MVP Blinking black screen + Sage "booting up" screen.

[heffe2001]

I was having this issue with my older wired MVP, and that bin file fixed it right up. Working fine now (albeit a bit slow on the UI updates, but that's my main PC, and SageMC on the client doing that I believe, replaceing it with a dual Xeon this weekend and we'll see how it goes then .

[Fallen Kell]

Ok, well, I think I have traced down some of my problem. I finally got my wireless MVP (v2.05 firmware) to work for the first time tonight. I first tried the replacement mvp.bin file, but that jut caused it to go to a black screen and then eventually shutdown.

So I pickedup the mvp, brought it upstairs into the same room with my wireless router and then hooked it up the the TV that I have my HTPC connected to (no normal need for the MVP their, but it is easier to troubleshoot when everything is all in one room instead of walking up and down stairs for each change). Anyway, it looks like my problem might be signal strength. I still have to try it downstairs again, but the only things I changed was my channel id (to get as far away from all other wireless networks that are in range), and the fact that I get 5 bars connection in the room (it better since it is only 10 feet away).

I just wanted to post that update, since the problem that is being discussed in this thread may have multiple causes. I have the EXACT same symptoms, i.e. after it downloads the mini-kernel/os and starts to boot the OS, it goes to the "starting SageTV please wait" and then does a flash and comes back to the "starting SageTV please wait" again and does starts to loop that behavior). The mvp.bin file did not fix the problem for me. It simply caused it to go to a black screen after the mvp downloaded the mini-kernel/os and then after 5 seconds of so it does a shutdown.

My fix was to go back to the origional mvp.bin that came with 5.0.4, change wireless channels to a clear one, and get closer to my wireless router.

[Fallen Kell]

Well I took the MVP back downstairs and it still didn't work, back to the blinking boot screen again. I then tried changing the wireless router I use to one that has the DD-WRT OS installed. This allowed me to boost the transmit signal from the wireless router. I was able to get the MVP to see the network with only -42dB signal strength for 4 bars, whereas on the other router, I could bairly get -58dB and it would fluctuate to as low as -67dB (between 2 and 3 bars). I was hoping that this boost in network signal would fix the problem since as I stated before, when it was in the room with the wireless router, it worked fine (had 5 bars, but I forgot to check the actual signal strength).

Anyway, I am stopping for the night. Did enough for now. Will start doing more tomorrow night.

[troll5501]

I'm experiencing the same flashing "SageTV Media Center is booting up" screen on my MVP with 5.0.4.92. It happens only with my Cisco switch. I think I've found where the problem is. Here are the two scenarios I've tried--one is working, and one is not. Note that this is a wired MVP, not wireless.

Scenario 1: Cisco Catalyst 2924 Enterprise Switch
-------------------------------------------------------
When a cable is plugged into this (and many of the larger Cisco switches from my experience), it takes as long as 30 seconds for the switch to negotiate the speed and bring up the link--even if the speed/duplex are already forced on the port.

When I power up the MediaMVP, the switch brings up the link in about 30 seconds, the MVP gets an address via DHCP, and goes to "Loading application". So far so good.

When the screen switches to "Starting application", I noticed that the MVP is bouncing the Ethernet port, so now the switch has to repeat its 30-second process to bring up the link. A few seconds into this, the MVP goes to the light blue SageTV logo startup screen and the MVP screen starts blinking erratically---it's dark most of the time with a quick flash of the SageTV screen every few seconds. It seems to get stuck in this state forever.

Scenario 2: Netgear FS508 Switch
-------------------------------------

This switch brings up the link almost instantly after plugging in the cable or bouncing the port. When I attach the MVP to this switch, and uplink the Netgear to my Cisco (where the SageTV server is connected), the MVP boots up just fine. I still see it bouncing the switch port during "Starting application", but the link on the Netgear comes back up in 1 or 2 seconds and the MVP has no issues.

It seems like the software on the MVP that is bouncing the Ethernet port during the "Starting application" stage (is it the firmware or the Sage code?), may need a longer wait or timeout period. Apparently it expects the Ethernet link to come up rather quickly after it bounces it, and if that doesn't happen then it gets stuck in the flashing screen state.

Before posting this, I downloaded and tried the new MVP.BIN from Demo. It still has the same issue, but this time the screen went black for about 10 seconds before the flashing began. As with the release version, the flashing started before the link was up.

Bryan

[MrApollinax]

From the descriptions it sounds like there are two likely explinations in my opinion:

1. It sounds like your Cisco switch is goig through STP negotiations, which can take up to 45 seconds to resolve. Why not create a VLAN on that port and turn off STP? I'll have to dig into my old Cisco stuff but if you can't turn off the STP messages you may be able to configure the port to be in a blocking STP state or even configure the STP parameters to speed up the negotiations. From what I understand the bounce you are seeing from the MVP is the image being mounted with the new eth0 properties.

2. Another thing that might be happening is that the MAC is the same for the unit with the new image but now it has a different IP address. During the TFTP/BOOTP process the MVP has different IP address. Your enterprise switch might not like this and will proceede to block what it believes is the wrong IP for a MAC address it has already resolved. When Sage gets into the "Starting Application" point try bouncing the port or clearing your ARP tables in the switch and see if that will clear the issue.


I'm tagging this post now just out of curiosity.... damn engineering background...

[dagar]

Originally Posted by _Demo_

Could you verify you are using mixed mode on your wireless router?

_Demo_

Negative Demo. I'm using a rev 1.0 wired model.


Concur with Apollinax suggestions. Change them to portfast.

[_Demo_]

Originally Posted by dagar

Negative Demo. I'm using a rev 1.0 wired model.

Those test versions are for the wireless units. Could you post your server debug log and give information on your network configuration/hardware?

_Demo_

[XSiVE]

IMO the problem is simply boils down to 1 thing, the network adapter is getting bounced when it switches from its Happauge-Fake Mac address to the Mac address that Sage uses which is the actual hardware address of the unit.

some routers / switches / wireless are taking awhile to re-negotiate that connection which causes the sagetv software to crash. Adding a timeout / retry routine in there without bouncing the network adapter might be the answer.

[Fallen Kell]

Just an FYI, my log file is the same as reported in the beginning of this thread:

Wed 6/21 20:12:21.601 Received mvp packet

Wed 6/21 20:12:21.781 Sending mvp reply
Wed 6/21 20:12:25.231 Received mvp packet

Wed 6/21 20:12:25.399 Sending mvp reply
Wed 6/21 20:12:25.408 Received tftp packet

Wed 6/21 20:12:25.410 Reading dongle.bin.ver in mode octet
Wed 6/21 20:12:25.454 Received tftp packet

Wed 6/21 20:12:25.455 Reading dongle.bin in mode octet
Wed 6/21 20:12:25.456 Opening file
Wed 6/21 20:12:25.650 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:12:25.650 Retry count exceeded

Wed 6/21 20:12:32.617 Ministry is waiting for 180 sec
Wed 6/21 20:12:39.725 At last block
Wed 6/21 20:12:39.925 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:12:40.125 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:12:40.326 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:12:40.526 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:12:40.726 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:12:40.926 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:12:41.126 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:12:41.327 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:12:41.528 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:12:41.728 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:12:41.928 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:12:41.929 Retry count exceeded


I am going to again try that mvp.bin replacement now that my signal strength has been greatly enhanced. Will keep everyone posted.

[_Demo_]

I have uploaded yet another updated version :
mvp.bin

This one mostly helps on wired connection/older wired only mvp.

_Demo_

[Fallen Kell]

Tried the first uploaded "fix" mvp.bin again. Same problem as the first time I tried to use it, it downloads the os through tftp, then it starts to boot the image, a black screen comes up and then the mvp shuts down after about 5-7 seconds.

Here is the log of this action:

Wed 6/21 20:21:01.636 Received mvp packet

Wed 6/21 20:21:01.804 Sending mvp reply
Wed 6/21 20:21:05.216 Received mvp packet

Wed 6/21 20:21:05.384 Sending mvp reply
Wed 6/21 20:21:05.393 Received tftp packet

Wed 6/21 20:21:05.395 Reading dongle.bin.ver in mode octet
Wed 6/21 20:21:05.400 Received tftp packet

Wed 6/21 20:21:05.401 Reading dongle.bin in mode octet
Wed 6/21 20:21:05.401 Opening file
Wed 6/21 20:21:05.596 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:21:05.597 Retry count exceeded

Wed 6/21 20:21:18.725 At last block
Wed 6/21 20:21:18.926 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:21:19.126 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:21:19.326 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:21:19.526 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:21:19.726 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:21:19.927 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:21:20.127 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:21:20.327 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:21:20.527 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:21:20.727 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:21:20.928 TFTP timeout

Wed 6/21 20:21:20.928 Retry count exceeded


Again, basically, it is the same as with using the original mvp.bin file, in terms of the server logs. I will see about attaching the DHCP logs requests so that I can show a more complete dataset in terms of what is happening across the network itself.

[troll5501]

MrApollinax & dagar,

Thanks for your suggestions. I enabled portfast for my MVP's switch port, and now all is well.

Demo,

I tried your latest bin file without portfast enabled, and after a minute or so of the SageTV screen flashing, the app did come up. But using portfast with Cisco, along with the release version of MVP.BIN, seems to be fine.

Bryan

[MrApollinax]

Good hear that cleared up your problems. Hopefully this and _Demo_'s MVP.bin will clear up any other remaining timeout issues.

[ignarps]

I just got my wireless mvp and am having the same issue.

I am trying the second mvp.bin you posted here but all I get is a black screen.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by ignarps

I just got my wireless mvp and am having the same issue.

I am trying the second mvp.bin you posted here but all I get is a black screen.

Go into the Sage TV directory and delete the "clients' folder and then try again.

Gerry

[rtengvad]

Hi Demo

I've tried the second mvp.bin you've posted. It seems to have solved the problem with the mvp is hanging at startup making a 'blip' or a 'screech' sound as described in this thread http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18060 . I've been able to turn the mvp on and off many times now without a freeze. Unfortunately it introduces other problems with video playback errors, so I've have reverted back to the original mvp.bin.


Keep up the good work!

rtengvad

[_Demo_]

Originally Posted by rtengvad

Unfortunately it introduces other problems with video playback errors, so I've have reverted back to the original mvp.bin.

What video playback problems have you encountered?

_Demo_

[rtengvad]

I see stutter, like “digital glips”, and the picture hanging for a millisecond or so. After ca 5-7 min. the picture freeze completly. I have to make a power cycle to make the mvp work again (pull the power is not necessary)

rtengvad

[ignarps]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Go into the Sage TV directory and delete the "clients' folder and then try again.

Gerry

Same results. The screen shows the hauppauge screen loading application and then just goes to a blank screen. After about 30 sec the mvp powers off.

[Fallen Kell]

I still have not yet been able to get it to work when at my TV. I will try some more testing again back in the room where the HTPC is and connected to that TV. I tried reverting my network to a G+B wireless network as suggested by sage tech support, as well as mentioned in the beginning of this topic (although I still do not know why this would help a wireless G device connected faster to a G+B network since this only potentially degrades the performance due to needing to stay at B rated speeds when other B devices are in the area).

I then attempted to use both the second fixed mvp.bin file as well as the origional. I did get new results with these changes, but not sure either are for the better. With the origional mvp.bin in G+B wireless mode, the system goes to the "please wait" screen, holds there for 2 seconds, goes black, and then does nothing, screen stays black, there appears to be a black video signal comming from the system, but no remote control response works, including powering off the unit. The only way to get out of this is to physically remove the plug.

With the second modified mvp.bin posted here, the system still goes to the "please wait" screen, goes black, and then shuts down (no signal comming from device). System will not turn back on by remote. Only thing that can be done is remove the power and reconnect the power and it will start the whole cycle over again.

As I said in the beginning of this post, I am going to try it again up in the same room as the HTPC (as well as the wireless ap) to see if I can get any kind of response.