# Empty looking NPL?



## Gojira69

Since I added networking to my 2 dTiVos I have noticed on occassion on both systems the NPL will go blank. iow, the programs on the list cannot be seen in the list, nor can they be accessed. The NPL comes up. It can be scrolled thru, but there are no entries. The only fix I know for this is a restart.


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## rbautch

This is a well known and solveable issue. The now playing lists are actually not gone, it just takes about 60 seconds or more for them to show up (try it). The problem is related to the DNS network settings on your Tivo, which should be set to the IP address of your router.


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## Gojira69

Thank you. I know what to do now.


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## willardcpa

Ok, I'll bite. What is it that you do now?? Is what rbautch referring to setting up the IP address of the router as a server on the "Music and Photos" menu area of the tivo? Or is this something that has to be tweaked on the tivo hard drive, and if so - how.


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## Gojira69

The TiVo has to be programmed to see the router's IP address as its DNS server. I'll let you know when I've done it as to how I did.


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## willardcpa

TIA


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## ssstivo

Gojira69 said:


> The TiVo has to be programmed to see the router's IP address as its DNS server. I'll let you know when I've done it as to how I did.


After about 3 weeks of flawless networking between my 3 Directivos I've started to have this issue. I'm very interested in how to correct this problem.


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## msu72

I have the same problem. Would like to know what fixes are available.
Thanks.


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## ttodd1

Do you have your routers IP address in the ip settings for your Tivo?


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## msu72

I don't know. I don't think Gunny's guide mentioned that. How would I check and how would I set it in?


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## davsherm

I have been using dhcp on my 6.2 machines, and it has been working ok so far. If you want to find out what your dns servers are use:


Code:


cat /etc/resolv.conf

 If you want to set a static ip you might want to search for the netconfig script by lgkahn on ddb. You could set it in your author file, but there have been reports that doing this may make mrv not work properly.


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## ttodd1

msu72 said:


> I don't know. I don't think Gunny's guide mentioned that. How would I check and how would I set it in?


It is not in Gunnys unguide because it is not a part of the steps to get the hacks to work. Since I am assuming you are using DHCP off your router you should also be able to see what the DNSs are listed on your pc, they "should" be the same for the DTivo. If they are not then you will have to change it on the Dtivo by using the netconfig modulle as davsherm says. Of course not knowing how your network is setup.....


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## rbautch

The function of DNS is to resolve domain names like Tivo.com into an IP address. When you go to Now Showing, your Tivo searches for other Tivos on your network, and tries to connect to the Internet. If your DNS is not set properly, it hangs while it tries to resolve DNS until it finally times out and displays the Now Showing list. If you set DNS to your router address, this will usually do the trick. If you have IP addresses configured manually, you can edit the resolv.conf file to reflect your router's address. Otherwise dhclient will continue to overwrite that file with it's own settings. Even better, set static IP and DNS more permanently in MFS using the netconfig script mentioned above. There's even a Tivowebplus module for netconfig that makes this super easy.


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## mercurial

I'm starting to see this problem. The issue? For some reason my router partially crashses. It will still work for DHCP hosts but any I've setup statically don't work. Reboot the router and it works fine. I'm thinking of replacing the router with one that I can put the Seavsoft image on to get router-supported static addressing in the DHCP server itself....


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## DLiquid

rbautch said:


> The function of DNS is to resolve domain names like Tivo.com into an IP address. When you go to Now Showing, your Tivo searches for other Tivos on your network, and tries to connect to the Internet. If your DNS is not set properly, it hangs while it tries to resolve DNS until it finally times out and displays the Now Showing list. If you set DNS to your router address, this will usually do the trick.


What if I don't have a router? My PCs and game devices connect to the Internet using PPPoE through a network switch and DSL modem. Presumably hacked TiVos should not even connect to the Internet, so what should I set DNS to?

(I asked a similar question in the Zipper thread but it was not answered, and seems a bit OT for that thread.)


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## Gunnyman

find out what your ISP has assigned for dns servers
this can be found by doing ipconfig from an XP command line


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## DLiquid

It would be easy to do that, but if my hacked TiVos can't access the Internet (because they are not configured for PPPoE with my username/password) won't they fail when they attempt to communicate with those DNS servers?


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## Gunnyman

yes likely they would 
go out on black friday and grab a router for 10 bucks  problem solved


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## DLiquid

Gunnyman said:


> yes likely they would
> go out on black friday and grab a router for 10 bucks  problem solved


Is there another solution? I am trying to set up a gigabit network at my new house and gigabit routers are not $10 from what I've seen. I would think there would be a lot of people who hack their TiVos with a similar setup to mine: PPPoE DSL with a switch and no router.


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## Gunnyman

I think you'll find most folks with DSL have a router that does PPoE. you COULD set up internet connection sharing on one of your PC's I suppose and use THAT PC as the dns server address.


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## DLiquid

Gunnyman said:


> I think you'll find most folks with DSL have a router that does PPoE.


This may be a dumb question, but why would they? Is it so that multiple devices could share a single Internet connection? With Earthlink DSL, I get 5 dynamic IPs so I've never had the need to share a connection.



Gunnyman said:


> you COULD set up internet connection sharing on one of your PC's I suppose and use THAT PC as the dns server address.


Interesting idea. So I'm gathering that even though a hacked TiVo should not access the Internet, it still needs a connection to a valid DNS server. Is this correct?


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## Gunnyman

most people go with a router so they don't have to run pppoe software on their computers.

yeah the MRV protocol uses DNS to find other tivos on your network.
the delay in the now playing list is the searching for such tivo's timing out.


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## DLiquid

Gunnyman said:


> most people go with a router so they don't have to run pppoe software on their computers.


It is so easy to set up a PPPoE connection in XP I never thought twice about it. It sounds like a router is the best solution. The bad news for me is that a gigabit router w/switch is going to cost me a lot more than a gigabit switch would. I will also have to make sure the router I buy is compatible with Earthlink DSL, which would not be an issue with a switch.

If there are any TiVo hackers out there who use PPPoE DSL without a router, please speak up and let me know how you have DNS set up on the TiVos.

Thanks for your help Gunnyman!


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## DLiquid

Gunnyman said:


> yeah the MRV protocol uses DNS to find other tivos on your network.
> the delay in the now playing list is the searching for such tivo's timing out.


One more question about this, because it doesn't make sense to me, probably because of lack of knowledge on my part. If you provided the address of your ISP's DNS server, how would this work? That is, if the TiVo MRV code uses DNS to find other TiVos on your network, your ISP's DNS server would have to know about all of the TiVos on your network, right?


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## Gunnyman

now about that I am totally unsure
I THINK it may stem back to the fact that HMO includes online scheduling of recordings for Standalone owners.
If the Tivo can't get to a DNS server, the rest of the MRV process times out.


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## Diana Collins

The DNS problem is not related to finding other TiVos, it is related to resolving the address of tivo.com (because the MRV code is setup to do that), bestbuy.com and nikon.com (because the Music and Photo section of HMO is set up to do that).

Theoretically, you could also solve the problem by creating a HOSTS file, but getting the right DNS entry is preferable.


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## Gunnyman

Thanks Dan I wasn't sure if it was a leftover from HMO being something you had to pay for or not.
Looks like it is.


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## jrgtivo

I have my DNS set to my router IP and I still get the NPL lag. Now I've lost music and photos too. I can still access the tivo with TWP, but now that I've upgraded to 6.2, I can't see what the signal strength is and test if that's causing the problem.


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## Gunnyman

signal strength is a strong (or is that weak) possibility.


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## rbautch

jrgtivo said:


> Now I've lost music and photos too.


 Do you mean it can't find your server, or you're missing music and photos in the menu?


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## Diana Collins

The solution of setting the DNS for the TiVo to be the IP of your router ONLY works if your router is configured with the correct IP address(es) for your ISP's DNS server (probable if your ISP uses DHCP, pretty likely is they use PPoE, possibly not if they use static IP) AND the router's IP address is also configured as the gateway address on the TiVo. The first allows the TiVo to resolve the domains to IP addresses, the second allows the TiVo to open a session with the remote servers.


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## jrgtivo

rbautch said:


> Do you mean it can't find your server, or you're missing music and photos in the menu?


Can't find the server. If I reboot the tivo, it works for about 5 minutes then stops again.


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## DLiquid

Dan Collins said:


> The solution of setting the DNS for the TiVo to be the IP of your router ONLY works if your router is configured with the correct IP address(es) for your ISP's DNS server (probable if your ISP uses DHCP, pretty likely is they use PPoE, possibly not if they use static IP) AND the router's IP address is also configured as the gateway address on the TiVo. The first allows the TiVo to resolve the domains to IP addresses, the second allows the TiVo to open a session with the remote servers.


Then I think I will purchase a Linksys BEFSR41, set it up with my PPPoE DSL account info, and set the DNS and gateway addresses on the TiVos to the BEFSR41's IP address.


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## GDG76

Is there a way to get around the DNS timeout if you don't have a cable hooked up to a hacked Tivo?


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## dnemec123

In my case, my wireless router is not connected to my ISP in any way... Is there a way to get around the DNS timeout at all? It takes a full 60 seconds for my DTiVo's to "see" each other, and they are the only devices on the wireless network.

Thanks!
Dale


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## dnemec123

I'm using a Linksys wireless router (WRT54GC) for just the two DTiVo's I Zipper'd, and I noticed in the Status area of the router that the date and time are wrong. It's set to Jan 1, 2000.

Since the DTiVo's get the correct time and date via satellite, could the difference in time between the clients and the router be causing my slow Now Playing List issue? The web interface of the Linksys WRT54GC does not allow for manually setting the date and time.... any idea of how to manually set it?

Thanks!
Dale


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## dnemec123

I think I've fixed my slow Now Playing List problem...

I edited the /etc/hosts file to include the static IP address of my other DTiVo. I did this on both DTiVo's.

I then edited the /etc/nsswitch.conf file and found the line "hosts: files dns" and removed the "dns" from the line, so that it ended up being "hosts: files" (no quotes of course).

Rebooted and now the NPL is as fast as before.

YMMV.

Dale


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## bengalfreak

DLiquid said:


> This may be a dumb question, but why would they? Is it so that multiple devices could share a single Internet connection? With Earthlink DSL, I get 5 dynamic IPs so I've never had the need to share a connection.


Alot of people have wireless and wired devices on the same network. You need a router for wireless.


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## slydog75

dnemec123 said:


> I think I've fixed my slow Now Playing List problem...
> 
> I edited the /etc/hosts file to include the static IP address of my other DTiVo. I did this on both DTiVo's.
> 
> I then edited the /etc/nsswitch.conf file and found the line "hosts: files dns" and removed the "dns" from the line, so that it ended up being "hosts: files" (no quotes of course).
> 
> Rebooted and now the NPL is as fast as before.
> 
> YMMV.
> 
> Dale


Dale, when you say you added your Tivo IPs to the hosts exactly what did you add? JUST the IPs on two different lines? Or did you put in a name for them as well like the localhost IP has?


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## Diana Collins

bengalfreak said:


> Alot of people have wireless and wired devices on the same network. You need a router for wireless.


Not really...you can use just a Wireless Access Point (WAP) and no router. If all the nodes have static IPs you don't need a DHCP server either. In this case you have a local switch (either standalone or built into the cable or DSL modem/bridge). One of the ports on this switch would connect to the WAP and it would then provide wireless access.

Routers are used to connect two different networks. Many people use wireless routers to connect their local networks (which may be part wired and part wirless) to their ISP's network. But the wired and wireless portions are the same network...just on different media. The WAP portion of the router serves as a bridge between the wireless media and the wired media.


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## JamieP

Dan Collins said:


> The DNS problem is not related to finding other TiVos, it is related to resolving the address of tivo.com (because the MRV code is setup to do that), bestbuy.com and nikon.com (because the Music and Photo section of HMO is set up to do that).


In fact, people who have taken the time to packet sniff have found that it is actually $SerialNumber.localhost that the tivo software is trying to do a DNS lookup on. Search for DocTauri's post in the thread titled "Now playing list blank [6.2]" over at DDB for details.

As far as I have been able to determine, all references to internet sites from the tivo software are by IP address and don't require a DNS lookup.


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## dnemec123

slydog75 said:


> Dale, when you say you added your Tivo IPs to the hosts exactly what did you add? JUST the IPs on two different lines? Or did you put in a name for them as well like the localhost IP has?


Here are the contents of my /etc/hosts files:

Bedroom-TiVo# cat /etc/hosts
# Copyright (c) 2001 TiVo Inc.
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
192.168.1.121 livingroom_tivo

LivingRM-TiVo# cat /etc/hosts
# Copyright (c) 2001 TiVo Inc.
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
192.168.1.120 bedroom_tivo

As you can see, I've placed the IP address and a hostname of the other DTiVo in the /etc/hosts file.

I then edited the /etc/nsswitch.conf file and found the line "hosts: files dns" and removed the "dns" from the line, so that it ended up being "hosts: files" (no quotes of course).

Rebooted and now the NPL is as fast as before.

Dale


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## slydog75

Does the hostname have to match your MRV name? Thanks Dale


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## dnemec123

slydog75 said:


> Does the hostname have to match your MRV name? Thanks Dale


Apparently for me, nope. And this only works since I'm using static IP addresses, not DHCP assigned addresses.

Good luck!
Dale


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## 94SupraTT

dnemec123 said:


> I then edited the /etc/nsswitch.conf file and found the line "hosts: files dns" and removed the "dns" from the line, so that it ended up being "hosts: files" (no quotes of course).
> 
> Rebooted and now the NPL is as fast as before.
> 
> YMMV.
> 
> Dale


I don't have any other Tivos on my LAN. Do you think just removing "host" from the nsswitch.conf file will help speed my NPL.


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## Conklin

Enter a valid dns in the net config module in TivoWebPlus and reboot. No editing of any file needed.


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## kdonnel

Conklin said:


> Enter a valid dns in the net config module in TivoWebPlus and reboot. No editing of any file needed.


This means your Tivo will only quickly display a now playing list when your network is up. If you ever try to bring the list up when your network is down you will have to wait while it attempts to lookup the ip's via dns.

By removing DNS from the nsswitch.conf file the tivo will almost immediately get a response back that it has no idea what the ip of tivo.com is and display the now playing list.


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## a4wanman

I have just recently upgraded my DVR40 in the bedroom with a 160GB drive and hacked using the Zipper. I get a delay in the NPL when selecting a recording and then going richt back to the NPL. My delay is approximately 25 +/-5 seconds. If I goto the NPL while watching live TV or a recording, there is no delay. 

I have MRV setup and have been successful transferring shows between another hacked DVR40 in the bonus room (don't have DTV service on this one). I've cheked the bonus room DTivo. The DNS setting is pointing to my router.

Currently, I do not have the bedroom DTivo connected to my network. I'll connect and test. 

I thought this may have to do with some memory/indexing or maybe a swap file size and the way I updgraded my drive. I used the Weaknees guide to upgrade/copy my 40GB drive to a new 160GB and then Zipper'ed.


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## a4wanman

Just unplugged the Netgear FA120 ethernet adapter from the DTivo. NPL is now working as expected. I was leaving the ethernet adapter connected to the DTivo and just unplugging the network cable.

I guess I need to run that cable sometime soon.


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## dnemec123

94SupraTT said:


> I don't have any other Tivos on my LAN. Do you think just removing "host" from the nsswitch.conf file will help speed my NPL.


My understanding is that the "hosts:" portion needs to stay... it's the "dns" and "files" entries that are optional.

Dale


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## Uncle Spanky

dnemec123 said:


> Here are the contents of my /etc/hosts files:
> 
> Dale


Dale - I followed this, and it works perfectly for me...Thanks for posting this !!!

sb


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## dnemec123

Uncle Spanky said:


> Dale - I followed this, and it works perfectly for me...Thanks for posting this !!!
> 
> sb


Happy to hear that! And happy to help!

Dale


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## ssstivo

dnemec123 said:


> I then edited the /etc/nsswitch.conf file and found the line "hosts: files dns" and removed the "dns" from the line, so that it ended up being "hosts: files" (no quotes of course).
> 
> Rebooted and now the NPL is as fast as before.
> 
> Dale


I followed this part of your tip and it works great. No more trying to explain to the wife why the NPL is so slow.

Thanks for the info.


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## donivan

dnemec thanks for that tip, I tried all the other suggestions in this thread first, but I still had the delay on NPL and when accessing Tivo desktop. I'm a linux noob but Gunny and Rbautch's zipper made it easy and now my delay is gone thanks to removing "dns" from /etc/nsswitch.conf. My only question is : Will the removal of "dns" from /etc/nsswitch.conf cause me any loss of functionality somewhere else. My setup is a wired network with a Vonage/Linksys router (Verizon DSL for ISP) and 1 zippered RCA DVR 40 so far. I have 2 more units left to modify. Thanks for all the help!


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## starbiker99

donivan as long as your only accessing tivo's on your own LAN removing the DNS should have no ill effect.


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## dnemec123

Removing the 'dns' entry shouldn't matter, especially since the zipper'd units have some sort of bogus entry in one of the files to prevent them from contacting the mothership.

So far, with both my zipper'd units on the same subnet as my PC, everything is working and the NPL is never delayed.

Dale


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## donivan

Starbiker and Dnemec, thanks for your prompt reply. If I want to schedule remote recordings with TWP, will I be able to do that without the dns entry? Or will I have to add it back in and fight with the DNS settings some more?


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## Finnstang

donivan said:


> Starbiker and Dnemec, thanks for your prompt reply. If I want to schedule remote recordings with TWP, will I be able to do that without the dns entry? Or will I have to add it back in and fight with the DNS settings some more?


Remote recordings will work fine without the dns entry.


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## donivan

Thanks Finnstang.


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## UR14Me

Here's what I did to "solve" the Disappearing Now Playing List, as it was bugging the crap out of me:

Step 0: Zippered my DTivos.

Step 1: Set up a DNS server on my home iMac, which happens to have a fixed IP address. I paid a few $$'s for Bernard Teo's DNS Enabler to remove any/all guesswork (note I have no relationship - only a satisfied customer). Of course, if you live/breathe DNS/BIND, you can no doubt do this with vi.

Domain Name = "localdomain"
Hostmaster = "[email protected]"
Primary Name Server = "imac.localdomain"

Host Names and IP Addresses
imac.localdomain (192.168.x.y)
tivo1.localdomain (192.168.x.z)
tivo2.localdomain (192.168.x.a)​
Step 2: Using the "MRV Setup" section of TivoWebPlus, I set the names of my DTivos to be "tivo1" and "tivo2", respectively.

Step 3: Using the "Net Config" section of TivoWebPlus, I set the DNS Server to be the address of my iMac (192.168.x.y) on both DTivos.

Step 4: Rebooted my DTivos.

Only through Steps 3 and 4 were modifications to the /etc/resolv.conf files in the DTivo's honored. I couldn't manually edit /etc/resolv.conf and expect anything; I *had* to set the nameserver field via Step 3 for it to "take", as rebooting would wipe out any manual edits. Also, I stayed with the as-configured "localdomain" domain, as I haven't (yet) figured out how to set/store this as an MFS object.

So, the end result is a modified /etc/resolv.conf (via TivoWebPlus, NOT the command line), and a DNS server, the sole purpose of which is to provide the DTivo's with each other's IP addresses (and serve as a proxy for Internet resolving). No other changes (to /etc/hosts, /etc/nsswitch.conf, etc) are required.

Now, absolutely no delay whatsoever in the NPL.

Hope this helps someone,
UR14Me


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## BigBearf

UR14me 
Thanks a lot. The enabler was easy and works like a charm. No NPL delay. I was wondering if the zipper was going to stand the wife test. So far so good.
BigBearf


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## kelsirose02

I am new to all thsi how exactly are you editing these files?    Any help would be greatly appreciated


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## JWThiers

kelsirose02 said:


> I am new to all thsi how exactly are you editing these files?    Any help would be greatly appreciated


cd to the dir ectory that has the file you want to edit and use the text editor, If you installed joe, type "joe filename" and press return Press ctrl k + h to get help screen.


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## kelsirose02

Just wanted to thank all you guys that helped me I have been working on it since 8 this morning now 11:19pm and I feel so dumb. I just got it the Static and the NPL it was all becouse of you help Thanks Much!!!


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## kelsirose02

Now another small problem my other tivos are no longer showing up in my npl?? the list is super fast but no others showing


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## kelsirose02

now my other tivos are not showing up in my npl


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## ttodd1

First - were they there at all? If not, then did you name them?


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## kelsirose02

got it *THANKS FOR THE HELP*


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## tivomoid

Posted this in another thread; but, found this thread and thought it fit here also.
-----
I've got several DTivos that I hacked long ago, before the great work of Gunnyman, Rbautch and others. They obtain their IP, etc. via DHCP and all communication outside of my local subnet is blocked by the router. Someplace, long ago, I found this little tidbit when looking to solve problems with the Now Playing List and HMO features. Maybe y'all have discussed it, maybe not. Maybe it's lame, maybe not. I do know it completely solved my problems without doing anything else. I leave it to those more knowledgeable than myself to explain what it does and why it works.

This entry is in my rc.sysinit.author file:


Code:


# Fix the hosts file to fix the Now Showing problem with DNS lookups
/hacks/fixhosts.bash

This is what's in fixhosts.bash:


Code:


#!/bin/bash
if [ -z "`grep $SerialNumber /etc/hosts`" ]; then
 mount -o remount,rw /
 echo "127.0.0.1 $SerialNumber.localdomain $SerialNumber" >> /etc/hosts
 mount -o remount,ro /
fi


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## alert5

> I've got several DTivos that I hacked long ago, before the great work of Gunnyman, Rbautch and others. They obtain their IP, etc. via DHCP and all communication outside of my local subnet is blocked by the router. Someplace, long ago, I found this little tidbit when looking to solve problems with the Now Playing List and HMO features. Maybe y'all have discussed it, maybe not. Maybe it's lame, maybe not. I do know it completely solved my problems without doing anything else. I leave it to those more knowledgeable than myself to explain what it does and why it works.


I read with interest DocTauris June 2005 DDB posting about modifying the /etc/hosts file to solve the blank NPL problem. I do not mean to put words in his mouth, but would like to share some of my own findings.

The /etc/hosts file is a mechanism for the system to resolve a loopback IP. By convention any IP from 127.0.0.0 to 127.255.255.255 is a loopback IP. 127.0.0.1 is commonly named localhost by most OSes. You can scan 127.0.0.1 on an XP box and it comes back with a hostname of localhost, as an example.

The unique thing about a loopback IP, is that it never sends data to anyone but itself and has no dependence on networking to other devices. You may wonder, as I did, how loopback could have any impact on packet transfer between networked machines that depend on TCP/IP and DNS.

DocTauri stated, What DID work was use netconfig.tcl to change the DNS server setting in MFS to a false address (which means that /etc/resolv.conf is created each boot from the entries in MFS). After reboot, I started getting the Now Playing hangs.

The /etc/resolv.conf file defines the nameserver, which for most of us is 192.168.1.1.

The bash script DocTauri published appends a string reference to $SerialNumber into the /etc/hosts file in the form:

127.0.0.1	$SerialNumber.localdomain $SerialNumber

If you look at your current /etc/hosts file you should see the line:
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost

The implication is that the TiVo software for NPL display needs to resolve a machine unique value for proper operation. Hence, there is a software connection with external devices even though the kickoff process is a loopback IP. The external device in this case being your router DNS server as defined in MFS.

My guess is this additional loopback process is a security or management feature placed in the TiVo code by design.

As DocTauri put it, Ok, first off, when you click the List button to bring up the Now Playing list, the first thing the Tivo appears to do is a dns lookup of it's own serialnumber.localhost. From what I can tell, this is it's quick and dirty way to determine if the network is available. It doesn't seem to care that it gets an nxdomain response, just that it got a response. After that times out, it seems to partially draw the list (but didn't draw my other Tivii for another min. or so).

At any rate, when you bring up the NPL you want the NPL to include your MRV enabled machines. When this problem happens on my system I see a blank NPL, the list populates after a minute or so, but is still often missing the other MRV machines.

Clearly, something related to external IP network traffic has gone awry. In other words, when you press the list button, something must be sent to the other MRV boxes causing them to respond, otherwise you would never see them in the NPL.

If you telnet to one of your TiVos and execute an nslookup the results are very informative. The format for nslookup usage is nslookup [HOST] [SERVER] with the server part being optional.

On my machines nslookup localhost or nslookup localhost.localdomain returns:

Name: localhost.localdomain
Address: 127.0.0.1

Which is what I would expect since the /etc/hosts file contains that definition for loopback.

If you enter nslookup $SerialNumber or nslookup $SerialNumber.localdomain, the return values are:

***unknown HOST followed by
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX: unknown HOST

The Xes above are the unique Service Number for that box and matches the value seen on the System Information screen without the dash separators.

This confirms DocTauris discovery that the name $SerialNumber returns a unique value. It does not explain why the TiVo software needs this name resolution or why without this forced loopback reference in the /etc/hosts file, NPL usually works.

Since NPL is such an important part of the TiVo experience, especially on machines with MRV enabled, I could care less why it sometimes fails. I want it to always work, so I included the loopback name resolution line DocTauri recommends in my /etc/hosts files by directly editing them. I did not use the bash script or modify the rc.sysinit.author file on my machines. The /etc/hosts file does not get overwritten on my machines with a reboot.

My /etc/hosts files now contain both loopback references:

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
and
127.0.0.1 $SerialNumber.localdomain $SerialNumber

NPL is working fine on my hacked DTiVos with this line added to the /etc/hosts file and so far has not caused any other problems. If NPL does not hiccup in the next couple of weeks, my confidence level will likely match tivomoid's.

Thank you DocTauri for publishing your findings and to you tivomoid for pointing the way to the solution.


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## dlmcmurr

alert5,

Thanks for the detailed explanation, but it didn't work for me. I assume you meant to insert the line "127.0.0.1 $SerialNumber.localdomain $SerialNumber" literally and not replace the symbols with a real serial number. I'm seeing about a 15 second delay when returning to the NPL after visiting the details. I'm not using MRV or HMO yet and this HDVR2 is the only TiVo I have networked so far. Guess I'll keep looking and thinking.

Thanks,
Dave


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## cheer

Couple things.

First, I don't know that 192.168.1.1 would be the proper DNS for most of us. The DNS entry really should be an actual DNS server. Many routers don't act as DNS proxies, and many more do it badly.

Second...you don't need to go through any of this. Download netconfig.tcl (it's part of the Zipper), run it, and you're set.


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## rbautch

Even easier....if you're Zippered, go to the netconfig tab in TWP and set DNS there. You can set it to 0.0.0.0 to fix the slow NPL (to make DNS lookup fail quickly), or set it to a valid DNS. More on the subject and how to determine a valid DNS here.

Surprizingly, Doc-Tauri was incorrect about /etc/hosts getting overwritten upon reboot. Just tried it, and the IPs I put in there stuck.


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## fsck!

I tried setting the DNS IP to 0.0.0.0 via TWEB plugin, but I find that 'resolv.conf' gets overwritten upon reboot and it reverts it back to 192.168.1.1. I have joe'd the file manually but it still gets overwritten upon reboot. Anyone else having this problem?

I am then trying to remove DNS from 'nsswitch.conf' but looks like I cannot edit the file as it reports a 'read-only file system' I can edit resolv.conf just fine as it appears to actually reside in /var/etc but I am out of luck with nsswitch (can't even chmod anything as I get the same 'read-only file system' message.

This may also explain my DNS issues, as I run a domain at home and my actual DNS server is not the router but a server 192.168.1.3. I am thinking now that after I have been setting my Tivo's DNS to 192.168.1.3, it has been getting reverted back to 192.168.1.1, which I presume is something your zipper script had preset automatically when I first ran it correct?

Thanks


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## rbautch

You need to edit out the lines in you author file that starts with "One time network setup, may be deleted..." This is causing your network params to be reset everytime you reboot. To fix the "read only" problem, type "rw" to mount the filesystem read-write. Enter your actual DNS instead of 0.0.0.0.


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## fsck!

Many thanks Rbautch! :up: Removing that section from the author file allowed my manual network settings to stick. 

Name resolution appears to be working properly now, I can ping host names from within the Tivo, which I was not able to do so before, and, more importantly, the NPL lag is gone.

Now my wife will finally stop nagging me about it  

Kind regs


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## dlmcmurr

My NPL list was pausing for about 15 seconds about every other time I came back to it from a play, changing the delete date, or just doing an info. I was using my Linksys WRT54G router's address 192.168.1.1 as both my gateway and DNS, but running a fixed IP. This has been great for about a dozen Windows PCs that have been on my network at one time or another.

Today I decided to lookup the DNS in the router and put that in for my Zippered dTiVo's DNS and, lo and behold, that seems to have fixed my delay problems so far.

Beats my why Windoze has always been satisfied, but dTiVo wasn't  

But, at least now we're both happy.

Dave


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## madmartyk

How do you edit the hosts file? I get a read only file error. In theory, if I add the tivos to the hosts file it should work? I have my DNS set to the router, but the tivos can't resolve each other.


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## rbautch

You have to mount your filesystem read-write before you edit anything. Instead of editing your hosts file, try figuring out what your actual DNS is. The bottom of this post shows how to do that


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## madmartyk

rbautch said:


> You have to mount your filesystem read-write before you edit anything. Instead of editing your hosts file, try figuring out what your actual DNS is. The bottom of this post shows how to do that


I have done that, if I set it to the router I still get the lag and can't reslove the DTivo's names, if I set it to the DNS in IP config (SBC's DNS) I get the same thing, I can't resolve the DTivo's name. My DTivos can access the internet just fine, they just can resolve each other. Adding the name to the hosts file should fix that.


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## cheer

What do you mean by "resolve each other?" Tivo's don't resolve each other -- it's a purely layer 2/broadcast communication (MRV, that is).


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## madmartyk

cheer said:


> What do you mean by "resolve each other?" Tivo's don't resolve each other -- it's a purely layer 2/broadcast communication (MRV, that is).


I have a simple home network, the router is at 192.168.1.1 (the DNS server is out at SBC and can't be edited), the DTivos are at 192.168.1.150 and 192.168.1.151. I still get the lag and the Tivos can't see my Tivo desktop. The are all wired to the router on Ethernet. This one is driving me nuts! Funny thing is sometimes it works fine other times it can't find anything.


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## cheer

Can't help you with Tivo Desktop (I don't use it) but the lag means either (A) the DTivos cannot get to the SBC DNS server or (B) they're not trying to. If (A), then it could be a mismatched subnet mask, or it could be a goofy setting on the router, or an incorrectly-set default gateway, or...well, lots of things.

If it's (B), then the wrong DNS is set and should be double-checked.

Can you ping each of the DTivos from your PC? What kind of response time do you see? Try sending 100 pings at each one.


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