FFW Lockups/ Freezes

[chstuart]

I could use some help here. I upgraded from Sage 2.2 to 5.04 and I have been having trouble with my system locking up sometimes when I fast forward. Most of the time I can backout to the menu, play another recording for a second and then go back to what I was watching and it will play again. Every now and then I get a hard freeze and I have to reboot the whole system.

Any ideas?

My Setup: P4 2.4GHz Prescott, abit motherboard, 1G ram, 1-20 gig harddrive, 3-250gig harddrives, Hauppauge PVR-250, ATI Radeon 7000 video card, latest Hauppauge Drivers.

Please help me. This is driving me nuts. Never had any lockup problems with Sage 2.2!

[blade]

What version of java are you running?

[chstuart]

I have no idea. I will check. Why?

[blade]

I don't know the exact numbers, but the 1.5.x_xx versions of java had memory leaks that caused Sage to come to a crawl and even crash. One of the easiest things to check when someone has an unusual problem is whether or not they're using the recommended version of java which is one of the 1.4x_xx releases.

[chstuart]

How do I get back to 1.4? Uninstall then reinstall. Where do I get the older version?

[blade]

Go to the control panel in windows and click on add or remove programs. Look under java and see what versions are installed. If the older version is still installed all you need to do is uninstall the newer versions and it will revert back to using it. If the older one isn't on the system then you'd need to uninstall the newer ones and reinstall the old one.

There is no guarantee this is your problem, but it's a good place to start looking especially if you're using VMR9 as your renderer.

[chstuart]

I uninstalled the later versions of Java and now I'm running on 1.4. Lockups seem to be less frequent, but it still locks up from time to time. Any suggestions?

[chstuart]

Whatever you do, don't post anything negative or complain about Sage never working correctly. They will just delete your post.

I still have the same problem. I never had any problems with Sage 2.2. 5.0 Locks up all the time. ........skip forward, skip forward, skip forward......BAM, Lockup. Instead of deleting my posts, could you please offer some support. In case you haven't noticed, I am not real happy with 5.0!

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by chstuart

Whatever you do, don't post anything negative or complain about Sage never working correctly. They will just delete your post.

You know perfectly well that isn't the case because I sent you a PM telling you that I deleted your post for the language it contained and that you could repost if you could leave out the swearing.

Instead of deleting my posts, could you please offer some support.

Instead of complaining that you aren't getting support on what is stated to be a user-to-user forum, why don't you try contacting SageTV tech support? Among other places, there is a link in my sig lines and in main forum index.

- Andy

[chstuart]

I used the D-word. A word you here everyday on TV or radio. I would expect you to delete a post that had the S-word or the F-word in it, but not the D-word. I don't usually have a bad attitude but I am tired of tweaking 5.0. It should work correctly. As I said, 2.2 was perfect. I used the d-word because I am sick and tired of Sage not working correctly. I can't watch the biggest game of the season because Sage locks up so much.

I have contacted support and their suggestion has not worked either. They said to "use the configuration utility to set the video playback settings in Sage. Go to Setup > Run Configuration Wizard > Configure Video Playback.
Start with basic and test things out and see if each of these settings does the same thing." I did and there is no change with the problem.

Now, I can tell you that I run Placeshifter on my computer in my home office and I have no problems with lock ups. I don't know if that helps trouble shoot the problem or not.

[chstuart]

I take that last statement back. Placeshifter just locked up and the Clemson/Carolina game is stuck at the beginning. I cannot get it to play on the server or on Placeshifter. The game has been over for three hours and I have just made it into the third quarter. Thanks Sage!

I guess I understand why 6.0 is comming out so soon.

[blade]

Originally Posted by chstuart

I take that last statement back. Placeshifter just locked up and the Clemson/Carolina game is stuck at the beginning. I cannot get it to play on the server or on Placeshifter. The game has been over for three hours and I have just made it into the third quarter. Thanks Sage!

I guess I understand why 6.0 is comming out so soon.

No offense intended, but many people have rock solid setups with v5. The problems you're having are much more likely to be something with your particular setup than a widespread flaw in the program or everyone would be having the same problems.

I'm sure there are plenty of people willing to help if you would troubleshoot the problem and narrow down when it occurs. Honestly you haven't really provided any useful information as of yet. Everyone would just be shooting in the dark.

Little things like does it happen when you playback pre-recorded shows or only when playing live TV. What about when you're recording one show and playing back another. What renderer and decoder are you using? Does it happen when you use other renderers and decoders?

Random lockups like you're describing are often times related to hard drive failure, faulty memory, heat, etc... For example I had a non-sage hard drive start to fail right after installing v6 and I would get all sorts of strange slow downs and lockups and was certain v6 was to blame. I removed the drive and haven't had any problems since. So you never really know what might be causing the problem.

[MattJackson86]

I have something similar....

I am running a fresh install of 5.0.4 with the java version that came installed with sage.

I get it sometimes when I watch a recording to the end of a show and sgae then asks me what do I want to do (delete etc.) If I go back to the show (so I just see the last frame and its not playing as it just finished) and i rewind it (10 secs, 10 minutes, whatever) it will play audio, but the video will sit at the same last frame.

I have to stop and play another video, then stop and play the original.

Dont know if this is the same issue you mention, but this is the issue i have.

Thanks

[chstuart]

Matt,

It sounds very similar. Blade, thank you for the help. Sorry for the attitude the other day. I was pretty P-O-ed that I could not watch the big game with out lock ups. I have not had time to try any of your suggestions, but I will. Sage support says to try a clean install. They also say to update to the latest version of Java which is contrary to what you guys have been saying.

[blade]

Originally Posted by chstuart

Matt,

It sounds very similar.

The problem could be related, but I experience exactly what Matt described. The difference between what happens to me and what you describe is Sage never freezes up and it only occurs when I hit the end of the recording and I don't click delete or press stop. It never occurs randomly for me and only in that specific situation.

Blade, thank you for the help. Sorry for the attitude the other day. I was pretty P-O-ed that I could not watch the big game with out lock ups. I have not had time to try any of your suggestions, but I will. Sage support says to try a clean install. They also say to update to the latest version of Java which is contrary to what you guys have been saying.

I've had times where I've wanted to put my fist through the TV. Almost always due to something I've done.

I'm also not sure what the "latest" version of java is. I do know most or all of the v1.5 releases of java had memory leaks. When playing back a video in Sage using VMR memory usage would instantly start to rise and continue to increase. At one time Sage installed a 1.5 version of java and they removed it from the install and put a 1.4 version back in due to the problem. If you try a newer version I would suggest monitoring the memory usage.

I didn't notice before, but your video card is pretty old. It doesn't even support DX9. Older cards can sometimes give problems. I was using an old GeForce3 in a client awhile back and it took a lot of tweaking to get it to run smooth and reliably. Sometimes on older cards turning off 3d accelleration can help since the cards aren't always up to the task to begin with.

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by blade

I'm also not sure what the "latest" version of java is.

1.6 is now at RC stage.