Auto restart recording service utility

[gEd]

yes, the (updated) script will :-

kill and restart ir.exe when coming out of standby
ensure that gbpvr.exe is always running and is in the foreground
will check to see if the recording service is running and restart if it isn;t
(as mentioned earlier in this thread, you can achieve this by configuring the recording service to restart on failure in control panel, services)

the script used to kill off and restart gbpvr and the recording service upon waking from standby. However I have commented this code out as I am not sure that I need to do this any more.

To use it, you need to download and install Autoit and then use this to compile the code I have provided. It won;t work out of the box as the location of the log and lock file are defined as pointing to r:\temp.

If you are uncomfortable doing this, I could compile a version that writes to (say) c:\temp instead.

However, what do you really want to achieve? gbpvr itself very rarely crashes. I use this program to make sure it is running and in the foreground because I am always messing about with the pc and forget to leave it with gbpvr running in the foreground.

If you only want to restart ir.exe when waking from standby, you might be better of downloading gbpvrwake.exe (search forum or wiki), creating a shortcut to this in your startup folder, and adding the following line to a file called wake.cmd in the gbpvr folder.

"C:\Program Files\WinTV\Ir.exe" /QUIET

[garyeuph]

gEd,

Just been using a slightly modfied version of your script and it has solved all my main GBPVR problems . Great Work and many thanks.

Garyeuph

[gEd]

just got back from 2 weeks in a tent...

It's really good to hear that the script has helped others, I'm glad it has sorted out your gbpvr problems.

[frankmcg]

This script looks like it could be the solution to all my ir.exe related woes! Have just been playing about with it tonight and figured out how gEd's code is working. Was wondering though if one of you smart people could figure out how to use this to do a check for more than one instance of pvrx2.exe running and shutting all except one instance down?

Reason I ask is that often on coming out of standby more than one instance of the exe is running, and therefore gives the appearance of the remote not working when it's actually controlling the "hidden" version. Knowing to press the remote button equivalent of Alt-F4 of course fixes this, but doesn't do much for the all important WAF!

[gEd]

Do you have any idea why you have multiple copies of pvrx2 running?
Is more than one copy running before it goes into standby?
anyway..

you could add something like this to Fund standy

$PID = ProcessExists($GBPVR_app)
While $PID > 0
ProcessClose($PID)
$PID = ProcessExists($GBPVR_app)
WEnd

check_GBPVR()

out of interest, what ir.exe problems do you have and with what tuner.
I periodically find that my nova-t PCI has not woken up properly. This means that the script keeps restarting ir.exe but it also means that no shows will be recorded.

I plan to modify the script to check that ir.exe has started and stays started and if it fails, restart the pc.

I have also modded func standby

from
$PID = ProcessExists("Ir.exe")
If $PID Then ProcessClose($PID)

Check_IR ()

to
$PID = ProcessExists("Ir.exe")
If $PID Then ProcessClose($PID)
Sleep 5000
Check_IR ()

This gives the tuner a chance to sort itself out before ir.exe is started. It results in a short delay before the remote works but I think that it makes ir.exe a little more reliable.

[frankmcg]

Thanks very much. I’ll give this a try tonight. Just for my understanding, does “While $PID > 0” shut down any extra copies of pvrx2.exe ie it keeps one running, or does it shut them all down and then elsewhere the script restarts the exe?

I don’t know why multiple copies of pvrx2 are running (only after hibernate by the way) but it seems to be connected to the quick restart functionality sub built into 1.0.16 to fix a black screen after hibernate when using FSE mode. It’s only Sub hasn’t been able to replicate it though on any of his boxes so I’ve just been living with it!

I was using a nova-t pci previously, now using a HVR-3000 (combo nova-t and nova-s) which operates in pretty much the same way. For a long time now I’ve been using the old gbvprwake.exe and a batch file to restart ir.exe after coming out of hibernate so can’t be sure whether the problem I was having is that it wasn’t running, or whether it was running but just not functioning. Either way I had just been restarting it on wakeup. It did occur to me though that as the autoit script is only checking if it’s running not if it’s stuck, it may not always fix the problem? (edit: just rechecked the script and it looks like it's restarting ir.exe after standby anyway)

I’ve not had any tuner not functioning problems for a while, but I’m pretty sure that the last time I got these was when I used standby mode rather than hibernate. I assume you’re using the former?

[gEd]

Thanks very much. I’ll give this a try tonight. Just for my understanding, does “While $PID > 0” shut down any extra copies of pvrx2.exe ie it keeps one running, or does it shut them all down and then elsewhere the script restarts the exe?

the idea is that it would kill all running instances and then start a new one.
i think it is the easiest and most reliable way to fix this problem.

[frankmcg]

Just tried out a new script with your amendments but getting an error message: "Line-1: error: error parsing function call" whatever that means!

Script attached in case you have time to have a gander since I've probably done something stupid.

Getting v strange behaviour with the remote now though using the previous version. It's not working within pvrx2.exe but if I exit the prog using the mouse then the remote works fine to run the .exe again, implying that ir.exe is definitely functioning OK?

What fun Friday nights I have...

[gEd]

I loaded your version into autoit and pressed CTRL+F5 to check syntax.

R:\Downloads\jm.au3(136,9) : ERROR: syntax error
Sleep 5000
~~~~~~^

Try changing sleep 5000 to sleep (5000)

Sorry, I had not written my example as de-facto code (i'm not really a programmer)

[edit]

in your irremote.ini make sure you have a [pvrx2] section that is the same that the [gbpvr] sectiion

[frankmcg]

Cool that's fixed the error message and it seems to be working now so I'll test it some more over the course of tomorrow and see how it goes - as you probably know its one of these irritating flaws that can't be replicated every time making them particularly difficult to test properly.

Thanks for all your help it's really appreciated