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    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2/8/15 1:45 PM, Douglas Wagner
      wrote:<br>
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cite="mid:CA+4avpuJaYwjD=QWasPqQ9v6HCwHaJEvPO1hR=F-pLSuEODbYw@mail.gmail.com"
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                                                <div class="gmail_quote">On
                                                  Thu, Feb 5, 2015 at
                                                  11:25 AM, Philip Brady
                                                  <span dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:phil.brady@hotmail.co.uk"
                                                      target="_blank">phil.brady@hotmail.co.uk</a>></span>
                                                  wrote:<br>
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                                                      <div dir="ltr">i
                                                        <div><br>
                                                          <div>>
                                                          Date: Thu, 5
                                                          Feb 2015
                                                          23:33:46 +1100<br>
                                                          > From: <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:michael@thewatsonfamily.id.au"
                                                          target="_blank">michael@thewatsonfamily.id.au</a><br>
                                                          > To: <a
                                                          moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:mythtv-users@mythtv.org" target="_blank">mythtv-users@mythtv.org</a><br>
                                                          > Subject:
                                                          Re:
                                                          [mythtv-users]
                                                          Disk Report,
                                                          Is this Still
                                                          Safe to use?
                                                          (Was:
                                                          Muti-Year
                                                          Installation
                                                          Major Disk
                                                          Corruption)<span
                                                          class=""><br>
                                                          > <br>
                                                          > On
                                                          5/02/2015
                                                          10:16 PM, Jan
                                                          Ceuleers
                                                          wrote:<br>
                                                          > >
                                                          Cabling?<br>
                                                          > ><br>
                                                          > Power
                                                          Supply, Heat,
                                                          Full Partition<br>
                                                          > <br>
                                                          </span>inodes?</div>
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                                                        <div><span
                                                          style="font-size:12pt">Phil</span></div>
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_______________________________________________<br>
                                                    mythtv-users mailing
                                                    list<br>
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                                                Wanted to get back to
                                                this in case someone
                                                else ran across this in
                                                the future and this can
                                                help them.<br>
                                                <br>
                                                Investigation continues
                                                but there's something
                                                SERIOUSLY wrong with the
                                                old PC I had my backend
                                                in.  I can't track down
                                                what it is, but I don't
                                                think it was drive.<br>
                                                <br>
                                                Both bad blocks and
                                                SMART tests (short and
                                                long) came back with no
                                                issues on the drive at
                                                all, given this thing is
                                                only about 6 - 7 months
                                                old, I'm inclined to
                                                believe that there's
                                                nothing wrong with the
                                                drive...to the point I
                                                did a new build/restore
                                                to it.<br>
                                                <br>
                                                To touch on a few items:<br>
                                                <br>
                                                * Cabling: Unlikely, no
                                                frays and nothing has
                                                been inside this thing
                                                since I set it up a
                                                couple years ago.  I did
                                                check all the
                                                connections and they
                                                were solid.  I guess
                                                there's a possibility of
                                                a wire burning out, but
                                                I have my doubts, these
                                                cables look in pretty
                                                good condition.<br>
                                                * Power Supply: There's
                                                a potential culpret, the
                                                PS is probably 3+ years
                                                old at this point (maybe
                                                more).  Usually when I
                                                lose a PS I end up
                                                losing the system
                                                (simply "turns off" and
                                                won't turn on and/or the
                                                whole thing doesn't boot
                                                properly).  There is the
                                                possibility that it's
                                                just on an edge where
                                                there's only BARELY
                                                enough power making it
                                                out of the PS to keep
                                                the system alive.  It
                                                would explain a few
                                                things (see below).<br>
                                                * Heat:  VERY unlikely
                                                an issue.  All fans are
                                                active and working
                                                properly and this case
                                                is a top of the line
                                                Antec from a few years
                                                ago.  I ran my main
                                                gaming desktop out of
                                                this case for the better
                                                part of 4 years...if
                                                THAT wasn't going to
                                                overheat, this unlikely
                                                would.<br>
                                                * Bad Memory:  Here
                                                again is a possibility. 
                                                I didn't get a chance to
                                                run memtest on it, I may
                                                go back and do so just
                                                to see what I can figure
                                                out.<br>
                                                <br>
                                                Reinstall:<br>
                                                ----------------------<br>
                                                So I went ahead and
                                                started the process of
                                                re-installation.  After
                                                determining the HD
                                                didn't look like it was
                                                at fault, I decided to
                                                just use the old
                                                hardware and see what I
                                                could do with it.<br>
                                                <br>
                                                That's when I ran into
                                                the installation
                                                errors.  LOTS of
                                                installation errors,
                                                across pretty much every
                                                version and
                                                implementation of
                                                Mythbuntu I could try. 
                                                <br>
                                                <br>
                                                * USB Key Install: 
                                                Mythbuntu 14.04 - I must
                                                have tried this 10 times
                                                in different
                                                iterations.  It'd get
                                                through the
                                                download/copy of
                                                packages and (I think)
                                                start the actual install
                                                of them (something about
                                                building a list of
                                                packages on the CD? 
                                                Whatever the step is in
                                                the install after the
                                                "copying packages" part)
                                                and the installer would
                                                core dump/seg fault on
                                                me, every time.<br>
                                                <br>
                                                * CD Install: Mythbuntu
                                                14.04 - Same issue as
                                                above.  Also got several
                                                reports from one of the
                                                subsystems during the
                                                install that it was
                                                failing / dumping all
                                                throughout the process
                                                before the installer
                                                finally crashed on me.<br>
                                                <br>
                                                * USB Key Install: 
                                                Mythbuntu 12.04 -
                                                Decided to go back to
                                                12.04 and see if I could
                                                make IT install
                                                properly..maybe my
                                                hardware is too old for
                                                14.04 to work well? 
                                                *BUZZZZT* nope, that
                                                didn't work either. 
                                                Same core dumps/seg
                                                faults in the
                                                installation.<br>
                                                <br>
                                                I skipped trying to CD
                                                install of 12.04 as by
                                                this point I was pretty
                                                convinced something was
                                                wrong.<br>
                                                <br>
                                                Moved everything over to
                                                a secondary Linux system
                                                (Del Optiplex 740) I
                                                "inherited" from someone
                                                a while back and
                                                installation went
                                                through
                                                flawlessly...first time,
                                                no issues.  <br>
                                                <br>
                                                As if that wasn't enough
                                                to point a finger at
                                                some other piece of
                                                hardware on the box, I
                                                ended up dropping the
                                                Dell's drives (I swapped
                                                the Myth backend drives
                                                for the Dell drives and
                                                visa versa, in essence
                                                switching systems) back
                                                into the failed
                                                Mythbackend's box and
                                                booting it.  System came
                                                up, but is only stable
                                                for about an hour or two
                                                till I get some kind of
                                                kernel panic with it
                                                literally just sitting
                                                there.  If I happen to
                                                go into X (actually log
                                                in), it happens in about
                                                5  10 minutes of use.<br>
                                                <br>
                                                Kernel panic seems to
                                                indicate some kind of
                                                issue with CPU, I also
                                                thought I saw some kind
                                                of error with graphics
                                                card.  <br>
                                                <br>
                                                Given all this, I'm
                                                inclined to believe one
                                                of a couple things:<br>
                                                <br>
                                                * Power Supply:  My
                                                Primary suspicion is,
                                                given the age of the
                                                box, there's a potential
                                                that the PS is just not
                                                supplying enough power
                                                to the system
                                                anymore...causing all
                                                the misfires.<br>
                                                * Motherboard:  My
                                                secondary suspicion is
                                                that the Motherboard has
                                                given up the ghost. 
                                                Given the kernel panics
                                                and seg faults I was
                                                getting during
                                                installation on this
                                                box, I wonder if there's
                                                not just something
                                                broken with the MB
                                                itself...could account
                                                for the CPU and Video
                                                Card Errors.<br>
                                                <br>
                                              </div>
                                              <div class="gmail_extra">I
                                                suppose it COULD be the
                                                CPU that's broken, but
                                                I've never seen a CPU
                                                give out (It's got a
                                                hella good aftermarket
                                                cooler on it).  I don't
                                                think the video card is
                                                to blame (I can't see
                                                where the video card
                                                would be the culpret in
                                                all the issues) but
                                                maybe I'm not looking at
                                                something right.<br>
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                                              <div class="gmail_extra"><br>
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                                              <div class="gmail_extra">Anyway
                                                it goes, the old Myth
                                                box is pretty much ADR
                                                (Ain't Doin' Right) and
                                                at the moment, I just
                                                don't have a whole lot
                                                of need to take that
                                                diagnosis any farther
                                                than I already have.<br>
                                                <br>
                                              </div>
                                              <div class="gmail_extra">--Doug<br>
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    </blockquote>
    In my experience, a power supply can mimic motherboard and memory
    errors and do really interesting things to a filesystem. Another
    good mimic is heat, you said you had a good aftermarket heatsink/fan
    combo, is it full of dust? If it gets dust clogged, it won't do its
    job and you'll get errors as the CPU actually does work and heats
    up.<br>
    Frankly, it's a bit of a toss up, but I'd shoot for a power supply
    first, after inspecting the CPU heatsink to be sure it's clear of
    dust.<br>
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