MVP not booting: Failed to load GUI Server

[kenshinvt]

I know this has been reported before, but none of the old threads have been any help in solving my problem (so please, no need to link to them). Here is a little about my situation:

I had my network setup with this MVP for a year or two without ever having any problems. This week I received a new HD extender. I disconnected the MVP, added the new license, restarted the server, and then hooked up the new HD extender. Everything worked great with the new HD extender.

A few days later I got around to hooking the MVP back up because it was disconnected while I moved it to another TV. In the settings menu at startup it correctly pulls an IP from the DHCP server through a wired connection to a wireless bridge, just like it always has in the past. It not only shows it in the settings menu but also on the router.

The only difference now is that it will infinitely cycle back between "loading application" and "failed to locate GUI server" when it should be loading the SageTV interface.

Some things I've tried:
1. Power cycling the router and clearing the DHCP licenses
2. Leaving the MVP off for an extended period of time / power cycling it
3. Using a different wireless bridge or no bridge at all (internal mvp wireless hardware) --no difference
4. Turning off and disconnecting everything else on the network to let it try by itself
5. restarting the SageTV service & executable and also turning on and off the SageTV server setting
6. Letting it make the boot attempt for an extended period of time

thanks!!

[carlgar]

Have you tried connecting it as a wired device?
Is it possible the the IP address conflicts with the HD extender?
You probably will need to use something like wireshark and see what packets are being sent to and from the server when you try to boot the MVP.
Can you configure your DHCP server to always use the same IP number for the MVP?
Did you make any network changes, such as adding a new NIC, when moving the MVP?

[KKnox]

See what I wrote about my bridge setup a few months ago. I would definitely suggest trying a wired connection.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...794#post276794

[kenshinvt]

Originally Posted by carlgar

Have you tried connecting it as a wired device?
Is it possible the the IP address conflicts with the HD extender?
You probably will need to use something like wireshark and see what packets are being sent to and from the server when you try to boot the MVP.
Can you configure your DHCP server to always use the same IP number for the MVP?
Did you make any network changes, such as adding a new NIC, when moving the MVP?

Wired isn't an option given it's location.
I let it be the only thing turned on in the network, so I'm pretty sure that conflicts are ruled out.
No network changes, other than adding a new bridge (which is setup properly and I confirmed working w/ the HD extender and a PC).

Originally Posted by KKnox

See what I wrote about my bridge setup a few months ago. I would definitely suggest trying a wired connection.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...794#post276794

I mean, essentially it is working as a wired connection by having a physical line connecting it to the bridge--I'm not using the MVP's wireless capabilities. If you guys think connecting and booting it once from a direct connection to the router will have an appreciable effect when I hook it back up to the bridge I could do that?

[carlgar]

Originally Posted by kenshinvt

I mean, essentially it is working as a wired connection by having a physical line connecting it to the bridge--I'm not using the MVP's wireless capabilities. If you guys think connecting and booting it once from a direct connection to the router will have an appreciable effect when I hook it back up to the bridge I could do that?

I missed the part about using a wireless bridge in your first post. But since you stated "just like it always has in the past" it shoujld still work. What is the new bridge that you setup?

Are you using either of these in the Sage properties file?
miniserver/forced_server_ip=
miniserver/gateway=

[kenshinvt]

Originally Posted by carlgar

I missed the part about using a wireless bridge in your first post. But since you stated "just like it always has in the past" it shoujld still work. What is the new bridge that you setup?

I added another bridge to the network for the HD extender. It should still work..

Originally Posted by carlgar

Are you using either of these in the Sage properties file?
miniserver/forced_server_ip=
miniserver/gateway=

Nope. What are these settings and why would I need to start using them now? Also, are you talking about the particular MVP's properties file or the general sage one?

[carlgar]

Those settings are in the Sage server properties file. The miniserver/forced_server_ip is set to force Sage to use a specific IP to get to the MVP. That is why I asked if you added a new NIC. I am not sure of the purpose of the other parameter. I did see that it had been set on my system but I am sure I did not set it.
I think your best hope is to get a wireshark capture and see what is actually occurring.

[kenshinvt]

Originally Posted by carlgar

Those settings are in the Sage server properties file. The miniserver/forced_server_ip is set to force Sage to use a specific IP to get to the MVP. That is why I asked if you added a new NIC. I am not sure of the purpose of the other parameter. I did see that it had been set on my system but I am sure I did not set it.
I think your best hope is to get a wireshark capture and see what is actually occurring.

So if I set that parameter to a specific IP, it would mean that I could only have one working extender? What's wireshark and why do I need that?

[carlgar]

The IP number would be the IP of the server NIC, so you would still be able to have multiple MVP. They would just have to be on the same network.

Wireshark is a free network packet sniffer that lets you see all the packets received and sent to a NIC. It is quite useful in tracking down problems like this. See http://www.wireshark.org/

[kenshinvt]

Hey,

thanks for the above advice. I'm still not clear why I would need or want to set the Server's IP address to a static IP. The server has one NIC and picks up an IP just fine, and the new extender (and the problematic one prior to recently) found it just fine.

I checked out that wireshark software that you mentioned. It looks like the MVP is sending out a Broadcast packet every 7 seconds with the same destination port (16881) but a different listed source port each time.

Any idea what any of that means or anything else specific to look for in wireshark?

[carlgar]

If you only have 1 NIC and do not need to be concerned about those configuration parameters.

It has been a long time since I looked at the MVP startup sequence with wireshark. Does the server respond to the broadcast packet?

You might want to put the MVP back the way it was originally and see if it works properly. If it does get a wireshark capture and compare with the current one and see what is different.

Is the wireshark capture small enough to post. If I could see it I could probably spot the problem quickly.

[kenshinvt]

Originally Posted by carlgar

You might want to put the MVP back the way it was originally and see if it works properly. If it does get a wireshark capture and compare with the current one and see what is different.

Is the wireshark capture small enough to post. If I could see it I could probably spot the problem quickly.

Thanks for the offer to look at it. I've been away on vacation but now I'm back. I unfortunately can't put it back "the way it was" because nothing changed as far as its setup is concerned.

Attached is the wireshark capture that was filtered to show only IP 192.168.1.103 (in either source or destination fields). That IP is the one assigned to the MVP. The capture shows everything on the network from intial power-on to the repeated failed attempts to load the GUI.

It's quite small at around 2k. It's a wireshark capture .pcap file, so you will have to remove the .txt at the end (necessary for upload).

[Conejo]

One issues I remember from using the MVP Extender is that it didn't like extra network hops. Though it's interesting that this worked before and not now, with the only change being where the bridge was plugged into the wall.

While Carlgar is looking at the log, have you tried the following:

1. Connect the MVP direct to your router/switch and boot
(This will tell you if the problem is the bridge)
2. Try another router/switch port
3. Try swapping it with the HD100 and see if each will connect
(The HD100 uses a different boot method but it would be a good test)

[carlgar]

I took a look at the capture file and there was very little of what I expected. About the only thing that looked correct about it was that the broadcast is coming from a Hauppauge device. But it looks like the hauppauge device has already obtained an IP address of 192.168.1.103. Do you have any idea of how or where that IP address was obtained from? I was expecting to see the first block to be a broadcast message to obtain an IP address. The block also appears to be very short, I was expecting about 500 bytes. Those blocks are 80 bytes, could they be getting truncated? The last thing I see that I have no idea where it came from is the "Redback Lawful Intercept" area in the header. I think your bridge may be doing strange things to the packets.

[Conejo]

Originally Posted by kenshinvt

Attached is the wireshark capture that was filtered to show only IP 192.168.1.103 (in either source or destination fields). That IP is the one assigned to the MVP. The capture shows everything on the network from intial power-on to the repeated failed attempts to load the GUI.

Carlgar, Kenshinvt edited the capture and sent you only packets containing the IP address already assigned to the MVP. Me believes he must have worked at the Pentagon at some point.

[carlgar]

Actually, I just noticed that he named it filtered. He probably did filter out most of the stuff I needed to see. I need to see all packets to and from the MVP to see what is occurring. In the capture of my MVP, I do not see any IP packets, most of the boot up packets are UDP protocol. My MVP is not hooked to a TV so I may not of let it get to the part where it uses IP protocol. I don't know why a broadcast would be used at that point. Would be be useful to know at what point the MVP really is.

[Conejo]

[wayofftopic] 'Redback Lawful Intercept'
Carlgar, now you've gone and scared him off. Right when we were about to learn which frames of 'Friends' he likes to replay over and over.
[/wayofftopic]

I'm assuming that the packet headers are being misidentified in Ethereal/Wireshark. Unless he really did work for the Pentagon and the NSA is still keeping close tabs on him

[Conejo]

That packet capture, even though incomplete, seems to show that the MVP was issued the x.103 IP address and then is 'broadcasting' packets on 255 looking for a server response.

kenshinvt, could you please start the wireshark capture; power up the MVP and let it run for about 10 seconds, then ship the entire capture on to Carlgar.

[kenshinvt]

Hey,

As for the suggestions above: I have tried using this bridge on the HD100 and it boots fine. I've also used it on a computer to access the internet and it worked fine. I've also used a different (also verified working) bridge on the MVP with the same results. That bridge worked with this MVP earlier on. I'm pretty sure that the current bridge isn't the issue.

Attached is the entire capture file (unfiltered) that includes powering on the bridge, followed by powering on the MVP. The MVP gets IP 192.168.1.103 and has the MAC address 00:0d:fe:0c:40:e4. Again, you will have to remove the .txt extension.

The reason I posted that filtered capture above is because on my first capturing attempt, the resulting capture file was ~270 mb.

[carlgar]

It looks to like the turn around time for the packets may be an issue. The MVP has to make 3 DHCP requests before it gets a response in blocks 38,39 and 40. I am still confused about blocks 82 and 83. I expected to see UDP blocks going to the MVP to load the mvp.bin program. I never see any IP protocol blocks so I do not know where those are coming from.

I know you are using the MVP as a wired connection but are you using a Wired or Wireless MVP. I have been doing my testing using a Wired MVP, I may have to try my wireless MVP to see if it sends any IP packets. I have not tested it because I use my wirelesee MVP as a wireless device.