V5 Broke my MVP

[m0ng00se30]

Well one of my worst fears about upgrading... my MVP has quit working. Up through 4.1 it was nearly flawless.

Now all I get is a black screeen after the boot process. I tried reverting to the MVP.BIN that was with v4.1, and I would get glimpses of the SAGETV booting screen, but then it goes black.

Anyone seeing this or have ideas to try. Clients work well, Place shifting works well.. just not my MVP. The BIN seems to be loading because I can use the remote to power on and off the unit, and front panel light goes on and off.

Any Ideas?

--Mike

[michelkenny]

Have you tried to unplug the power from the MVP for a minute and then replugging it?

[m0ng00se30]

yeah about 200 times... I've done all the stardard stuff... reboots or servers and MVP.


--Mike

[Narflex]

Can you post the log file from the server? (set debug_logging=TRUE in your properties file, the log is in sagetv_0.txt)

[JUC]

This happened to me too!! But not right after upgrading. It happened a day later when i was importing some pictures. Sag v5 hard locked and i had to manually reset it by pulling the power. THen--everytime I restarted the MVP it would go through the starting software process then...black screen. No Sage Splash screen just blank.

I was able to get it working again though by doing a few different things and I'm not sure which one fixed it unfortunately. This is what i tried-
1. delete clients folder in sage directory. This didn't work-still black screen
2. roll back to an earlier version of sage--this didn't work-and i started to freak out about now!
3. for the heck of it I decided to restart my server PC-shutting it down completely (still using an older version of sage with no clients folder)---and it worked! No more black screen on MVP startup.

So-i hope this helps you. I'm not sure if it was just as simple as restarting the server PC or had to do with loading an earlier version or what. But--once I got it working again I was able to go back to v5 with my old clients folder and everything was intact. Its been fine for 2 days now.

JUC

[m0ng00se30]

Thanks for the suggestions! Here is the log file Jeff...

Thanks Again!

[Narflex]

Thanks for the suggestions! Here is the log file Jeff...

Thanks Again!

Try deleting the clients folder inside of the SageTV folder and see if that fixes it. I think I may know what happened and it's fixed for V5 (if so, the problem occurred when you last shutdown SageTV before upgrading).

[BBCritical]

Jeff, I am having the same problem with only 1 of my 2 mvps... it is spawning seperate windows on the server for the mvp with the media extender id in the title of the window... I deleted the properties file of the MVP in question in the clients folder with the same results... any ideas?

[JUC]

Try deleting the clients folder inside of the SageTV folder and see if that fixes it. I think I may know what happened and it's fixed for V5 (if so, the problem occurred when you last shutdown SageTV before upgrading).



For me--it happened a day after I upgraded to V5 not right after. But-if you look at my earlier post--try a few of those options and you should be able to get it back working.

[Narflex]

Jeff, I am having the same problem with only 1 of my 2 mvps... it is spawning seperate windows on the server for the mvp with the media extender id in the title of the window... I deleted the properties file of the MVP in question in the clients folder with the same results... any ideas?

Did you also delete the backup file in the same folder and be sure you did it while the MVP wasn't running?

[Tomahawk51]

hmmm...I was JUST about to update to v5, but now I may wait. Thanks for the head's up.

[m0ng00se30]

I believe I deleted the folder, but let me try again and I'll post my results!

--Mike

[Tomahawk51]

I retract my earlier claim of waiting to see how v5 was fairing. It was foolish to think that I could be so patient.

Afer an install overtop my v4 setup, all is well on my PC and MVP.

[m0ng00se30]

I've cleared the client folder, and still same results. Black screen after "application loading" on MVP. I've sent George some info that he requested. So maybe something will become of that!

Thanks

--Mike

[Alwayslearnin]

I am having the same issue.

I have deleted the clients folder. I have stopped and restarted services. I have stopped and restarted the media center server option in Sage. I have rebooted my primary server (not all of these things at once.)

I get the "Booting to Media Center" for a half a second and then my screen goes completely black.

Thanks.

Also, my clients folder did not come back after I deleted it and restarted the MVP. Also, I am running sage in Service Mode on the server. If I open sage, it creates a "client" item for the sage server as well. But I think this is by design.

[nlancaster]

I am having a similer problem to the above and have done all the same steps. If i use the power button on the MVP it will not boot backup again. Have to cycle the power and it will be fine. HELP!!

[cmaffia]

Same problem for me too now :-(
Tried every suggestion above
Same for me.. my Clients folder did not come back

I am having a similer problem to the above and have done all the same steps. If i use the power button on the MVP it will not boot backup again. Have to cycle the power and it will be fine. HELP!!

[cmaffia]

Had to reinstall 5.0 from scratch and reconfigure everything to get it to work again....


Same problem for me too now :-(
Tried every suggestion above
Same for me.. my Clients folder did not come back

[SafetyBob]

I had the same problems as all of you when I got a new MVP in from Sage. It was a newer one (ver2.04) and it did not act like my two older ver1.0 MVP's. I upgraded to the latest version of 4 and it still didn't conect up but my old two still worked so I wasn't out that much. That was until I upgraded to ver5.0.2 to get the new one to work, then all three MVP's would not work. I was stuck on the finding media server or booting media server error on my MVP's.

I had problems with my services starting which was a problem with me not ensuring (double checking) SageTV's detailed setup menu with SageTV Server "enabled" and I think they call it Media Extender "Enabled". Restarted computer. Those setting stayed so I then actually checked to see if the services were on by using the SageTVServiceControl.exe icon which you will find on your start menu....start, programs, SageTV, SageTVServiceControl.exe. Then make sure that the "Use SageTV Service:" has a "Yes" after it and under that make sure the SageTV Service State:" has a "Started" after it. If it says Starting, then read the manual or go back to SageTV and double check those settings.

I bet even if you restarted your systems and tried to reconnect your MVP's they still would not work....(been there). We are close to getting you going. Go to Page 217 of the user's guide all the way to the bottom....Firewall settings. Let's make on thing clear. The settings we are talking about are for YOUR computer's settings, YOUR computer's Windows XP's built in Firewall settings. Not your router's firewall settings. Write down those ports: 7760 (TCP) for the listings for the program guide work; 16867 (UDP); 16869 (UDP); 31100 (UDP); 31099 (TCP). I can't find anything in the manual about how to change these settings so follow along.

1. Click on the Start button, then click on Control Panel, then click on Windows Firewall.

2. When the windows firewall dialog box comes up you should be in the General tab and I hope all of you have a green dot on the "On (recommended) selection. Now click on the "Exceptions" Tab.

3. Under the Programs and Services, slide the bar down and see if you already have a SageTV listing. If you do, click on the SageTV wording to highlight it, then click the "Edit" button. You should now get a dialog box that say's "Edit a program". No problem here, we were just checking to see what was here, a program or an open port. Click on the Cancel button and we will now open those ports.

4. Click on "Add Port..". I would recommend you put a name in every port that you add. That way you know what it is and what it does. Such as:

Name: For booting the Media Extender
Port Number: 16867
UDP

Note that there is a TCP and UDP. That's why you need to write down those port numbers and descriptions for page 217 and 218. Specifically those on page218 for the Media Extenders (ie. MVP's)!!

5. Click OK and you have just opened one port. You need to it for those 4 ports listed and if you are doing placeshifting, better open 31099 (TCP) for that, I do not have port 7760 (TCP) open but my Program Guide works perfectly so I did not add that to the list.

6. Close Windows Firewall and you should start to connect right away, but again I would recommend you restart, check SageTV's settings, make sure your services are started and running correctly, then go unplug and plug your MVP's one last time. They should now work.

Remarks. I also deleted my "Clients" subfolder under SageTV's directory and they have not come back and I don't care as my MVP's work and it was windows firewall problems and nothing else that was the problem all along.

I sincerely hope this helps all of you getting your MVP's working. I hate to admit it, but I was hopelessly depressed at the loss of my MVP's. I know it's a sad thing to admit that such a silly piece of electronics gear brings so much convienence and fun to my life. But those of you who have them know what I mean!!!

Good luck.

Bob E.

[John Colburn]

No matter how many ports were opened, the Hauppague MVP could not find the Sage server.

Hauppague MVP manual states MVP will not work with XP firewall. Make your network vulnerable to anyone and it works.

Otherwisw, forget the MVP.:gun:

[PGPfan]

Not true John Colburn,

I'm using the XP firewall and an MVP with Sage just fine!

The Hauppauge manual likely means that the 'Hauppauge software' will not work with the XP firewall. I guarantee you they don't do testing of their product with Sage, since they offer NO (software) support if not used with their software.

-PGPfan

[MeInMaui]

My MVP just quit working last night with these same symptoms (sageTV splash screen flashes once and then the screen stays black) I tried using the new mvp.bin and also tried deleting the contents of the clients folder. The splash screen behavior would just flash repeatedly in some instances and the duty cycle of the flashing changed with the alternate mvp.bin. Unfortunately nothing I tried would allow the mvp to boot into the sage UI. Has there been any progress on this issue? I do have a rotating daily backup of my sageTV folder going back 7 days, so I'll try restoring to the last time I knew it worked to see if that helps. I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.

Aloha,
Mike

[BobPhoenix]

My MVP just quit working last night with these same symptoms (sageTV splash screen flashes once and then the screen stays black) I tried using the new mvp.bin and also tried deleting the contents of the clients folder. The splash screen behavior would just flash repeatedly in some instances and the duty cycle of the flashing changed with the alternate mvp.bin. Unfortunately nothing I tried would allow the mvp to boot into the sage UI. Has there been any progress on this issue? I do have a rotating daily backup of my sageTV folder going back 7 days, so I'll try restoring to the last time I knew it worked to see if that helps. I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.

Aloha,
MikeHave you unpluged/repluged the power cord to the MVP? Have you shutdown/restarted your SageTV Server? That's what usually fixes the black screen for me. I guess you must have since you tried the new MVP.Bin. So nothing further to suggest.

[MeInMaui]

Have you unpluged/repluged the power cord to the MVP? Have you shutdown/restarted your SageTV Server? That's what usually fixes the black screen for me. I guess you must have since you tried the new MVP.Bin. So nothing further to suggest.

Yup, I did all that. I did, in the end, finally fix the problem by restoring my most recent known-good backup of the sageTV directory (2-days old). After that everything is working fine again. I'm guessing that something must have gotten corrupted. Man, I'm glad I instituted daily automatic backups a while back! Thanks for the suggestion.

Aloha,
Mike

[John.Kelly]

No matter how many ports were opened, the Hauppague MVP could not find the Sage server.

Hauppague MVP manual states MVP will not work with XP firewall. Make your network vulnerable to anyone and it works.

Otherwisw, forget the MVP.:gun:

For many, the real problem is that there is an undocumented port that has to be opened for the XP firewall. The documentatioin I am referring to is the Sage TV Version 5 Manual, pages 217 & 218. An easy way to establish that your MVP connection is an XP firewall problem is to simply turn off the XP firewall and see what happens. If, all of a sudden, they work, your problem is the firewall and the information below should be of help!

Already an exception in the XP Firewall after installing SageTV version 5:

SageTV
C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\SageTV.exe

From Pages 217 & 218 of the SageTV 5.0 User's Guide:

SageTV Communication Port 1 - TCP 42024
SageTV Communication Port 2 - TCP 7818
SageTV Discovery Port - TCP 8270
SageTV Discovery Port - UDP 31100
SageTV EPG Server - TCP 7760
SageTV Media Extender Booting Port 1 - UDP 16867
SageTV Media Extender Booting Port 2 - UDP 16869
SageTV MVP Port - TCP 31099

Port I added to get this running:

SageTV undocumented Port - 16881 UDP

[Opus4]

BTW: The port 16881 is listed in the forum's FAQ and the list has been updated in the v6 manual. Any other port listing issues, please let us know.

- ANdy

[stevech]

If your LAN is connected to the Internet via a NATing router, then why run XP Firewall? (one reason, I suppose, is kids' PCs and their tendency to get viruses).

[roxy99]

If your LAN is connected to the Internet via a NATing router, then why run XP Firewall? (one reason, I suppose, is kids' PCs and their tendency to get viruses).

I disabled XP firewall when I got my NAT router. Never had a problem. I don't even have antivirus on the Sage server.

[stevech]

I disabled XP firewall when I got my NAT router. Never had a problem. I don't even have antivirus on the Sage server.
But do you have teenagers using PCs on your LAN?

[roxy99]

But do you have teenagers using PCs on your LAN?

No. Nor Peer-to-Peer, Kazaa, Limewire or any of the sh&t. I like to keep my system squeeky clean :)

You have a point. Anyway, openning the port like Andy said would work, assuming its XP firewall causing the problem.

[stevech]

No. Nor Peer-to-Peer, Kazaa, Limewire or any of the sh&t. I like to keep my system squeeky clean :)

You have a point. Anyway, openning the port like Andy said would work, assuming its XP firewall causing the problem.

I have a NATing router like most everyone, and I have a 24/7 PC with a web server (not Microsoft's IIS), and Sage. Neither have been wacked by the Internet due to the router, over several years.

WIndows firewall is for folks that don't have a router or have nasty untrustworthy PCs on their LAN, or who don't encrypt their WLAN.