[mythtv-users] mythbuntu stops working for no reason

[Brian Wood]

On Thursday 10 December 2009 12:58:06 pm Dan Hayes wrote:
> the entire machine does lock up, but sometimes i'm able to hit escape and
> get it to go back to the menu.  other times i just pull the plug.  and
>  after the first time it stops working, it never starts again.  not even
>  after a reboot.

You want to determine if it's the machine itself that's locking up, or 
something having to do with Myth and all of its supporting stuff.

Mysterious lockups are best troubleshot by running a memory checker for a 
long time (24-48 hours at least), and running "normal" (ie: non-Myth) 
software, to see if it locks up. This sort of problem is often caused by a bad 
or under-powered PSU, dirty connections, bad cards etc.

Once you determine that the hardware itself is rock stable, you need to 
narrow down what might be locking it up, if logs are no help, this can be a 
long process.

For example, playing video in a non-Myth application, to see if something 
with the video hardware/drivers is causing the problem. Look for interrupt 
conflicts, hardware driver problems etc.

Of course it goes without saying that everything should be running in 
standard modes, no overclocking or memory pushing etc. I don't think 
you're doing that, but wanted to mention it just in case.