Recordings failing - can't tell why

[dpeterk]

Also, there is no file that appears on the filesystem from the failed recording.

[sub]

I suspect it is something to do with that EPG update.

[dpeterk]

Any suggestion then, on how to avoid this in the future?

Thanks,
Don

[sub]

No, not at this stage. I'll have a look in the code to see if I can find any reason for this.

[dpeterk]

Thanks again!

[wscrivens]

I'm back.
I've done a lot of work on this problem, but alas, no joy yet.
First, the symptoms better defined.
- PC is in Standby, having gotten there from the System/Standby in GBPVR.
- PC dutifully turns on about 3 minutes before the scheduled recording.
- There is no video output, no response from keyboard or mouse.
- There are no entries in the system logs: Application, Security, or System
- The last entries before going into Standby seem completely normal.
- If left alone, the PC will remain in this state "forever".
- If I force a reboot using the power button, everything starts normally and the recording begins.
- There is NO automatic EPG update set up. I am doing it manually until this is resolved.

From this I concluded that GBPVR is not the culprit. I started Googling and found that other users of other PVR systems complain of similar symptoms.
I also found that there was a BIOS upgrade for my ASUS motherboard that addressed problems coming back from standby when USB tuners were used. I have a PVR 150 which is NOT USB, but I figured I had nothing to lose. I also gained nothing on this problem :-(

IIRC, when the system fails to boot up at all, the menu that appears the next time you boot up offers some logging features for the boot process. I've learned a lot about the windows boot process in my reading, but I have yet to find something that will create a log file of the startup process from Standby mode. If anyone has any ideas, I'd appreciate hearing them!

Walt

[sub]

Did any entries occur in the GBPVRRecordingService.exe.log during the time the recording was due to occur? Was the machine awake for the entire time you intended to record, or did it go back to sleep almost immediately after waking?

Getting recordings marked as 'Failed' typically means the recording service was not running or the PC was switch off at the time the recording was due to occur.

[wscrivens]

Hmmm.....
I can't get to the log files just now, it is making a recording. (8:30 PM on 2/24)
But based on past incidents, there will be no entries in the GBPVR logs from when the computer first tried to start.
After it had sat there with lights and fans going, but nothing else, for about 5 minutes, I hit the power switch and re-booted. As soon as it came up it started recording correctly.

[Then next morning...]
First, is there any way to get GBPVR to save its logs longer? It seems to recycle after 3 iterations of the logs. Until this problem is resolved, I would be happy to save 10 or even 50 generations of log files. I can't pay attention to this every day, and by the time I get to it the logs are gone.

So, the logs for the incident discussed above (2/23/07) have been overwritten this morning (2/25/07).

Yesterday I tried using Hibernate rather then Standby. I programmed a movie to be recorded from 8 to 11 last night, and I watched it start up at 7:58, and start recording the movie. When I woke up this morning the PC was still on, the video and keyboard were not responding and my VNC client would not connect. I power cycled the PC and started looking at logs. The only one that covered the time of the recording last night was GBPVRRecorcingService.exe-native.log, which shows the recording starting and finishing:

19:58:01.648 VERBOSE getSetting(EnableTeleText)
19:58:02.459 VERBOSE getSetting(ListGraphFilters)
19:58:02.459 VERBOSE Graph contains the following filters:
19:58:02.459 VERBOSE - GB-PVR Writer
19:58:02.459 VERBOSE - Encoder
19:58:02.459 VERBOSE - Capture
19:58:02.459 VERBOSE - Hauppauge WinTV PVR PCI II Crossbar
19:58:02.459 VERBOSE - TV Audio
19:58:02.459 VERBOSE - TV Tuner
19:58:02.459 VERBOSE getSetting(SaveGraphFiles)
19:58:02.750 VERBOSE ConexantRecorder::StartRecording() done
23:02:00.091 VERBOSE ConexantRecorder::StopRecording()
23:02:00.281 VERBOSE ConexantRecorder:one()


The timestamps on GBPVRRecordingService.exe.log are:
Yesterday, 9:07 AM
Yesterday, 3:11 PM
Today, 7:28 AM
Today, 7:45 AM

The time period from 3:11 PM yesterday until 7:28 AM today (which is when I power-cycled the computer) is missing. My guess is that GBPVR is holding the log file open, and when whatever causes the PC to lock up happens, and I hit the power switch, the log never gets written. If that's the case, could we do something to flush the buffers out to disk periodically?

In any event, the movie I recorded last night is there in the recordings list, and has had the commercials removed, so everything has worked in that regard, but something happened after the movie was done to "freeze" the PC.

Sub, many thanks for helping me to track this elusive problem down

Walt

[sub]

First, is there any way to get GBPVR to save its logs longer? It seems to recycle after 3 iterations of the logs. Until this problem is resolved, I would be happy to save 10 or even 50 generations of log files.

No. Sorry.

The time period from 3:11 PM yesterday until 7:28 AM today (which is when I power-cycled the computer) is missing. My guess is that GBPVR is holding the log file open, and when whatever causes the PC to lock up happens, and I hit the power switch, the log never gets written. If that's the case, could we do something to flush the buffers out to disk periodically?

If you have <LoggingForceFlush>true</LoggingForceFlush> in your config.xml, then the logs will be flushed after every line.

In any event, the movie I recorded last night is there in the recordings list, and has had the commercials removed, so everything has worked in that regard, but something happened after the movie was done to "freeze" the PC.

I'm guessing your PC or Windows had problems in its attempt to standby/hibernate.

[wscrivens]

Sub, thanks for the information. I will set up the buffer-flushing.

Well, would you believe, I finally got some useful information out of the Windows Event files!

This morning I set up to record four half-hour programs with a half-hour gap between them, and put the PC into Hibernate. When I checked, I had an error in the System event file that the Wireless Zero Configuration module had failed on startup from hibernation. I followed that trail and got the KB article 885293 which described the symptoms exactly and said that there is a hotfix available. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885293 The file involved is Ndisuio.sys, and Micro$oft support wants $59.00 to tell me how to get it. I will wait until I'm at work tomorrow and can get the download at no charge, thank you.

I'm hoping this works. It's ony taken about 3 months to get this far, and I would probably never have found out if I hadn't tried Hibernation instead of Standby.

Walt