Multi-seat setup issue (1 Viewer)

[SwissBuster]

As u said earlier.. with no firewall on both pcs... there was no tv server connection on the client only laptop... does tv work on the pc with the tv server?

Yes, TV works fine on the MediaPC. I do get a successful connection message in TV config, but if I try to connect to the TV in MP on the laptop, I get an "enter IP or hostname" error. I also am able to connect to other media on the MediaPC (movies, music, etc.) One thought I had is that the connection protocol times out after 30 seconds (as hinted at in gentle.config) and this is not enough time to make a connection to the TV (connecting to a movie takes about this long). This idea might be garbage but I can't interpret the logs well enough to tell - I also don't know how to extend the timeout period.

 

[SiLenTYL]

what version of mp are u running on ur mediapc and what version on ur laptop?

u can see on the first line of your logs.... which is located

C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\log --- mediaportal.log

 

[SwissBuster]

Both are running 1.3.0 Final.

 

[SiLenTYL]

is that what the logs both say?

 

[doskabouter]

did you try disabling IPV6 on your laptop?

Tries this, no change. Out of curiosity, how/why would this chnage anything?[/quote]


Don't know exactly why, but this fixed a connection issue for me

 

[SwissBuster]

is that what the logs both say?

Yep. Or to be precise, 1.3.0.0.

I did find this mid-way through that log on the laptop:
Gentle.Common.GentleException: The database backend (provider MySQL) could not be reached.
Check the connection string: Server=Gavin-Media-PC;Database=MpTvDb;User ID=root;Password=***;charset=utf8;Connection Timeout=30; ---> MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlException: Access denied for user 'root'@'199-190.195-178.cust.bluewin.ch' (using password: YES)

 

[SwissBuster]

I did find this mid-way through that log on the laptop:
Gentle.Common.GentleException: The database backend (provider MySQL) could not be reached.
Check the connection string: Server=Gavin-Media-PC;Database=MpTvDb;User ID=root;Password=***;charset=utf8;Connection Timeout=30; ---> MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlException: Access denied for user 'root'@'199-190.195-178.cust.bluewin.ch' (using password: YES)

To summarise the thread, I MP is working fine on my laptop except for TV. I can watch a movie or listen to music over the network. I have tried all I can think of to get connected to live TV and it isn't working. I've played with Firewalls and MS Security, different server names/nomenclature, and all the other tricks suggested here. I at a loss at what to try next. Does anyone have some insight or can help?

The only odd behviour I can see is that, in MP config (TV > TV Client), I sometimes get a correction error using Hostname "192.168.1.104" when I click "Test Connection". It fails maybe one time in three. I am trying to connect over a (strong) wifi connection. The only other clue is the log message above.

 

[mm1352000]

Well the message is pretty clear: the database server cannot be reached from the client. You've mentioned adding firewall exceptions for TV Server, but you must also make an exception for MySQL or SQL Server.

If that doesn't help, on the laptop open a command line (terminal) and check ping is okay:
1. Click start.
2. Type "cmd".
3. Hit enter.
4. Type ping <IP address of server here> and hit enter. Report the result.
5. Type ping <hostname of server here> and hit enter. Report the result.

If the ping results are both okay, install an SQL client on the laptop and attempt to connect to the database on the server.

 

[SwissBuster]

Well the message is pretty clear: the database server cannot be reached from the client. You've mentioned adding firewall exceptions for TV Server, but you must also make an exception for MySQL or SQL Server.

If that doesn't help, on the laptop open a command line (terminal) and check ping is okay:
1. Click start.
2. Type "cmd".
3. Hit enter.
4. Type ping <IP address of server here> and hit enter. Report the result.
5. Type ping <hostname of server here> and hit enter. Report the result.

If the ping results are both okay, install an SQL client on the laptop and attempt to connect to the database on the server.

OK, some odd results.

First, I added MySQL as an exception to MS Security Essentials on the MediaPC. I also altered the MySQL privileges in Windows Firewall as this was for one port only. This didn't change anything on the MP connection issue on the laptop.

I then tested the ping of the IP address which is fine (see image attached).

Now the wierd result - entering the server name (Gavin-Media-PC) pings an IP address in Russia. The kauchuk.ru website is the server of a client I worked for a year ago. When on their site (and inside their firewall), the IT technician played with my laptop to allow me to connect to their LAN. I thought this was only by adding proxy settings within IE (which I have long since elliminated), but it seems the site settings must still be stored somewhere on the laptop. Note that if I type anything to ping (eg. bla bla bla) it pings the kauchuk.ru site.

I'm not sure if this is the cuase of my connection issue, but I'd like to get rid of this regardless. Any idea what's going on here and how to resolve?

 

[mm1352000]

Right, okay.

So because the gentle.config file on the server (which is copied to the client) contains the hostname, the client is not able to connect to the database server. I suspect if you were to fix the file on the server to use IP address then copy it to the client everything would start to work.

To eliminate the weird stuff with hostnames, first check your hosts file on the client:
http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/windows-7-hosts-file/

...and report if there was anything strange configured in there.

mm