Garbled screen and computer hangs

[hjalmar]

Hi! Long time SageTV user, but with very few problems, so haven't been here much before.

My issue is that after using Sage for a while (somewhere between 12-24 hours I would say), there are graphics glitches.
1. The error has occurred when I'm watching a recorded show, in which case the playback stops, SageTV freezes, and if I go back to the desktop, the problem is the same as below.
2. The error has occured with SageTV in the background and the computer running by itself (which is standard most nights), in which case Windows do not properly display user interface elements. One or more of the following issues: only partial buttons, no window borders, no start menu.

Most of the time I do not have user interface enough to reboot properly, so have to pull the plug.

Experience from other applications back in Win9x days, tells me the computer could be running out of that special section of memory for graphics elements, what ever that is called. But I did not think WinXP had that problem anymore?

Config: C2D CPU, 2 GB RAM, ATI X1300 graphics (latest drivers) in 1366x768, Win XP SP3, SageTV 6.5.9.204, Java 1.6.0_13, STV StandardHD1080, server and Placeshifter server running, no plugins.

I had the same issues when the server was running on a separate computer (not quite sure of what versions of everything then), so I moved the capture card on to the client and reinstalled the computer from scratch, so it's now standalone. Exactly the same behaviour still.

Any ideas?

[MitchSchaft]

New capture card time? Or video card if that's what you meant.

[hjalmar]

Originally Posted by MitchSchaft

New capture card time? Or video card if that's what you meant.

I didn't mention the capture card (because it seems very unlikely to be the cause) - it's a FloppyDTV D/CI 01.25.01, firmware 1.2.1. build 33720 with driver 4.8.0.

The ATI X1300 is a just a plain 3D/video playback accelerator.

[QueOnda]

Same graphics card from previous comuter to new computer? Remove your graphics card and try to run without it?

Basically, what ever hardware was in the old computer which you moved to the new computer may be the problem. You should start removing things (one by one) to see if the problem goes away. If you remove one thing and the problem is still there, put it back and take out something else.
If you put memory in, take out one stick and leave the rest in there.

Other ways is running a benchmark or burn-in test to see if it can find issues.

[babgvant]

sounds like your vc maybe overheating (is the cooling passive or active?) or getting close to a component failure.

[hjalmar]

Maybe I wasn't clear enough. The graphics issue is not hardware, it's software (though it could of course be a driver). This is easy to see because of the type of errors. It is clearly not drawing some user interface elements (such as buttons, frames, windows), whereas others get drawn. A hardware malfunction would not show up that way.

Also, the error does not show up if SageTV is not started. And the ATI card works great playing demanding 3D games (well as demanding as a 2-year old card can manage - like Flatout 2).

My guess is that SageTV causes a memory leak in a graphics heap somewhere, but I don't know how to confirm that. And even less how to fix it. :-(

My general developer skills tells me to start logging and try to figure out what goes wrong. I know zip about SageTV development, Java development, and Windows system development though, so I have no idea about where to start.

[QueOnda]

Don't know if this will help but you could try to increasing your java heap size. I believe Bobgvant created an easy program to change the setting in your registry. Also, see if your RAM is currently not being maxed out.

[hjalmar]

Solution: There was a Windows resource leak in the sound driver for the Soundblaster X-Fi Surround (external USB sound card). I'm currently limping around on a "stereo sound only, no settings works" beta of the drivers, waiting for the new proper driver. Since it's a Soundblaster that will probably happen in 2012. :-(

There was no issues with SageTV, other than it played sounds :-), thus triggering the leak.