# Daily call failing - number unavailable



## wertert (Mar 4, 2004)

Hi All - Merry Christmas - or not completely as I haven't been able to record anything for some time. My Tivo ( Standard + Network card ) has been unable to make it's daily call since 2/12/07. I have no program info.

Nothing has changed in the house ( cabling / broadband ) etc. When I make a test call it gets past the first 2 steps and sits at 'connecting' for ages before failing.

There seems to be quite a few posts on this board about this problem but no hard and fast answers other than my modem has died.

Tivo say everything is fine at their end.......

Any ideas ???

Jeff


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## OzSat (Feb 15, 2001)

Have you powered off TiVo at the mains for 30 seconds - and then tried again?


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## wertert (Mar 4, 2004)

oh yes - saw that on a post. Actually it's been switched off for 3/4 days. Just tried it again this am. Fingers crossed but no joy.

Thanks for the fast response BTW

Jeff


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## wertert (Mar 4, 2004)

more details. On the test call it deos the following.
Preparing.... (Done)
Dialing...(Done)
Connecting...(Connecting)

what is wierd is it does this even if the phone cable is unplugged ! I would have suspected the Dialing stage to fail if this was the case.

Currently phone-in-use detection and dial-tone detection are switched off. ( as advised by Tivo . )


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## OzSat (Feb 15, 2001)

Both those detections should be set to ON

Anyway, sounds like a 'phone cable swap is worth trying (just try unplugging and replugging both ends first)


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## Automan (Oct 29, 2000)

Just to confirm, has your tivo got a network card in it?
If it has it would normally obtain it's program data via that route.

Automan.



wertert said:


> Hi All - Merry Christmas - or not completely as I haven't been able to record anything for some time. My Tivo ( Standard + *Network card* ) has been unable to make it's daily call since 2/12/07. I have no program info.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

I was thinking the same thing, but then I remembered that I'm currently making my calls via dialup even though I have a network card (TurboNet) in mine due to lack of router at the moment


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## wertert (Mar 4, 2004)

to confirm I have got a turbo net card which I only use for extracting programs to watch on PC/PDA.

Phone line has always been used for program info.

Something else that is wierd is that TyTool9r18 has also stopped working ! I cannot connect to the tivo more via TyTool / telnet / web / ping. What is going on !? Don't know if it's related. Maybe reset the whole thing.


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## hjl (Jan 4, 2008)

hi, i have the same problem. phone line update failing since 16th december with number unavailable. haven't changed or moved anything. tried a reboot but no joy. is there a problem with the uk service? regards,hj


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

No problems here right now.


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## wertert (Mar 4, 2004)

Hi All

Thanks for your help on this problem. I am totally convinced that the modem is broken so I'm sorry to say that it's time to let the old girl go ( tivo not the wife ). I'll be putting it up on ebay. Spec is completely standard 40Gb model with network card fitted and remote ( no lifetime sub ). Any ideas what I should put it up for ? Should appeal to someone as a project or spares.

Next question and I suspect i'll get flamed.....

I'm after a recommendation for a replacement box. PVR + Freeview. Needs to have an RF loop as it lives in the attic. I suspect that there is nothing out there with a network port that can be used to extract the programs ( except another tivo ) ? So it's just going to be used to record the odd program.

Got a couple of ideas from http://www.pvrjunction.co.uk/compare/

any ideas. Happy 2008 BTW

Jeff


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## Raisltin Majere (Mar 13, 2004)

I'm pretty sure that if the modem is broken, Tivo will fail to boot - although I appreciate it might be a bit of a risk to check that.

Why can't you keep tivo and use te network card for the daily call?


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## wertert (Mar 4, 2004)

good question. The sad truth is I actually don't really use the tivo much anymore - I record very little as everything seems to be available online these days. I still need to record the odd thing ( ie strictly-come-dancing for the familly ...... don't ask ) so it's not making a huge amount of sense to keep paying for the subscription for TV scheduling information that is now available for free via freeview etc.

I'm thinking now the modem has gone i'll move on to a new 'free' solution for the odd programs I need to record. This is why i'm thinking of something low cost for the PVR replacement. Don't need anything fancy......


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## threadkiller (Dec 12, 2002)

I have the same problem with a Tivo I bought off eBay, but I fitted a network card (wanted one anyway) and used that for the daily call. TBH if I were you I'd resolve the network issue & get my data by network, especially as you already have the card


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## wertert (Mar 4, 2004)

Hi Marc - thanks for that. Tell you what - i'll give it a try. I've purchased my card about 4 years ago from www.laser.com ie not a cache card.

http://www.laser.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=236&category_id=& - looks familiar.

Do you have a FAQ or something on how to set it up. I've tried completely reseting my system and so the network isn't functioning at the moment ( ie all config wiped ).

Thanks again

Jeff


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## wertert (Mar 4, 2004)

wait a sec.....

found this

http://tivo.stevejenkins.com/network_cd.html#_Toc101001771


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## wertert (Mar 4, 2004)

wow - that was easy ! Network was fine. I had assumed that when I did a system reset I would lose all my 'additions' etc. I was also pinging the wrong IP address which didn't help.

All I had to do was add the ',#401' prefix and it's worked a treat. Running through the setup call right now.

Thanks for that guys. May keep the tivo after all......

Jeff


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

wertert said:


> All I had to do was add the ',#401' prefix and it's worked a treat.


Actually, you don't need to do that bit. At least, I didn't


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

cwaring said:


> Actually, you don't need to do that bit. At least, I didn't


But is the process for networking the daily call different for an old Turbonet card using the earlier drivers and firmware?

I don't suppose so but if that's the case then it seems odd this change apparently fixed the problem.


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## wertert (Mar 4, 2004)

not out of the woods yet...

Tivo is rebooting during the guided setup. It performs it's initial call ok over the network then starts scanning channels. it starts at C21. It seem to restart on C24. When it comes back up it simply restarts the guided setup.

I'll going to start searching for any relavant posts.

Jeff


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## threadkiller (Dec 12, 2002)

Pete77 said:


> But is the process for networking the daily call different for an old Turbonet card using the earlier drivers and firmware?
> 
> I don't suppose so but if that's the case then it seems odd this change apparently fixed the problem.


no difference whatsoever, and the #401 is only needed for the US, doesn't apply in the uk


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

wertert said:


> not out of the woods yet...
> 
> Tivo is rebooting during the guided setup. It performs it's initial call ok over the network then starts scanning channels. it starts at C21. It seem to restart on C24. When it comes back up it simply restarts the guided setup.
> 
> I'll going to start searching for any relevant posts.


Still sounds like a problem making its calls to me.

Have you tried taking it to a friend's house and using it there? They shouldn't have a problem given that it uses an 0800 number.

Get the BT engineer in is what I say. Sometimes its worth paying to have a problem fixed.


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## wertert (Mar 4, 2004)

This evenings update.

All is well... well almost. Not sure what stopped the rebooting. I disconnected the freeview box and IR wand and powered off for 30 secs and it seems ok now.

It is perfectly happy making it's daily call via the network. Just completed one at 6:09pm. Phone cable is not attached.

How for the wierd bit.... telnet still works ok but all the other mods I had made ie tytool and tivoweb have stopped working. It's as if I've somehow wiped them all. I can't even do a 'ls' any more ! Does a system reset remove these ?

Before I start pull out the harddrive does anyone have any ideas what could have caused this ?

Thanks again for all your help over the weekend.

Jeff

PS - Ftp is working...


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

wertert said:


> How for the wierd bit.... telnet still works ok but all the other mods I had made ie tytool and tivoweb have stopped working. It's as if I've somehow wiped them all. I can't even do a 'ls' any more ! Does a system reset remove these ?


Yes. This is a distinct possibility. Assuming you can still FTP in (as this is a built-in function I believe) you might find that your hack dir has disappeared. It's not a "system reset" that removes them but just Tivo itself sometimes, I think.

I'm sure someone else will be able to offer a better explanation shortly


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## wertert (Mar 4, 2004)

yes - you're right /var/hack is no longer.......


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## threadkiller (Dec 12, 2002)

if TiVo thinks Var has corrupted it will delete & rebuild it, unfortunately it takles the hack folder with it. If you dont have a backup it means rebuilding it from scratch. But as you have netwrok access you should be able to do it with that now rather than having to remove the drives


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