SageTV won't start

[chip33az]

Hi,

I had been running SageTV for about a year at the apartment without any issues. A few days ago I purchased new server hardware and installed Ubuntu 9.04 (32-bit) on a new drive and installed SageTV. I just can't seem to get it running correctly.

It won't start when the machine boots (I installed using the .deb package).

If I manually start the service and then stop it, I seem to lose all of the settings (like favorites).

Any idea where to start?

[stuckless]

YOu to need to re-activate your license for the new hardware. This happened to me a couple weeks back.

You need to send an email to sage support and they'll tell you what you need to do. In my case I had to re-run the ./keygen.sh and after that it worked.

[chip33az]

I thought it had to do with the fact that Ubuntu 9.04 is now using UpStart instead of inittab to start services.

SageTV works fine after I manually start it, which is why I thought it had to do with the booting process of Ubuntu 9.04.

[stuckless]

yeah... mine would start up as well... but then the wiz.bin would get corrupt.... from time to time... after spending some time with support, they had me reissue the keygen and everything has bee fine since.

[vikingisson]

I'm still having the startup problem. Starts fine manually but not after a reboot.
A few things I did: set BIOS clock to GMT which fixed the wrong time shown in the UI. Set a static IP since I was getting a different IP from DHCP each time. Ran keygen.sh and got a success value. And unrelated to this I added "vmalloc=256M" to the kernel line on grub which cured the conflict between the Nvidia card and the HVR-1600.

I'm not sure if this is an Unbuntu or Sage problem.

[chip33az]

I just e-mailed SageTV about this.

It sounds just like Stuckless mentions. I can start it manually and the WIZ.BIN gets corrupt. Good thing I really didn't have too many favorites or TV shows.

[vikingisson]

ok but is there a fix? Is this a bug or something with the activation security server? I'll likely change hardware several times before I'm happy and I'll be moving soon which will alter the network setup. The activation seems to be sensitive to those changes. I don't want to rant about activation issues until I'm certain what is happening.
I just bought the linux key yesterday so I can move away from Windoze. I've rerun keygen a couple of times.
"corrupt wiz.bin" might explain a few things so far but I had very little setup at the time.

[stuckless]

i don't think tha sage is sensitve too all hardware changes (although I can't be certain). ie, if you simply upgrade your memory or add a new HD, i doubt that would cause an issue... i suspect that it relies on cpu and network card mainly, but I'm guessing.

bottom line, if you are doing exetensive changes, then contact sage sage support and let them know. I suspect this is not just a linux thing. I bet the windows activation server works in a similar way. But, it may be bug that it simply corrupts the wiz.bin instead of simply failing to start with a message like, "We've detected hardware changes in your configuration, please contact sage support for re-activation".

I suspect that if this is a bug, then it may not be directly with sagetv but rather in their activation code, which is most likely 3rd party. (again, guessing)

[vikingisson]

Yeah I'm confident that basic changes like memory aren't a problem. But NICs, CPUs, etc might be if the key is tied to them. I've seen these 'phone home' activation schemes and I don't like them. 'nuff said about that for now except that I'm not going to contact Sage to reactivate my system every time I change things. But I might start making copies of wiz.bin before I make a change, good idea anyway.

Example is that I changed video and tuner cards several times and even did a reinstall while chasing what turned out to be a kernel conflict that was easily fixed in the end.

I can't find any clues in any of the logs. The init scripts look normal and it should simply work at bootup. This is my first time with Ubuntu so I'm not as familiar with it as a CentOS style setup.

[Opus4]

Have you simply tried to reactivate? If reactivation doesn't work, then contact SageTV.

- Andy

[chip33az]

How do you re-activate?

I have a fresh install of Ubuntu 9.04, I downloaded the latest SageTV and installed it. I supplied my license when it asked.

[vikingisson]

you would run keygen.sh from the /opt/sagetv/server directory.

I did run that and it returned success. However it still won't start at boot, only manual start. Are we saying that Sage would need to do something at their server to get me fully active? And is that related to wiz.bin corruption?

[chip33az]

Running keygen.sh didn't seem to do anything. It reported that it was successful, but SageTV didn't start on boot, and there is a WIZ.BIN.Corrupt in the server directory.

[vikingisson]

Same thing here. It looks like it will require a call to Sage. But I'll wait until I finalize the box so I don't have to do it again. I might even reinstall with CentOS since it makes more sense for a headless server and I'm more familiar with it. Ubuntu is very pretty but as a server it isn't ideal so far. The corrupt wiz.bin worries me more right now. If that happens because of a bug I'll have hope that it gets fixed. But if it is because of some activation nonsense I'll be very unhappy.

[stuckless]

my sage was running flawlessly for over a year with only a single reboot during that time... when I upgraded my server, i also upgraded my sagetv server software at the same time, and I started experiencing the corrupt wiz.bin.... in my case it was totally fixed after I contacted sage support. I can't speak for your case, but if you upgraded your hardware, then it may be similar to my experience.

[vikingisson]

ok thanks, once I get the box stable I'll give them a call so I get it fully working. I know that most folks just want a box that works and can forget about it but some of us like to tinker just for fun. These anti piracy schemes if that's what this is about get in the way of honest fun and knowledge. oh well.