Stability problems?

[gmcgann]

I generally have to reboot my HD200 every day. In 3 months of using this, here's what I get:

Locks up during:

Screensaver - 90% of the time
Overnight - 99%
During paused video - 15%
While connecting to browse the network - 10%
When turning off - 5%
When updating video lists - 50%

It's standalone connecting to a network MediaSmart server.

[freedml]

Getting rid of ComskipMonitor helped tremendously. I had already set Comskip to run when no one was watching, but apparently ComskipMonitor can cause problems all by itself.

I still have to reboot every couple of days as the 'System' process starts nice and low but creeps up and starts causing problems when it hits 30. Anyone have any suggestions how to keep it low without rebooting?

[Opus4]

gmcgann: Have you updated the firmware? If you are already running the beta firmware, have you contacted SageTV via a bug report?

- Andy

[freedml]

When you say 'reboot' do you mean unplug it or push the power button on the remote?

Try the 'home' or 'go' button on the remote -- it will try to restart the HD200 without 'rebooting' completely.

[gmcgann]

Originally Posted by freedml

When you say 'reboot' do you mean unplug it or push the power button on the remote?

Try the 'home' or 'go' button on the remote -- it will try to restart the HD200 without 'rebooting' completely.

I'm running the latest beta firmware, and by reboot I mean unplug/replug. It does not respond to any commands on the unit or the remote.

[freedml]

I end up doing that every day or two. I'm using it with SageTV, not standalone, although my biggest problems are when it goes into screensaver mode or when rebooting the server.

[DaveW42]

If you need to reboot, a great alternative to manually plugging and unplugging is described here:

link

As an aside, as a new SageTV HD200 owner I must say that I have been extremely happy with the responsiveness of Andy and the SageTV team. Is the product perfect? No. But it's pretty darn cool and it keeps getting better every day.

[cat6man]

how does this work with a media player, not an extender, that doesn't have sageTV? i'm confused

[DaveW42]

Cat6man,

Were you referring to my post? I guess that makes two of us that are confused The procedure that I referenced involves a script that can be run to reboot the HD200, regardless of whether it is in standalone mode or if it is connected to the SageTV server. The procedure only affects the HD200.

Dave

[cat6man]

i guess i was wondering if the script could be run from the hd200 menu somehow (ideal) or if i needed to launch it from a networked pc (not so ideal) or if it ran in sageTV (irrelevant for stand alone media players)

it would be great if this could be accessed from the setup menu somehow, similar to the refresh command (on the other hand,
if the machine is somehow locked up wrt remote commands, that wouldn't help now would it)

[mangriotis]

What you are asking for (I think) can be easily accomplished by adding a dynamic menu "external command" within SageTV on the HD200.

This command could call the script to perform a reboot on the HD200.

Like you stated though, if the HD200 is non-responsive (or in standalone mode) this would not help you.

[DaveW42]

What if you got one of those USB UIRT receivers, and then associated an IR command on your remote with the reboot routine (e.g., trigger a reboot via Eventghost)? I should note that I don't have any experience with either the USB UIRT or Eventghost, so I am really just speculating here.

Dave

[bjkiller]

Somebody expierenced such problem?
video stuck, for 10-15 sec. after it's the LED start blinking fast, and it's play the stucked seconds very fast...and after it's come with audio track sync and video play OK.

some time on latest firmware - it's stuck and rebooted.

[gmcgann]

I'm still having the problem with the unit freezing. I have to reboot pretty much every day before I can use it. Right now I was in the middle of a movie and it just froze, so I'm waiting for it to reboot now.

[freedml]

I've gone back to 20090429, which I think was the version that caused me the fewest problems...

[ma22xx]

Originally Posted by gmcgann

I'm still having the problem with the unit freezing. I have to reboot pretty much every day before I can use it. Right now I was in the middle of a movie and it just froze, so I'm waiting for it to reboot now.

Not sure if this is your issue or not but I was having the exact same problem. I have a HD200 in my bedroom and just use it for watching the late show at night. Pretty much every night I'd have to pull power on the unit before I could use it. Some nights it would lock up during the one hour of use.

I was troubleshooting the other night and noticed the ip was picking up a 192.168 address which is wierd because my local network is all 10.0 addresses. I set it to static and hardcoded an ip and the units become WAY more reliable. Not only does it no longer lock up on a regular basis but it also now plays my backed up Blu-Rays without skipping which it would not do before. I'm not sure why the Blu-Rays work, but my guess on the lock ups is that for whatever reason the HD200 is losing the network connection(I suspect a spotty network cable run which I was going to eventually replace but might not have to now) and then tries to reaquire an ip via dhcp but is failing so it picks a standard 192.168 address. This doesn't work on my network so the box basically locks up. Now that it's hardcoded it just reuses the good ip whenever the connection drops off and comes back. I tested this by rebooting my router...with the static ip I just see a second freeze on playing video which then picks back up. With the dynamic ip it does a hard lock and never comes back...loses remote control.

[freedml]

Same problems here. I had a bad HD200 which, when it failed, caused all 3 HD200s to fail. Now that it has been replaced I am back to just the 'old' problems (locking up, turning themselves off, unable to restart without pulling the plug) and just one unit at a time.

For starters, the HD200 needs an overall 'watchdog' subroutine which will turn the unit 'off' or 'on' (with cold boot like after a firmware upgrade) from the remote control no matter what the status is, eliminating the 'get up and pull the plug' workaround.

Or maybe I'll buy a 'Clapper' for each HD200...

[danOO00]

Wow- I was under the impression that the HD200 would finally make my SageTV setup family friendly. I have not bought the unit yet, but was about to pull the trigger soon. My family room HTPC client is in need of upgrade, so I figured the HD200 would be a plug and play alternative than the usual PC upgrade/configuration game.

I guess, my question is regarding the overall stability of the box.. are the posts here the norm for most users (unplug reboots needed frequently, lockups, etc), or are there actual people out here who have NO problems with the HD200? I am looking forward to the week when the old lady has nothing but good to say about the Sage setup... any thoughts?

Thanks,
Dan

[doc]

Originally Posted by danOO00

I guess, my question is regarding the overall stability of the box.. are the posts here the norm for most users (unplug reboots needed frequently, lockups, etc), or are there actual people out here who have NO problems with the HD200? I am looking forward to the week when the old lady has nothing but good to say about the Sage setup... any thoughts?

Thanks,
Dan

Dan, I can't speak for the people posting here only for myself.

I use the HD200 every day and physically power off at night when I'm finished. The only time its ever locked up on me is when my server has crashed, and so not the HD200's fault at all.

I started off using a client, then an MVP, and then onto HD100 and 200's.
The difference is unbelievable. I wouldn't go back now if you paid me.

[danOO00]

Sounds encouraging. I should just give it a shot, it cant be worse than my current client.

The server is up for ~40 days now without issue, so I am pretty happy on that front.

Thanks doc