting the same problem and was really surprised that they was not. 

For now I'm sitting tight until someone else figures out a solution or Tivo comes out with a new version to fix it.


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## CuriousMark (Jan 13, 2005)

If you haven't seen these ideas, it won't hurt to give them a try.

TiVo Help Forums Search Results Thread


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

Just curious, but what location are you using for the My TiVo Recordings folder? There used to be a problem in TiVo Desktop where you could specify the root directory of a drive during installation that would cause a parameter error during startup:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4305342&&#post4305342

I don't know if it was ever fixed.


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## winter (Jan 28, 2002)

I did a default installation, the program files went into C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop, I dont remember being prompted for the "My TiVo Recordings" folder but if I was I took the default.


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## AbMagFab (Feb 5, 2001)

There's no prompt until you start TD for the first time. Unfortunately, with this error, you can never start TD.


And I've tried all the stuff in that link, to no avail.


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## Pearhead (Nov 27, 2005)

Same issue here. Sucks...cause 2.2 was working just fine--now I've got squat for HME 

_XP Pro SP 2
AMD Athlon Dual Core_


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## miller890 (Feb 15, 2002)

Same problem here....so I just spent the last 3 hours reinstalling XP SP2. With a very clean install, no virus detection or firewalls and I still get "The parameter is incorrect." The desktop will not start error "The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion." Tivo Desktop over the years has by far been the most troublesome piece of software I have ever used.


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

miller890 said:


> Same problem here....so I just spent the last 3 hours reinstalling XP SP2. With a very clean install, no virus detection or firewalls and I still get "The parameter is incorrect." The desktop will not start error "The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion." Tivo Desktop over the years has by far been the most troublesome piece of software I have ever used.


How strange. I've never seen this problem myself. How can you get that after a clean install??? (Clean install meaning you started with a format, right?) What else did you install _prior_ to TivoDesktop?


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## miller890 (Feb 15, 2002)

Yes I formatted the C:/ and installed XP, applied video & audio drivers, applied SP2, connected with MS update, installed Office, and finally installed TivoDesktop 2.5.1. I was quited disapointed to see the same parameter incorrect error after all that. The only change that I made that could be related is that I move My Documents to D:/ drive. As a test, I changed the My Documents directory back to default path and rebooted but received the same error. Maybe I will uninstall 2.5.1 and reinstall with the default My Documents path in place and see if that does the trick.


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

miller890 said:


> The only change that I made that could be related is that I move My Documents to D:/ drive.


Isn't that they very thing *windracer* suspects causes that error in a post above? Maybe not exactly, but seems pretty close to be a risky thing to do prior to installing TD.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

He might have meant he moved his My Documents folder to D:\My Documents. The problem I am referring to is if you specify the root of a drive as the location for your TiVo recordings.

I'm not even sure this is still a problem ... I gave up using a separate partition for TiVo recordings a long time ago and now follow the herd and have it under My Documents.


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

windracer said:


> He might have meant he moved his My Documents folder to D:\My Documents. The problem I am referring to is if you specify the root of a drive as the location for your TiVo recordings.
> 
> I'm not even sure this is still a problem ... I gave up using a separate partition for TiVo recordings a long time ago and now follow the herd and have it under My Documents.


I noticed that difference after I posted. Went back and toned down my post. But still, if you are going reformat your drive and reinstall Windows to fix a problem with TD, would you install it before playing with fire? 

Just saying.


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## miller890 (Feb 15, 2002)

This mapping has worked in the past so when I was going for a clean install I didn't give it too much thought. I did map My Documents to D:\ a large partition. On the install of 2.5.1 the directory D:\My Tivo Recordings was created, so it found it and could write to it. What are the chances one of the programmers hard coded a path?

#2
Since that first install I have added firewall, virus protection software, and updated media player. For a second attempt, I uninstalled 2.5.1 and removed the cache directory: C:/Documents and Settings/admin/Application Data/Tivo directory. Next I restored defaults under My Documents properties. Rebooted disabled Zone Alert and Avant and reinstalled 2.5.1. Again I used the default install path and entered my MAK. Once again I receive the same error message "The Parameter is Incorrect." At this point I am not sure what I can try next.


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## winter (Jan 28, 2002)

Do want to compare hardware configurations to see if that could be an element? Both of my systems I installed on (and had that error) were Dell, one was a laptop (E1505) and the other was a desktop (PowerEdge 400SC)


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## miller890 (Feb 15, 2002)

Dell XPS/Dimension XPS Gen 2
3.2Ghz P4 "Northwood" with Hyper-threading
1GB 400-MHz DDR SDRAM
Chipset: Intel 875P
Video: ATI Radeon 9800 256MB


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## winter (Jan 28, 2002)

Both of mine are using ATI video products
Laptop is using ATI Mobility Radeon X1400, Desktop is using ATI All-In-Wonder 9000

Dell and ATI are pretty common though, there has to be something else that is causing problems otherwise many would see it.

I have Cisco VPN software installed on both but if you're install is clean then we can rule that out. 

I've got Symantec's AV software on both, no additional software firewall beyond the built-in firewall with XP.


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## AbMagFab (Feb 5, 2001)

Both of my machines (the one that's working and the one that isn't) are basically identicle. Same OS, same services, very similar hardware (CPU, graphics card, etc.).

Annoying. There's clearly something that's tripping it up.


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## winter (Jan 28, 2002)

AbMagFab said:


> Annoying. There's clearly something that's tripping it up.


Wouldn't it be great if Tivo would tell us the code path that leads to that error and/or provides a detailed debugging/logging option so we could track this down. Has anyone tried to ask them for support about this error? (I haven't yet)


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## AbMagFab (Feb 5, 2001)

winter said:


> Wouldn't it be great if Tivo would tell us the code path that leads to that error and/or provides a detailed debugging/logging option so we could track this down. Has anyone tried to ask them for support about this error? (I haven't yet)


Good idea.

There is a way to turn on detailed logging. I'm not at my computer right now, but in the Tivo directory is something called "LogFinder.exe" or something like that. Start it, check all the boxes, restart Tivo Server (maybe manually go in and restart all the services), then see what it logs?

If anyone is at their computer and can try this, it would be interested to see what's in the logs.


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## miller890 (Feb 15, 2002)

I had logger running, the TiVo Desktop log showed "warnings" messages that didn't seem to have any more information than the popup error. There was no reference to an error code, a file or path, the typical stuff you would look for. Maybe the right person at TiVo support could make sense of the error. I will turn on logging and capture them when I get home later.


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## winter (Jan 28, 2002)

miller890 said:


> I had logger running, the TiVo Desktop log showed "warnings" messages that didn't seem to have any more information than the popup error. There was no reference to an error code, a file or path, the typical stuff you would look for. Maybe the right person at TiVo support could make sense of the error. I will turn on logging and capture them when I get home later.


Ditto, its been a while but I do remember playing with the logging settings and do not recall it producing any output relevent to this problem.


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## Tico (Dec 10, 2002)

If anyone wants to try to go back to 2.3a PM me for a link....


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

Tico said:


> If anyone wants to try to go back to 2.3a PM me for a link....


http://home.comcast.net/~greg_burns/TivoDesktop/


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## miller890 (Feb 15, 2002)

Just for the heck of it, I formatted C:/ again and reinstalled XP and was able to get 2.5.1 working correctly. 

Here are the details... I installed XP, applied SP2, install various network/video/audio/chipset drivers, and then installed 2.5.1 with success from the looks of it. 

What I did different from the XP clean install above, I didn't connect to MS for an Update prior to the install, I didn't install MS Office 2003, and I didn't try to remap the My Documents as I did above to D:/. 

On the actual 2.5.1 install, I pasted my MAK, and accepted all the defaults.


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

miller890 said:


> Just for the heck of it...


It is easy enough for me to do some testing too, since I have an image of my machine prior to TivoDesktop.

My first test, was to point My Documents to E:\My Documents (E: being just another partition, not a network drive). Installed no problem.

Rolled back again and tried pointing to root of E:. You can see the result of that...



















So the bug does still exist. :down:


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## winter (Jan 28, 2002)

greg_burns said:


> It is easy enough for me to do some testing too, since I have an image of my machine prior to TivoDesktop.
> 
> My first test, was to point My Documents to E:\My Documents (E: being just another partition, not a network drive). Installed no problem.
> 
> ...


Thank you. I have mapped My Documents to the root of the C drive on both of my machines so that must be my problem as well.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

Ah, so I _was_ on to something. 

I missed that you had mapped My Documents to the _root_. I figured you still had the My Documents folder there. So yeah, like Greg shows, that bug is still there.


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2025429265-492894223-1343024091-1004\Software\TiVo\Desktop\Modules\TivoNowPlaying\config\LocalRootPath

The value here was E:\\My Tivo Recordings

Changed that to be E:\My Tivo Recordings and everything started right up w/o error.


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## winter (Jan 28, 2002)

greg_burns said:


> HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2025429265-492894223-1343024091-1004\Software\TiVo\Desktop\Modules\TivoNowPlaying\config\LocalRootPath
> 
> The value here was E:\\My Tivo Recordings
> 
> Changed that to be E:\My Tivo Recordings and everything started right up w/o error.


Thanks - making that registry change fixed the problem for me as well.


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

I never was able to duplicate this error...



> The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.


Wonder if that is caused by something else?


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## qskapunk (Oct 16, 2007)

winter said:


> Thanks - making that registry change fixed the problem for me as well.


was having all the same errors and this worked for me too


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## ericgoldy (Dec 27, 2007)

Big thanks to Greg Burns -- Not sure how he figured this one out, but the fix above worked for me too.

Tivo tech support gets a big Thumbs down from me here. On hold for over 45 minutes now and they are still supposedly looking into the problem. I've been working on the fix as these goofballs supposedly do something..

Who knows..

Thanks Greg.


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## singletrack70 (Jan 15, 2005)

was getting the parameter incorrect error as well, and the registry edit fixed my problem as well 

2+ hours of frigging around beforehand, so pleased to finally get it working. Cheers Greg!


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## joebar (Dec 27, 2002)

greg_burns said:


> HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2025429265-492894223-1343024091-1004\Software\TiVo\Desktop\Modules\TivoNowPlaying\config\LocalRootPath
> 
> The value here was E:\\My Tivo Recordings
> 
> Changed that to be E:\My Tivo Recordings and everything started right up w/o error.


That did it! Thanks a lot! :up:


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## pldoolittle (May 2, 2002)

Thx! That fixed it for me also. During the "upgrade", Tivo replaced c:\My Tivo Recordings with z:\\My Tivo Recordings. Both are valid folders. 

It'll be interesting to see what happens next with Plus conversions. The "Portables folder is fixed at z:\\... and apparently cannot be changed.

CORRECTION: My Tivo Recordings for Portables can be found in: HKCU\software\Tivo\Software\TiVo\Desktop\Convertor\OutputPath <--- No space present in edit box?!?


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

pldoolittle said:


> CORRECTION: My Tivo Recordings for Portables can be found in: HKCU\software\Tivo\Software\TiVo\Desktop\Convertor\OutputPath <--- No space present in edit box?!?


I don't understand what you mean "No space present in edit box?!?". I don't have Plus so, I'm not sure what you are seeing.


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## michaelkpate (Aug 4, 2003)

That fixed it for me as well. It seems like a rather annoying error.


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## AbMagFab (Feb 5, 2001)

Yes. And still present in 2.6.1 as far as I can tell.


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## docj (Aug 14, 2007)

I cant believe something so simple after hours of searching for a solution.


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## Lucienp (May 19, 2009)

This worked for me, as well, but the path was not exactly the same. Mine was HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1482476501-583907252-839522115-1005\Software\TiVo\Desktop\Modules\TivoNowPlaying\config (maybe XP diff?)

One way to find it is to open RegEdit, and Find "TivoNowPlaying" (you can uncheck everything except Keys to make it faster)

Note that there may be more than one of these... I changed 3 locations before Tivo Desktop would start for me 

The other two paths I changed were:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\TiVo\Desktop\Converter

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\TiVo\Desktop\Modules\TivoNowPlaying\config


(btw, you may have to restart the computer or use Windows Task Manager to kill all the Tivo*** processes before the change will take effect)

This is still an issue with 2.7, btw...

Best of luck to everyone, thanks for the posts.


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