[mythtv-users] Need help troubleshooting cause of DMA Timeouts

Michael Watson michael at thewatsonfamily.id.au
Sun Sep 11 23:42:06 UTC 2011


On 12/09/2011 05:10, Craig Huff wrote:
> On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 2:04 PM, Craig Huff<huffcslists at gmail.com>  wrote:
>> After more creative googling, it appears that my problem might be
>> curable, but I need advice on the best way to get this fixed.
>>
>> First, here's my configuration:
>>     Combined FE/BE based on Asus A8N-SLI Premium (socket 939)
>> motherboard recently upgraded to Athlon 64 X2 3800+ CPU; O/S on an IDE
>> drive and video recordings on three SATA-II drives; video capture via
>> a pair of PVR-500s hooked up to Comcast DTAs.
>>     I also have a couple of remote FEs, which only enter into the
>> picture in that I need to keep them in sync version-wise.
>>     Programming updates from Schedules Direct.
>>     All systems are running the initial release without updates of
>> MythBuntu 10.04:
>> $ mythbackend --version
>> Please include all output in bug reports.
>> MythTV Version   : 24158
>> MythTV Branch    : branches/release-0-23-fixes
>> Network Protocol : 56
>> Library API      : 0.23.20100314-1
>> QT Version       : 4.6.2
>>
>> Up until I upgraded from a single-core Athlon CPU to the dual-core
>> one, I had no problems with dma timeouts, but since then they've been
>> popping up at random times with no discernible pattern.
>>
>> According to this thread,
>> http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/ivtv/users/41409?search_string=dma%20timeout;#41409,
>> I need to update my kernel, which is currently 2.6.32-21-generic, to
>> something newer, like 2.6.37.4.
>>
>> If I am correctly reading the information on the MythBuntu web pages,
>> such as http://www.mythbuntu.org/node/349, and
>> http://www.mythbuntu.org/repos, enabling these updates (which I
>> haven't done up till now), won't fix this problem because they only
>> update MythTV and/or MythBuntu-specific software.
>>
>> In short, what is the least painful way to resolve the immediate
>> problem with dma timeouts, given that MythTV 0.25 / MythBuntu 11.10
>> will be out in just another couple of months and the next LTS release
>> is due out next Spring.  Can I upgrade the kernel while staying with
>> MythTV 0.23?  Can I upgrade to MythTV 0.24 without consuming a weekend
>> fixing and tweaking (maintain high WAF)?  Can I get to MythTV 0.24
>> using the MythBuntu update repos?  Note: all previous updating of my
>> MythTV system (starting with a FC6 build based on Jarrod's excellent
>> HOWTO and my eventual migration to MythBuntu 10.04) has been done by
>> building a completely new system on an extra disk and then migrating
>> the mysql database from the old one once I had fixed all the quirks
>> that almost inevitably popped up, so I have never "simply" updated a
>> running MythTV system.
>>
>> Anything pertinent I left out?
>>
>> Any advice welcome.
>>
>> Craig.
>>
> Oh, yeah, I use MythWelcome / MythShutdown on all my systems and would
> not want to give it up or kill the WAF because of on-going problems
> with it.  Haven't been keeping up with the threads on the subject, so
> not sure if MythWelcome / MythShutdown have gotten problems introduced
> in updates since MythTV 0.23 or it is down to problems people have
> figuring out how to configure it.
>
> Craig.
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I am running Mythbuntu 10.04 LTS and MythTV 0.24/fixes using the 
Mythbuntu Repos.  From memory the upgrade from 0.23 was painless.  I 
cant remember any major issues, the only issue I remember was with my 
MBE which runs Ubuntu 10.04 Server and no X11, I had to install 
mythfrontend in order to set the Language options, before being able to 
get into mythtv-setup.
     I have recently update the kernel on my machines to 2.6.38-10 using;

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kernel-ppa/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic-lts-backport-natty linux-image-generic-lts-backport-natty

     I was unable to get the nvidia drivers to function with the new 
kernel on 10.04 though.  On the machines that run nVidia cards, I 
reverted back to the 2.6.32-34 kernel.  I did not spend much time trying 
to get the nVidia driver operating though.
     I run MythWelcome / MythShutdown on the FE, the only Issue i have 
is that the SBE/FE will not shutdown until the entire system is idle, 
not just the individual system.

Michael.


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