[mythtv-users] Problems with frontend crashing

[Alan Snyder]

--- Kevin <mythtv-users at simplyc.com> wrote:
>         I am seeing this as well but it happens
> while watching recordings as well. The playback
> (live or recording) just freezes and mythfrontend
> stops responding. As with Tony, my processor usage
> is fine when in this mode and mythbackend continues
> to record fine.
> 
> Specs:
> Mandrake 9.1
> VIA EPIA M10000
> Hauppauge PVR-350
> ivtv 0.12 (11/8)
> MythTV 0.12
> 
> At 08:06 PM 2003-12-06, Tony Maro wrote:
> >Well, I thought my frontend freezing went away, but
> I fell asleep watching live TV last night and it
> froze sometime during the night.
> >
> >It again froze a few minutes ago.  I have to SSH in
> (or plug a keyboard back in) and send a signal 9 to
> the first mythfrontend process to get it to close. 
> A simple killall won't do it.
> >
> >The backend still works, in fact it recorded 2
> shows while the frontend was frozen.
> >
> >Earlier, I noticed my IR remote wasn't working very
> well at all, but the keyboard worked perfectly.  I
> thought the batteries might be low, or something was
> wrong with my homebuilt receiver.  Turns out the
> frontend was on it's way to another freeze - after
> the freeze / kill -s 9 mythfrontend / restart
> mythfrontend the remote worked perfectly.
> >
> >I did check top though and there was only about 4%
> processor usage going on while it was frozen - the
> most was used by top itself.  It only seems to
> freeze during live TV playback, but the remote
> problem had been going on for about an hour and a
> half before the freeze, and during that time I'd
> been listening to music and such as well.
> >
> >Anyone have any ideas?  I need to smooth this out
> before my wife gets back into town or I'm dead ;-) 
> She's the one that watches TV, not me.
> >
> >Specs:
> >
> >Downloaded sources from website
> >Mandrake 9.2
> >Shuttle  MOBO with integrated LAN and sound
> (onboard sound disabled in bios)
> >AMD 1800+
> >ATI TV Wonder LE
> >Voodoo3 3500 TV (for video out only - mandrake 9.2
> wouldn't run the TV in drivers for this.)
> >SB Value using ensoniq drivers
> >
> >-Tony Maro

I see the same problems, with live tv only, and have
gdb running now to try to catch it.  I can fill in a
lot of detail:

- *Eventually* happens any time the frontend is left
in live TV.  Could be 30 minutes, could be a day.

- The picture and sound on the frontend freeze.

- The frontend is still running, spitting out "Waited
2 seconds for data to become available, waiting" every
two seconds (this is in RingBuffer::ReadFromBuf in
libs/libmythtv/RingBuffer.cpp).

- Killing the frontend (killall works for me) and
restarting restores things to normal.  The backend
works throughout and doesn't produce any odd messages.

- BUT I suspect a backend problem because Knoppmyth v4
on a separate frontend machine did exactly the same
thing.

- There was some discussion in the past of this
relating to a race condition.  Because my frontend
usually hangs within several hours and now while
running under gdb it's run without a hitch for a day,
I wonder whether some timing subtlety is at fault. 
(My live TV settings are adjusted to be sure I'm at
80% or less CPU under gdb, and much less than that
without gdb.)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  I would like
to contribute more but my understanding of the code is
limited and this one seems to be rather subtle.  We
almost exclusively use our myth box for recording
right now.  This problem is preventing me from moving
ahead with a kitchen installation for my wife that
would use live tv pretty heavily.

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