Sage 6.4 Server Hangs on Ubuntu

[LittleTinkyWink]

I purchased Sage only a week ago and have not been having very good luck with it. I'm running a clean install of ubuntu 32bit version 8. This machine is stable and is hooked via DVI to HDMI directly to my TV. I use the PlaceShifter also installed on the same machine as a GUI. The machine is a q6600 with 4 gig of memory, an 8800gt and gigabit ethernet. I'm using an HDHomerun for a tuner. I just switched from Myth and have not experienced any issues with my network, the machine or the hd homerun. I am using symbolic links in /var/media to point to another hard drive on the same computer. This appears to work quite well.

I installed without issue using the debian installer and found the sage experience to be simply wonderful! Great product, when it isn't hung.....

It seems that the lifespan of either the placeshifter or the server is less than 6 hours for me. The placeshifter and the server will both remain running, but attempting to use sage in some way will result in a waiting icon; image of an arrow following a circular pattern, and nothing else.

I notice the following symptoms when it appears to be hung.
1. I usually leave Sage sitting at the home menu. From here I can browse options.
1.a)Choosing videos will cause it to hange.
1.b) I can enter the program guide and look around. Choosing to try to look at the record options for a program will cause it to hang.
1.c)Attempting to view Sage Recordings will cause it to hang.

2. The server log appears to be clean. There is some socket and null pointer kinds of messages, but I'm not sure that they are related as they almost appear to be sunny day...?

3. The placeshifter log looks clean as well.

4. Shutting down the placeshifter and re-launching it doesn't help....

I am completely at a loss. I'm not using LIRC and am instead using a Wiimote. I believe that java 1.6 is in play unless the debian installer put on 1.5.

Help!

[stuckless]

I appear to have a similar setup as yourself, and unfortunately I don't have answers for you. My only period of instability was when I attached the HD-PVR. I was exeperiencing random lock ups for a couple of weeks. But since I took the latest kernel update and updated the HDPVR drivers, I've been running fine for a few weeks.

I'm not sure you are going to be able to figure this out without removing parts of your configuration and testing what combination of hardware is causing your issue.

You didn't mention, but I assume that you don't need to reboot the machine, but only the sage server process, to get things back to working again. If that's the case, maybe Sage server process is running into some issues, such as lack of memory?? Try increasing the amount of memory the sage server process has and see if that helps??

good luck.

[bcjenkins]

When I had this going on it was Java 1.6. I switched to 1.5_16 and no more issues like this.

B

[LittleTinkyWink]

Thanks for the reply. Well this is really good news. It tells me that something is wrong on my side and that I should be able to get it to work reliably!

Actually yesterday was a milestone. The thing lived for almost a day without having to be kicked around. What changed? Ubunut updates and I altered the server script to try and use a gig of memory.

I just reinstalled ubuntu from scratch and will take another crack at this. THanks for your help. I was reading another post from you where you listed out the packages you had installed. I wasn't missing any of yours, but added quite a few.

[LittleTinkyWink]

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

When I had this going on it was Java 1.6. I switched to 1.5_16 and no more issues like this.

B

Thanks. I'll give that a try and see if it helps. Good to know someone else had similiar issues!

My initial ubuntu yields this:

scooby-ubuntu:~$ java -version
The program 'java' can be found in the following packages:
* java-gcj-compat-headless
* openjdk-6-jre-headless
* cacao
* j2re1.4
* kaffe
* jamvm
* gij-4.1
* gij-4.2
* sablevm
Try: sudo apt-get install <selected package>
bash: java: command not found

I'll setup a 1.5 jre on the rebounce. Thanks!

[stuckless]

If you use the Synaptic package manager, search for name, "sun", and you should have java 5 or 6. I use java 6 on ubuntu without issue.