HD200 freezes during live TV

[mschauer]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

Just noticed you didn't list software versions for the 2250. Please post this. There were some bad versions of the drivers.

I have the most current f/w (7.6.27.27323 11/19/2009) for the 2250.

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by mschauer

I have the most current f/w (7.6.27.27323 11/19/2009) for the 2250.

Wow, mine is MUCH older. 7.3.0.26198 7/16/2008

Oh, just remembered something else. Please tell me you aren't running 64bit, or 4G RAM.

[mschauer]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

Wow, mine is MUCH older. 7.3.0.26198 7/16/2008

Oh, just remembered something else. Please tell me you aren't running 64bit, or 4G RAM.

32 bit, 2 G.

What's the problem with 4G??

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by mschauer

32 bit, 2 G.

What's the problem with 4G??

Because 32bit windows can't access more than 4G or RAM (I/O devices like Video cards and the 2250 need some of the 4G), so they map out some of it, and about 25% the time, they don't do it correctly. Come to think of it though, the card wouldn't work at all then, I forgot about that.

[mschauer]

Just a quick update. I was using my system disk for recordings. I installed a 1T WD Cavier black to use for recordings. Didn't help a bit.

Next thing is a Windows scrubbing. Using the Windows disk and cpu monitors there doesn't appear to be anything starting up at the time of the freezes that might be interfering with writing to the disk but I don't know how accurate those monitors are or if they would catch a very short duration burst of activity. I'll use the various crapware detectors to delete or disable anything unnecessary.

From other threads here it appears Sage isn't yet known to be compatible with Windows 7 so I guess I'll have to stick with Vista and do an upgrade with it.

Wanting to try the non-system disk for recordings distracted me from other things like posting my system information and trying the "pause and resume and see if no freezes". I'll do those things next and post the results before I dive into the Windows scrubbing.

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by mschauer

Just a quick update. I was using my system disk for recordings. I installed a 1T WD Cavier black to use for recordings. Didn't help a bit.

Did you use a block size of 64K?

[mschauer]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

Did you use a block size of 64K?

Yes I did although Sage claims it isn't necessary with v7.

Thanks for hanging around Matt!

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by mschauer

I installed a 1T WD Cavier black to use for recordings. Didn't help a bit.

Is that an internal drive? IIRC WD did make an external 2T Caviar black drive.

[mschauer]

Originally Posted by HelenWeathers

Is that an internal drive? IIRC WD did make an external 2T Caviar black drive.

Internal.

I'm glad to see you are also still checking in Helen. I really want Sage to work but I'm getting frustrated. Getting input from others when I hit a wall will help keep me from giving up.

FYI: I've also updated my Java. I think it is v6u20. It's whatever is the most current as of a couple of days ago.

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by mschauer

I really want Sage to work but I'm getting frustrated.

I know how that is. You have to realise that most users are not having this live TV problem so it is either hardware (99.99%) or some issue that SageTV is having with your hardware (0.01%).

You really need to post your system specs in your signature. Motherboard, cpu, memory, Operating System - as much as you can.

That way people who might be able to help don't have to wade through all the postings in this thread to see if there's something you may be missing.

When you view your live programs on your server do you see the same stutters?

[mschauer]

Originally Posted by HelenWeathers

I know how that is. You have to realise that most users are not having this live TV problem so it is either hardware (99.99%) or some issue that SageTV is having with your hardware (0.01%).

Or the users who have had the problem just gave up on Sage and so don't participate in this forum. I actually suspect that might be the case. My set up is pretty darn simple. Until this I hadn't even used my Windows machine for much of anything since I bought it so it should be minimally contaminated.

You really need to post your system specs in your signature. Motherboard, cpu, memory, Operating System - as much as you can.

That way people who might be able to help don't have to wade through all the postings in this thread to see if there's something you may be missing.

I know. I thought installing the new drive had a high probability of fixing the problem so wanted to try that. I'm doing some heavy multitasking of which only one task is working on this. I'll get that done soon though.

How do I know what motherboard it is? I looked at the documentation that came with the PC (HP Pavilion) and it is not nearly as detailed as what I'm used to getting from a PC manufacturer. For instance I didn't see a motherboard diagram.

When you view your live programs on your server do you see the same stutters?

I believe so although this is something I need to verify. I find viewing tv on my PC very uncomfortable and so really never do it. For the purpose of troubleshooting this problem I have watched on the server until I saw a freeze but didn't continue watching to be sure that wasn't an anomaly.

[mschauer]

I've added some info to my siggy. Will add more when I can.

[sic0048]

I'd recommend that you submit a bug report. I too suspect it is something related to your system, but Sage will be better suited to get to the bottom of it.

There are enough people using the HD-200 on this forum that it would be immediately apparent if it was a common issue. Still, that doesn't mean there really isn't a bug that needs to be fixed.

[mschauer]

Originally Posted by sic0048

I'd recommend that you submit a bug report. I too suspect it is something related to your system, but Sage will be better suited to get to the bottom of it.

There are enough people using the HD-200 on this forum that it would be immediately apparent if it was a common issue. Still, that doesn't mean there really isn't a bug that needs to be fixed.

Read post #3 and #20.

[HelenWeathers]

If you have the model number for the HP maybe you might get some info from the HP web site. I have a hard time understanding why any recent computer can't keep up.

You do need to do the test I mentioned. Try with HD streams and SD streams also.

It could be as simple (??) as a bad DMA controller on your motherboard.

Do you have another, newer PC to try Sage on?

[mschauer]

Originally Posted by HelenWeathers

If you have the model number for the HP maybe you might get some info from the HP web site. I have a hard time understanding why any recent computer can't keep up.

Me too.

You do need to do the test I mentioned. Try with HD streams and SD streams also.

Yup. That's high on the to do list. I do know the problem is with both SD and HD and is not worst with HD. That kind of points away from disk throughput problem.

It could be as simple (??) as a bad DMA controller on your motherboard.

Do you have another, newer PC to try Sage on?

The PC is only about 2 years old. The only thing I have that is newer is a netbook. I'll bet *that* can't keep up!

Off to do some tests. Will post results.

[disco340]

Iv'e been having the same problem lately as well. From what I was able to gather, I'm pretty sure it's my hard drive. I was previously using my OS drive for live TV. From reading the forums I realized this was a bad thing so I decided to get a 2 TB Wester Digital Black drive with an external sata case. Since installing this drive I have noticed the occasional freezing. Every time it has happend I would power down the HD200 and power cycle the drive. After that it seems to work fine.

[mschauer]

Originally Posted by disco340

Iv'e been having the same problem lately as well. From what I was able to gather, I'm pretty sure it's my hard drive. I was previously using my OS drive for live TV. From reading the forums I realized this was a bad thing so I decided to get a 2 TB Wester Digital Black drive with an external sata case.Since installing this drive I have noticed the occasional freezing. Every time it has happend I would power down the HD200 and power cycle the drive. After that it seems to work fine.

I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying you didn't start seeing the freezes until *after* installing the new drive and using it for recordings???

[mschauer]

From tonights testing it appears the freezes do not happen when watching live tv on the server. *But*, it took longer than usual for the freezes to start happening when I switched to watching via the HD200. So, I'll have to repeat the test a least a couple of times before I'm sure.

[disco340]

Originally Posted by mschauer

I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying you didn't start seeing the freezes until *after* installing the new drive and using it for recordings???

That's correct, everything worked fine until I installed the new drive.