Just about to give up on MediaPortal. . . (1 Viewer)

[gonzo90017]

I'm getting pretty frustrated with MediaPortal. I'm having so many issues. I came over from WMC because I wanted a true soft sled solution. And because I thought it would be more stable then NPVR. But I end up having to reinstall the client every day. Well today I booted up the client and nothing comes up. Are XP clients just no good with MediaPortal? Hopefully someone can help me out and tell what it is i'm doing wrong?

I launch MediaPortal.exe and I get the loading screens. Just before it gets to the Main screen it crashes.

Client
------
XP 32bit
All the latest Windows updates installed
Radeon HD 5450
Catalyst Version 11.11
Asus M3A78-EM mobo
2GB Ram

 

[thekiwi]

Im no expert, but for 5 years Ive run my mediaportal client on Windows XP (TV Server on Windows 7, but prior to that also on XP) and its been rock solid.

Sure now n then I get a stutter, but in terms of working with the OS and crashes ... pretty rock solid.

What Skins/Plugins do you have installed?

 

[gonzo90017]

I only have a few on the client. I have Avalon and MayaHD as the skins and MPStartit to have MediaPortal start on the TV Home screen. That's it. I only use MediaPortal to record and watch tv. When I install MediaPortal on the client I install it as a dedicated client.

 

[thekiwi]

"Only a few"? When you only need one, and something is causing it grief ... cut it back to the bare bones and start from there.
Get rid of MPStartit ... and get your system working. Then if its still crashing you can start going into more detail as it may then be hardware, drivers etc.

 

[mm1352000]

Hello

I'm getting pretty frustrated with MediaPortal. I'm having so many issues. I came over from WMC because I wanted a true soft sled solution. And because I thought it would be more stable then NPVR. But I end up having to reinstall the client every day.

I'm sorry you're having trouble. You're in the right place to get help.

Well today I booted up the client and nothing comes up. Are XP clients just no good with MediaPortal?

From your logs I'd guess you mean that TV doesn't start playing.
If you do mean that, we'll need the TV Server log files as well. If you don't, please could you explain what you mean by "nothing comes up".

An alternative way to grab log files:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/16_Support/3_Forums/2_Log_Files

That method will include MP, TV Server and plugin logs from a single seat install, along with system event logs and DirectX information. It *really* helps to have this extra info (especially for crashes) and it is probably easier for you to use so I'd encourage you to try it.

mm

 

[gonzo90017]

Had to do a reinstall before the wife's soap operas came on. I'll collect the logs when it happens again. Thanks for the support guys!

 

[gonzo90017]

Here is the problem I ran into this morning:

I turned on the computer (I must of turned it off by accident last night). I then ran 2 of my client only pc's. Both of them would not connect to the MediaPortal Server. I made sure TVService.exe was running on the server by checking Task Manager and it was. I then decided to run MediaPortal in Debug Mode on the server. This time MediaPortal complained of not being able to connect to TV Server (even though I was on the server). I then went to windows services and noticed TV Service.exe wasn't running even though it was earlier when I checked in Windows Task Manager. I opened properties to see if somehow it had been set to manual or disabled. But no it was set to Automatic. So I clicked on "Start" and now the clients and server worked again.

So I posted my logs to see if someone can tell me why this happened? I'm wondering if this is the same error I was getting the other numerous times I had to reinstall MediaPortal.

 

[Jay_UK]

Hi there,

From your logs it looks like you are powering on your Server at around 08:05??

The TVServer is failing to access the Database.

Have you configured a dependancy to ensure TVService waits for the MS SQL Service to start?

Are there any issues with your MS SQL DB?

J.

 

[gonzo90017]

[From your logs it looks like you are powering on your Server at around 08:05??

Usually I have it set to go on standby after 20 minutes. But I accidentally turned it off last night. 8:05 am was when I realized it so I turned it on manually.

Have you configured a dependancy to ensure TVService waits for the MS SQL Service to start?

I have no idea how to do this.

Are there any issues with your MS SQL DB?

I have no idea? This is a new install from a couple of days ago. The previous installs were running MYSQL but I had a lot of connection issues: Cannot connect to stream:, Cannot connect to TV Server etc.. through the clients. That's why I decided to go with MS SQL this time.

 

[mm1352000]

Hi guys

Indeed, initially it does look like a DB access issue, but I'm wondering if that is just the DB "warming up".

@gonzo90017
When you installed MP, did you install your own database, use an existing one, or let MP install one for you?

I'm finding it difficult to be sure about my interpretation of what I see later on the logs...

I see the server start at about 5 past 8 as Jay_UK said. Shortly after that, a couple of scheduled recordings start.
Everything seems fine until 0812.
It looks like what happens is that is when MP [on the server] attempts to connect to the server for the first time.
The connection is not good - "ping" is up around 1 second.
The issues continue until around 0817 when it looks like the connection drops entirely. That may or may not be when the server went down.
The log goes silent between 0817 and 0828 when we see a client trying to connect again. At this point I think the server is still down.
I note some interesting things in the system application log at about this time:
[collapse]"10/11/2012 8:28:18 AM";"MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS";"Server";"Information";"Starting up database 'MpTvDb'.";"1073758961"
"10/11/2012 8:29:19 AM";"MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS";"Server";"Information";"SQL Server has encountered 2 occurrence(s) of cachestore flush for the 'Object Plans' cachestore (part of plan cache) due to some database maintenance or reconfigure operations.";"1073744627"
"10/11/2012 8:29:19 AM";"MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS";"Server";"Information";"SQL Server has encountered 2 occurrence(s) of cachestore flush for the 'SQL Plans' cachestore (part of plan cache) due to some database maintenance or reconfigure operations.";"1073744627"
"10/11/2012 8:29:19 AM";"MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS";"Server";"Information";"SQL Server has encountered 2 occurrence(s) of cachestore flush for the 'Bound Trees' cachestore (part of plan cache) due to some database maintenance or reconfigure operations.";"1073744627"[/collapse]

Not sure exactly what that means...

Alright, so what is the verdict (?).
I'm not certain but I suspect possibly a concoction of network issues.

I have two questions:
1. Have you configured your server with a static IP address?
2. Does your server have multiple network ports/adapters?

mm