HD200 rebooting and freezing

[kstu]

I just purchased an HD200 and I’m having trouble getting it to connect to my SageTV server. It’s rebooting and freezing at every attempt to connect to my SageTV server.

A little background: I’m running the latest SageTV release software, latest SageMC stv, and I upgraded the HD200 to the latest release firmware (non-beta), so I believe I’m running off of the latest and greatest. I first hooked up the HD200 to the network (wired) to do the firmware upgrade. After that, with the HD200 3 feet from the router, I plugged in the ENUWI-N wireless card and connected the HD200 to my wireless network (using DHCP and disabling my router firewall since it wouldn’t work with it on). Everything worked flawlessly and I could access the server.

I then moved downstairs to my basement, where I’ll be running the HD200. For some reason I had significant issues getting the wireless to connect, but that seems to be working if I define a static IP. I have a connection ‘strength’ in the upper 90s (and I believe it’s working because I can get the weather updates). Here’s where I have trouble. I had to power cycle the HD200 a number of times before it would recognize the server running on my network. Then when I attempt to connect to the server, the HD200 reboots and hangs on the startup screen. I tried defining the server by IP vs automatically finding the server, and every time the router reboots and freezes. I tried resetting the config of the HD200 and still get the same error. I tried renaming the client .properties files, nothing doing.

At this point I’m out of ideas. I’ve searched the forum but can’t find anything similar to my issue. Anyone have any suggestios?

Thanks!

[Clift]

Well my first suggestion to you, which may or may not work, would be to remove SageTV from your system and try reinstalling it without any STV's or SageMC and see if that works. Many people use SageMC and multiple STV's without a problem, but trying to do it all at once can be a recipe for disaster if you missed something or a file or files did not copy correctly. It may be impossible to troubleshoot. Doing it one step at a time makes it easier to know where you may have messed up. The other thing is, you didn't say if you tried to connect to the SageTV server directly through the wired connection. If you tried that, did the HD200 rebot or did it work? If it worked wired but won't work in the basement you may have another issue. Let us know and maybe someone on the board can help.

[kstu]

I didn't try the wired connection, but I actually had the wired connection working perfectly when the HD200 was sitting 3 feet away from the router. I'm not sure why distance would cause any issues, but that is seemingly the only difference.

I did have an issue at first because my software firewall on the server wouldn't let traffic in when I had a static IP outside of the DHCP, but even after fixing that I still have the freezing problem.

I guess I'll retry the wired connection tonight, but I'm guessing that'll be just fine. I just need to get the wireless to work from the basement as I can't really get a cable run down there from the router...

[paulbeers]

So basically everything works as long as you are sitting next to your router which means you have a strong uninterupted connection. However, you move it to the basement (which means thru walls/floors etc.) where the signal quality and strength would be decreased and now it can't hold its connection right?


Following my train of thought here?

[kstu]

The wireless connection strength actually seems strong (upper 90s, when next to my router was 100), but I suppose there is no easy way to see if the signal strength varies. Initially I had a lot of timeouts when trying to connect to the router, but that seems to be stable at this point.

Could a varying signal strength (or dropping/reconnecting signal) cause a reboot and freeze?

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by kstu

The wireless connection strength actually seems strong (upper 90s, when next to my router was 100), but I suppose there is no easy way to see if the signal strength varies. Initially I had a lot of timeouts when trying to connect to the router, but that seems to be stable at this point.

Could a varying signal strength (or dropping/reconnecting signal) cause a reboot and freeze?

Yes. It is no different than if a switch loses power when hard wired or you shut down your sage server. All cause the unit to drop their connection/reboot.

[kstu]

Thanks for the responses! Here's an update after trying a few things. I again tried connecting wirelessly from right in front of the router. Worked perfectly. So I at least confirmed the hardware is good, as well as my connection settings.

So it seems that the problem is the wireless connection in the basement. I neglected to mention that I'm running a Linksys G router (WRT54-GL). I tried all of the wireless channels and got one that scored a consistent upper 90s connectivity strength. The HD200 couldn't find my server, but I called it out via IP address and it's working!

Only thing now is everything is SLOW and blurry! Placeshifter on my laptop right next to the HD200 has a perfect picture, so after all that, do I just need an N router? I'm only running SD, so I would have thought a G connection would be sufficient. (and as I type this, everything just froze, presumably from a dropped connection)