[mythtv-users] mythbackend Start-up issue - possible race with dvb device firmware loading

[John Pilkington]

On 19/11/2020 10:11, John Pilkington wrote:
> On 18/11/2020 15:14, John Pilkington wrote:
>> On 18/11/2020 10:40, John Pilkington wrote:
>>> On 18/11/2020 09:46, David Watkins wrote:
>>>> A bit more googling suggests it may be the backend testing the card 
>>>> which is triggering the firmware load, in which case I'm back to 
>>>> square one with trying to identify the problem.
>>>>
>>>> I'll try increasing the timeouts on the card to see if that helps.
>>>>
>>>
>>> I start myth manually.  On my  MythTV master/Fedora 32 box I have 
>>> recently noticed a pause, and sometimes a hang, between the setting 
>>> of delivery systems for DVB-T and DVB-T2.  On quitting and restarting 
>>> after a hang everything seems to work as normal.
>>>
>>> On seeing your post I ran 'dmesg | grep firmware' - and got 
>>> screensful of reports of downloads for si5128.  Usually, IIRC, it's 
>>> done on boot; now it appears to be happening in short bursts at 
>>> around 200 s intervals...
>>>
>>
>> After Stephen's post mentioning filesystem status links I fired up and 
>> mounted my NAS which had been offline recently after an RCD power trip 
>> caused by a defective pizza-oven element.  The firmware oddity is 
>> still happening.  The DVD-T pci card checks firmware status and is 
>> satisfied.   The dvb-tuner-si2158 for the MyGica device says it 
>> downloads the firmware every time.  I have had occasional failure to 
>> lock on a low-power DVB-T2 multiplex too, although once locked the 
>> recordings seem ok.
> 
> I don't see this regular checking (?) of the firmware versions in el7 at 
> much the same Myth release; only in Fedora 32.  Maybe it's a kernel thing?
> 
> 5.9.8-100.fc32.x86_64

Snippet from 'dmesg -T :  the DVB-T2 usb tuner was recording from 1433 
to 1549 and EIT data collection is active.

{{{

[Thu Nov 19 14:18:59 2020] tda1004x: found firmware revision 29 -- ok
[Thu Nov 19 14:29:25 2020] tda1004x: setting up plls for 48MHz sampling 
clock
[Thu Nov 19 14:29:26 2020] tda1004x: found firmware revision 29 -- ok
[Thu Nov 19 14:32:31 2020] si2157 1-0060: found a 'Silicon Labs Si2158-A20'
[Thu Nov 19 14:32:31 2020] si2157 1-0060: downloading firmware from file 
'dvb-tuner-si2158-a20-01.fw'
[Thu Nov 19 14:32:33 2020] si2157 1-0060: firmware version: 2.1.9
[Thu Nov 19 14:33:00 2020] si2157 1-0060: found a 'Silicon Labs Si2158-A20'
[Thu Nov 19 14:33:00 2020] si2157 1-0060: downloading firmware from file 
'dvb-tuner-si2158-a20-01.fw'
[Thu Nov 19 14:33:01 2020] si2157 1-0060: firmware version: 2.1.9
[Thu Nov 19 14:34:38 2020] tda1004x: setting up plls for 48MHz sampling 
clock
[Thu Nov 19 14:34:38 2020] tda1004x: found firmware revision 29 -- ok
[Thu Nov 19 14:39:51 2020] tda1004x: setting up plls for 48MHz sampling 
clock
[Thu Nov 19 14:39:51 2020] tda1004x: found firmware revision 29 -- ok
[Thu Nov 19 14:45:04 2020] tda1004x: setting up plls for 48MHz sampling 
clock
[Thu Nov 19 14:45:04 2020] tda1004x: found firmware revision 29 -- ok
[Thu Nov 19 15:00:42 2020] tda1004x: setting up plls for 48MHz sampling 
clock
[Thu Nov 19 15:00:43 2020] tda1004x: found firmware revision 29 -- ok
[Thu Nov 19 15:11:08 2020] tda1004x: setting up plls for 48MHz sampling 
clock
[Thu Nov 19 15:11:08 2020] tda1004x: found firmware revision 29 -- ok
[Thu Nov 19 15:16:21 2020] tda1004x: setting up plls for 48MHz sampling 
clock
[Thu Nov 19 15:16:21 2020] tda1004x: found firmware revision 29 -- ok
[Thu Nov 19 15:21:33 2020] tda1004x: setting up plls for 48MHz sampling 
clock
[Thu Nov 19 15:21:33 2020] tda1004x: found firmware revision 29 -- ok
[Thu Nov 19 15:26:46 2020] tda1004x: setting up plls for 48MHz sampling 
clock
[Thu Nov 19 15:26:46 2020] tda1004x: found firmware revision 29 -- ok
[Thu Nov 19 15:31:58 2020] tda1004x: setting up plls for 48MHz sampling 
clock
[Thu Nov 19 15:31:59 2020] tda1004x: found firmware revision 29 -- ok
[Thu Nov 19 15:37:11 2020] tda1004x: setting up plls for 48MHz sampling 
clock
[Thu Nov 19 15:37:11 2020] tda1004x: found firmware revision 29 -- ok
[Thu Nov 19 15:42:24 2020] tda1004x: setting up plls for 48MHz sampling 
clock
[Thu Nov 19 15:42:24 2020] tda1004x: found firmware revision 29 -- ok
[Thu Nov 19 15:50:24 2020] si2157 1-0060: found a 'Silicon Labs Si2158-A20'
[Thu Nov 19 15:50:24 2020] si2157 1-0060: downloading firmware from file 
'dvb-tuner-si2158-a20-01.fw'
[Thu Nov 19 15:50:25 2020] si2157 1-0060: firmware version: 2.1.9
[Thu Nov 19 15:52:50 2020] tda1004x: setting up plls for 48MHz sampling 
clock
[Thu Nov 19 15:52:50 2020] tda1004x: found firmware revision 29 -- ok
[Thu Nov 19 15:55:41 2020] si2157 1-0060: found a 'Silicon Labs Si2158-A20'
[Thu Nov 19 15:55:41 2020] si2157 1-0060: downloading firmware from file 
'dvb-tuner-si2158-a20-01.fw'
[Thu Nov 19 15:55:42 2020] si2157 1-0060: firmware version: 2.1.9


}}}
>>  > John P
>>
>