Unable to connect to TV server - TV Service Not Running - every thursday night!! (1 Viewer)

[jonathantwynham]

Hi.

Ive not taken any logs yet - my server is in the loft so need to go up and get them off it... but was wondering if anybody had any ideas in the meantime...

Every thursday night I can guarantee without fail my multiseat clients will all fail to connect to the tv server.

I will then have to go into the loft, turn the screen on, open the server config program which then prompts me 'TV Service Not Running' and it will then start the service and it will be all good for another week!

Its running on a dell poweredge t105 with windows xp sp3 installed. I dont have any hibernation/suspend/sleep settings enabled. I have ensured that windows update is turned off. Basically anything that could cause an automated restart is turn off. I dont run antivirus on the server (this server is purely dedicated to the tv tuners, i have another for all the media and file sharing jobs).

I will get logs and post them up when i get 5 mins to get upstairs but if anybody has come across this before a few hints would be good - i will have to enable remote desktop on it as its getting rather annoying getting the ladder out every thursday night!!

I also have another problem with my other file sharing server - will make a seperate post on that - (skips music/movie files and refuses to open them)

 

[mm1352000]

Hello Jonathan

Odd that the service would crash like that. Looking forward to logs...
Is your server configured with a static IP address?

mm

 

[jonathantwynham]

I have just set up remote desktop and have access to the tv server logs...

Reading through it might not just be thursdays that it dies, its probably just the fact I dont watch TV that much and after speaking to SHMBO apparently it crashes regularly and she just doesnt bother telling me until thursdays - when i get home early enough to watch tv!!

Attached are one pair of logs for the TVservice and TVservice-error - there are quite a few!

I notice in the error file it lists epg grabber but not sure why.. hope you can understand what it means![DOUBLEPOST=1384820425][/DOUBLEPOST]Also.

Static IP - yes - its set to obtain automatically but is assigned the same IP by the DHCP server - all my devices are assigned this way.

 

[mm1352000]

Thanks

First: please could you either delete or disable EPG grabbing on the "Q" radio channel. The EPG grabber is constantly trying to grab EPG from that channel, and this is a primary cause of the huge log files. More importantly, this is a massive amount of unnecessary wear and tear on your tuner cards - ~10000 tune requests in the space of a week. Further, it seems you use WebEPG... so I'm not sure if you need the DVB EPG grabber to be enabled at all...

Regarding the crashes...
Unfortunately there is nothing in the log file that indicates TV Server has crashed. What I was hoping for was a full set of logs, but I guess you don't have the MediaPortal front-end installed on the server (and therefore you can't use the watchdog tool). Ummm, okay. Are you able to take a look at the event logs for the server:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427

Please look for errors referring to TvService.exe. If you find one, please copy and paste the details from the event log and provide the log file(s) for the corresponding day.

Does that make sense?

mm

 

[jonathantwynham]

Ok.

After going through the event viewer-applications Im not sure if this is a mediaportal fault... there are numerous tv service started successfully notifications, usually just followed by mysql errors about missing files etc and occasionally just after a .net framework error with corlib.dll or kernel.dll - then after looking through the event viewer-system logs I cant help but notice there are a lot of system starting / event viewer starting notifications which is suggesting to me that the server is randomly rebooting itself... so i think the main cause of this could be a hardware issue - which is frustrating as was a new bit of kit but is just out of warranty!!

noted on the epg grabbing - i didnt realise i had epg grabbing enabled for the radio channels - i need it for a few channels we have as for some reason some of the +1 channels dont exist on webepg.. will disable all radio epg grabbing - dont use the radio at all!

ive attached the logs of the mysql and .net framework errors - may be related!

 

[mm1352000]

After going through the event viewer-applications Im not sure if this is a mediaportal fault...

I think it could be. I'll explain below

there are numerous tv service started successfully notifications...

...which is fine.

...usually just followed by mysql errors about missing files etc

If the mysql.txt you posted is an example of these, it is not an error - simply an event. I think these can safely be ignored.

...and occasionally just after a .net framework error with corlib.dll or kernel.dll

These are the ones that concern me.

...then after looking through the event viewer-system logs I cant help but notice there are a lot of system starting / event viewer starting notifications which is suggesting to me that the server is randomly rebooting itself... so i think the main cause of this could be a hardware issue - which is frustrating as was a new bit of kit but is just out of warranty!!

Mmmm - at this point I don't come to the same conclusion. I mean, if the server were "only" rebooting itself then the TV service should be starting automatically... unless you've set it to "manual start" (as opposed to starting automatically with Windows). In other words, this would not explain how the TV service gets into the stopped state. Normally the service should never be stopped unless you intervene.

noted on the epg grabbing - i didnt realise i had epg grabbing enabled for the radio channels - i need it for a few channels we have as for some reason some of the +1 channels dont exist on webepg.. will disable all radio epg grabbing - dont use the radio at all!

You may actually find that this helps solve the problem. I'll get to that in a moment.

ive attached the logs of the mysql and .net framework errors - may be related!

Indeed, I think they are:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: .NET Runtime 2.0 Error Reporting
Event Category: None
Event ID: 5000
Date: 08/07/2013
Time: 18:45:55
User: N/A
Computer: HTPC-5811A1747E
Description:
EventType clr20r3, P1 tvservice.exe, P2 1.3.0.0, P3 512d0efa, P4 mscorlib, P5 2.0.0.0, P6 4889dc80, P7 1b2a, P8 c, P9 system.outofmemoryexception, P10 NIL.

The part to pay attention to is the system.outofmemoryexception part. That probably means the TV service is leaking memory. When the system runs out of memory the service will crash. The leak is not normal and the crash is highly undesirable. So, what could be causing this? That is hard to say. Leaks in the TV service are relatively rare. It could conceivably be caused by errors in sections of code that run repeatedly (like tuning). Each time the process is repeated, a little more memory leaks. Hence the connection to the EPG grabber: if the EPG grabber is grabbing 10000 times per week it is exactly the sort of repeated process that I'd be looking at.

Now, before we go any further, another thing to point is the date on that entry: July 8. That is quite some time ago now. We'd be wasting time on a goose chase unless these same errors are happening every week.

So, can you please confirm:

1. You haven't set the service to manually start.
2. You see the system.outofmemoryexceptions occurring regularly.

If you can confirm (2), please supply the full TV service log files leading up to a crash. For example, if you find a crash entry for 19 November, please supply the TV service logs for 17, 18 and 19 November so I can check out what is going on.

mm

 

[jonathantwynham]

Hi.

The TVService is set to automatic. I dont see the outofmemory occurring regularly.. it has appeared a few times - i just picked the dated one as it was the one i was looking at at that moment.

I will give it a little while and see if the tvservice stops again..