mvp died

[aoehlke]

hi, my mvp was working just fine for ages now... had used it this past friday.
however, today, it is not working... it hangs on the "contacting bootserver" message... i have rebooted server, mvp, router, switch numerous times.
i deleted the clients directory, that didnt help either.. basically there was no chagne to my system in the tme the mvp stopped working.
according to my router log, it is getting an IP... i dont know what is wrong or how to trouble shoot it... and my wife is thoroughly pissed off about it.

anyone please suggest some troubleshooting to try? like I said, 0 hardware or software change to my system.

it is also not responging to the remote power button... i know the batteries are ok, as the IR repreater lights up, the I cannto seem to reboot the mvp while it is stuck in this "contacting bootsserver" screen

[aoehlke]

just tried the hauppauge software... it works... which 100% confirms its a sage problem, not a network or setup problem... I am guessing either corrupt settings or soemthing like that... I have an open ticket with official support now, but I am glad I did this test, as it will safe them telling me to try different cables, removing routers, changing windows firewall settings etc etc.

I am going to install the 5.03 sage beta and see what happens. will post results.

[aoehlke]

OK, so I uninstalled the hauppage after I saw it working, and ungraded to sage 5.03 beta... still stuck on "contacting bootserver".

what a piece of crap!!! I must have some corrupt something, somewhere... but I am goign to wait to see what sage supprt says before I uninstall and reinstall from scratch.

argh!
as mentioned previously, I have deleted the clients dir, and as of yet, it has now been recreated. I have also unregistered my mvp license and re-registered it. I have also checked firewall, turned off firewall. rebooted numerous times, and ran a "repair" install of sage 5.02.

nothing helps... yet the hauppauge mvp software works like a charm... worse still, the mvp was working with sage 1 week ago.

the only thing I can think of is my java is screwed, or maybe installing tmpgenc dvd author software did soemthing? I doubt it... but what else could it possible be?

I am also surprised no one has posted to this thread yet... kind of disappointing.

[AboveUnrefined]

Assuming there is no firewall impeding Sage, I'd say Windows is being Windows and try installing in a fresh environment to see what happens.

[aoehlke]

thanks above, that will be my last resort... I will see what sage official support says.
I was at least able to watch my recorded shows, via the hapuuage mvp software... which appeased the wife for now...

I also noticed I dont need to drop my server NIC speed to 10mbit half duplex when using the hauppauge software, but I must when using sage with the MVP.
weird.

[aoehlke]

so the official response from sage support was a clean install and reboot.
Did that with both 5.02 and 5.03 beta... same thing... "contacting media vmp bootserver".

how strange is that? the hauppauge software works like a charm (yes I have uninstalled it)... and furthermore, I think I mentioned this already... but with the hauppauge software, I dont need to turn my server NIC down to 10 mbit half duplex... but that is a separate issue.

I wonder what will be next from support... this is very frustrating... as I originally posted, this was working just fine 1 week ago today. I have mode no system changes ( a few software installs, unrelated to sage or networking).

It would almost seem like my mvp is corrupted somehow... even though the hauppauge software works great... I cant figure it out at all. I did see something strange though... when I go to "register my mvp license" it says license expired, you have 1 valid license. what is the significance of that I wonder?

[cmaffia]

I had this problem a few weeks ago.
I did not have to reinstall the OS however I did a complete uninstall of Sage,
deleted the SAGETV directory left behind, and deleted the registry entry (Frey Technologies) I then did a reinstall and did not copy my backup over the fresh installation (I tried that first but MVP's still did not work). I ended up reconfiguring everything from scratch, dropped my backup copy of Wiz.bin and "Voila" both my MVP's worked

May I suggest that if you do a fresh install that you test your MVP's as early as possible in the process for 2 reasons:
1) Perhaps an STVi or other imports could be causing the problem so trying a virgin installation is best.
2) A pity to waste all that time configuring Sage to they way you had it only to find out your MVP is still not working

Originally Posted by aoehlke

so the official response from sage support was a clean install and reboot.
Did that with both 5.02 and 5.03 beta... same thing... "contacting media vmp bootserver".

how strange is that? the hauppauge software works like a charm (yes I have uninstalled it)... and furthermore, I think I mentioned this already... but with the hauppauge software, I dont need to turn my server NIC down to 10 mbit half duplex... but that is a separate issue.

I wonder what will be next from support... this is very frustrating... as I originally posted, this was working just fine 1 week ago today. I have mode no system changes ( a few software installs, unrelated to sage or networking).

It would almost seem like my mvp is corrupted somehow... even though the hauppauge software works great... I cant figure it out at all. I did see something strange though... when I go to "register my mvp license" it says license expired, you have 1 valid license. what is the significance of that I wonder?

[aoehlke]

I have no plans to reinstall the OS. I will be asking sage for my money back before I do that.

however, I did nto scrub my registry... they never advised me to.
I did not copy my old settings back over either... this is what I meant by clean install...

will try that tonite, unless I hear otherwise from support.

any idea what causes this?

[gplasky]

Mine was a little different and first time I have seen this. MVP booted and went thru MVP boot screens, Sage bootup screen flashed for 1 second and then black screen. Nothing. Deleted properties file. Nothing. Deleted clients directory. Nothing and didn't get recreated. Reboot server. Connects now and works fine. Strange.

Gerry

[aoehlke]

yeah, have rebooted server about 50 times since I noticed problem... only thing I havent done yet is remove the sage stuff from the registry when I did the fresh install.

I also could try to uninstall the tmpgenc dvd author software... but I really doubt that is interfering... I think my next step is to remove all sage entries from registry and do another clean install.

sigh...looks like Frey has a bit more work to do... if this thing can get corrupted that badly.

[cmaffia]

Not sure sage is to blame here just yet.
I know we all have experienced strange anomolies with the MVP once and a rare while (especially when upgrading) but once it works.. it works. Again, I had a problem with one of my Sage servers where both of my MVP's would flash the "Connecting to Sage Media Center" then go to a black screen however, they connected fine to my test box. You mentioned something about having to force to 10/half? I know from my experiences that the MVP is kind of finicky with it's NIC speeds. All my switches and NIC cards are set to auto negotiate. You should consider that you might have a simple network configuration issue. Bad hub? Bad Cable? Bad NIC or incorrect setting? Try keeping the run from your server to your MVP simple in your tests.. maybe change some of your cat-5 cables... just a suggestion.

Originally Posted by aoehlke

yeah, have rebooted server about 50 times since I noticed problem... only thing I havent done yet is remove the sage stuff from the registry when I did the fresh install.

I also could try to uninstall the tmpgenc dvd author software... but I really doubt that is interfering... I think my next step is to remove all sage entries from registry and do another clean install.

sigh...looks like Frey has a bit more work to do... if this thing can get corrupted that badly.

[aoehlke]

maffia, thanks for replying, but if you followed my thread closely, you would see that using the mvp with hauppauge software works like a charm. THis would imply to me that there are no networking issues whatsoever, cables, routers, switches firewalls etc. That, and given the fact that the MVP with sage was working for months prior to this.

When using the mvp with sage, I need to drop my server nic to 10mbit or else my video stutters... this is widely published problem in the forums... seems to be related to the NIC itself. I was surprised to see though that this nic speed problem only occurs with sage. when using the hauppuage software, I can leave the NIC in auto negotiate mode and no video stutters.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Mine was a little different and first time I have seen this. MVP booted and went thru MVP boot screens, Sage bootup screen flashed for 1 second and then black screen. Nothing. Deleted properties file. Nothing. Deleted clients directory. Nothing and didn't get recreated. Reboot server. Connects now and works fine. Strange.

Gerry

I guess I should have filed a bug report on this. I have been getting this exact behaviour since the beginining 4.1.3. But I thought it had been fixed with v5.0.3 until last night. Guess I will - now that someone else has reported the exact same behaviour as mine. Thought it it was something I did with a plugin until now. It usually goes for several days/weeks before it happens to me so the next time it does I intend to file a bug report. Have to turn on the debug logs since I turned them off when 5.0.2 was released.

BobP.

[cmaffia]

I understand completely. I had to force my server to 10/half using Matt's plugin for it to maintain a connection for more that 20 seconds but ever since it has been supported natively, I no longer have to do this. The fact that it all of the sudden stopped working tells me it possibly could be a network issue. If you did a fresh install as you said and it still doesn't work, then I believe that it is a network issue.. either a bad cable, a bad hub. I would try new cables and the most direct connection to your server as a test. Try the reinstall first and then look at your network connections

Originally Posted by aoehlke

maffia, thanks for replying, but if you followed my thread closely, you would see that using the mvp with hauppauge software works like a charm. THis would imply to me that there are no networking issues whatsoever, cables, routers, switches firewalls etc. That, and given the fact that the MVP with sage was working for months prior to this.

When using the mvp with sage, I need to drop my server nic to 10mbit or else my video stutters... this is widely published problem in the forums... seems to be related to the NIC itself. I was surprised to see though that this nic speed problem only occurs with sage. when using the hauppuage software, I can leave the NIC in auto negotiate mode and no video stutters.

[aoehlke]

how could t be a network issue if the hauppauge mvp software works just fine?

that makes no sense, sorry.

[aoehlke]

I'm also disappointed int frey's slow replies to my support questions.
it will likely be another week before I get anywhere with them... and how many emails are going to be wasted when the guy asks me to try stuff I already have, and then I have to respond saying "done that" etc etc.

I have heard from them once so far, telling me to do a fresh install.

[cmaffia]

You can say it doesn't make sense but with my personal experiences it does :-). Again, if a fresh install of Sage doesn't work, I would try my network troubleshooting suggestions ... You would be amazed what bad connections (due to misconfigured switches, bad cables, dying hub, incorrect NIC setting) can do to one application and not the other. I see this at work all the time. Last suggestion would be to rebuild your OS.. and if that doesn't work then I am fresh out of suggestions.

Originally Posted by aoehlke

I'm also disappointed int frey's slow replies to my support questions.
it will likely be another week before I get anywhere with them... and how many emails are going to be wasted when the guy asks me to try stuff I already have, and then I have to respond saying "done that" etc etc.

I have heard from them once so far, telling me to do a fresh install.

[aoehlke]

yea, I guess you have a point.
I will try a direct connect with a shorter run of cable to the mvp.
cant hurt.

under no circumstances will I rebuild my OS... so sage will have to give me a refund if all else fails.

what a huge disappointement.

[cmaffia]

Refund because you don't want to reinstall your OS? Sometimes you need to do this.. and it isn't Sage's fault... Any OS can get corrupted (especially with all the Windows updates) If you have installed other software on this machine you are trying to use Sage on.. perhaps it has an issue or a conflict with SageTV? You can't expect Sage to give you your money back if you are unwilling to spend an hour on reinstalling an OS.

And go to what... MCE...which basically requires you to reinstall your OS since it is part of the OS??

Originally Posted by aoehlke

yea, I guess you have a point.
I will try a direct connect with a shorter run of cable to the mvp.
cant hurt.

under no circumstances will I rebuild my OS... so sage will have to give me a refund if all else fails.

what a huge disappointement.

[rtengvad]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

I guess I should have filed a bug report on this. I have been getting this exact behaviour since the beginining 4.1.3. But I thought it had been fixed with v5.0.3 until last night. Guess I will - now that someone else has reported the exact same behaviour as mine. Thought it it was something I did with a plugin until now. It usually goes for several days/weeks before it happens to me so the next time it does I intend to file a bug report. Have to turn on the debug logs since I turned them off when 5.0.2 was released.

BobP.

I have the same problem. Almost everytime I start the mvp it goes dead (boot up and then black screen with a high pitch sound) and I have to re-connect power. I filled a bug report weeks ago and support replied that they are working on a fix. Not solved with the 5.0.3. Sent them the debug file yesterday.

To aoehlke:
Does your debug file give any clues on what the problem could be?

rtengvad