Re-installing Windows on Sage server

[ptaylor]

I reinstalled Windows tonight... I installed the MCE drivers for my PVR250 (since this is Windows MCE)... Previously I used the non-MCE drivers...

I installed Sage 2.27 (the version of Sage that I previously had installed), then copied the previous install directory over from my original install to get my SVTs, settings, all the watched shows, etc... (I believe in backups)

Unfortunately, Sage won't work.. (MCE does)

Is my problem the MCE drivers? I seem to recall seeing posts by other members who have both MCE and Sage on their machines.. I would assume that they don't have to switch drivers to switch apps...

Anyone have the "approved" way to move a Sage install?

Thanks,
Paul

[Opus4]

In what way does SageTV not work?

Is Windows MCE still trying to use the 250? SageTV can't use it if some other app is using it first.

After reinstalling Windows, did you set the make_all_mediafiles_local=true property, as mentioned in the last Q&A of this long and probably confusing by now FAQ?

- Andy

[ptaylor]

What do you mean, in what way does it not work? You can't see my TV?

Sorry, I hate it when people don't include enough details to troubleshoot and now I'm doing it too... I can get into the UI, but whenever I try to view live TV (not a previously recorded show), I get a message telling me that I need to reinstall Sage, at which point it completely locks up and I have to kill it through Task Manager.. Well, I was getting that message. I tried uninstalling, reinstalling, etc. and now I no longer get that message, but it simply locks up on a black screen when I try to watch Live TV. Still have to kill via Task Manager...

MCE isn't running when I have this issue... I can see where that would be a big problem with two different apps trying to grab the same hardware..

I did not set the make_all_mediafiles_local=true... The machine has the same computername.... so, it shouldn't be needed.

Basically, after getting MCE to work (and seeing what I hadn't been missing!), I installed Sage. After the install was done, I copied over the C:\Program Files\Frey Technologies\ folder from the other hard drive, overwriting it... I did this in an effort to have a quick, easy way to move over Cayar's SVT, all my settings, and my show history. I then started it up and it asked to activate Sage, which went off as expected...

I even completely uninstalled Sage, removed the folder, and reinstalled Sage... In this case, I started "from scratch" without any of my old files, and did a quick setup of the capture card, etc. it still failed to capture and/or display live TV...

At this point, I'm getting ready to hit the sack for the night, so I've put my old hard drive back in as the primary and I've verified that everything is working fine, just like before I reinstalled.

I wanted to reinstall for several reasons.
- This machine's install is over a year old and is somewhat cluttered.
- I've been seeing skipping in video playback recently.. On the 2.4 Ghz processor this machine has, I really wouldn't expect that, especially since this is a dedicated Sage box attached to a TV, so it's not like I'm doing anything processor intensive since it pretty much sits there at full screen in Sage all the time.
- The OS drive is an 8 GB drive (with a 250 GB & a 160 GB drive for data). I have a spare 40 GB drive that I want to put the OS on, since I only have about 2 GB to spare on this one.

Paul

[Opus4]

I have extremely limited knowledge of MCE, but I think there are still some services running even if MCE isn't. Of course, maybe you mean you've already disabled those services too. I better let someone else say more about running SageTV on an MCE system.

Regarding playback skipping: I don't know if this is a possibility in your situation, but since I'm a broken record on this suggestion... ... make sure the video recording drives are formatted using 64K sized clusters.

- Andy

[stanger89]

Have you tried the non-MCE drivers? Remember MCE is exactly the same as XP at the OS level, it's just got some extra stuff on top.

[ptaylor]

No, I haven't tried the non-MCE drivers yet... I was hoping that someone with MCE and Sage would chime in.. Honestly, I'd rather have both work... I still have a license for BeyondTV... I could try installing it to see if it will work with the MCE drivers...

If there are MCE services that may be doing something to "grab" the board, I'm not aware of them... If they exist and someone could point them out, I would appreciate it very much.

Paul

[ptaylor]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Regarding playback skipping: I don't know if this is a possibility in your situation, but since I'm a broken record on this suggestion... ... make sure the video recording drives are formatted using 64K sized clusters.

I'm not sure how they are formatted, but it used to work very well with no skipping... I have noticed (with my original install, since I put the original 8 GB hard drive back in) that it seems to be hitting the drives quite a bit, even when it is just sitting idle.... For example, right now the hard drive light is coming on every few seconds very briefly. I remote-controlled the machine, though, and it stopped..... Strange...

Paul

[ptaylor]

Ah.... Found it on SHS's FAQ:

Q: Can I use WinTV2000 or some other 3rdparty Application and still keep my
Windows Media Center?.
A: Yes you can but need make sure you turn off MCE first.

Thanks to Chris.Day on Hauppauge UK forum.
The MCE services need be closing before you can use any 3rd party software
such as WinTV2000, ShowShifter, SageTV etc.

The easiest way to do this is by way of a batch file like bat or cmd.
Example Code:
@ECHO OFF
CLS
ECHO Closing Media Center Services...
net stop ehrecvr
net stop ehsched
CLS
ECHO Starting WinTV2000...
start /wait C:\Progra~1\WinTV\WinTV2K.EXE -cg
CLS
ECHO Restarting Media Center Services...
net start ehrecvr
net start ehsched
This stops the services, runs WinTV2000. When you close WinTV2000 the
services are restarted (so MCE timer recordings can proceed if required).

Of course, I'd replace WinTV2000 with Sage in the BAT file...

Now, to swap hard drives and try it out...

[ptaylor]

Ok.. After looking back on that, it looks like I probably just need to set the BAT file up to be the opposite of what was posted... Set the services to disabled, then have the BAT file start them to run MCE, then stop them when it's done.

[ptaylor]

Yes, it was the MCE services.. Working now..

[ptaylor]

HA!...

Guess what? I've spent all afternoon using Sage and thought I would look around MCE now that I've pretty much gotten Sage back to normal...

Now MCE isn't letting me watch Live TV... And yes, I've exited Sage and started the MCE services....

Just not my day, I guess...

Paul

[stanger89]

You're not running the Sage service are you?

[ptaylor]

Nope... I tried using the Sage service when the feature was first added to Sage, but had trouble with it... Since I didn't feel like messing with it, and it is a PC dedicated to Sage, I just let it run as I had it before... Never got back to messing around with running it as a service...

Paul