# Rebuilding my Tivo



## Grumpster (Jul 15, 2007)

Have a problem with a Thomson Tivo (PVR10UK).

Decided to dust it down from loft and rebuild it after a disk crash years ago (has crashed before).

Used my old disc tools and an old copy of the Hinsdale guide. Restored some tivo_255_turbonet.bak file not sure where i got it from. Used Mfsrestore -s 300 etc . Then copykern and option 1

Plugged Tivo into my new shiny pioneer plasma via TV scart output, just a flicker as it powers up, but no display nothing  

Tried plugging disk back into PC and when i try to mount the image i get "please specify partition type" i thought i had specified hdb1 maybe i didn't .

How do i verify what i restored is ok? (Apart from Tivo i know!) Obviously there's the chance it died sitting up in loft. Otherwise are there newer tools and perhaps a reliable tivo image available with tivoweb turbonet modules etc?

Thanks in advance


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## Grumpster (Jul 15, 2007)

Okay ive managed to mound my old Tivo image from previous disk, all looks intact..well ive mount /dev/hdb4 and there is a file system msinfo also reported ok. It's like its lots the ability to boot from the disk.
Where do i start? Anything i should be looking for like err an autoexec ini type file?!


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

Have you switched the jumper to make it a Master before putting it back in your TiVo? The TiVo won't boot from a drive jumpered as Slave.


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## Grumpster (Jul 15, 2007)

Yes thanks double treble checked that.


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## Grumpster (Jul 15, 2007)

Okay ive loaded up my old Tivo disk (which i believe is also shagged)

Run a mfsinfo /dev/hdb

MFS Volume set for /dev/hdb
The MFS volume set contains 2 partitions

/dev/hdb10
MFS Partition size: 512 MiB

/dev/hdb11
MFS Partition size: 27661MiB

Total MFS volume size: 28173 MiB

Estimated hours in a standalone TiVo: 30

This MFS volume may be expanded 5 more times.

but when i type mount..

/dev/hdb7 on /mnt/hdisk type ext2 (rw) 

This is the only way i am able to mound /dev/hdb any other partition ie 1-6 8-14 fails with "you must specify the filesystem type"

on this mount i can see Tivo dirs /bin /etc /dev etc etc... why isn't it visinble under mfsinfo???

Anyway does any of this info help? This is my old disk which also doesn't boot.

Wish i had left the poxy thing in the loft now, what should of taken me about 30mins has taken 2 evenings..so far, i see sky+ boxes on ebay for 100 sheets! Id really appreciate someone making me feel like im not chasing my tail! :up:


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

No display on startup normally means the TiVo BIOS couldn't find a drive to boot from, not that the drive is unbootable. Do you see the "welcome... powering up..." message?

Do the drives spin up? Have you checked the TiVo IDE cable?


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## Grumpster (Jul 15, 2007)

DRive spins up (can feel centrifugal and hear some clicking) Haven't swapped ide cable no...let me pop down and try now. BRB!


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

You might also want to try maketivobootable as it sounds like your old drive was using partition 7 whereas your new one has been restored to partition 4. If the boot record points to 7 but the OS is on 4 then it won't boot.


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## Grumpster (Jul 15, 2007)

Right.. ive tested both drives. 

Ive possibly confused myself in the process  

Anyway my 'old' drive sort of boots I get the Welcome Screen

Then Tivo man and "almost there.." bit of chugging then reboots back to welcome..and cycles.

Other disk i attempted to rebuild doesn't even get to Welcome screen. Both definately have data on them but you're right i think one is mountable on hdb4 the other hdb7 (incidentally using MFStools 1.1 was more successful mounting over MFStools 2.0!)

PS i remember you i bought my Tivo off you with this upgraded drive many years ago (my old disk which now loops - samsung SP1203N), i remember mailing you and you were most helpful then, as you helped me rebuild my disk back then.


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## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

about the reboot cycle...you might want to remove the turbonet card and try again.


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## Grumpster (Jul 15, 2007)

Tried that nope still loops...


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

Maybe you need a new image...


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## Grumpster (Jul 15, 2007)

Ok 

I think my main problem is i can't seem to wipe either disks and start again as i can't mount either disks now since ive restored images onto them, ie i can't mound /hdb only hdb4 or 7 depending on drive. Which then means i can't use mfsrestore, seems to complain as im writing to a partition and not the whole disk?


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## Grumpster (Jul 15, 2007)

Might be a good start if you could let me know by pm somewhere i could possibly find an image pref with all the latest modules i would be most grateful. And see above my main problem is now ive written images i can't seem to wipe what is on there. IE i can only seem to mount /hdb4 or 7 and not just /hdb so i can't seem to use mfsrestore to reaaply tivo image.

Can i use fdisk on the mfstools cd to wipe the disks clean and start again?


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

You don't need to mount the drive to do a mfsrestore, IIRC.


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## Grumpster (Jul 15, 2007)

Alright then how do you restore with specifiying a path! :O


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

mfsrestore -s 300 -r4 -xzpi /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdX


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## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

/dev/hdb is the whole drive
/dev/hdb1 hdb4 etc is a single partition.

You should be restoring to a drive (hdb), not a single partition (hdb7)

Your restore line should be something like:

mfsrestore -s 300 -r 4 -zxpi /mnt/dos/tivo_25_turbonet.bak /dev/hdb

Also if that's a really old image made with mfstools 1.1 then you may need the -b switch in there too:

mfsrestore -s 300 -r 4 -zx*b*pi /mnt/dos/tivo_25_turbonet.bak /dev/hdb


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## Grumpster (Jul 15, 2007)

Thanks to all of you for your contributions...of course..why am i trying to mount the whole drive  too many late nights!

One more thing, is anyone willing to post me or post a link to a Tivo image for a Thomson series1 pref with latest n greatest mods Tivoweb drivers for turbonet etc?

THanks


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## Nebulous (Nov 28, 2005)

Grumpster said:


> ...post me or post a link to a Tivo image...


There's a dedicated image scrounging thread here:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=1148586&&#post1148586
Wonder_lander will normally oblige promptly


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## Grumpster (Jul 15, 2007)

blindlemon said:


> mfsrestore -s 300 -r4 -xzpi /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdX


Ok success thanks!! I now have an image that boots and loads from my original Samsung SP1203N Drive (120gig)

Tried the same on a Barracuda ST3200822A (200Gig) drive, doesn't boot. 

Using MFStools 1.1 with above restore command and a certain persons tivolba.bak file (W_land) What am i doing wrong, should i try the new MFStools?

tia.


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

What are you doing using MFSTools 1.1. in the first place?

Use the LBA48 CD, set the swap to 200 and run copykern after the restore to copy the LBA48 kernel and initialise the swap. Job done


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## Grumpster (Jul 15, 2007)

Thanks Bindlemon i appreciate your help!


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

No worries - and sorry if I seemed a little short! (Just been having a dispute with my neighbour over where he puts his sandbags!)


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## Grumpster (Jul 15, 2007)

Still doesn't work on that drive. To summarise:

I downloaded that link to MFStools 2.0 booted up with Seagate disk as slave (hdb)

mounted my image supplied from wonderland which is tivolba48.bak which already has the large disk support (> 137GB).

mfsrestore -s 300 -r4 -xzpi /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdb

completed ok. Put in tivo (jumpered to Master again) nothing.

GO back upstairs switch to slave, run copykern option 1 y, y,y.

Back down again, back to master. Plug in. Nothing.  

SO ive managed to get this to work fine on my <137gbdrive with that image. What am i doing wrong?

ps no worries, hope youre not flooded


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

Not flooded, thanks (but no thanks to my neighbour  )

Err, it sounds like you're doing everything correctly. Are you sure the Seagate drive is OK? 

When you put it in the TiVo do you get "Welcome. powering up..."?


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## Grumpster (Jul 15, 2007)

Yes the Seagate drive 'was' fine, i mean i had a Vista image on it previously and it booted fine in my pc before i wiped it  

No i don't get anything from Tivo just a blank screen. And it's defo jumpered to primary, because a few times ive plugged it back into my pc and left both DVD and disk on primary and the bios has nagged about it.

Is there any way of checking with a utility the boot sector etc of my disk to ensure everything is in the right place?


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

Have you tried maketivobootable? Shouldn't need it, but after Vista who knows...


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## Grumpster (Jul 15, 2007)

Nope not tried that actually. So there's no way of checking or testing apart from wacking it in a tivo to see if it works? :-/

GOing to try that maketivo bootable thing


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