# Request advice, options to connect laptop and tivo



## falstaffpac (Nov 12, 2003)

Background:
My mom's hard drive failed, so I grabbed a new HD and installed 6.2 software on it. I ended up zippering the drive b/c I wanted to tivoserver some shows over to her tivo. I then ran the tivo back to her house. 

Problem:
I installed 6.2, didn't realize I needed 6.2a and now the Tivo doesn't show the correct time due to the DST bug in 6.2 I need to upgrade her software to 6.2a

Issues:
1) My laptop doesn't have a serial port
2) The original serial cable I made has since fallen apart and I never made a new one b/c zipper now takes care of the backported drivers on its own
3) No network at my mom's house (an hour or so away)

Options:
1) I'm thinking the easiest way to move over the necessary files to upgrade to 6.2a would include a crossover cable, connecting my laptop directly to the tivo. Will this work? I would be using a Linksys USB200M USB/Ethernet adapter. I assigned an IP address to the Tivo when I zippered it (192.168.1.112) how will this factor into connecting my laptop to the tivo? I'm assuming I assign a static IP address to my laptop to allow this connection.

2) Get a USB to serial adapter and fashion a new null modem serial cable for the tivo

3) Run out and get the tivo, bring it home and upgrade it, run it back out then come home (4 hours, also the minimum amount of time my mom is willing to go without her tivo)

I'm mostly interested in knowing if option 1 is viable.

Thanks,
Aaron


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## BiloxiGeek (Nov 18, 2001)

Never tried a direct Cat 5 connection over a cross-over but as long as the TiVo and your laptop agree on the network and netmask they should talk to each other.


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## falstaffpac (Nov 12, 2003)

Followup

A direct connection from a laptop to a zippered tivo using a crossover cable works without problem. I could telnet, FTP, and run commands at bash.

Steps using Vista OS:
Hook up the crossover cable between your computer and the tivo (via USB ethernet adapter)
In Vista, go to "Network and Sharing Center" -> "Manage network connections"
Select "Local area connection" then right-click and select properties

In the Networking tab, *deselect* everything except:
Client for Microsoft Networks
QoS Packet Scheduler
Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)

Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties
These are the settings I used:
IP Address: 192.168.1.100 (an IP compatible with the default Gateway)
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1 (The same default Gateway address for which the Tivo has already been assigned)
(You can leave the DNS server addresses information blank)

When you click "OK" you may get a warning message regarding mutiple default Gateways, just answer "YES" (to save changes)

You should now be able to connect to the Tivo via crossover cable


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