Unmotivated HD activity causes stuttering (1 Viewer)

[HTPCSourcer]

MediaPortal Version: 1.2.2
MediaPortal Skin: Default Wide
Windows Version: Win7 64 Pro x64 SP1
CPU Type: Intel E8200
HDD: WD 5000AACS 500GB
Memory: 4 GB
Motherboard: Asus P5K-E Wifi
Video Card: MSI NX-8500-GT
Video Card Driver: 270.61
Sound Card: Soundmax HD Audio (ADI 1988B onboard)
Sound Card AC3: coaxial
Sound Card Driver: 6.10.2.6585
1. TV Card: MediaPointer CineS2
1. TV Card Type: DVB-S
1. TV Card Driver: 2.3.0.47
2. TV Card:
2. TV Card Type:
2. TV Card Driver:
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: MS DTV-DVD
MPEG2 Audio Codec: MS DTV-DVD
h.264 Video Codec: MS DTV-DVD
Satelite/CableTV Provider: Astra 19.2°E
HTPC Case: Silverstone LC16M VFD (0x3601)
Cooling: Scythe Ninja mini
Power Supply: Seasonic SS12-380
Remote: Harmony 555
TV: Panasonic TH50 PZ80

Preamble: "confirm" cannot be selected
Hello,

Since approx. two MP versions my system does here and there freeze during a few seconds. During this time TV stutters or freezes completely, sound stops. The logs don't show anything. However, I noted the time of the occurrences and checked against the MP log. To my surprise the stutters/freezes coincide with the MP powerscheduler.

Obviously this is a little thin and I would therefore be grateful for advice to further track down the issue.

Other things I did:

1. Deactivate Clickfinder - no effect
2. Windows indexing is deactivated
3. Checked task planner - no obvious suspect

Thanks,
HTPC_Sourcer

 

[elliottmc]

Obviously this is a little thin and I would therefore be grateful for advice to further track down the issue.

The first piece of advice is post the logs. Otherwise, no-one will be able to help you.

 

[HTPCSourcer]

AW: Re: Unmotivated HD activity causes stuttering

The first piece of advice is post the logs. Otherwise, no-one will be able to help you.

Right now I have no logs. I have deactivated the powerscheduler in MP and TV Server and the issue has since then not reappeared. This is why I have asked for specific advice to confirm or reject powerscheduler as the source of the problem.

What you see in the log is the standard effect of a system that is busy and where insufficient CPU capacity remains for MP. I will reactivate the powerschedulers and post logs once that I observe the effect again.

 

[elliottmc]

Re: AW: Re: Unmotivated HD activity causes stuttering

The first piece of advice is post the logs. Otherwise, no-one will be able to help you.

Right now I have no logs. I have deactivated the powerscheduler in MP and TV Server and the issue has since then not reappeared. This is why I have asked for specific advice to confirm or reject powerscheduler as the source of the problem.

What you see in the log is the standard effect of a system that is busy and where insufficient CPU capacity remains for MP. I will reactivate the powerschedulers and post logs once that I observe the effect again.

It looks as though you have confirmed that powerscheduler is the culprit. Reactivating it would really nail it.

Mark

 

[JBravo]

Related to https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/bugreports-74/powerscheduler-unconditionally-checks-every-second-101689/ ?

 

[HTPCSourcer]

AW: Re: Unmotivated HD activity causes stuttering

I don't know. I have not observed such powerscheduler entries in the log.

Despite Mark's comment about possibly having identified powerscheduler as the root cause, I am not certain at all. However, the issue began some time ago after grading to a new version, unfortunately I don't recall which one but it may well have been when moving from 1.1 to 1.2.

The stutters usually occur in the evening (around 19.20 and more or less precisely at 21.00). I don't understand though why the 1 second checking interval would lead to the occasional stuttering. Anyway, I will continue running without powerschedulers tonight to check if the stuttering at 21.00 still happens. If it does it's not the powerscheduler, if it doesn't I will create logs with activated powerschedulers and post them here.

Regards, HTPC_Sourcer

 

[mm1352000]

If you're seeing this problem at specific times then I think it would pay to check what processes are running at those times. Anything that uses the same HDD as the timeshifting folders are one could cause problems. Maybe a scheduled virus or ad-ware scan runs at that time? Sometimes even HDDs spinning up or down can cause issues like this.

mm

 

[HTPCSourcer]

AW: Re: Unmotivated HD activity causes stuttering

Hello mm,

Indeed. I tried to do this with Process Explorer but the program is flooded with entries I had not been able to identify any suspect process. If anybody had done a similar thing with MP abd can give me someadvice I would be grateful.

The anti-virus is not set to run any periodic scan but it certainly connects to its server to download updates. I will deactivate the scanner to see if this haas any effect.

Regards, HTPC_Sourcer

 

[HTPCSourcer]

AW: Re: Unmotivated HD activity causes stuttering

I did some further research:

• The stuttering is not periodic but rather chaotic
• HD activity lasts a few moments only
• Logs show discontinuity errors at the time of stuttering

06-01-2012 21:18:43.15 Recorderid a6 Continuity error... 4 ( prev 7 ) - bad signal?
06-01-2012 21:18:43.15 Recorderid 80 Continuity error... a ( prev 6 ) - bad signal?
06-01-2012 21:18:43.16 Recorderid 44 Continuity error... f ( prev 3 ) - bad signal?
06-01-2012 21:18:43.56 Recorder: TIMESHIFT Info : Program clock reference forward jump ( 81005 ).
06-01-2012 21:18:46.904 Recorderid a6 Continuity error... 5 ( prev 0 ) - bad signal?
06-01-2012 21:18:46.904 Recorderid 44 Continuity error... 8 ( prev d ) - bad signal?
06-01-2012 21:18:46.905 Recorderid 80 Continuity error... 9 ( prev b ) - bad signal?
06-01-2012 21:18:46.965 Recorder: TIMESHIFT Info : Program clock reference forward jump ( 247500 ).
06-01-2012 21:18:48.403 Recorderid a6 Continuity error... d ( prev b ) - bad signal?
06-01-2012 21:18:48.403 Recorderid 44 Continuity error... 4 ( prev 1 ) - bad signal?
06-01-2012 21:18:48.403 Recorderid 80 Continuity error... 4 ( prev 5 ) - bad signal?
​

• Windows event protocol has a warning messsage: Device (c41:20000) Stream 1 dropped data
• There are a few such entries every day, all of them refer to stream 1

It appears more to be a hardware issue. What strikes me is that the system didn't have this problem in the past. However, I've been updating the DigitalDevice driver since then.

It's most likely not a MediaPortal but a hardware or driver issue. I woud be gratefiul for any hint how to track down the root cause. At this point it is simply annoying to have this stuttering.

Thanks, HTPC_Sourcer