PCH crash after a couple hours of watching

[wpialum]

My PCH crashes fairly consistently after a couple of hours of watching, and I'm not sure if this is "normal" behavior, and with the Olympics here, it's time to figure this out so I can watch more than a couple of hours at a time.

So I just had a crash watching biathlon. When I sort my logs by date modified, the only log that actually changed was the recordingservice log, which is attached. Looking at it, the error doesn't seem particularly helpful, but if any of you could offer some troubleshooting guidance, it'd be much appreciated.

Searching the forum, I don't see complaints about this, so I'm hopeful I can solve it.

Marc

[martint123]

Well for sure it is not normal. Other than for updates mine has not crashed or needed rebooting for many months.

I suspect the experts who hopefully come along shortly will need more information from you though - what were you watching, a recording or live TV? SD or HD? Define "crash" a bit better - hangup/freeze, reboot or whatever. Have you got a drive in the PCH? is it getting hot?. Zipping up all the logs would probably be one of their requests as well.

[wpialum]

Good to know your experience. I realized after I posted that I offered scant info about what I was doing.

So, no drive in the PCH - temp shouldn't be an issue. It's on right now, and the cover is lukewarm, but it's not in a cabinet and not on top of any heat producing components.

I was watching live tv in HD - NBC's olympics feed. I haven't noticed this problem on recordings (problems there are more related to seeking, but they're liveable).

The crash is a total crash of the PCH. It'll stay that way indefinitely (hours anyway). The screen goes black, it does not respond to remote input, and a power cycle is how I reset it.

Next time it happens, I can zip everything in the logs directory, but I didn't want to provide "log overload"

[mvallevand]

You probably are AutoStarting more than one MVP server which would explain the lack of logging.

I can't tell for sure but I suspect t:\buffer is your livetv buffer and if so yes there is a rather noticeable bug in livetv in GBPVR when a program changes it doesn't tell the NMT or MVP to play the next show and it will apparently hang. I tried to program around it but I couldn't find a solution.

Unfortunately I expect you are a few months away from seeing a solution. Maybe hit stop just before a show ends if there is a timely commercial break. Alternative record each show and watch them in progress.

Martin

[mvallevand]

I thought I'd make a clarification on what I wrote. Channel "changes" up/down or by number work fine in livetv. The problem is transitions from one program to the next when GBPVR changes the temp file name.

Technically the PCH doesn't crash at all, it is just waiting for GBPVR in a state a user can't break out of.

Martin

[wpialum]

Martin,

Thanks. I changed the number of servers to one to improve logging. t:/buffer IS my live tv buffer, just to confirm.

I'll try to set up recording and watch the in-progress recording to see if the issue goes away.

The only thing that doesn't add up is that I'll have this issue watching programs that are supposed to be long, like football games or currently the olympics, so the EPG doesn't reflect a program change at a specific time when the hang occurs.

I'll try the in-progress recording and post with logs if I experience the issue again.

Thanks as always for your prompt reply.

[mvallevand]

I certainly will look at the logs if you see it again. Perhaps GBPVR breaks longer shows under certain conditions?

Martin

[wpialum]

Just happened again. Three logs changed and are attached. It seemed to coincide with hitting the blue key (to check the time), but I'm not sure there is really any cause/effect there.

Thanks for taking a look
Marc

[mvallevand]

I prefer all the logs, since I only see the file playing in this one, so I can't offer any suggestions. I do see where the crash would have happened though

Code:

2010-02-15 22:23:11.813 VERBOSE    [6]    MVP Control Thread shutting down....

And it looks like GBPVR is sending less than a full screen

Code:

2010-02-15 22:23:08.444    VERBOSE    [6]     - ...updated screen rectangle now: 0, 43, 1280, 677

which is not supported in PCH2 mode

I expect to see the message "...forcing whole screen update"

Martin

[wpialum]

Sorry about not including everything. I'll upload all of the logs in the "logs" folder the next time it happens.

Thanks
Marc