[mythtv-users] Re: mythbackend crashing - solved

[Ryan Steffes]

> >>The culprit was ntpd : it was adjusting time about 10 minutes after the
> >>PC was up, causing backend to crash.
> >>It seems like this problem is specific to MPEG4 encoder.
> >>
> >>
> >
> >Does running ntpd with the `-x' option (always slew, never skip) fix
> >the problem? If you haven't tried, do the crashes consistently line
> >up with *ntp* messages in the logs about "time reset" ?
> >
> >
> I just disabled ntpd and run ntpdate during startup.
> This will work for me because I shutdown my Myth PC for night.
> BTW, another solution is to run ntpd and never shutdown the PC.



Ok my /etc/rc.d/init.d/ntpd uses a:

if [ -f /etc/ntp/step-tickers ]; then
                gprintf "Syncing time for ntpd. "
                /usr/sbin/ntpdate -s -b -p 8 -u `cat /etc/ntp/step-tickers`
        fi
        # Start daemons.
        gprintf "Starting ntpd: "
        daemon ntpd -A -x
        echo
        touch /var/lock/subsys/ntpd
        ;;

and still crashes mythbackend every few minutes.  I didn't add in that 
patch because I was concerned it would cause other problems if the time 
was getting messed up.  The two real questions I have is whether there 
is anything I can do about the crashing from ntp, and the other of 
course being WHY my clock seems like it's getting off so often.  I was 
trying to just not run ntp but it seems like my clock drifts fairly 
badly, up to a minute every couple days.   I'm not sure if that's really 
that bad if it wasn't for missing the first or last couple minutes of 
shows.  Would adding in that patch he posted be a bad thing?


What he added to h263.c:

 > +
 > + if(time_incr < 0)
 > + {
 > + av_log(NULL, AV_LOG_ERROR, "System time was changed by some
 > process.\nAre you running *NTP* daemon?\nIf yes, please disable it");
 > + time_incr = 0;
 > + }
 > +

Anything I can do about my clock drift, or at least keep myth from 
crashing when it happens?

Thanks,

-Ry