"No Signal" & "Halt Detected" errors

[puulima]

I posted this last night as a reply to an older thread...probably not a good idea...so reposting as a new one.
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I installed the latest version of SageTV earlier this week...it ran nicely for a day or so then I started receiving the "No Signal" messages when I tried to tune into ANY Live TV channel. This affected ALL channels. I received other error messages noting things like the tuner could not be found or something to that effect.

It took a reboot to fix the issue each time. This continued to happen and when trying to record shows I would get up in the morning to find 1 or 2 recorded, but the last one would have ended abruptly...and then I stumbled on the HALT DETECTED messages...tons of them.

I thought perhaps it was an issue with me new ATI USB TV Wnder 650 but I see there are MANY posts on these same issues in here with various tuners.

To rule it out, I did a reinstall of my OS (from an Image I have saved), and ran the tuner with Media Center (I'm on Vista Ultimate). No issues whatsoever with the tuner for the several days I tried that. I was able to record all shows I marked, never received ANY "No Signal" messages and things ran smoothly.

So I disabled all the Media Center services as per instructions I found (see attached PDF) but w/o all the bells & whistles - installed the latest version of Java and then installed Sage. Things ran smoothly for the first 3-4 hours...then near the end of CSI tonight...the recording halted...I have numerous HALT DETECTED error messages and when trying to tune into the channel (or any channel) after that - it's back to the "No Signal" message.

I tried stopping and restarting the Sage service..no luck. Finally I rebooted and it's been recording fine for the past half hour.

I've read through as many of the "No Signal" and "Halt Detected" posts but haven't seen any conclusive solutions. I did note there were some posts pointing towards Drive issues. I did go into my Diskeeper setup and added exclusions for ALL folders listed as "Record" folders. I will try running some HD diagnostics in the morning. But I'm recording to an external USB hard drive - nothing on the network. I can try recording only to my C:\ drive to eliminate any issues with the USB connection for the HD. Since the ATI tuner is a USB device - perhaps this is related?

I've tried everything I can think of. I'm leaning towards this being a Sage issue since Media Center worked for the several days I used it with the tuner.

BTW: I'm using OTA Digital stations and my signal for MOST stations is 95% or better. There are a few in the high 80% range and occasionally one (across the lake) drops to the mid 70's. But at no time have I ever lost any channel on my TV or while testing with Media center. And I can't see why losing even a few stations would cause the "link" between Sage and the tuner to fail...and NOT be recoverable.

If there truly was a signal issue, then why does a reboot fix it - every time?

I've seen quite a number of references to these issues (well at least the "no signal" part) popping up for folks that had just upgraded to the latest version of Sage - folks that ran prior versions for some time w/o this issue...that seems to further underline this is a potential Sage issue?

Anybody have any thoughts - or know of any posts that might help? I'm sure I haven't seen them all.

Here are the error messages for the HALTS (the recent ones this evening before I rebooted).

pri=2;type=1100;time=1271382812083;msg=The device input "ATI AVStream Analog Capture Digital TV Tuner" stopped producing data while recording "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" on WWJDT on physical channel 44-62-1. SageTV will try to reset the device. This may be caused by a channel that is no longer available.;VCaptureDeviceInput=ATI AVStream Analog Capture Digital TV Tuner;VCaptureDevice=ATI AVStream Analog Capture;VPhysicalChannel=44-62-1;VChannelName=WWJDT;VTitle=CSI: Crime Scene Investigation;

pri=3;type=1100;time=1271382885055;msg=The device input "ATI AVStream Analog Capture Digital TV Tuner" stopped producing data while recording "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" on WWJDT on physical channel 44-62-1. SageTV will try to reset the device. This may be caused by a channel that is no longer available.;end=1271383200216;rep=5;VCaptureDeviceInput=ATI AVStream Analog Capture Digital TV Tuner;VCaptureDevice=ATI AVStream Analog Capture;VPhysicalChannel=44-62-1;VChannelName=WWJDT;VTitle=CSI: Crime Scene Investigation;

pri=3;type=1100;time=1271383275023;msg=The device input "ATI AVStream Analog Capture Digital TV Tuner" stopped producing data while recording "The Mentalist" on WWJDT on physical channel 44-62-1. SageTV will try to reset the device. This may be caused by a channel that is no longer available.;end=1271383603073;rep=4;VCaptureDeviceInput=ATI AVStream Analog Capture Digital TV Tuner;VCaptureDevice=ATI AVStream Analog Capture;VPhysicalChannel=44-62-1;VChannelName=WWJDT;VTitle=The Mentalist;

pri=3;type=1102;time=1271383443718;msg=The device input "ATI AVStream Analog Capture Digital TV Tuner" failed to record "The Mentalist" on WWJDT on physical channel 44-62-1 at Thu 4/15 22:00. The TV source for this input may have become disconnected, powered off, has lost its signal, the channel is no longer available, or the device is failing.;end=1271383774344;rep=2;VCaptureDeviceInput=ATI AVStream Analog Capture Digital TV Tuner;VCaptureDevice=ATI AVStream Analog Capture;VPhysicalChannel=44-62-1;VStartTime=1271383200000;VChannelName=WWJDT;VTitle=The Mentalist;

pri=2;type=1100;time=1271383528062;msg=The device input "ATI AVStream Analog Capture Digital TV Tuner" stopped producing data while recording "The Mentalist" on WWJDT on physical channel 44-62-1. SageTV will try to reset the device. This may be caused by a channel that is no longer available.;VCaptureDevice=ATI AVStream Analog Capture;VCaptureDeviceInput=ATI AVStream Analog Capture Digital TV Tuner;VPhysicalChannel=44-62-1;VChannelName=WWJDT;VTitle=The Mentalist;


Also - I found the attached file in the SageTV folder...this either occurred just before I rebooted or just after? My recordings resumed at 10:09 (reboot) so I'm guessing this file (timestamped 10:07) was from when I closed out SageTV and rebooted?

Perhaps this is not relevant to the problem but sending along anyways...that reference to "fatal" jumped out at me.

I also saw one post that said to remove ALL Java from the PC and reinstall the current version. Would that help?

Thanks!
sr

[PiX64]

Are you using UNC paths for recording by any chance?

in case you are take a look at this thread.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47808

[puulima]

I'm recording to a USB external drive. That path and a folder on my C: drive are setup as the recording locations although Sage appears to be using the external drive solely - likely due to the larger capacity I suppose.

I read the posts related to UNC as well as anything I could find that appeared to be even remotely related but no luck determining what the issue is. I just read the thread you noted but since I'm not using UNC paths, mine must be a different issue. I did see MeInMaui's note about drivers. When I installed my ATI TV Wonder 650 USB Combo tuner -Vista downloaded an installed the driver. Not in front of the PC right now but it was something like ATSC Hybrid Mini Card or Tuner? I originally thought that was the issue so went to AMD's site and found drivers for my device and installed. That didn't help (actually seemed to be worse?). I tried a clean install by installing the ATI drivers BEFORE I plugged the tuner in - same issues. I read some other posts from Win7 users noting the drivers were automatically downloaded also and I believe the driver name was the same.

Windows is up to date, my video card drivers as well.

I'm going to try recording only to the C: drive - but can't see how the drive or access speed for writing would have anything to do with the "no signal" error. From what I see - seems like the halts are the byproduct of the signal loss. And since the hardware works fine under WMC - seems to be something in Sage that isn't quite working?

Thanks for the assistance.

Should this thread be posted under Sage Software vs. Hardware? Hard to tell what the issue is.

Are there any interim or beta releases/builds for Sage since the latest official version was released?

Thanks!

[vince100]

I have exactly the same problem -- the dreaded "halt detected" and "no signal" error. It renders one tuner completely unusable until a reboot, but other tuners may work just fine. It is not a tuner problem, because the halt would occur randomly on any tuner.

I've tried anything I could find regarding this problem, still couldn't figure what was causing it. The only thing I'm sure is that this is a Sage-only problem. I've tried quite a few other applications, and have never experienced anything like it.

[rtengvad]

For how long have you had this problem? I have a similar issue with my two firewire tuners. It began some months ago and without me having changed anything with my Sage setup. Could it be a windows update that messed up?

Rasmus

[APillowOfClouds]

Originally Posted by rtengvad

For how long have you had this problem? I have a similar issue with my two firewire tuners. It began some months ago and without me having changed anything with my Sage setup. Could it be a windows update that messed up?

Rasmus

I've been having this issue quite a lot too. I get several "halt detected" yellow messages a week, but aside from a few seconds of black screen in the recordings, they affect nothing. It's always both tuner cards at once. After a few weeks I will get a red error along with continuous pop up messages on the clients and have to reboot. After a reboot everything is fine. I was going to update the drivers on my ATI TVWonder 650 PCI cards but I just looked and there is no driver update, and from the sound of this thread it sounds like that may not solve anything anyhow.