Stuttering / Freezing on PCH-A100 but OK on PC Playback?

[jksmurf]

Hi Martin,

I've been getting this quite a lot lately and it happened twice tonight watching "Rugby World Cup Daily HL" (two separate shows of the same name).

Plays absolutely OK on the PC

I did an update of one of my Hard Disks firmware fairly recently using SeaTools for Windows - could that do something evil to the Hard Disk? The only other things I can think of are a networkcard going TU, or maybe the router, or the PCH itself?

Thoughts?

k.

[jksmurf]

Slept on this and I'm thinking of checking the NIC and/or the Router by putting the PCH into the onboard NIC on my NPVR Server, which also has a separate Intel NIC which goes to the router.

Will this actually work though, are there any disadvantages of doing this?

Can ONE PC have two IP Addresses? i.e. if I want the PCH to wake up the PC, which currentlly has an IP of 192.168.1.10 on the Intel NIC, can I assign the Onboard Yukon NIC an IP of 192.168.1.20 (say) and do I have to etherwake that IP (x.x.x.20) or is 192.168.1.10 still OK?

k.

[mvallevand]

Hi Martin,

I've been getting this quite a lot lately and it happened twice tonight watching "Rugby World Cup Daily HL" (two separate shows of the same name).

Plays absolutely OK on the PC

I did an update of one of my Hard Disks firmware fairly recently using SeaTools for Windows - could that do something evil to the Hard Disk? The only other things I can think of are a networkcard going TU, or maybe the router, or the PCH itself?

Thoughts?

k.

Sorry I don't know how to help you, I suspect it is network related since the file is low bitrate easily handled by the PCH. If you telnet to your PCH you can see if there are network errors by running the ifconfig program.

If you think the problem is the file itself, you can upload 200MB or so to a site like mediafire and I can have a look.

I did see an error in your logs on resume that others are reporting and I will link that for sub's attention.

Martin

[mvallevand]

Slept on this and I'm thinking of checking the NIC and/or the Router by putting the PCH into the onboard NIC on my NPVR Server, which also has a separate Intel NIC which goes to the router.

Will this actually work though, are there any disadvantages of doing this?

Can ONE PC have two IP Addresses? i.e. if I want the PCH to wake up the PC, which currentlly has an IP of 192.168.1.10 on the Intel NIC, can I assign the Onboard Yukon NIC an IP of 192.168.1.20 (say) and do I have to etherwake that IP (x.x.x.20) or is 192.168.1.10 still OK?

k.

You can have multiple NIC's in PC and the PCH does direct connect (you don't even need a crossover cable) but I still recommend going through a switch on your router for better network control.

Martin

[jksmurf]

If you telnet to your PCH you can see if there are network errors by running the ifconfig program.

I'm not quite sure how to interpret the result, there are some RX errors (57?)

If you think the problem is the file itself, you can upload 200MB or so to a site like mediafire and I can have a look.

It seemed to play fine on the PC, so I think it is network related, or PCH.

I did see an error in your logs on resume that others are reporting and I will link that for sub's attention.

OK Cheers.

So if I set up the NICs like above I am good to go, at least as a trial?

k.

[mvallevand]

The 57 in frame means you had 57 packet errors which shows a minor problem, but out of almost 1.2 million packets that probably wouldn't count for a significant number of issues but it might be indicative of a larger problem. It might also be heat related.

If you are comfortable with the network test you are good to go. Don't forget your IP will change in npvr.cgi and NPVR.html Remember I am not here to do network support so you are on your own with this.

Martin

[jksmurf]

The 57 in frame means you had 57 packet errors which shows a minor problem, but out of almost 1.2 million packets that probably wouldn't count for a significant number of issues but it might be indicative of a larger problem. It might also be heat related.

If you are comfortable with the network test you are good to go. Don't forget your IP will change in npvr.cgi and NPVR.html Remember I am not here to do network support so you are on your own with this.

Martin

Cheers Martin. Might look into a fan for the PCH, but there's no Disk in the PCH and it's never been an issue before.
Don't worry, I'll play around with the NIC stuff and do a net search. Worst come to worse I'll just revert back!

Thanks again,

k.

[mvallevand]

K, now that I'm in front my real PC I can see some more thing. In MVP.log.1 at

2011-09-12 21:26:58.443 [DEBUG][3] MVP data read: 1 (9)
2011-09-12 21:27:08.610 [DEBUG][3] MVP data read: 1 (8)

and again from

2011-09-12 21:27:32.532 [DEBUG][3] MVP waiting for data
2011-09-12 21:27:46.357 [DEBUG][3] MVP data read: 1 (9)

Your PC was blocked from writing but the PCH was still sending TCP correctly so I think the NMT network card is ok. Did you really have continuous stuttering or just these two major problems?

I also noticed you suffer from a common problem because you have a comskip file with a 0 second start which will mean you never will be able to resume on these files because comskip trumps resume.

Martin

[jksmurf]

Thanks for having a 2nd look, appreciate that.

Your PC was blocked from writing

Blocked from writing... to the Disk?

but the PCH was still sending TCP correctly so I think the NMT network card is ok.

Good news on that front!

Did you really have continuous stuttering or just these two major problems?

Actually it was a more of a short stutter then it froze to be honest. It also did it the night before when the kids were watching "Flushed Away" but I am not sure if that showed as well.

I also noticed you suffer from a common problem because you have a comskip file with a 0 second start which will mean you never will be able to resume on these files because comskip trumps resume.

Sorry, I am not sure what "0 second start" means. I don't want to trouble you with comskip as well as network support, but I looked in my comskip ini file and I am not sure which parameter governs a "0 second start"?

I must admit I do miss resume... never seemed to work after NPVR was installed.

k.

[BrettB]

Sorry, I am not sure what "0 second start" means. I don't want to trouble you with comskip as well as network support, but I looked in my comskip ini file and I am not sure which parameter governs a "0 second start"?

I believe what Martin means is that your comskip file indicates that the recording begins with a commercial (i.e. the first commercial begins at 0 seconds). This situation causes some problems with GBPVR/NPVR. To avoid this situation, my comskip.ini file contains:

Code:

always_keep_first_seconds=180    ; don't have first few seconds commercial so that GBPVR can get "in sync"