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Vista and Serial PPP with Tivo - Success !!!

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I have been using a XP box, with a 3.5mm null modem cable hooked up to my HR10-250 box. It is much easier for me as I don't need to worry about wiring a phone line near the satellite box, as I have networking enabled all around the house.

With the release of Vista (I have been playing with it since its release on MSDN, back on 17th of November), I upgraded the XP MCE box to a Vista Home Premium. Then the serial PPP did not work and I reverted it back (thanks to Acronis True Image, whole operation took 10 minutes).

Later on I decided to give it another go, this time I did install to a separate partition. I disabled the User Access Control on Vista that has been driving me nuts and then disabled the firewall as well. I modified the mdmhayes.inf under \windows\inf, installed the null modem, created the incoming connection and still no dice.

Upon discovering Hyper Terminal is no longer coming with OS, I found the modem logs and it was showing the ~ command sent by Tivo not recognized as a ring, thus failing. I don't know which did the trick. I did two separate things. The original article (http://server2.b-lan.com/otto/tivo3xp/), does not change the modem init part. I changed it as below:


HKR, Init, 1,, "~<hff>}#<hc0>!}!}!} }4}<h22>}&} } } } }%}&<hff><hff><hd2><h81>}'}<h22>}(}<h22>'<ha1>~"
HKR, Init, 2,, "NoResponse"
HKR, Monitor, 1,, "None"
HKR, Answer, 1,, "CLIENTSERVER"
HKR, Answer, 2,, "NoResponse"
HKR, Settings, DialPrefix,, "CLIENT"
HKR,, Properties, 1, 00,00,00,00, 00,00,00,00, 00,00,00,00, 00,00,00,00, 00,00,00,00, 30,00,00,00, 00,c2,01,00, 00,c2,01,00
HKR, Responses, "CLIENT", 1, 08, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00,00,00,00 ; Server side - the client is requesting a connection
HKR, Responses, "<h00>CLIENT", 1, 08, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00,00,00,00 ; Server side - the client is requesting a connection
HKR, Responses, "~", 1, 08, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00,00,00,00 ; Server side - the client is requesting a connection
HKR, Responses, "<h00>~", 1, 08, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00,00,00,00 ; Server side - the client is requesting a connection
HKR, Responses, "CLIENTSERVER", 1, 02, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00,00,00,00 ; Client side - the server has acknowledged and the connection is completed


But I also found a copy of the mdmhayes.inf under \Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\ and it did not have enough file permissions to replace it. So I booted into XP, replaced the file (after taking ownership). I then deleted the incoming connection, the modem, the mdmhayes.pnf, rebooted, reinstalled the modem, created the connection and voila, it works like a charm. So if any of you get stuck with Vista and Serial PPP, there is a way to make it work.

Posted 12/3/2006 3:00:00 AM @ 22:46:00 | Sems

can you give us directions on how to install the new connection in vista? i have been playing around and can't figure out how to add the connection and settings as you could in xp.

thanks!!!

Posted by ryan (email) on 12/20/2006 3:00:00 AM

It is very simple. The old fashion menus are normally not visible. Follow this:

1. Go to Control Panel - Network and Sharing Center
2. Click Manage Network Connections
3. Click Alt on keyboard, you'll see the menu.
4. Under File, select New Incoming Connection

Voila.

Posted by Sems on 12/21/2006 3:00:00 AM

sems... thanks a bunch for the tip, i was creating the incoming connection a different way. your way seemed to get the connection working well.

now that i have the connection all set up, i am still getting connection failures. i installed hyperterminal and was able to get the output that was specified here (http://server2.b-lan.com/otto/tivo3xp/). however, i don't ever get USERDATA on the 5th or 6th line like i did before.

couple thoughts here... one, i wasn't able to delete the mdmhayes file that is in the \FileRepository\ dir. i did however reboot the pc after changing the init script and checked the script again and the changes were intact. i am hoping that the backup script you found in the \FileRepository\ dir is a versioned backup and isn't being called.

thoughts?

Posted by ryan (email) on 12/27/2006 3:00:00 AM

another quick update sems.... i was finally able to use a boot disk and get access to the file system to delete those files you mentioned. in searching i also found a few directories and files that were in the windows directory, i whacked them as well.

let me know if you think of anything that i may have missed.

Posted by ryan (email) on 12/28/2006 3:00:00 AM

Hey Ryan,

Sorry for a late reply, you might want to check the error correction (on the modem - cable connection between two computers), it needs to be none. Default is hardware and it will fail the incoming connection.

Open the incoming connection properties and click on the modem's properties and there you'll see it. Keep in mind, every time you reboot, it manages to revert back to Hardware error correction, so you'll have to edit it again. I can't make it to stick.

Posted by Sems on 1/4/2007 3:00:00 AM