SageTV Newbie - MVP Extender problems

[tapgrq]

I've installed SageTV which seems to be running fine (still working on getting IR blaster from MCE working, but otherwise running fine). I purchased an MVP hard wired version and plugged it into my router. I've opened all the ports mentioned in the documentation, but cannot get the extender to work.

It starts up, finds the PC that has SageTV running and displays that PC's name and correct IP. I hit enter and it says "Contacting Servers", and that's it. It never finds anything. I've started and restarted services and SageTV. Rebooted PC and extender till the cows come home and no luck. Always the same.

I even tried letting the extender run all night "Contacting Servers", and nothing...

I've also disabled the Firewall on the PC completely.

I've verifed Servers are running in setup but nothing I've done has helped. Does anyone have any suggestions? I would really appreciate any help.

If it makes any difference, the PC is running Vista 32, and the router is a D-Link DIR-655, attached to the PC with a Netgear WNDA3100 wireless adapter.

Again, thanks for any help or suggestions.

[CollinR]

Originally Posted by tapgrq

it makes any difference, the PC is running Vista 32,

It does, add that to your search criteria.

[tapgrq]

I've spent the last 3 hours looking through posts, and the best I've gotten is to get past the "Contacting Servers" message and now I get the "Failed to locate GUI Server". So far I have:

* Started and Restarted the server
* Set fixed IP's in the router for the MVP and the PC acting as server
* Updated the sage.properties file miniserver= with the server's IP
* Gone through MSCONFIG to disable anything not absolutely necessary from loading at startup
* Rebooted PC and MVP a dozen times (unplugged MVP)
* Tried starting MVP with SageTV GUI on PC running and not running

I've read something about swapping the mvp.bin for the dongle.bin but that seems to only apply if the Hauppuage software is installed.

MVP starts up, shows the PC name and IP address, then I press OK and it goes to "LOADING APPLICATION" then the Failed to locate GUI Server"

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm getting desperate!

[Opus4]

Since there haven't been any suggestions, try submitting a SageTV tech support request.

- Andy

[davephan]

Did you start up the SageTV server? "Setup", "Detailed Setup", "Server", "SageTV server and Media Extender should be "enabled".

If that does not work, you can test the MVP with the Hauppauge software. Shut down SageTV, including the SageTV service, then try using the Hauppauge software. The Hauppauge software is pretty crude, but it can help you divide and resolve the problem.

Dave

[stuckless]

In my own experiences... I've never gotten the MVP or HD extender to communicate with my sage server without adding the following lines to my Sage.properties

linux/network/ip_address=192.168.1.10
miniserver/forced_server_ip=192.168.1.10

where 192.168.1.10 is the IP address of my Sage server. The funny thing is that the MVP will show my 192.168.1.10 server in the list, but will never connect to it, unless I add/update those properties.

[dann]

You mention your pc is connected with wireless to your router, have you tried connecting with a cable instead?

[tapgrq]

I added the lines suggested by stuckless and at first nothing happened. In frustration I left everything on and walked away. I came back about 30 minutes later and the TV was displaying the Sage interface. Everything seemed to function, but the interface was slow to respond. I could watch live TV with no problems, but when I tried to plan a video captured with Vista Media Center recording it went black.

I tried rebooting extender and was never able to get it to come back up again.

As for connecting the PC directly to router, it's not possible. Too far apart, but the adapter reports 54-108 Mbs connection.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.