MVP Blinking black screen + Sage "booting up" screen.

[shawncochran]

I was getting erratic behavior and assumed that this thread pointed towards an issue. Sadly, I'm about to cloud the waters a touch.

Here's my config:
Wireless MVP - software Rev 2.05 - Model 86017 Rev H3 Lot 0106
Linksys WRT54g Rev 2.04.4 in G mode only, 128 WEP enabled, Unique SSID on Channel 6 (I know, I know, it's the default. My neighbor is using 1 so bleah.)
SageTV 5.04 with original mvp.bin file and no mods (straight default load)

Even though any other 54g wireless devices get a good signal upstairs, the MVP shows -70db and one bar of signal. The unit doesn't want to do virtually anything past booting up.

When I take the unit downstairs and place it roughly 15' from the WRT54g and hook it up to the big screen, I get 3 bars of signal and a unit that performs flawlessly with one small exception - no audio from any channels coming OTA via my ATI HDTV Wonder card. Everything coming from the Hauppauge PVR-150 (S video feed from DirecTV H20) is stellar.

I think I'm dealing with a wireless issue -- I don't think my signal is loud enough upstairs. 3 bars seems to be magic. I'll go out on a limb and purchase a wireless repeater for the upstairs (although at this point, it would have been cheaper to just run a piece of cable.)

Again, I realize this doesn't answer any of your posted issues but I did want to point out that I'm not having a problem when the unit is getting a whole lot of 2.4Ghz signal. Maybe check your H/W version numbers against what I have?

[polsen]

Hi,

The alpha mvp.bin posted by _Demo_ seems to have solved a problem I have with my "wireless" MVP ("wireless" as in wired MVP attached to a wireless bridge). If the MVP has been unplugged for some time, it has been a real pain getting it to boot again - typically involving hooking up the power and waiting a day before it would work. With the alpha it booted right up.

But I have noticed two problems: Like rtengvad described, I too am getting blocky video when watching a recorded program (I am in PAL-land as is rtengvad). And I can't seem to power off the MVP using the remote. The LED turns off, but the display doesn't; and when I press a button on the remote the LED blinks, but nothing happens.

Update: I have a MVP wired directly to the same switch as the SageTV server, which too exhibits the blocky-display problem when using the alpha mvp.bin. But - strangely - not the power-off issue.


/polsen

[shawncochran]

Well -- I purchased and installed a Linksys WRE54G ... configured it per the included instructions ... moved it upstairs and my Wireless Media Extender is working flawlessly.

I wish there was more I could help with in this thread, but like I said, my stuff is working fine. I'm going from the basement to the 2nd floor, from the front of the house to the back of the house. The range extender seems to do the trick for me.

Good luck.

[taltman]

Hi Everyone,

I am on a business trip - when I return I will try the new mvp.bin file. The problem I currently have is that the MVP never gets past the "loading application" screen when SageTV is used as the MVP server. I do not have the blinking problem.If I use the Hauppauge MVP server it loads up just fine and I can stream mp3s, and video (but it studders). In both cases the MVP and SageTV box are using wireless.

The SageTV logs indicate that there are tftp timeouts and too many retries, which leads me to believe that Sage is not working correctly. I'm not sure how a new MVP.bin file will resolve the tftp time outs.

I hope that Narflex or someone else is paying attention to this because this obvoiusly is a SageTV software problem. I'll try the MVP.bin file next week and post the results.

/Tal

[Fallen Kell]

Originally Posted by taltman

Hi Everyone,

I am on a business trip - when I return I will try the new mvp.bin file. The problem I currently have is that the MVP never gets past the "loading application" screen when SageTV is used as the MVP server. I do not have the blinking problem.If I use the Hauppauge MVP server it loads up just fine and I can stream mp3s, and video (but it studders). In both cases the MVP and SageTV box are using wireless.

The SageTV logs indicate that there are tftp timeouts and too many retries, which leads me to believe that Sage is not working correctly. I'm not sure how a new MVP.bin file will resolve the tftp time outs.

I hope that Narflex or someone else is paying attention to this because this obvoiusly is a SageTV software problem. I'll try the MVP.bin file next week and post the results.

/Tal

The tftp timeouts on the server are because the server can not speak to the mvp over the network, due to either having the mac address in the arp tables incorrect (because the mvp uses one mac address for the initial arp/rarp request, and another when it reboots using the mini-kernel that it downloaded during the bootp network boot) or because of poor network performance. Because you said it works fine with the hauppauge software, it is most likely the arp table mismatch. If your sever log looks something like this:

Mon 6/12 19:35:48.730 Received mvp packet
Mon 6/12 19:35:48.899 Sending mvp reply
Mon 6/12 19:35:52.204 Received mvp packet
Mon 6/12 19:35:52.369 Sending mvp reply
Mon 6/12 19:35:52.376 Received tftp packet
Mon 6/12 19:35:52.377 Reading dongle.bin.ver in mode octet
Mon 6/12 19:35:52.379 Received tftp packet
Mon 6/12 19:35:52.380 Reading dongle.bin in mode octet
Mon 6/12 19:35:52.381 Opening file
Mon 6/12 19:35:52.577 TFTP timeout
Mon 6/12 19:35:52.578 Retry count exceeded

Mon 6/12 19:35:57.174 At last block
Mon 6/12 19:35:57.374 TFTP timeout
Mon 6/12 19:35:57.574 TFTP timeout
Mon 6/12 19:35:57.774 TFTP timeout
Mon 6/12 19:35:57.975 TFTP timeout
Mon 6/12 19:35:58.175 TFTP timeout
Mon 6/12 19:35:58.375 TFTP timeout
Mon 6/12 19:35:58.575 TFTP timeout
Mon 6/12 19:35:58.775 TFTP timeout
Mon 6/12 19:35:58.976 TFTP timeout
Mon 6/12 19:35:59.176 TFTP timeout
Mon 6/12 19:35:59.376 TFTP timeout
Mon 6/12 19:35:59.376 Retry count exceeded

Then the mvp.bin can make a difference because it can change the behaviour of the mvp side during the bootp process. I don't know exactly what is changed, but it could even go so far as to spoof the mac address of the network device to be the same value that is listed during the initial arp/rarp requests.

Sorry Demo, I didn't have time last night to try this out. I will try to get to it tonight (I spent too much time adding new ram to the system and reconfiguring all the ras, t-ras, cas, etc., timings since the speed settings on the ram were EXTREMELY conservitive).

[Fallen Kell]

Ok, I have been testing for the last 2 1/2 hours, and it looks like all my problems have been resolved with the latest mvp.bin file. Really the last problem that I was down to was the mvp freezing after watching a show for several minutes. After loading the new mvp.bin, that has not happened in the 2 1/2 hours that I watched shows on it tonight.

So, I highly advise anyone who is having any problems with the wireless mvp (or the new wired mvp) which suffers from problems booting after the initial connection to use this mvp.bin.

If you have issues in which your mvp can not download the image file (in other words, your mvp does not start the "loading application" and have a series of square blocks fill up), then you probably have other issues in the setup. In my case, it was network, and most others have been able to resolve their problems as well by working on boosting their wireless networks. This does not mean that the network will always be the problem, just that it is the most probable at this point.

[taltman]

Hi Fallen,

My sage tv logs look exactly as you described them in your previous post. I will try the latest MVP.bin file tonight and give you guys an update. I'm back from my business trip now.

/Tal

[tmiranda]

I've finally decided to give up on the wireless MVP. I do not want to hijack this thread but I also did not want to start a new "bitching" thread so I figured I'd post here.

Firstly, Sage support has been really great (thanks George) and overall Sage and the MVP work fine. After a few minor problems (boot problems, dropping connections, occasional freezes) I hit yet another snag that has pushed me over the edge. The spousal unit bought a new wireless phone and whenever it is in use the wireless MVP totally freezes and needs to be unlugged for 10 minutes before it can be recovered. Yes, I know I can change the channel that the phone and the wireless network are using but unfortunately this was the straw dropped the WAF to an unacceptably low level. The pain of continuing to a use a wireless connection has exceeded the consderable pain of running a network cable.

I am posting this mostly to add my voice to the chorus of "you should really, really, try to use a wired connection if at all possible." If I had followed that advice I would be about $70 richer and had spent many more hours playing with the kids instead of fiddling with computers.

[Stuntman]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

I've finally decided to give up on the wireless MVP. I do not want to hijack this thread but I also did not want to start a new "bitching" thread so I figured I'd post here.

Firstly, Sage support has been really great (thanks George) and overall Sage and the MVP work fine. After a few minor problems (boot problems, dropping connections, occasional freezes) I hit yet another snag that has pushed me over the edge. The spousal unit bought a new wireless phone and whenever it is in use the wireless MVP totally freezes and needs to be unlugged for 10 minutes before it can be recovered. Yes, I know I can change the channel that the phone and the wireless network are using but unfortunately this was the straw dropped the WAF to an unacceptably low level. The pain of continuing to a use a wireless connection has exceeded the consderable pain of running a network cable.

I am posting this mostly to add my voice to the chorus of "you should really, really, try to use a wired connection if at all possible." If I had followed that advice I would be about $70 richer and had spent many more hours playing with the kids instead of fiddling with computers.

Also we should all say more often .. DO NOT BUY A 2.4Ghz PHONE! A 5.8Ghz phone works flawlessly with the MVP and/or any other device that runs on the 2.4Ghz frequency... I upgraded all my phones to 5.8Ghz realizing I would soon be running a 2.4Ghz wireless network.. no worries.. but just for 'fun' I put back the 2.4Ghz phone and.. the MVP froze on the first ring!

[tmiranda]

A 5.8 GHz phone would be nice but the wife bought a new 2.4 GHz phone with built-in answering machine, caller ID, etc. for $4.99 AR. She was so excited about it that I did not have the heart to tell her that her "great purchase" negated the $70 premium I paid for the wireless MVP. Love truely is blind.

[jwmcclung]

I was having the same issue but now I can get Sage to come up and actually start watching live tv. My problem now is that it is extremely choppy. It doesn't seem like a bandwidth issue either as even bringing up menu's or the guide is choppy. Is there a new .bin file to try or does anyone have any ideas?

[Deadbolt]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Go into the Sage TV directory and delete the "clients' folder and then try again.

Gerry

Thanks gplasky! Not sure how my clients folder go corrupted but I restored from a backup and now all is well!

Very odd...all of a sudden I was getting the blink to black over and over again....with both wired and wireless MVPs.

Thanks for the tip!

[rrand]

Another thing to check if you have this problem is that you don't have the S-Video cable and the Yellow cable plugged in at the same time. Hah. I'm sure that's not the source of all your problems, but I noticed this to be an issue on my system. Duh.

[bagomojo]

I was having the same blinking problem. I have installed the newest mvp.bin and I was able to view live tv. If I tried to fast forward the system would freeze. If I unplugged the system for less than 5 minutes the MVP hangs at starting application. I leave the MVP unplugged for long enough to get past starting application, the network config boots the screen goes black and my MVP turns off. I purchased this from Sage a few weeks ago, I am starting to think I got a dud sage.

How do I turn on logging on the sage server?

[bagomojo]

After days of frustration I finally got another WAP and used it in client mode. Once my MVP is using it's wired NIC everything works perfect.

[taltman]

I got it working finally. I had to go out and buy a .11g wireless gaming adaptor for the sage tv server. The server is wired up to the adaptor which converts it to .11g. Like i proved earlier in the thread the problem is that Sage's software is not communicating properly over wireless nics. Yet if I use an ethernet port (wired) it works great.

Note, even though i'm using the gaming adaptor, it did little to improve my wireless signal strength/speed between the two end points. Again a sign that sage needs to fix their code!

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by taltman

Note, even though i'm using the gaming adaptor, it did little to improve my wireless signal strength/speed between the two end points. Again a sign that sage needs to fix their code!

I'm not sure how Sage software would increase your signal strength. Signal strength is a physical atribute controlled by your environment and devices running in your environment. If your signal strength is low your speed is going to be slower. That's not going to be a software fix that Sage can implement.

Gerry

[blade]

Originally Posted by gplasky

I'm not sure how Sage software would increase your signal strength. Signal strength is a physical atribute controlled by your environment and devices running in your environment. If your signal strength is low your speed is going to be slower. That's not going to be a software fix that Sage can implement.

Gerry

Many people complained about the wireless MVP having better signal strength with the Haupauge software than with Sage. I thought the same thing you did when I heard that, but I believe I remember it being stated by Demo (might have been someone else) that one of the mvp.bin updates was supposed to fix the problem.

[gplasky]

OK-thanks for that info. Obviously a learning curve with the new wireless hardware.

Gerry

[tmiranda]

I never saw any difference with signal strength using either software. In both cases it was much lower than you wouid expect. Might just be me...