Client Freezes After Months of Working

[Ralnee]

The following is a bug report I've posted to Frey. I am also posting my problem here as well, as the system is now unuseable (sp), and I need all the help I can get. (the wife is not a happy camper)

Thanks in Advance

Bug Report-----
I've been using Sage for several months and upgraded to the new version when it was released. I have 4 250 tuner cards in my server (which is located in a crawl space under the stairs), an network encoder with 2 250 capture cards and use a client to watch TV and captured shows. All networking is done via Cat5 and all nics are 100MB.

The system was stable until 6/9 when the client suddenly began locking up (hard freeze) about 10-15 minutes into watching either live tv or a recorder show/movie. (I know this is really the same thing since Sage records live tv as its being viewed). The client CPU seems low (somewhere around 0%-5%) and the server seems okay (CPU around 10%).

Over the last several days I've tried trouble shooting the problem by scanning the fourms (changed 'use_blocking_socket_for_mediaserver' from true to false and back again. I also changed the nic on both the server and client to 100 half duplex and 100 full duplex). I've powered down the network encoder to remove it from the equation.

On the server, I have 4 200gb hard drives for storage and windows xp pro is loaded on it own boot drive. Last night, I noticed that Sage began recording shows under the Sage directory (for some strange reason) and used up all the space on the boot drive (C: ). I deleted these shows and removed this directory from the media storage locations under the setup menu. I now have 50+GB available on the boot disk (C: ). I restarted Sage on the server and the client. The client still freezes about 10-15 minutes into the live tv/show/movie.

I have not changed any Sage configuration settings on either the server or client (on the client i recently loaded DVD profiler and a USB CD library - this should not affect Sage).

I have not tried to watch shows directly on the server and I'm assumming this is a client issue.

My current configuration:
Server
Win Xp Pro
AMD XP 2800 (?)
1GB memory
4 200GB disk (for media storage - formated with 64k blocks)
1 50GB disk (boot/program disk)
4 Hauppauge 250 (veriosn 15) capture cards
1 - USB-UIRT (controlling cable settop box)
100MB intergrated nic

Client
Win XP Home
AMD 1800Xp (?)
256MB memory
FX 5200 AGP graphics card
1 50GB disk (boot/program disk)
100MB intergrated nic


Network Encoder
AMD cpu (not sure model)
2 Hauppauge 250 (veriosn 16) capture cards
1 50GB disk (boot/program disk)
100MB intergrated nic

[mdmint]

I don't have an immediate answer but from 20+ years computer field experience you made a couple assumptions that I wouldn't.

First you installed two new pieces of software on the Client. SageClient worked flawlessly until then. It's never safe to assume new software installs correctly or that the new software didn't affect previous software. All too often a piece of software will use a dll or something with the same name as another application and over write causing problems in the existing software. It's usually suggested, and always a good practice, before installing any new software to backup and set a new Restore Point with XP. Is DVD Profiler a DVD player with it's own codecc? If so, and if you are using defaults in SageClient, it may well now be the default mpeg decoder and causing the problem. Only speculating of course.

You also stated strange Server storage behavior. When recordings started being placed on the wrong drive do you check SageTV setup to see what were your storage settings? Did your regular storage run low forcing Sage to default back to it's install drive?

You said you haven't checked if playback is ok on the Server because you think it's a Client issue. Maybe yes, maybe no. You need to first confirm Sage is working properly on the Server, especially since you stated other new Server issues, before categorically stated it's not a Server issue.

Also, it could always be a hardware issue. Lockups can be caused by any number of hardware - failing CPU, memory, hd or hd controller, sysbrd...

[mdmint]

The more I think about it the more I'd definitely check out the Server. You mentioned 4 200G HDs for storage, how are they configured? (JBOD, RAID0, RAID5 or ?) It's possible one of them, or the controller, is getting flakey, sometimes there sometimes not. This could also be why storage shifted to OS drive. Also, you said Server is in crawl space. What's the temp in there? How's the ventilation? How are your HDs cooled? Could be a thermal issue with the Server getting too hot... Heat a major enemy of computers.

Could also be a flakey NIC or switch or even cable intermittently loosing connection. Which if happening during playback I believe could hang Client.

[Ralnee]

Thanks for the reply's. DVD profiler, it a DVD catalog program, nothing to do with codecs or anything like that. As to the storage settings, Sage was set to record to the C: drive (this may have happened during installation of the server, and never recorded on the C: drive because there was more available space on the other drives. When you have multiple storage drives, Sage will pick the drive that has the most available space in relation to the other drives.) My drive configuration is JBOD's (I was planning raid, by haven't gotton around to it yet.).

As to hardware problems, I checked the event log on both machines (client and server) and haven't found any evidence of faults (ie...overheating, controller lockup, or other failures).

My next step is to verify the server can still play back recordings. I'll will also uninstall DVD profiler because it not on the right machine for my setup.

[dagar]

Is it Sage that freezes or the computer lock up while running Sage?

[mdmint]

Originally posted by dagar
Is it Sage that freezes or the computer lock up while running Sage?

Duh, good question!

[mdmint]

Ralnee, any progress? How's playback on the Server?

BTW Event log wise, it "can" be a tool to diag problems but oft times lockups will happen too fast for it to respond. Seen it many many times in the field. Also, if it were a thermal issue I'd expect Event log to capture a problem only IF your system supports thermal monitoring in such a way the event would be sent to Win Event to capture. I don't recall off the top of my head if that requires SNMP or what... not a normal feature for most Clones me thinks...

[dagar]

Originally posted by mdmint
Duh, good question!

It's ok man

My first thought, if nothing changed with the system, is heat or power. Most likely heat; as in heat soaked components from a fan failure.

[Ralnee]

Thanks all for the help. I've removed DVD Profiler (which I don't think had anything to do with the problem) and also DVD-Register (which might have had some impact). The client seems to be more stable now. DVD-Register loaded a lot of dll's into the system.

Anyway, the client still freezes one in a while when watching a recording, but it only lasts for 20 seconds or so, and comes right back. I think this might be a networking issue. I'm looking into this.

[insomniac]

I had this problem a while back. Switch all your systems back to auto and see what happens. In my case, for some strange reason, they wouldnt talk well in full duplex. Yet they were using full duplex!

Auto=fixed sigh..

I.

Originally posted by Ralnee
Thanks all for the help. I've removed DVD Profiler (which I don't think had anything to do with the problem) and also DVD-Register (which might have had some impact). The client seems to be more stable now. DVD-Register loaded a lot of dll's into the system.

Anyway, the client still freezes one in a while when watching a recording, but it only lasts for 20 seconds or so, and comes right back. I think this might be a networking issue. I'm looking into this.

[dragon]

Check your disk fragmentation. I started having a lot of problems with Sage seeming to hang. However, I could see the hard drive run and run and run. It would seem to hang for 20-30 seconds and then would finally respond.

Typically, when this happened, SageTV was finishing recording one program (PVR250#1) starting to record another (PVR250#2) and I was trying to use the remote control while watching a third program.

A couple of good sessions with Norton Systemworks' Speed Disk resolved the problem.

My worst file had 10,000 fragments.

Terry

[Ralnee]

I have set my nic to full duplex on both the client and server. I also have set my blocking server to false. It has been working all weekend, with very little skipping or stuttering.

Question: Are the fragmentation issues on the server or the client? I know the server diskas are all formated at 64K but the client is a standard WinXP home configuration. Should I defragmentate the client?

Mike

[mdmint]

Originally posted by Ralnee
I have set my nic to full duplex on both the client and server. I also have set my blocking server to false. It has been working all weekend, with very little skipping or stuttering.

Question: Are the fragmentation issues on the server or the client? I know the server diskas are all formated at 64K but the client is a standard WinXP home configuration. Should I defragmentate the client?

Mike

File fragmentation issue affecting playback and record performance would be your video storage HD(s).