not loading sageclient.properties on boot

[megamojo]

I have my server running in service mode, and I also use it as the main playback system in my house. When I reboot the computer, it seems like it pulls the settings for the local client out of sage.properties instead of sageclient.properties. None of my STVi imports or settings or anything are there. Then I just close sage and restart it, and it's back to normal. This seems to happen pretty much every time the computer boots. I haven't had the forethought yet to hit control-alt-delete while this occurs and see if there are separate processes running for sagetv.exe and sagetvservice.exe, so I'm not sure if it's not running in service mode at all during this time, or if it's just reading the wrong properties file.

I'm running sagetv 6.3.5 on Windows XP pro.

Any ideas?

[GKusnick]

Do you log in and start Sage manually after rebooting, or do you have some kind of automated login that auto-launches the Sage UI? If the latter, you could be getting a race condition where the UI launches before the service has finished initializing, so it thinks it's running in standalone mode. Instead of auto-launching the UI directly at startup, you could try launching a batch file that delays for five or ten seconds before launching Sage.

[megamojo]

I just did it again since I was checking the Wake On Lan utility I just added to my router. It again started with the wrong GUI settings, and this time I checked and there are indeed separate processes for sagetv and sagetvservice, just like normal. As for how I auto-launch, since my sage computer is dedicated to just sage, I only have 1 user and no password, so it logs in automatically. I just have sage set to start in fullscreen mode at boot from the gui, nothing fancy there. I do think you're right about the race condidition. Back on my old single core hardware, starting sage would take forever since the service and the front-end would alternately peak the CPU, and the gui couldn't fully start until the service fully let go of the cpu. Now that I have a dual core cpu running on the sage box, launching sage is extremely speedy as both processes get their own core to run on.

So now what are your suggestions? instead of letting sage start itself just run a batch file at startup, with a delay, something like this?:

ping 127.0.0.1
c:\sagedir\sagetv.exe -startup

The localhost ping is the only way I know to add delay to a batch file, is there a better way? And if I'm not telling sage to start itself automatically upon boot, how do I get sage to start in fullscreen mode automatically? I suppose it's not the most important thing in the world, since changing to fullscreen mode with the remote is pretty trivial, and in all reality, I have to VNC into the machine every time I boot to move that pesky mouse to the corner. Still though, I'm interested in your input.

[GKusnick]

There's a utility in the Windows Resource Kit called sleep.exe that lets you insert a programmed delay into a batch file.

And yes, putting -startup on the command line should cause it to enforce the ui/startup_type property on load. Set that property to 1 to start in full-screen mode.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by megamojo

I have my server running in service mode, and I also use it as the main playback system in my house. When I reboot the computer, it seems like it pulls the settings for the local client out of sage.properties instead of sageclient.properties. None of my STVi imports or settings or anything are there. Then I just close sage and restart it, and it's back to normal. This seems to happen pretty much every time the computer boots. I haven't had the forethought yet to hit control-alt-delete while this occurs and see if there are separate processes running for sagetv.exe and sagetvservice.exe, so I'm not sure if it's not running in service mode at all during this time, or if it's just reading the wrong properties file.

I'm running sagetv 6.3.5 on Windows XP pro.

Any ideas?

If you ran SageTV on your server before and then you switch to the service mode, the next time you start Sage it starts up as a client. When it first comes up as that continue (don't quit and restart) with it and finish setting it up import your STVI and set everything up the way you want. When you're done quit Sage and reboot your machine. Now those settings should be there the next time you reboot.



Gerry

[megamojo]

Thanks for the tip about sleep.exe, I'm playing with it now. Gplasky, I think you're misunderstanding my problem. I am running in service mode and always have, but lately (well, since I upgraded my hardware) when I boot, the front-end that comes up thinks it's running in standalone mode, and since I've always run in service mode sage.properties really has no settings in it at all that relate to the front-end.

[Narflex]

megamojo, please submit a bug report on this so we can get log files. http://sagetv.com/bugs.html

SageTV has mechanims designed into it that protect against this race condition. So something odd is happening here and we'd like to investigate.

[megamojo]

Wow, I wasn't quite expecting that serious of a response, but I'll be sure to submit a bug report. I'm glad you asked me to though, since I've just about given up on getting this resolved. I've played with using the delayed batchfile, and the startup delay value in both properties files, and every possible combination and option that has to do with startup behavior and delays, and no matter what I do, upon boot, the front-end that comes up thinks it's in standalone mode, and simply restarting the front end fixes the issue immediately. I'm planning on wiping the windows partition on Monday when I have the day off, mostly to try and resolve the VMR9 tearing issue I started another thread about, and partially because I really should have just done it when I got new hardware, so hopefully that will resolve this issue as well. I'll submit the bug report before then though so you guys can make any needed changes in future releases.

Thanks for everyone's input!

[megamojo]

Just an update. I submitted the bug report and a very nice person corresponded with me by email and we did some troubleshooting. I'm now the proud owner of a customized SageTV.exe that fixes it for me and this issue will be resolved in future releases.

You guys (SageTV LLC, but you forum people too I guess) are absolutely great!!