[mythtv-users] MythBox unstable when next to stereo/TV

[Brad DerManouelian]

On Aug 20, 2006, at 2:34 PM, Michael Heironimus wrote:

> On Sun, Aug 20, 2006 at 12:24:19PM -0400, Scott Johnson wrote:
>> I've tried twice now to move my MythBox from my den to the family
>> room.    The box works great in my den.  But when it is next to the
>> stereo or TV in the family room it has trouble booting and  
>> eventually I
>> get a screen full of text that has "DMA" along the left side.  It  
>> looks
>> like some kind of memory dump.  At the bottom of the screen, it  
>> reports
>> that I am out of memory (including Swap space) and some processes are
>> being killed.  There is hangs.  Last night it worked for about  
>> fifteen
>> minutes and I could even start to watch a recorded show.  Then I  
>> did an
>> operation in the MythStatus that required the database and it froze
>> there and every few minutes I could move the mouse an inch.  So I
>> rebooted it and I got the same DMA style errors.
>
> Just to rule out something simple and obvious, are you sure that  
> the new
> location isn't overheating it? Some component could be just below the
> threshold in the den. If you put it somewhere with a higher ambient
> temperature or more restricted air flow it might go over its limit and
> cause all sorts of weird problems.

I once had a problem where my computer would only boot with the side  
panel off. I thought it was a heat issue but it turned out that the  
motherboard wasn't attached to the case properly and I was warping  
the motherboard by putting the side panel on. So I guess my advice  
from that experience is to try to see if it's the location in your  
house causing the problem (heat/electric) or if it's sitting on  
something that might cause components to be seated incorrectly (which  
sounds more likely since it's happening immediately on boot and not  
over time).