The SageTV Media Center is Booting Up. Please wait.

[bcjenkins]

Please submit a bug report. I have been told that it is likely due to server 2k3. They need some XP reports. Interestingly enough, I was able to reproduce it easily by turning on and off an mvp 10-12 times.

I don't have a fix, but I am patched. I run a "Scheduled Task" at 3:00AM

sc stop sagetv

3:01AM

sc start sagetv

Runs daily, no lockup since

B

[naln]

Just restarted Sage Server with the logging enabled. Will send this to bug submission/tech support next time the problem shows up.

Could you tell me how to implement the scheduled restart of SageTV?- don't want to be manually restarting SageTV every so often.

[bcjenkins]

I have Sage running in service mode. If you do as well, the utility sc.exe can control services with simple command line parameters.

sc stop sagetv
sc start sagetv

Just use the built in Scheduled Tasks function in control panel.

HIH

b

[naln]

bcjenkins - could you please guide me through the process.
I could get the commands to work on the cmd screen and I found the scheduled task options...I just can't figure out how to pass the command line text input once I add the task (to run cmd).....am I doing something wrong here?

[joe123]

I am confused why Sage support wont just do this themselfs.

I discovered how to reproduce the problem, several here have been able to reproduce it, it's simple to reproduce, so why wont Sage just do it themselfs?

I have not been home enough lately to be able to run it in debug mode and send in all the files.

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

I don't have a fix, but I am patched. I run a "Scheduled Task" at 3:00AM
sc stop sagetv

I actually just force a reboot at 5am, clears everything down.
The batch file just needs:
shutdown -r -t 60

The -t just tells it how many seconds to wait, so if you're still up you can cancel it. I have it shut down my MyTheatre sessions first.

[joe123]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

I actually just force a reboot at 5am, clears everything down.
The batch file just needs:
shutdown -r -t 60

The -t just tells it how many seconds to wait, so if you're still up you can cancel it. I have it shut down my MyTheatre sessions first.

And how do you go about making sure that is not recording 1 or multiple movies when the system reboots?

Also, if you are like most here, your system may not boot up every single time. I usually get 1 in 30 or so times when my PC wont boot up with some weird error. If this happens at the wrong time, you could end up with multiple recordings being missed.

This "fix" is a terrbile idea and I will stay the course that Sage should fix it. I did not have this problem in V5, so this is a new bug that Sage introduced in V6.

[naln]

I think we all agree that Sage should fix this bug....but I think most people are trying for 'temporary' solutions - just so that they don't have to manually reboot the server each time or sit down with remote in hand in front of the TV to watch something only to realize that the MVP does not connect well.....

I think we also agree that 'Shutdown' may not work all the time...but most of our servers don't run too many applications and hence one of Window's processes waiting for an input to shutdown maybe a smaller chance....at least weighed against a manual reboot everytime..... But I wonder if there is a way to send some sort of 'Kill' signal to all processes...like I've seen my NASlite server do when I shut down...that way- its a no questions asked shutdown....

At least this is my approach...so I would still like some pointers on how to create the batch files mentioned in rickgillyon's and bcjenkins' posts...I'm not very savvy with this stuff so any help is appreciated....

[joe123]

Originally Posted by naln

At least this is my approach...so I would still like some pointers on how to create the batch files mentioned in rickgillyon's and bcjenkins' posts...I'm not very savvy with this stuff so any help is appreciated....

Don't forget to ask them how the shutdown script will know if there are recording(s) in progress or not when the scripts reboots your PC

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by joe123

And how do you go about making sure that is not recording 1 or multiple movies when the system reboots?

I've never yet recorded movies at 5am so it's not an issue for me. If you make a little effort with the search function you will find scripts on the forums that do check if recordings are ongoing before performing maintenance tasks.

Originally Posted by joe123

Also, if you are like most here, your system may not boot up every single time. I usually get 1 in 30 or so times when my PC wont boot up with some weird error.

Then you should do some work on your PC! Mine reboots cleanly every time. If it didn't I would work out why and fix it. Otherwise when your power goes out when you're away, you're risking big problems...

Originally Posted by joe123

This "fix" is a terrbile idea

Works for me. Not implemented to fix this bug BTW, I just find that the whole setup runs more smoothly with a daily reboot. "terrbile" or not, it's been working flawlessly for me for many months...

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by naln

I wonder if there is a way to send some sort of 'Kill' signal to all processes

If you change:

shutdown -r -t 60

to

shutdown -r -f -t 60

it will force the shutdown. This is a bit risky as it doesn't wait for applications to finish gracefully so Sage (for example) may not finish writing wiz.bin etc.

Originally Posted by naln

so I would still like some pointers on how to create the batch files mentioned in rickgillyon's and bcjenkins' posts

Simple - just copy the line

shutdown -r -t 60

into a text file, save or rename the file as, say, HTPCRESTART.BAT (don't call it SHUTDOWN.BAT!). Double-click it to test that it works. Then go to Control Panel, Scheduled Tasks to create a new task to run the file you just created. Pick a sensible time to schedule it. If you don't have a quiet window, this solution isn't going to work for you, you'll need a far more complicated VBS script...

[naln]

Thanks rickgillyon!!

I'll search for the scripts you mentioned to check for ongoing recordings.

I typically do not like to restart the media server everyday, but then again, I don't like the 'SageTV Media Center is Booting Up....' either . Then again I also see merit to your argument that the processes run smoother...I've noticed the mem usage being a problem on the sageserver with MVP usage(sort of a drifting baseline usage gradually upwards). I'll see if this fixes it.

[AndyS]

If it helps anyone, it appears as though my problems have been resolved by switching to the version of the tuner plugin mentioned above.

Hope you guys get your issues resolved soon.

Andy.

EDIT: Just in case you don't know what I did to fix my problem, here's the post (#35) where I mentioned it.

[joe123]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

I've never yet recorded movies at 5am so it's not an issue for me. If you make a little effort with the search function you will find scripts on the forums that do check if recordings are ongoing before performing maintenance tasks.

You made some good points on some, but you are way off on others - and I do mean way off.

If you have favorites setup, it will record shows at whatever time the EPG data says to record. This changes from day to day. The entire purpose of Sage or TiVo or any other type of PVR is the fact that you don't care when a recording happens, just the fact that it happens. That recording may be at 1pm or 1am.

You mention that there are scripts available to know if recordings are currently under way or not. This is one of the things I see wrong with these Forums. Of course they are available and you need a freaking person knowledage in 25 different things to figure it out.

The average person here knows a lot, but falls far short of knowing enough to put together all of these complicated things. Case in point, you were not able to provide a sample script on how to tell if recordings were in progress or not before rebooting.

I am willing to bet that if you come back with a "sample script" for knowing when to reboot, it will entail having to install new this and that and configure this and that and a lot of work. A lot of work that needs not be if the BUG was fixed.

Joe

[nyplayer]

Here you go. This will check up to 5 drives for activity. If no activity is happening it will restart the server. If you do not have 5 drives you can just simply change the remaining drives all to C:

do
'WScript.sleep(1 * 1000)
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

secondstowait=60
Set objDrive = objFSO.GetDrive("M:")
Set objDrive2 = objFSO.GetDrive("N:")
Set objDrive3 = objFSO.GetDrive("O:")
Set objDrive4 = objFSO.GetDrive("T:")
Set objDrive5 = objFSO.GetDrive("U:")

diskm1=objDrive.DriveLetter & "=" & objDrive.AvailableSpace
diskn1=objDrive2.DriveLetter & "=" & objDrive2.AvailableSpace
disko1=objDrive3.DriveLetter & "=" & objDrive3.AvailableSpace
diskt1=objDrive4.DriveLetter & "=" & objDrive4.AvailableSpace
disku1=objDrive5.DriveLetter & "=" & objDrive5.AvailableSpace

Wscript.Sleep (secondstowait * 1000)

Set objDrive = objFSO.GetDrive("M:")
Set objDrive2 = objFSO.GetDrive("N:")
Set objDrive3 = objFSO.GetDrive("O:")
Set objDrive4 = objFSO.GetDrive("T:")
Set objDrive5 = objFSO.GetDrive("U:")

diskm2=objDrive.DriveLetter & "=" & objDrive.AvailableSpace
diskn2=objDrive2.DriveLetter & "=" & objDrive2.AvailableSpace
disko2=objDrive3.DriveLetter & "=" & objDrive3.AvailableSpace
diskt2=objDrive4.DriveLetter & "=" & objDrive4.AvailableSpace
disku2=objDrive5.DriveLetter & "=" & objDrive5.AvailableSpace

if diskm1=diskm2 and diskn1=diskn2 and disko1=disko2 and diskt1=diskt2 and disku1=disku2 then
'msgbox "equal will reboot"
Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
objShell.Run "s:\ResstartServer.bat",2,true
else
'msgbox "not equal will not reboot"
end if
loop



ResstartServer.bat below

"s:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\SendMessage.exe" -C SageClientApp -N SageWin -m 16 0 0
"s:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\SendMessage.exe" -C SageApp -N SageWin -m 16 0 0
net stop dirmon2
net stop SageTV
shutdown -r -f

[joe123]

Does the script simply check for disk activity during the last 1000 seconds?

Dosen't SageTV check all drives every few minutes for all the recordings it knows about. If so, won't this make your script not work?

EDIT: Ah, ok, it's checking for disk space. So if a recording starts right after the 2nd part of test, won't this script think that there is NO disk writes and go through with the reboot? Some shows start at weird hours.

[bcjenkins]

Joe, have you filed a bug report yet? I would like to have them resolve the issue as well, but until they have a bug report from XP, I am out. Help me help you get this resolved.

TIA

B

[joe123]

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

Joe, have you filed a bug report yet? I would like to have them resolve the issue as well, but until they have a bug report from XP, I am out. Help me help you get this resolved.
B

I need to YANK my SageTV PC, 2 MVP's and 1 TV and bring them in to work so that I can create the debug report.

I have not been home much and when I am home, either my daughter or my wife is using the darn thing. I have tweaked Sage so much that if it breaks again, my wife and daughter will want TiVo back and Sage out and that is bad, BAD news.

It's like going back to the dark ages with TiVo.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by joe123

Does the script simply check for disk activity during the last 1000 seconds?

Dosen't SageTV check all drives every few minutes for all the recordings it knows about. If so, won't this make your script not work?

EDIT: Ah, ok, it's checking for disk space. So if a recording starts right after the 2nd part of test, won't this script think that there is NO disk writes and go through with the reboot? Some shows start at weird hours.

secondstowait=60 means it waits for 1 minute between checks. You can set that to whatever you want. Currently I have mine to run at 6:05 am. It will continue checking if the drive is being used at 6:05 until it finds a point in time where there is no recordings. My Server Takes a few seconds to reboot... I have never missed a recording yet . :-)

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by joe123

If you have favorites setup, it will record shows at whatever time the EPG data says to record. This changes from day to day.

Duh, obviously.
I have never missed a show by rebooting at 5am. What's on at 5am that isn't already a repeat anyway? The whole reboot takes a couple of minutes. As I said before, if you don't have a quiet period that solution is not for you.

Originally Posted by joe123

You mention that there are scripts available to know if recordings are currently under way or not. This is one of the things I see wrong with these Forums. Of course they are available and you need a freaking person knowledage in 25 different things to figure it out.

The average person here knows a lot, but falls far short of knowing enough to put together all of these complicated things. Case in point, you were not able to provide a sample script on how to tell if recordings were in progress or not before rebooting.

You don't need to know it, you need to be willing to make the effort to search for it. If you can't be bothered, don't. Don't expect other people to make the effort for you! My reboot works fine so I had no desire to waste my time searching for it.

Originally Posted by joe123

I am willing to bet that if you come back with a "sample script" for knowing when to reboot, it will entail having to install new this and that and configure this and that and a lot of work.

Wrong.