Boot up blinking Wired MVP

[HeyGuy101]

OK, I just got my MVP from the Sage store and I have the issue where it will blink on the boot up screen and not do anything else. I have seen parts of this answered on here but not much info for wired MVPs. I have my MVP wired to a Netgear router to which Sage 5.04 is wired as well. I have used PlaceShifter on this server and it works well. The MVP checks the network, loads up its initial software, then says Loading Application, then it goes blank and about every 2 seconds I can see the "SageTV Media Extender is booting up..." "Please Wait" screen, but that is it. I can't find the modified mvp.bin files that previous posts had talked about so I'm not sure if those would help. Anybody have any ideas?

[stevech]

I went through days of fits with my Wired MVP. Totally illogical as to what will make it work.
It seems to "remember" MAC addresses and ARP stuff, and not correctly deal with a change in ethernet (not IP) addresses for what it is connected to. Like it doesn't do ARP per the standards, or only when it feels like it.

And it doesn't like some switches and routers for ARP.

And it doesn't like some DHCP servers.

And it seems to need to be powered-off for for an hour or more so it will age-out something, or the router has to be reset or age-out ARP tables. Or some magic.

Or it needs a dose of useage of the Hauppage application software, then uninstall that and try Sage again.

And you must use a lot of swear words.

The root problem, IMO, is that Sage doesn't correctly implement the goofy TFTP and second-DHCP that the MVP wants, and perhaps Hauppauge won't reveal the idiosyncracies. It works reliably with Hauppauge's software.

It may screw up if there are certain kinds of packets from other devices flowing during its bootup, esp. first-time.

Good luck.

Once it works, if you touch nothing, it will keep working. Mine's on a WiFi bridge (Buffalo) with a very strong RF signal and is reliable.

[tipstir]

Originally Posted by HeyGuy101

OK, I just got my MVP from the Sage store and I have the issue where it will blink on the boot up screen and not do anything else. I have seen parts of this answered on here but not much info for wired MVPs. I have my MVP wired to a Netgear router to which Sage 5.04 is wired as well. I have used PlaceShifter on this server and it works well. The MVP checks the network, loads up its initial software, then says Loading Application, then it goes blank and about every 2 seconds I can see the "SageTV Media Extender is booting up..." "Please Wait" screen, but that is it. I can't find the modified mvp.bin files that previous posts had talked about so I'm not sure if those would help. Anybody have any ideas?

Turn on the MVP
On SAGETV server PC
click on start
click on run
type: cmd
type: arp -a

you should see the SAGETV server PC IP address
default-gateway IP
and the MVP IP address

or

you might just see SAGETV server PC IP address
MVP IP address mac address

try pinging the MVP IP address?


type: nbtstat - n

LAN Node IP address of SAGETV PC
this will should current computer name of PC
your workgroup name

nbtstat -r purges the cache table
netsh interface ip delete arpcache purges arp cache table
ipconfig /flushdns purges the dns cache table

if you get error when you do ipconfig /flushdns
Could not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during execution.
that means that the DNS Client was not running
It can be fixed

in a dos window or where you typed: ipconfig /flushdns
you would type:

REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache /V Start /T REG_DWORD /F /D 2

Wait for the OK

then exit out
reboot the PC
then login back
click on start
click on run
type: cmd
type: ipconfig /flushdns --- should be working!

One more item.. In VISTA under My Network Places or (Network Places) there is a feature to show the Internet Gateway - The Router and your network PCs show up in a network mapp. In XP you can have The Router show up and it will be and icon in the system tray. This seem to solved some network issues with the MVP and the Router and if got any other PC on the network to you should try using this feature.

On the right lower side of My Network Places in XP there is a line that reads Show UPnP devices (but before you can use this) makes sure that the router has this feature enabled.

If you click on start/run then type: services.msc
You need to make sure two important services is running:

SSDP -- enabled and set to auto
Universal Plug and Play ---- enabled and set to auto

Now you can click on Show UPnP devices once this is done it all add the right components and then your router will appear.

Try the above to make the MVP show up.

[FidgetyRat]

I need to try a few of the steps mentioned above for one of my Wired MVPs when I get home. I decided to leave it unplugged while I am at work.

I tried searching threads for this problem but they all seem old and also dedicated to the wireless MVP. I figured by now they fixed this issue but I guess not!

It is really strange that my second MVP is working just fine and this one randomly for the first time in 2 years decides to start blinking at the sageTV boot screen.

Gar...

[CollinR]

I made the SageTV server also the DHCP server, stopped all the troubles I ever had. I also have the SageTV server and all MVPs on the same switch.

I agree it seems to be a time limit from aquiring DHCP configuration to the time it finishes the bootp. If this time is exceeded it seems to croak. Having both required services on the same box seems to reduce this time as once it starts getting the DHCP it has already found the source of it's application package.

[FidgetyRat]

I figured it had something to do with the DHCP. I recently changed routers so I figured I would hit a few roadblocks, but cannot seem to figure out why this one MVP is having trouble while the other is working perfectly fine. I even have both set to the same static DHCP settings as the old router. Figures.


Hopefully leaving it unplugged for 10 hours or so will help it snap back!

[CollinR]

You'll have the most troubles after a power failure as they all try to reconnect at the same time. Thats actually why I went the route I did, I could always get them to connect one at a time.

[FidgetyRat]

OK I am definitely having major issues with my MVPs now. Yesterday the second MVP decided it can't find the boot server. After hours of tinkering, I found out its because sage is using the wrong IP for the miniserver. I set the force_miniserver_ip option to the adapter I want it to use.

Sage still reports the wrong IP in the setup (but appears to really use the IP I want now), but it seems the older MVP is now able to connect properly. Don't ask me what the heck is going on there.


The newer MVP is still not connecting. It is able to successfully get an IP from my router (I checked the logs). The server creates the proper properties files for the client mac address, so I know it is at least talking to the server. It downloads the bootloader properly. I then get the SageTV application is starting up screen that just contunually flashes for eternity every 1 second. Network traffic is occuring the entire time.


Can anyone help me? Why can't I get my (newer version) wired MVP to boot yet the older version works perfectly fine?

Other older threads mention a modified mvp.bin file, but that is from 2006 and I figure that problem was addressed since I am using the newest version of sage.

Clearly this isn't a network issue any longer since it is communicating with the server and router fine.


HELP!


For curiosity, I had everything working fine for the past year until 2 things changed:

1) New router - Running Linksys WRT-54GL wiht Tomato firmware.
2) The sage server is now doubling as an OpenVPN tun server.

The MVPs are on the same switches they have always been on.

As I said earlier, one of the 2 MVPs is working fine, so I don't think there is any configuration errors. But for some reason the newer MVP is just refusing to load the sage software.

Yesterday I moved the working MVP into the non-working MVP's network cable to test. It still works fine so the problem is definitely something to do with the new MVP.

Today's plan:
1) Disable VPN adapter to see if anything changes. I doubt this will do anything since MVP #1 works fine, but at least will eliminate that factor.

[FidgetyRat]

I did a bit of research on the MVPs and at least figured out why my 2 operate in different manners.

The old MVP (my first one) has a different boot procedure then the new MVP. The old one follows a bit more of a "dumb" approach, seeking the tftp server and downloading the file.

The new MVP with more onboard flash, has a separate scheme for obtaining DHCP address, contacting the server, and then obtaining the mvp.bin.


From what I can figure, it is possible that sage is giving the new MVP the wrong address of the server after it sends the mvp.bin file. Even though it retrieves the file from the correct server, it seems to be redirecting to a different address after the file is sent.

I can only assume this is due to multiple IPs being on the same server. Even though I forced sage to use the proper IP, it does still show up incorrectly in sage's setup screen. I can only assume that if sage can't figure out its IP was forced, then at least 1 or more parts of sage could also be using this incorrect IP, possibly even the parts that deal wiht the newer MVPs.

The first thing I will do when I get home is disable the VPN entirely and see if that corrects the problem. I have a small PC I can use as the VPN instead of the sage server, but I did really want to keep serving applications on the same box. Oh well.


MVPs are such a pain.

[FidgetyRat]

Update for anyone that was actually following this thread.

I have gotten everything to finally work properly. Turns out the #1 cause of all the problems was that sage simply cannot handle a server with more then 1 interface.

Even by setting the miniserver_force_ip directive in the properties file, sage is unable to use the right address for all its functionality. I guess this directive is completely useless since sage just ignores it.

by removing the vpn and loopback interfaces from my system, sage now uses the correct IP and both MVPs work flawlessly again.



So in summary, make sure your server only has a single IP.