SageTV 6.3.6 consistently hangs with 100% cpu

[phatjew]

Hey all,

Huge fan of Sage since 2004 -- I recently upgraded from 2.2.x to 6.3.6. I saw a lot of crashes, but thought they were related to 4-year old install of Windows XP. I reformatted the drive, re-installed XP (sp3, all the latest stuff), and did a fresh install of SageTV 6.3.6 (along with the version of Java that it installed automatically). I still get slow performance (the circle thing in the middle of the screen) from time to time, and several times in the past two days I've seen the whole app hang, and task manager tells me it is at or near 100% of the cpu. One time, I couldn't even get task manager to open. The only other thing running on the machine is NOD32 anti-virus -- otherwise it is a squeaky-clean install of XP. I've also used Vuse (bittorrent client) a few times, but the hangs are not consistent with its usage.

Any ideas? I don't want to waste time trying 6.3.10 unless someone thinks there's a change that might actually help me.

Thanks.

--Rafi

[UFGrayMatter]

6.4.5 is out - why don't you try that?

[phatjew]

isn't that still beta? I'm having stability issues, so I certainly don't want to go beta. I thought 6.3.10 was the latest stable release.

*EDIT* I should mention that WAF is a huge part of this -- I need to get it fixed fast, or she threatened to order a Tivo. =)

[UFGrayMatter]

there are going to be bugs even in stable versions. You are having stability issues w/ a Stable version - so the obvious next step is to move to the next build to see if it gets fixed

[mechling-burgh]

You said you installed the version of java that came with sage. I would upgrade that to the newest version many people have reported much better performance with the newest version of java. Unless they have recently updated the version with SageTV it is an older version.

[phatjew]

can't argue with that logic, UFGrayMatter. Still, it seems strange to say "hey, I just paid for software, and it's unstable, so let's just keep trying the beta versions until we get lucky."

Don't get me wrong -- i love what the folks at Sage have created. I just wish it would stop hanging, and I don't just want to keep trying new versions hoping the problem goes away. Still, that may be my only choice.

[phatjew]

Originally Posted by mechling-burgh

You said you installed the version of java that came with sage. I would upgrade that to the newest version many people have reported much better performance with the newest version of java. Unless they have recently updated the version with SageTV it is an older version.

now I haven't tried that yet. I'll do that first thing. Thanks.

*EDIT* and by the way, I really appreciate the quick responses, folks.

[Taddeusz]

Definitely try the latest version of Java which as of now is version 6 update 7.

I'm also a bit curious about why you chose to go with 6.3.6 rather than the latest stable release, 6.3.10? Since you were doing a clean install it would seem logical to me to go with the latest non-beta version.

But, have you ruled out the possibility of hardware problems? What hardware do you have and how old is it? If it's been running for quite a while without problems and has all of a sudden been having issues it is entirely possible that some hardware problems have creeped in. Doing some hard drive diagnostics and such would be a good start.

[phatjew]

I was on 2.2.x for a long time -- when I purchased the upgrade 3-4 weeks ago, 6.3.6 is what was in the download. When I did the clean install last week, I just used the same one I downloaded back then. (If 6.3.6 was already out of date 4 weeks ago, then I was sent the wrong download link.)

I haven't completely ruled out hardware problems, except that this hardware has been problem-free for nearly 4 years. All of these components were new (and high-end) in November 2004. Nothing else I do causes crashes, although admittedly Sage is the primary use of this computer. Still, Occam's Razor points me to the one application that is crashing, rather than an unidentified "hardware problem" that isn't causing problems with any other app. Having said that, you are completely correct that it _could_ be a hardware problem. I'm just going for the low-hanging fruit first. Call me lazy. =) [*EDIT* I do regularly defrag with PerfectDisk or DiskKeeper (I still can't choose), so at least I have some confidence that the hard drives are healthy. I suppose I could replace the RAM -- I can't think of any other hardware failure that would cause this behavior. And it's a good excuse to go from 1GB to 2GB.]

I installed the latest java version this morning, and we'll see how it goes. If I still get crashes, I'll go to latest stable version. If I still get crashes then, I'll go to latest beta. If I still get crashes then, I'll look at hardware issues. Or maybe I'll just switch to BeyondTV. (JOKING!!!) Actually, maybe this'll be my excuse to build a new machine -- one fast enough for HD recordings!

Thanks for your help.

[Taddeusz]

Yes, 4 weeks ago 6.3.6 was old. I forget when 6.3.10 was made available but it's been out much longer than a month. I don't know why they would have given you the links to the old version.

Regardless, besides recordings are there any other videos you have in your library? Is it the sagetv.exe file that's hanging the computer at 100% cpu or is it another process?

Honestly, I would upgrade to 6.3.10 since there may have been some bug fixes in between the two that may have corrected the problem you're seeing and because it's the latest stable version of the program.

I personally just installed the latest beta version, 6.4.5, last night and have it working great. No issues so far.

I've had my fair share of hardware problems in the past that have caused my system to become unstable. None that have caused 100% cpu usage though. Random reboots mostly, which turned out to be a bad power supply.

[phatjew]

yeah, I'm a dumbass. I'm at 6.3.10.166. Not sure why I thought I was at 6.3.6. I'm still hoping updating Java will work.

Thanks again for your advice.

What do you like better about 6.4.5 vs 6.3.10? Is it just a minor bug-fix release, or are there new features? (Sorry, I could look this up myself, I suppose.)

[Taddeusz]

I think the biggest thing with 6.4 vs 6.3 is support for the Hauppauge HD-PVR. They've also improved the HD Extender quite a bit and squashed a few bugs there. I don't remember all the specifics though. After doing so much beta testing between major releases they all tend to blend together in my mind. I like being helpful to them though. I've helped get a few problems corrected. It gives me a nice feeling that I can help out in such a way. I'm single so I don't have any kind of WAF issues. As long as everything is working I'm happy. :-D

[james_k_p]

Of course, being that I don't recall reading many complaints about this issue...it could be your PC has some hardware issue that sage doesn't like.

Maybe you need a newer machine.....unfortunately. What is your setup?

[phatjew]

Well, I updated to the new Java, but Sage still hangs from time to time. Usually when we're trying to skip ahead or back 10 seconds.

I have never heard of a hardware issue that has the symptom of using 100% of the cpu. Bad memory just causes a blue screen. bad hard drive has other symptoms. no other app has any issues. If anyone out there has experience in general with this type of symptom, please let me know.

This is just weird.

I'll try upgrading to the latest beta build. Hopefully that will work, because I don't have the budget to replace all the hardware right now.

[tmiranda]

Check the Java Heap size, the later versions of Sage use a lot more.

[richardhood36]

I am getting same problem as Rafi. it started with late versions of 6.2.x With 6.3.x ( any version), it got worse. I am working with Sage to try to find out what the problem is. I just sent a Sage log. besides the hang, I am getting system crashes when I change TV channels.

[scott2020]

I would find my 6.3.10 installation locked up with 100% cpu every few days. I thought comskip or compress jobs were messing up the box, but it was Sage that was hanging 100%. The box would still respond to pings and file share viewing, but I had only the circle of death with no response to remote control commands. I was running Java 6 update 4 (I think) and updated to the latest Update 7 and increased the heap size, and it has been running for a week now with no hangs at all. I have run 10-15 TV show and movie compress jobs on it too, but haven't started comskip on it again yet. Knock on wood, the Java update did a lot of good!

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by scott2020

Update 7 and increased the heap size,

I'm having 100% CPU usage too. How do you increase the heap size?

[scott2020]

Here's some information on the heap size:

http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthr...13&postcount=9

I have been running since my last post flawlessly, no lock ups or anything strange! I also started my comskip, and still works great. Comskip even GPF'd on me but Sage kept running.

[phatjew]

Success!

Since I increased the heap size from 200MB to 400MB 4 weeks ago, I haven't seen the 100% cpu usage yet.

Thanks for all the help from everyone!

--Rafi