Helius MVP Not working

[gilded07]

After years of working fine my Helius extenders are not connecting to the SageTV server anymore. About two or three weeks ago one wouldn't connect. I shut down one working fine and moved it to the location of the bad one and it wouldn't connect and now neither connect. I haven't had to have the edited sage properties files in years and that issue was apparently addressed in a previous SageTV update anyway. I can ping them on my network and they are assigned static IPs. I see them listed in my IP assignment table on my router. They just no longer get past the orange Helius screen. I've tried them on two different switches with different cables.

The server is a 64 bit Win 8.1 install and so I don't believe the Hauppaugge MediaMVP software will run on it (the hauppauge DL page says XP and 32bit Vista). Windows firewall is off. I see an mvp.win file in the SageTV directory. Its file size is 1,629 KB and the date for it is 4/29/2008.

Here's what's showing up on the log:

Wed 10/15 14:15:29.429 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Received bootp request
Wed 10/15 14:15:29.432 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Op:1 hwtype:1 hwaddrlen:6hopcount:0
transaction:-875011439 nSeconds:100 flags:0MAC: 00:0f:22:00:04:5e
Wed 10/15 14:15:29.435 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Couldn't match client 00:0f:22:00:04:5e
Wed 10/15 14:15:38.432 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Received bootp request
Wed 10/15 14:15:38.435 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Op:1 hwtype:1 hwaddrlen:6hopcount:0
transaction:-875011439 nSeconds:100 flags:0MAC: 00:0f:22:00:04:5e
Wed 10/15 14:15:38.438 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Couldn't match client 00:0f:22:00:04:5e
Wed 10/15 14:15:50.545 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Received bootp request
Wed 10/15 14:15:50.548 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Op:1 hwtype:1 hwaddrlen:6hopcount:0
transaction:-304926525 nSeconds:100 flags:0MAC: 00:0f:22:00:04:5e
Wed 10/15 14:15:50.551 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Couldn't match client 00:0f:22:00:04:5e
Wed 10/15 14:15:59.547 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Received bootp request
Wed 10/15 14:15:59.551 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Op:1 hwtype:1 hwaddrlen:6hopcount:0
transaction:-304926525 nSeconds:100 flags:0MAC: 00:0f:22:00:04:5e
Wed 10/15 14:15:59.554 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Couldn't match client 00:0f:22:00:04:5e
Wed 10/15 14:16:08.557 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Received bootp request
Wed 10/15 14:16:08.560 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Op:1 hwtype:1 hwaddrlen:6hopcount:0
transaction:181377941 nSeconds:100 flags:0MAC: 00:0f:22:00:04:5e
Wed 10/15 14:16:08.563 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Couldn't match client 00:0f:22:00:04:5e
Wed 10/15 14:16:17.559 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Received bootp request
Wed 10/15 14:16:17.562 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Op:1 hwtype:1 hwaddrlen:6hopcount:0
transaction:181377941 nSeconds:100 flags:0MAC: 00:0f:22:00:04:5e
Wed 10/15 14:16:17.566 [MiniBootp@fceaf5] Couldn't match client 00:0f:22:00:04:5e

I underlined the MAC address of one of the Helius extenders. Any idea why after years of connecting and working fine, out of the blue they just stopped connecting? They stopped at the end of September or 10/1 (forget...) and I can't think of anything I did to my network or to SageTV to cause this.

[superporky]

Sorry can't help but I had to check in to say wow! Helius! I still have 2! Don't use them mind you. Best of luck.
Cheers.

[gilded07]

I wouldn't be messing around with these ancient extenders if I didn't have a 20+ year old TV with only a coax input that still has life in it! Good for watching the news while folding clothes in the bed room, etc.

Anyways, I have them working again. My thx to @TheSuper for earlier in this thread referencing a 2007 thread where @tv4me described what he did to get a Helius extender to connect:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?p=301390

For anyone out there who may still be using Helius extenders and suddenly experiences the problems I did here are @tv4me's steps with some editing from me to reflect what I did:

1. Connected the Helius MVP to the network and confirmed a failure to boot to SageTV. It was stuck on the orange Helius boot screen.
2. I DL'd and installed the Hauppauge Media Server software on my SageTV server. I wasn't sure it would work because the Hauppague website says the software is for XP and Vista 32 bit. My server is 8.1 64 but it worked fine.
3. Per @tv4me's direction, I replaced dongle.bin with mvp.bin from the SageTV directory. Dongle.bin, located in C:\Program Files\Hauppauge MediaMVP\Hardware, apparently contains the boot image for the MVP.
4. Copy C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\mvp.bin to C:\Program Files\Hauppauge MediaMVP\Hardware\ and then rename mvp.bin to dongle.bin
5. Reboot server
6. Plug in the power cord to the Helius MVP
7. The Helius MVP rebooted and started the SageTV menus.

I still have no idea why they worked fine for so many years with no sage.properties file edits and no hauppauge software and then all of a sudden they quit working. Maybe a windows update or router update (https://www.untangle.com/) changed a setting that SageTV or Helius needed?