Ring of death

[NoodleNT]

After a few days my extenders and server will freeze and cause the ring of death. Besides rebooting regularly, is there anything else I can do?

[speck55]

Server? Ring of death? What are you running for a server?

[crusing]

That's not normal. I only reboot for updates. Other than that I can think of maybe one time in the last 6 months I have had to reboot one. Post a lot more info about your setup and maybe we can help troubleshoot.

[NoodleNT]

Windows XP SP3, 3GB of Ram, Intel Q9450, Giga-byte EP35-DS4 mobo, 4 colossus with component/stereo, firewire channel change, java 6u21, heap 164MB/310MB/779MB, running the latest SageTV, 4 HD300 extenders, recordings are local to 4 drives in 2 mirrored raids.

[crusing]

Have you tried disabling most of your plugins for a while? Comskip can definitively hammer the system and cause the ring.

[speck55]

Originally Posted by NoodleNT

Windows XP SP3, 3GB of Ram, Intel Q9450, Giga-byte EP35-DS4 mobo, 4 colossus with component/stereo, firewire channel change, java 6u21, heap 164MB/310MB/779MB, running the latest SageTV, 4 HD300 extenders, recordings are local to 4 drives in 2 mirrored raids.

Does it happen if you don't have any extenders on the network? Does it freeze while trying to do the same thing (say starting Live TV or changing channels) every time?

[NoodleNT]

I want to say it happens more when watching live TV.

[NoodleNT]

Originally Posted by crusing

Have you tried disabling most of your plugins for a while? Comskip can definitively hammer the system and cause the ring.

Yes it can if more than one instance is running, so I limit it to just one instance and I disabled it from running when watching live TV. I also don't see this running every time the circle of death happens.

[Savage1701]

I've increased the Java heap size and lessened the ring of death.

I also re-boot every day. Maybe I'm not supposed to have to, but my system is more stable, HD-PVR issues have vanished, I don't get a ring of death, etc.

But I would consider increasing the Java heap size first. If you Gargle that you can find out how to do that for your system. I use XP as well; it's not hard to do. And from what I have heard, the HD200's and 100's use server's RAM for themselves.

As the others say, plugins can drain available Java heap RAM as well. There are plugins that let you monitor your available/used heap size.

[sflamm]

No need to reboot
Create a bat file that does the following:

net stop SageTV
net start SageTV

Then schedule the bat file to run at 3a using the builtin windows scheduler
Problem solved - script runs in 30 seconds.

FYI I don't have the issue with 2 extended and heap set at 300H

[NoodleNT]

We shouldn't have to restart anything is the problem. I never had this issue with BeyondTV.

[SomeWhatLost]

Originally Posted by NoodleNT

We shouldn't have to restart anything is the problem. I never had this issue with BeyondTV.

since when did BTV support colossus? BTV never supported anything cool when I used it... but I still had to reboot BTV every once in a while...

anyway, I don;t have to reboot sage ever...(well except for BMT updates/etc...)

but I am not running any colossus's, colossi, or whatever the plural is for colossus...

have you tried removing/disabling the colossi? Hauppauge makes some cool stuff... but their drivers almost always suck...

[mistergq]

Originally Posted by NoodleNT

We shouldn't have to restart anything is the problem. I never had this issue with BeyondTV.

BTV was built on .net, not java. Also, it never officially supported the HD PVR, it only had the capabilities in beta. Finally, STV is doing way more than BTV.

I had issues which seemed to be cured with daily reboot, I have never turned it off. I may try the bat file idea and see how that goes.

[NoodleNT]

Still missing the point. Daily reboots is a stop gap fix. Not a solution! Don't get me wrong, I love the software. However, regular reboots to make it work is my biggest and only major pev with the software.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by NoodleNT

Still missing the point. Daily reboots is a stop gap fix. Not a solution! Don't get me wrong, I love the software. However, regular reboots to make it work is my biggest and only major pev with the software.

You are right, daily reboots should not be needed.

I'd start by uninstalling all plugins and see if the system stabilizes. (Your previous posts say you are running comskip, but it's not clear if you have anything else installed.) If it does improve start adding the plugins back one at a time until you find the offender.

Is your server dedicated to sage or are you running anything else on it?

If neither of the above help I'd suspect it has something to do with the 4 Colossi - hard to tell if that's Sage's fault or Hauppauge though.

[thestig]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

I'd start by uninstalling all plugins and see if the system stabilizes. (Your previous posts say you are running comskip, but it's not clear if you have anything else installed.) If it does improve start adding the plugins back one at a time until you find the offender.

Is your server dedicated to sage or are you running anything else on it?

Second that. Specially check for any other java app running in your server. Something that happens to my server is that the wife and kids like to browse using the big TV. For some reason always leaving their windows/tabs open. After a week or so I start getting the rings, only to find firefox using a big chunk of memory and CPU cycles.

[NoodleNT]

Flippers!

It took a visit from my Grandmother (90) to understand what is causing some of the spinning ring issues. She just flips through channels with the up and down channel button. Since there is a delay to when the channel actually changes, she hits the channel up button a few extra times. If you do this enough, the ring will appear and the system will crash. Is there a way in Sage to delay/ignoor the channel change request for a few seconds till the video is displayed? I can add a delay to my Harmony remotes but it would be nice if it was built into the system. I am using FWChannelProxy to change channels via FireWire on the cable boxes.

[lfilomeno]

Originally Posted by Savage1701

I've increased the Java heap size and lessened the ring of death.

I also re-boot every day. Maybe I'm not supposed to have to, but my system is more stable, HD-PVR issues have vanished, I don't get a ring of death, etc.

But I would consider increasing the Java heap size first. If you Gargle that you can find out how to do that for your system. I use XP as well; it's not hard to do. And from what I have heard, the HD200's and 100's use server's RAM for themselves.

As the others say, plugins can drain available Java heap RAM as well. There are plugins that let you monitor your available/used heap size.

How \where do I increase the Java Heap size? Thanks.

[sflamm]

Increase your SageTV JavaHeapSize parameter -- located in the registery

If you cannot allocate a large enough block user the /3GB boot ini parameter (on XP) or the equivalent command line OS config on Windows 7.

[lfilomeno]

Originally Posted by sflamm

Increase your SageTV JavaHeapSize parameter -- located in the registery

If you cannot allocate a large enough block user the /3GB boot ini parameter (on XP) or the equivalent command line OS config on Windows 7.

Thanks sflamm! I found the registry entry and change it appropriately. it was set to 0!