Help- about to take an axe to my HTPC (1 Viewer)

[swamprat96]

MediaPortal Version: 1.1.0
MediaPortal Skin: standard
Windows Version: XP mce sp3
CPU Type: Pentium D 2.8
HDD: 1TB seagate
Memory: 1gb
Motherboard: Intel D945pvs
Video Card: Gigabyte Geforce 210 1gb (new)
Video Card Driver: Gigabyte original
Sound Card: On board (Soniq)
Sound Card AC3:
Sound Card Driver: Soniq
1. TV Card: Haupauge DVR-2210
HTPC Case: Arisetec HT400
Cooling: Zalman CPU fan, exhaust on case- extra fan on TV card plus video card has its own cooling
Power Supply: Antec 480w
Remote: Harmony 515
TV: LG px42d
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI
Minidisplay- VL systems LCD

I have an ongoing problem that I just can't work out. Basically once the HTPC has been on for a while- if I change functions and then go back to the TV I get "no signal found". On reboot the machine still has the same problem. Leave it for 5 minutes- problem still there. By the time I get to connect a normal computer LCD monitor to it it will then be ok and work fine.

Some history- this was a hand me down HTPC that had been "flaky" from day one running XP mce. When I got the machine the HDD was dead which is why it had been discarded.

I fitted a new drive and the machine would not boot. Reseated the memory and away it went. Clean installed the OS- updated it to current and got MP set up fairly easily and had this problem once I moved it up to the plasma - but only seems to happen when I connect to the plasma - not under test on my LCD monitor. Being fair maybe it has not been on test long enough on the monitor- it will be on test all night tonight.

So what I've done so far
1. Replaced the Haupauge Nova T-500 with a Hauppauge DVR-2210. I went for a good card as the nova does not have a good rep. Problem remained
2. Added a fan to ensure the new TV card was kept cool - no change
3. Made major fan additions to the case by adding fans and then monitored the temps- Reduced these significantly- no change
4. The graphics card was a passively cooled 6600le. I replaced this today with the card listed above- no change
6. Wiped and reinstalled MP from scratch- twice
5. I've just replaced the original twin sticks of value ram with a known working single stick of 1gb ram. Its under test right now. I've emulated the cabinet it goes into which has about 2"inches space down each side (intakes are on the side) and about 4" at the back for exhaust. Under Speedfan the temps seem to be ok. I have yet to do this exercise in its cabinet as it renders the main TV unusable whilst I test- not popular in my house.

So I have now replaced everything except the motherboard and PSU (also still using the original DVD burner but I'm excluding that)

I put down the former owners flakiness issues to the original MCE- as we all know it wobbles like jelly on a plate. I'm starting to wonder if the m/b is the problem

If anyone sees something in the attached logs I'd be very grateful. I had a quick look at the error logs but can't see anything obvious

 

[Bagal]

Can you explain what you mean when you say: 'if I change functions and then go back to the TV I get "no signal found"', do you mean you switch TV/AVR inputs to another and then come back to the input that the HTPC is connected to?

 

[swamprat96]

Ok sorry- as an example

I'll be watching TV via MP and then switch to music - again on MP- so that the TV tuner is not being used. If I then go back to tv thats where I'll hit the issue

Its not always but often. For some reason when the TV tuner is restarted in MP it often loses its signal

 

[swamprat96]

I think I've eliminated heat as the problem. I've been monitoring the heat in its permanent home and its running 1 degree hotter than on the test bench. This is probably as its up against a wall with a space for the exhaust but a large cabinet around it.

CPU is at 61C which is a safety factor of 11C. GPU is at 58C - again safe. Internal case temp is 46C- not overjoyed with that but can't seem to get it cooler. I figure as long as the GPU and CPU are under spec I'm OK

Leaving it on test all afternoon today. I may have solved it with the memory- and I also found I'd left live windows updates on- now disabled

Watch this space.

On a side note- just how stable should I expect MP to be? I know 1.1.1 is out but looking at the changelog I don't see the need to upgrade?

 

[aots74]

Do you have your television signal being split to other sockets in your house? I had this same problem and although I never really figured out the underlying issue, it seemed like it had something to do with the other connections. My antenna is split four ways. I unplugged 3 connections and the loss of signal problem went away. I then reconnected each and determined that one socket was the problem. Ran new cable to that one socket and everything seems to be fine. Unfortunately I never managed to get consistency with the problem but it did seem to go away after making the above changes.

 

[swamprat96]

Yes split in to two. The second connection is only a year old with new cable. I've disconnected the second connection and same result

I am getting somewhere I think. I think I had bad RAM- which is why the machine would not recover the TV service on reboot. I can recover after each error now by going to task manager and closing MP then restart and its fine. I could not do that before.

I've tracked the bug down to switching between TV and one button music. Question- is One button still maintained? Its an older version and seems to be the issue. All I use it for is the random music- as I don't want to make a playlist each time I play music. If there is a better alternative please let me know

 

[swamprat96]

OK- I can replicate it continously now.

If I switch from TV to music and back to TV via keyboard - no problem

If I use my Harmony remote it hangs

have a look at the attached logfiles- particularly the TV server log. There's several entries near the end where the hang happens - eg
"2010-10-11 16:50:54.828125 [Powerscheduler Timer(12)]: PowerScheduler.NextWakeupTime: inspecting IWakeupHandler:<dead#16> time:31/12/9999 11:59:59 PM"

Note the time at the start and the time at the end of the string. This is generated each time it crashes

Keyboard steps that never miss are
1. send MyTV (MCE keyboard) - TV starts in fullscreen
2. Send Green Button then Play - Music starts (random via One Button plugin)
3. send MyTV again -Tv starts

I can repeat this all day long and it works on Keyboard- but on remote it crashes going back to TV. AFAIK its identical commands sent from the remote

I have trained the Harmony to learn the "MyTV" command from the keyboard in case the logitech database is wrong- no change. All I can think of is that maybe the timings between options need slowing down- but I've added a couple of seconds and still get the crash. Perhaps a bug in the MCE remote part of MP?

 

[Bagal]

If the problem only seems to occur when using One Button Music then I would disable it and repeat the test to see if it's still a problem, in fact it's worth disabling any third-party plugins and then enabling them one-by-one to see if any are the cause of the problem.

 

[swamprat96]

Hmm. If I disable the plugin I still get the issue when I change from TV to music then back to TV- but only with the remote

What's more perplexing is that when I use the remote MCE keyboard and press my TV then my music then my tv- I can do this all day and no crash.

What I'm wondering now is timings between commands on the remote. I'm thinking along these lines because using the keyboard relies on me hitting the buttons individually- therefore slower timings between commands. The Harmony remote combines these commands like a macro. If its shotgunning these quickly could this be an issue?

What I'll try tomorrow is just using my music and my tv commands via the remote- with no macro. I think I've tried this with the same bug but can't remember- so will test again

I gather that log entry has no meaning?

 

[swamprat96]

I stand corrected. One button does seem to be the problem With it disabled I now have MP switching fine. It was also that the keystrokes were set too long on the Harmony remote- I had two issues

I'm going to start a new thread under Listen Music- as I need my one button random play. Not having it is a showstopper

EDIT: The one player developer is looking at this for me. I have disabled One Button for now and do the following as a workaround via Harmony remote macro
1. Select Music
2. Select F1 to bring up the playlist
3. Go to Menu and shuffle the playlist
4. Press OK to start

THis works fine and my problems go away. Downside is that I have to make a playlist manually which I've simple selected all - but have to do it whenever I update the music DB