So, you've increased your TiVo's storage capacity and now navigating thru the TiVo menus is slow and sluggish.   As the storage capacity for the TiVo goes up, the menu response goes down.  Well, you can make things faster with the ElectricLegs Memory Upgrade Kit.

The ElectricLegs Memory Upgrade Kit consists of the two memory chips that are soldered to the TiVo motherboard.  This will increase the memory from 16 Meg to 32 Meg.

Please note that these kits require soldering surface mount integrated circuits  and should not be attempted by a beginner.  If you are not comfortable with this type soldering, consider taking your TiVo and parts kit to a local electronics shop for them to perform the installation.  These kits are sold as-is with no warranty of any kind since we cannot guarantee your soldering abilities.  As with any electrical repair, it is always recommended to check all connections for continuity and shorts with a meter before powering the circuit.

Also, this upgrade is for stand alone TiVo's and NOT DirecTiVo units since they already have 32 Meg of Memory.

Also, another option is to send your TiVo to ElectricLegs for professional installation.  The charge is approx $50 plus return shipping and this amount includes the memory chips.  If you are unsure of your soldering abilities, don't purchase the Memory Upgrade Kit, just contact ElectricLegs and he will take care of everything.  Usually the turn-around time is about a week.

Let's start with tools-

A 15-25 watt iron with a freshly sharpened long pointy tip. Pitted tips hold too much solder and you'll end up connecting a bunch-O-legs.

Moist sponge to clean the iron's tip. -Do it often!

LIQUID FLUX !!! Get it and don't leave home without it!!! Use it generously and often.

Flux remover. Can you guess?

Small diameter solder. (rosin or solid) 

Solder removal tool or solder wick to get excess solder off components.

Digital Volt Meter... duh? What's that for? <-It helps to sharpen the tips of the leads so the don't slip and short the connections.

Tweezers or miniature needle nose pliers for chip placement. ***** Not removal! *****

Keen eyes or a trained monkey.


Technique-

Put a load of flux on the pads and place the chip. Without adding solder yet get a single corner leg tacked so it holds the chip in place. This initial positioning is all-important in getting these chips in correctly. Heat and reheat that one leg until it's perfect then tack the other corner on the same side making sure it perfect again. It helps to look at the dark spaces between the legs in a shadow to look for alignment. To solder the legs touch the iron to the pad and slide it to the chip leg and back off. Instead of adding solder to the joint add it to the iron and use the iron to apply it to the joint with this slide technique. Only solder about 6 legs and let them cool for about 15 seconds before continuing. Let the chip cool between every few legs and be generous with the flux. Check the legs with a magnifying glass and the DVM to check for opens and shorts. Backlighting the board with a flashlight makes it easy to look for legs that are shorted together.

Here are configuration tips from Ian to setup
your TiVo to see the New Memory

Here are software configuration notes from Ian (thanks):

Boot your Tivo in Diagnostics mode (connect via serial port (9600baud,
No Parity, 1 stop bit Xon/Xoff flow control) hit enter within 1 second
of booting, default password is "factory" for the majority of units)
select X for extended menus
Select M for Memory configuration
Select 3 for 32 Mb (2 banks of 16)
Tivo will reboot, connect via serial port
select X for extended menus
Select Z for Memory test
test will run until you press a key
If you get an error you need to check all the soldering before starting
again.
Or:
boot your Tivo in Diagnostics mode (connect via serial port)
select X for extended menus
Select M for Memory configuration
Select 4 for 16 Mb (1 bank of 16)
Tivo will reboot but will still be working with only 16Mb of RAM
Make sure you select option 4 as there are two options to choose with
16Mb of RAM


The following are the terminal outputs from my testing if you want to
add further detail:

Verify password: *******
Console switched to DSS port

------- System Info --------
Processor speed = 50 MHz
Bus speed = 25 MHz
Amount of DRAM = 16 MBytes
Video configuration 3, Serial number
0
Enet MAC address= 0:4:ac:e3:0:54
Hostname = debug-13
Auto disk locking enabled
----------------------------
IDE drive 0 is locked. chal=0xabcdef03,
resp=0xc49b8657
IDE drive 0 should be unlocked now
IDE err = 0x4
Need to lock unit 1
Initialize IDE security on unit 1
IDE err = 0x4
Can't set security key
IDE err = 0x4
IDE drive 1 doesn't challenge security.. Assume insecure
device

--- Device Configuration ---
Power-On Test Devices:
000 Enabled System Memory [RAM]
----------------------------
Boot Sources:
002 Enabled EIDE disk Controller
[EIDE]
gateway: 192.168.40.20
----------------------------
Autolock disk(s) on power-up
----------------------------
B - Boot from disk
N - Network (tftp) boot
X - print extended menu
->x
B - Boot from disk
N - Network (tftp) boot
U - Update flash from
T - Teleworld menu
V - Print TiVo Prom Version
W - Word Write
R - Word Read
P - Change Boot Parameters
M - Configure Memory
C - Configure Video
E - Configure Ethernet
K - Set backdoor password
k - Verify backdoor password
z - Change Serial Number
Z - Run memory tests
1 - Enable/disable tests
2 - Enable/disable boot devices
3 - Change IP/MAC addresses
4 - Ping test
5 - Toggle auto disk locking
6 - Toggle automatic menu
7 - Display configuration
8 - Save changes to configuration
9 - Unlock TiVo Secure Disk
0 - Exit menu and continue
->z
Change serial number (0 to leave
unchanged)
Old serial number: 0
New serial number: 0 B - Boot from
disk
N - Network (tftp) boot
U - Update flash from tftp flash
image
T - Teleworld menu
V - Print TiVo Prom Version
W - Word Write
R - Word Read
P - Change Boot Parameters
M - Configure Memory
C - Configure Video
E - Configure Ethernet
K - Set backdoor password
k - Verify backdoor password
z - Change Serial Number
Z - Run memory
1 - Enable/disable tests
2 - Enable/disable boot devices
3 - Change IP/MAC addresses
4 - Ping test
5 - Toggle auto disk locking
6 - Toggle automatic menu
7 - Display configuration
8 - Save changes to configuration
9 - Unlock TiVo Secure Disk
0 - Exit menu and continue
->Z
Running memory test. Press any key to return to main
menu.
Checking system RAM
BR7 = 0x99482e
DRAM, total_dram=16, simarray[i]=16
Bank 7 (DRAM): 16 MB Addr: 00000000
Installed DRAM: 16 MB
Checking DRAM between 80000000 and 81000000
81000000
System RAM check complete

->M
Current configuration: 16MB (1 bank of
16)
1 - 8MB (2 banks of 4)
2 - 16MB (2 banks of 8)
3 - 32MB (2 banks of 16)
4 - 16MB, (1 bank of 16)
0 - Return to main menu
->3
Updating PROM and reseting TCD
Verify password: ***
Console switched to DSS port

------- System Info --------
Processor speed = 50 MHz
Bus speed = 25 MHz
Amount of DRAM = 32 MBytes
Video configuration 3, Serial number
0
Enet MAC address= 0:4:ac:e3:0:54
Hostname = debug-13
Auto disk locking enabled
----------------------------
IDE drive 0 is locked. chal=0xabcdef0a,
resp=0xc49b865e
IDE drive 0 should be unlocked now
IDE err = 0x4
Need to lock unit 1
Initialize IDE security on unit 1
IDE err = 0x4
Can't set security keys
IDE err = 0x4
IDE drive 1 doesn't challenge security.. Assume insecure
device

--- Device Configuration ---
Power-On Test Devices:
000 Enabled System Memory [RAM]
----------------------------
Boot Sources:
002 Enabled EIDE disk Controller
[EIDE]
gateway: 192.168.40.20
----------------------------
Autolock disk(s) on power-up
----------------------------
B - Boot from disk
N - Network (tftp) boot
X - print extended menu
->x
B - Boot from disk
N - Network (tftp) boot
U - Update flash from tftp flash i
T - Teleworld menu
V - Print TiVo Prom Version
W - Word Write
R - Word Read
P - Change Boot Parameters
M - Configure Memory
C - Configure Video
E - Configure Ethernet
K - Set backdoor password
k - Verify backdoor password
z - Change Serial Number
Z - Run memory tests
1 - Enable/disable tests
2 - Enable/disable boot devices
3 - Change IP/MAC addresses
4 - Ping test
5 - Toggle auto disk locking
6 - Toggle automatic menu
7 - Display configuration
8 - Save changes to configuration
9 - Unlock TiVo Secure Disk
0 - Exit menu and continue
->Z
Running memory test. Press any key to return to main
menu.
Checking system RAM
BR6 = 0x1099482e
DRAM, total_dram=16, simarray[i]=16
Bank 6 (DRAM): 16 MB Addr: 01000000
BR7 = 0x99482e
DRAM, total_dram=32, simarray[i]=16
Bank 7 (DRAM): 16 MB Addr: 00000000
Installed DRAM: 32 MB
Checking DRAM between 80000000 and 82000000

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