Spinning Wheel of Death - Any further thoughts out there ?

[Savage1701]

My issue with the spinning wheel of death seems to be when I try to browse a collection of recordings, say, "Law and Order". I pick one, hit play, and I have the spinning wheel of death.

I am doing this from an HD200 connected to a SageTV dedicated server. 32-bit XP, 4GB RAM, P5Q Premium MB. New hardware all around. I am running the most recent builds of Sage and firmware in the server and the HD200. I don't do anything else with the server except let it run Sage.

Also, I've got a laptop in my living room running access remote PC so I can check on the server when this happens. I've never seen abnormal CPU usage, the transcoder issue, or anything burning up my CPU. I've tried Sage as a standalone and as a service. I've increased the Java heap to hex 300 or 512 RAM allocation. I don't sleep the server. It has several hard drives on it, and does not seem to be connected to a recording being on a particular hard drive, so I'm not thinking I've got a bad hard drive ready to go that is causing corruption issues or some such thing.

I don't watch programs on the server, since it is tucked away in the basement. But I do check recordings down there, and even flipping amongst them, browsing them, etc. I don't get the spinning wheel on the server itself.

I am trying changing the garbage setting to see if that will help.

It seems like the spinning wheel is triggered by many different things for many different users. For me, it seems to be trying to play a show the first thing in the morning for my son - one of the cartoon series I have recorded for him, etc. I don't have FF or REW problems. I don't have EPG issues. Just that "first show in the morning" issue.

It does not seemed to be tied to a format - I've had PVR-USB2 recordings, HD-PVR recordings, and OTA ATSC recording groupings all do the same spinning thing.

Anyone have any ideas on the matter?

[HelenWeathers]

The only times I've seen this behavior were (1)when Java heap was set too low (you've already dealt with this and 300 should be enough but you can go to 400/768) (2)when one of my media HDDs was beginning to fail or (3)when I moved media around and left Sage looking at import folders that no longer existed or (4)added a bunch of new imports and didn't allow Sage enough time to get them indexed before I tried to use the UI.

I would suggest that if you have import folders, you temporarily remove some or all of them and then check your system's behavior.

[Savage1701]

Well, I'll try one thing at a time. I don't need the media import directories right now, so I removed all them.

I'll look at increasing Java heap further if above does not work.

As far as HDD failure is concerned, I'm not sure what else to do there, although I've heard about thumbnail corruption. If it still occurs I will try to run the recordings folder as a list view rather than the thumbnail view. I've ran verify scans and such, but who knows. I've heard that media scans have to be highly specific to find hardware-level corruption and such.

Thanks for the ideas.

[Savage1701]

I get the spinning wheel of death on certain specific occassions. I've heard that thumbnail corruption can cause this.

Can I specifically purge SageTV of all stored thumbnails and force a regeneration? Or does it even store them at all? Or am I better off just trying a list view for my recordings?

Thanks for any thoughts.

[vividweb]

Do you have BMT installed? I noticed that I got way more SWOD instances on all my clients after upgrading to the latest 3.0.X version, I notice that there is now a 3.1.X version out now and will upgrade tonight and see if that fixes it. And it might just be a coincidence.

What is the best way to determine the health of a HDD?

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by vividweb

What is the best way to determine the health of a HDD?

I really wish I knew of one that didn't take 20 hours on a 2tb drive. I didn't know I had a hard drive problem unitl it failed totally after about a week or so of strange system behavior.

[freedml]

I know your PC is buried, but I would first confirm that you can play files on the server. If not, then you need to solve that problem first. You could also buy a Placeshifter and/or Client license and check the system from your 'remote control pc'.

Next, I would give older firmware 20090505 a try on the HD200.

[vividweb]

I have issues on all clients, MVP, HD100, and PC. Same result with all three, mostly happens when starting/stopping a live show and when viewing a new show in the guide (which makes me think updating BMT may help for my setup).

[freedml]

I'd say it's time to get that PC out of the basement and get it working first before you start chasing all these other things. I think MVPs are not worth messing with. I replaced 3 with HD200s and am much happier (though HD200s still have problems).

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by Savage1701

I am doing this from an HD200 connected to a SageTV dedicated server. 32-bit XP, 4GB RAM, P5Q Premium MB. New hardware all around. I am running the most recent builds of Sage and firmware in the server and the HD200. I don't do anything else with the server except let it run Sage.

I agree with freedml, start with the basics. Hook up the HD200 as close to the server as possible and see what happens.

[freedml]

Of course, my pet solution, try 20090505 firmware on the HD200. Works much better for me than any subsequent versions, which seem to have problems with gigabit switches and/or cable runs longer than 5'.

[Savage1701]

Originally Posted by vividweb

Do you have BMT installed? I noticed that I got way more SWOD instances on all my clients after upgrading to the latest 3.0.X version, I notice that there is now a 3.1.X version out now and will upgrade tonight and see if that fixes it. And it might just be a coincidence.

What is the best way to determine the health of a HDD?

At the risk of sounding dumb, what does BMT stand for?

[Savage1701]

Originally Posted by freedml

I know your PC is buried, but I would first confirm that you can play files on the server. If not, then you need to solve that problem first. You could also buy a Placeshifter and/or Client license and check the system from your 'remote control pc'.

Next, I would give older firmware 20090505 a try on the HD200.

I can play files on that server, but I have heard the extenders consume Java resources which can be a contributing factor.

[Savage1701]

Originally Posted by freedml

I'd say it's time to get that PC out of the basement and get it working first before you start chasing all these other things. I think MVPs are not worth messing with. I replaced 3 with HD200s and am much happier (though HD200s still have problems).

That's going to be a little tricky since it's a 3U server case in a server room racked with several other servers, switches, routers, ethernet PDU's, UPS's and such. In short, it ain't comin' out of the basement, nor is anything else in the 2 side by side 45U racks either. Or the cable feeds or the T1 feed or the cable modem. Or the custom built liquid cooling systems and radiators. You would have had better luck getting Howard Hughes out of his hotel room than my SageTV server out of our basement. I think you get the picture. :-)

[Savage1701]

Originally Posted by freedml

I know your PC is buried, but I would first confirm that you can play files on the server. If not, then you need to solve that problem first. You could also buy a Placeshifter and/or Client license and check the system from your 'remote control pc'.

Next, I would give older firmware 20090505 a try on the HD200.

Interestingly, the 21-day client trials never gave me problems, but then I had to make sure all the clients had adequate video cards, decoders, etc.

And I like the fact the extender consumes about 8 watts rather than 150+

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by Savage1701

I can play files on that server, but I have heard the extenders consume Java resources which can be a contributing factor.

Now it's time to hook up the HD200 as close to the server as possible and eleminate network issues.

[Savage1701]

Well, for better or worse I deleted all thumbnails. Most shows "regenerated" their thumbnails, but quite a few did not.

We will see if that cures the issue.

By the way, can I force Sage to regnerate thumbnails?

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions.

[vividweb]

Originally Posted by Savage1701

At the risk of sounding dumb, what does BMT stand for?

If you don't know what it is then you won't have it installed.

It is the Batch Metadata Tools. http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34301

[Savage1701]

LOL ! You are right. Thanks for the link!

[Savage1701]

Deleting thumbnails seems to have solved this issue. I suspect those of you who suggested corruption of thumbnails were correct. Time will tell.

I know it seems as though the SWOD is caused by many different things for many different people.

I think in my case it was thumbnail corruption.

Stopped Sage (and service if you are using that) and went into the thumbnail folder in Sage and deleted all 600+ of them. After restart, I noticed a lot of thumbnails gone.

As of today, no SWOD. We'll see if the fix works.

Thanks to those who suggested that, as well as all the other causes.