Creative use for a networkless HD300?

[eric3a]

Very sweet!
Eric

[routerunner]

Hi folks,

I thought to give you a bit of update on this...

I had quite a stressful three days in the attempt to make this working on the HD300 and I'm making progress, but I reckon there is a problem in the existing USB core library (which unfortunately is embedded in the kernel already and cannot be removed) which prevents the usbnet framework and the asix drivers to work properly, but who know me well, knows that I'm not giving up easily...

On a bright side, however, I have the exciting news that I managed to have it working perfectly on the HD200, if fact I'm watching a HD video right now with the HD200 network cable unplugged and the USB to Ethernet adapter (D-LINK E100) only which is doing a marvelous job...and I tell you what...the fanart browsing looks quicker...I wonder if this could be a nifty way to add a Gigabit ethernet to the extenders? No, maybe I'm going to far, however with the theoretical 480Mbits of the USB 2.0 it could potentially be 5 times faster than the existing Ethernet controller...will see.

Eddy

[KryptoNyte]

Eddy, I like the way you think.

[eric3a]

Eddy;

Great going!
As luck would also have it, I have a dead ethernet on an HD200 too. Storm that came in took out a lot of my ethernet ports.
So wouldn't mind having your advice/instructions on how to use the USB/Ethernet adapter on my HD200.

Please treat me as a noob on this front. I'm a geek, but never done anything like this... So appreciate detailed instructions if you can.

No hurry though as I am traveling this week.
Eric

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by eric3a

Eddy;

Great going!
As luck would also have it, I have a dead ethernet on an HD200 too. Storm that came in took out a lot of my ethernet ports.
So wouldn't mind having your advice/instructions on how to use the USB/Ethernet adapter on my HD200.

Please treat me as a noob on this front. I'm a geek, but never done anything like this... So appreciate detailed instructions if you can.

No hurry though as I am traveling this week.
Eric

Thank goodness we don't have many thunderstorms here...stupid question, but have you tried the extenders on a switch that definitevely has been unaffected? I ask because it happened several times to me that a port on a switch just die without any warning...

Unfortunately, it appears that neither the HD200 and the HD300 have the serial USB support in the kernel, however don't panic, there is the chance that we can do this "blind" via a standard USB keyboard and I will do all my best to reduce the number of characters to type to the bare minimum...the right way to see this is, imagine you have to type a long password if you know what I mean

Another thing, it will be usefull whether you can try the kernel drivers on a working HD200 first, in order to make sure that your particular USB to Etherner device will work as expected.

Eddy

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Eddy, I like the way you think.

My thinking has a little bit of madness, isn't it ?

[BobPhoenix]

I could try it on my HD200s. They are all working. The last time they were connected and used anyway.

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

I could try it on my HD200s. They are all working. The last time they were connected and used anyway.

Do you have exactly his (eric3a) device, the "Trendnet TU-EC 100T"?

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by routerunner

Do you have exactly his (eric3a) device, the "Trendnet TU-EC 100T"?

No that I do not. I have a Startech USB21000S. So probably won't be too helpful unless the Trendnet is an ASIX - AX88178 chipset like my Startech model.

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

No that I do not. I have a Startech USB21000S. So probably won't be too helpful unless the Trendnet is an ASIX - AX88178 chipset like my Startech model.

Yes, the whole point is to make sure his model is supported as there is another very similar device supported already, but we need to test for sure, on the other hand the one you've got is a Gigabit Ethernet and I will be interested to see whether we can add half-gigabit support to the HD200 as mentioned in my previous post, so please PM your details and I'll send you the drivers with some instructions to try...

Eddy

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by routerunner

...on the other hand the one you've got is a Gigabit Ethernet and I will be interested to see whether we can add half-gigabit support to the HD200 as mentioned in my previous post, so please PM your details and I'll send you the drivers with some instructions to try...

Eddy

PM sent. I got this for my laptop since it's wired connection is only 100Mbit. The wireless "N" appears to be faster and that is what I usually connect with. But if I have a large file to transfer I connect up the startech and get close to the same speed as my wired GB on my SageTV servers.

[eric3a]

Thank goodness we don't have many thunderstorms here...stupid question, but have you tried the extenders on a switch that definitevely has been unaffected? I ask because it happened several times to me that a port on a switch just die without any warning...

Unfortunately, it appears that neither the HD200 and the HD300 have the serial USB support in the kernel, however don't panic, there is the chance that we can do this "blind" via a standard USB keyboard and I will do all my best to reduce the number of characters to type to the bare minimum...the right way to see this is, imagine you have to type a long password if you know what I mean

Another thing, it will be usefull whether you can try the kernel drivers on a working HD200 first, in order to make sure that your particular USB to Etherner device will work as expected.

We get tons of storms and theoretically I am protected, but seems there was a weak link in the chain somewhere and it fried 4 ethernet ports on my network. I think it jumped from power to ethernet via my LAN controlled power distribution. Had to reorder a new one.

Never stupid to double check the obvious, because it's easily overlooked (is the computer on?!!).The absolute proof that the HD300's ethernet is toast is that I can switch it cable for cable for another HD300, and the latter works fine. Also the ethernet lights do not blink whatsoever compared to another HD300 in the same spot. I also did a full reset per Sage manual, and still noehternet.
4 simultaneous failures on my network made for interesting trouble shooting, especially coming back home very jet-lagged. It had me scratching my head as I kept finding more and more problems. Router and HD300 won't talk... Find out the router is dead. Change the router for the spare one I keep for that very reason, set it all up.... And the HD300 still doesn't talk to it... HD300 also dead? Rinse, lather, repeat!

I have a couple working HD200s to try the USB to ethernet device on before trying the blind method on the broken one.
Also, since the broken box is unusable now, I'm not afraid of risking bricking it. Whether I can't use it because the Ethernet is toast, or the whole thing is bricked doesn't much change the end result for me. Plus I assume I can reset it anyway.

As long as we capture every single key stroke accurately, I don't see why it couldn't be done blind.

Thanks your continued help. Judging from people wanting to try this on their working boxes, there is a community need for this too.
Eric

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by eric3a

Judging from people wanting to try this on their working boxes, there is a community need for this too.

Well, I reckon the interest is more related to the possibility to add Gigabit ethernet to the extenders.

BobPhoenix is helping me out on making his USB 2.0 Gigabit Ethernet working on the HD200. I sent him the drivers yesterday along with some instructions and the first results were quite encouraging. The driver recognized his device as you can see from the unit's logs below:

 eth1: register 'asix' at usb-tangox-1, ASIX AX88178 USB 2.0 Ethernet,
00:0e:c6:89:4b:c7
usbcore: registered new interface driver asix

The device was also linking properly, but he had an issue which I need to talk to him about it...also the timezone difference doesn't help...any volunteer from Europe?

Eddy

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by routerunner

Well, I reckon the interest is more related to the possibility to add Gigabit ethernet to the extenders.

BobPhoenix is helping me out on making his USB 2.0 Gigabit Ethernet working on the HD200. I sent him the drivers yesterday along with some instructions and the first results were quite encouraging. The driver recognized his device as you can see from the unit's logs below:

 eth1: register 'asix' at usb-tangox-1, ASIX AX88178 USB 2.0 Ethernet,
00:0e:c6:89:4b:c7
usbcore: registered new interface driver asix

The device was also linking properly, but he had an issue which I need to talk to him about it...also the timezone difference doesn't help...any volunteer from Europe?

Eddy

Yeh. GMT - 6 hours doesn't help.

[hemicuda]

great. I just took the screws out of my HD200 but didn't see any obvious damage (no scorched areas). The MAC address is blank when I go into its settings screen. Won't recognize the Trendnet 664UB (someone else claims these work though) I bought for it. Same USB port I did the f/w upgrade through. At this point I'd be happy to get wired or wireless working on it, but since I already have the wifi dongle..... unless the wired adapter is fairly cheap.

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by hemicuda

great. I just took the screws out of my HD200 but didn't see any obvious damage (no scorched areas). The MAC address is blank when I go into its settings screen. Won't recognize the Trendnet 664UB (someone else claims these work though) I bought for it. Same USB port I did the f/w upgrade through. At this point I'd be happy to get wired or wireless working on it, but since I already have the wifi dongle..... unless the wired adapter is fairly cheap.

I have no plans to add support to other USB wireless dongle, I'm afraid.

My solution will allow any HD200 (and hopefully HD300) to support any ASIX 788xxx chipset based USB to Ethernet controller (there are lots on the market for any pocket) for extenders that have their on board ethernet port fried or simply want to add Gigabit capabilities.

@hemicuda:
are you saying your MAC address is blank? Was also a consequence of a storm? The MAC address is stored in the controller's EEPROM, so maybe with my solution you will have a way to login into the unit and restore the MAC address via "ifconfig", (providing the EEPROM is not damaged of course). BTW I wonder whether this is the REAL issue with all the allegedly broken HD200/HD300...ummm...maybe is just the MAC address going blank and let you think that the port is broken....will investigate that shortly.

Eddy

[eric3a]

I wonder whether this is the REAL issue with all the allegedly broken HD200/HD300...ummm...maybe is just the MAC address going blank and let you think that the port is broken....will investigate that shortly.

I looked at my network settings on the dead boxes and I am certain they had a Mac address.
I'll check again when I get back.

The other machines on my network definitely had fried ethernet ports.One router for example lost one port, but remaining still working. I still replaced it with a new one though.

Eric

[routerunner]

Folks, I officially announce that we can now add Gigabit Ethernet to any HD200 by using a fairly cheap USB to Ethernet device...

It will take few days to do some testing and provide some performance figures, however the initial feeling from BobPhoenix whom is currently testing the drivers on one of his HD200 is:

"...I can tell from the telnet sessions that it is allot faster just displaying directories..."

Very shortly I'll test the "blind" procedure (for people having their HD200 network port broken) and if it works I'll create a new thread with download information and instruction to anyone wishing to "upgrade", because...

YES, SAGETV IS NOT DEAD AND DESPITE THE ODDS WE CAN STILL MAKE IT BETTER!

Eddy

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by routerunner

Folks, I officially announce that we can now add Gigabit Ethernet to any HD200 by using a fairly cheap USB to Ethernet device...

It will take few days to do some testing and provide some performance figures, however the initial feeling from BobPhoenix whom is currently testing the drivers on one of his HD200 is:

"...I can tell from the telnet sessions that it is allot faster just displaying directories..."

YES, SAGETV IS NOT DEAD AND DESPITE THE ODDS WE CAN STILL MAKE IT BETTER!

Eddy

One thing people may not think about is that with a USB network adapter as the only connected network - the activity light is on the adapter and the one on the front panel of the HD200 is out. So when in soft off mode there is NO light showing. When the extender is on it is only the red power light - no distracting flashes. At least if you hide the USB network adapter anyway. Yes I know that is easily solved with tape but it was an unexpected benefit. Once I've used it for a while I will be able to see how much the interface speed is improved.

[eric3a]

Exciting news.
SageTv sure isn't dead in my house and I believe it has a few more years to live. The longer I can hang on to the HDx00 extenders the easier the transition to something else should be as I believe the choice of cheap extender devices will grow.

Worse case scenario my extenders die off faster than expected and we can't revive them, and I'll put XBMC clients instead (the PIVOS Xios DS is my choice at the moment but I am sure others will follow) and as long as I keep the SageTV server going I should be fine.

Still, keeping the HD200 alive is great news. Thanks again for your hard work.
Eric