Replaced hard drive in 5040, works fine but get "Activation Required" screen

So you are allowing the machine to go out replaytv? I don't think those servers are very reliable. I've had that same activation problem a lot in the past. You could try just doing a netconnect, i.e downloading all the guide info etc.

I thought this problem was already solved in both LaHo and wirns 3. You could try using one of those.

That's part of the "zones nag" which is normal for now for replays *unprotected* on the mothership.

Just click exit to dismiss.

No need to go through the "failed activation" routine.

You used a downloaded drive image and RTVPatch, right?

I suspect those images are all old and *require activation* whereas if you had a *new image*, from the last 30 days or so it would *not require activation*.

To the guys who are hosting those images, why not post an image from the last 30 days on those FTP sites and mark it as such? Has anyone made such an image? I suspect someone has. It's the image you use with RTVPatch to reimage a drive.

In any case, you should be able to make two net connects now and you should be activated. All mine that I have reimaged in the last 45 days or so are now activated, but it did take two net connects before the thing was all done.

If yours is not getting activated something is wrong with that process. Net connect not working.

It's just the regular zones nag. Until it expires (or you use WiRNS) you'll get it every time you exit zones. Just press exit to dismiss.

The fact that your status says "activated" means that you've *downloaded* that nag.

Until they expire or you use WiRNS to block them, you will get the "because we love you" nag on each guide button once per day, and the zones activation nag everytime you exit zones. Just exit when you see one.

Try ReplayZones, then exit and you will see the activation nag. And you always will until it expires or you do something about it. Has nothing to do with the new hard drive or image. It's just an artifact of the "because we love you" nag.

If the mothership goes down and I put in a new harddrive, and get the "activation required" message, can I get it 'activated' using wirns? or do you have to be hardcore and make backup image FOR EACH replaytv, and restore from the image(s)?

You just need an image of the current software version. WiRNS will activate the replay, but it won't update the software from the old factory reset images. I have successfully used an image from one replay on 2 different replays and they activated without contacting the mothership using WiRNS 3.0

I have a monthly unit and I've been getting those messages all the time over the last year even though they charged my credit card. It will go away eventually.

Yes it always fails, so you just want to click exit.

You especially don't want to respond to that nag when it can't reach the network because it will cause the Replay to hang. Then you are stuck with a reboot that still may take a while. So just exit. Or better yet use WiRNS.

Thanks. That was an important piece of the puzzle.

Know how the DST modification gets applied through WIRNs?

You specify the time zone in WiRNS, selected from the "Time Zone" menu in 'Configuration/WiRNS'. Changes will not be sent to the Replay(s) until you change the ZIP code on them.

Yes - there was not really a patch or anything to handle the timezone change. The ReplayTV already handled the POSIX timezone string, which can optionally encode the start and end of daylight savings time in it.

The mothership tells the ReplayTV its timezone based on its zipcode. What happened way-back-when was that they updated the timezone definitions at the mothership to encode the DST start/end. Since this information is only delivered when you change your zipcode, that's why at the time we were instructed to change our zipcode and change it back, so that it would pick up the new timezone string and thus know the proper dates.

The same thing happens in WiRNS. If you're using WiRNS 3, you pick your timezone from the little menu, it populates the timezone string appropriately to encode the start and end of DST, and that is what is delivered to the ReplayTV, but again only when the zipcode changes. If you're doing quick setup on a new image and you've already been using WiRNS with the right timezone set, it would get set up correctly during the initial setup process and you wouldn't have to mess around with it further (similarly, a new quick setup when connecting to DNNA would not need any extra messing around as it would get the right timezone string the first time).