High CPU Usage?

[Ryand833]

I've noticed lately that I've been having a few minor problems with Sage. The UI seems generally slow (both on the MediaMVP and on the placeshifter from local network connections). For example, I can click on a menu item in the placeshifter, and it will take ~3-5 seconds to take me to that menu.

Another thing I've noticed is that when I'm watching LiveTV in the placeshifter, I have to be a few seconds behind in the program or else it will result in very choppy playback.

I can look at my CPU activity (via the Process Manager in Windows) and the CPU usage seems to spike (often at or near 100%) when the UI locks up on the clients.

I've recently upgraded Sage and Java, so I guess that might be the issue, but does anyone have any ideas or know what the problem might be?

Here are my system specs:
OS: Windows XP Pro SP2
SageTV Version: 6.3.10.166
Java Version: 1.6.0_05
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (runs at 2.0 GHz)
Mem: 1 GB Corsair DDR PC3200
HDD: Maxtor 320 GB (149 GB free) and WD 300 GB (88 GB free)
Tuners: 2x Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150, 1x Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500, all capturing from 4 satellite receivers tuned with one USB-UIRT

[Ryand833]

Well, just an update, I did some playing around... Stopped service, restarted, rebooted, etc., nothing changed.

Saw this post in the hardware stickies and tried it out: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30627

My CPU usage isn't pegging at 99% and the animations are super smooth now, no flickering or locking up at all.

Just thought I'd post this here in case anyone forgets to read the stickies like I did

[gveres]

I was so hopeful when I read your post because I am experiencing the same thing. But unfortunately, I am running on Intel CPUs.

I have to say that right now Sage seems incredibly buggy to me. I have to kill and restart the service quite often - once every day or two and that is with very little use. I am afraid to let my kids and wife at it. I am expecting to have to quit and restart it multiple times a day at this rate..

I am wondering if I have the right Java versions installed. I have:

j2re1.4.2_13
jre1.6.0_03
jre1.6.0_05

installed. I don't pretend to understand how Java works, I generally hate Java from a user point of view. So I don't know how sage picks up the version it decides to use.

Anyway ... off to restart the service to get this working again.

Thanks for any help you guys can give me.
Greg

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by gveres

I was so hopeful when I read your post because I am experiencing the same thing. But unfortunately, I am running on Intel CPUs.

Check that sticky again, further down -- I think some people were reporting that there were updates for Intel cpus too.

I am wondering if I have the right Java versions installed. I have:

j2re1.4.2_13
jre1.6.0_03
jre1.6.0_05

You can check which version of Java SageTV is using by going to the System Information screen.

Of the ones you have installed, SageTV should be using v1.6.0_05. If it isn't, then the easiest thing to do would be to uninstall all the other ones & keep just the latest version. (There is a way to specify which one SageTV will use, but I don't remember it.)

- Andy

[gveres]

Thanks Andy.

The server is rebooting right now after installing the MS patch.

I will probaby go ahead and uninstall the other versions of Java and just leave _05.

Thanks again for your help.
Greg

[Brent]

Originally Posted by gveres

I
I have to say that right now Sage seems incredibly buggy to me. I have to kill and restart the service quite often - once every day or two and that is with very little use. I am afraid to let my kids and wife at it. I am expecting to have to quit and restart it multiple times a day at this rate..

Greg,
Hang in there. That is certainly not normal behavior. You should NOT be needing to restart the service that often - actually ever unless you are doing it manually for some other reason. Keep us posted as there surely is a fix - if the above advice doesn't do it for you.

[gveres]

Thanks Brent.

Today I moved the HD extender up to the living room from the theater in the basement. In the living room the kids are going to beat on it, so I will keep track of how much I have to intervene.

Its now going from my occassional use to everyday use.

Greg

[gveres]

Yea, I am seeing big delays in the UI of placeshifter and HD extenders at random times.

Just now I was playing with the HD extender and it wouldn't play a video (after a good 30 seconds it would come back with a playback error). I turned the unit off and on again and it wouldn't load at all. I assume the server crashed time to check that out.

Nope, the server is still running, it just wont service placeshifter / extender activity.

I am wondering if the best thing to do is uninstall it and start from scratch.

I hate to do that because, unlike BTV, it seems that this is going to cause it to loose all my recording information, right? Well, if that is going to have to happen, now is the time to do it, not later when I have 500 GB of shows.

Greg

[Slipshod]

Originally Posted by gveres

I hate to do that because, unlike BTV, it seems that this is going to cause it to loose all my recording information, right? Well, if that is going to have to happen, now is the time to do it, not later when I have 500 GB of shows.

The wiz.bin file in your sagetv install directory contains all of your show and favorites information. Keep a backup of that file and after you reinstall you can copy it over the default one to resotre everything.

[gveres]

Yea I read about the wiz.bin file. But isn't that one of the things that I want to start fresh with if I reinstall because of these crashes?

I guess I could take a two step approach. I could back up wiz.bin, reinstall and see if the crashes go away.

If they don't,then I can reinstall again with a fresh wiz.bin and see if the crashes go away.

I will try that this weekend when I have some time.

Greg

[Slipshod]

Originally Posted by gveres

Yea I read about the wiz.bin file. But isn't that one of the things that I want to start fresh with if I reinstall because of these crashes?

I guess I could take a two step approach. I could back up wiz.bin, reinstall and see if the crashes go away.

If they don't,then I can reinstall again with a fresh wiz.bin and see if the crashes go away.

I will try that this weekend when I have some time.

Greg

Just keep a copy of the fresh wiz.bin after you reinstall, before you put in the original one. If it's still crashing, swap in the wiz.bin from the reinstall and see what happens.