Once again, SageTV locks up w/ no recovery

[korben_dallas]

Originally Posted by ToxMox

I'll repeat what I said in the first reply to this thread:

I take it you are running SageTV in service mode correct?

Enable Service Recovery:
-----------------------------

Should the service crash, Windows can restart it automatically if this option is checked.

The service is not crashing. It is locking up and remains in the Started state. And my attempts at a manual stop/restart of the service have failed in both instances, hence the need for a total reboot.

I'm sure pursuing stability is a worthy and necessary cause for Dan & Jeff, but imo a failsafe process with options for restarting the service or killing the gui or, if-all-else-fails, rebooting the PC would add value and enhance SageTV's reliability.

[ToxMox]

korben:
What java version are you running? Have you been in touch with support and had logs of what happens right before or during the service freezing?

[korben_dallas]

Originally Posted by ToxMox

korben:
What java version are you running? Have you been in touch with support and had logs of what happens right before or during the service freezing?

Java is the default that is installed w/ SageTV 5.0.4 release version. Using stock STV w/ no plugins.

Nope, have not contacted Support, and I don't see any log files in the SageTV directory now. I'll admit I was too upset at the time to be clear thinking about trying to capture any info that would identify the cause, but I didn't want to lose any more shows by leaving it stuck overnight waiting on a reply from Support, if they could even do anything about it.

[ToxMox]

Could you tell me exactly what version of Java Sage is using.
You can find out by going to Setup - Help - System Information in the Sage interface.

To enable debug logging close Sage and stop the service then edit the Sage.properties file and look for the line that has debug_logging
and set it to debug_logging=TRUE (the caps on TRUE matter) Then next time it crashes there will be a text file in the Sage folder called sagetv_0.txt and some others. Just zip those up and send em to Sage or look at it yourself and see what is happening right before or during the freeze to maybe find the culprit. Sage automatically cycles the logs and keeps the 4 most recent with a new one cycling in everyday or everytime you stop and start Sage. In the meantime you don't have to wait for a response or anything just start Sage again so you don't miss shows

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by ToxMox

Could you tell me exactly what version of Java Sage is using.

BTW: you can find out what java version SageTV is using on the System Information screen.

It can also help to use the Info command on that screen (after it has fully loaded) to save the details to SystemInfo.txt in your SageTV dir.

- Andy

[ToxMox]

Originally Posted by Opus4

BTW: you can find out what java version SageTV is using on the System Information screen.

Isn't that what I said?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by ToxMox

Isn't that what I said?

Heh, I'm having reading comprehension issues, I suppose. I wanted to add the part about writing the sys info to the text file for support... but now you'll probably tell me I missed that in your post too. At least I noticed you already mentioned how to turn on debug logging.

- Andy

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by mscottsimon

...typically the box is COMPLETELY nonresponsive so a reset is required...

Therefore, I need a watchdog to restart Sage in its entirety.

If you're locking up that hard, a software watchdog probably won't help because it won't be able to run either.

However you might be able to make use of something like this:

http://www.kvm-switches-online.com/iboot.html

This is a hardware device that can be configured to ping your box at some specified interval and cycle the power if the ping fails N times in a row. It's meant for exactly this sort of application where you have some unattended machine that needs to be able to self-recover from hard crashes and lockups. I use one to keep my routers from going belly-up when I'm out of town.

Of course I'd still recommend working with tech support to troubleshoot and resolve your lockup issue.