[mythtv-users] Firewire weirdness - connection doesn't come up after clean reboot

[Bob Sully]

Hey all -

I've noticed this for a while but since this box is pretty stable, I
hadn't stressed over it too much before, but I figure I should try and
figure it out:

Frequently, after I reboot the machine, it seems to lose the firewire
connection with my STB.  Now, as has been discussed before, the b*st*rds
at Time Warner have killed the firewire output for recording, but I was
still using it to change channels on the STB in order to record from the
S-video output.

It's supposed to be on node 2.  Sometimes after reboot, it comes up on
node 0.  My boot script enables it on node 2, so when it doesn't find it
there, the 'puter can't talk to the STB.  If I physically pull the
firewire cable out of the STB and then plug it back in, it comes back up
on node 2.  Interestingly, when it was on node 0, running plugctl on node
0 didn't fix the problem:

[root at vader: /var/log]$ plugreport   <--- this is just after reboot
Host Adapter 0
==============

Node 0 GUID 0x000e5cfffe590c90
------------------------------
oMPR n_plugs=1, data_rate=2, bcast_channel=63
oPCR[0] online=1, bcast_connection=0, n_p2p_connections=1
        channel=0, data_rate=2, overhead_id=0, payload=376
iMPR n_plugs=0, data_rate=2

Node 1 GUID 0x900c59fefe590c90
------------------------------
libiec61883 error: error reading oMPR
libiec61883 error: error reading iMPR

Node 2 GUID 0x00e0180000898d7f
------------------------------
libiec61883 error: error reading oMPR
libiec61883 error: error reading iMPR

[root at vader: /var/log]$ plugctl -n 0 oPCR[0].n_p2p_connections=1
[root at vader: /var/log]$ 6200ch 59
Could not find Motorola DCT-6200 on the 1394 bus.


[root at vader: /var/log]$ plugreport   <-- after pulling/replacing the plug
Host Adapter 0
==============

Node 0 GUID 0x00e0180000898d7f
------------------------------
libiec61883 error: error reading oMPR
libiec61883 error: error reading iMPR

Node 1 GUID 0x7f8d890000898d7f
------------------------------
libiec61883 error: error reading oMPR
libiec61883 error: error reading iMPR

Node 2 GUID 0x000e5cfffe590c90
------------------------------
oMPR n_plugs=1, data_rate=2, bcast_channel=63
oPCR[0] online=1, bcast_connection=0, n_p2p_connections=0
        channel=0, data_rate=2, overhead_id=0, payload=376
iMPR n_plugs=0, data_rate=2

[root at vader: /var/log]$ plugctl -n 2 oPCR[0].n_p2p_connections=1
[root at vader: /var/log]$ 6200ch 59   <--- changed the channel, no problems
[root at vader: /var/log]$

???

Any ideas as to how to make sure it's alive?  if the box reboots when I'm
on vacation, I'd like to make sure it's able to change channels on the STB
if necessary.  Fortunately, most of my recordings are on the QAM tuners,
but I'd still like to get this fixed.  Would you try running plugctl on
all three nodes in /etc/rc.local (the brute-force method)?

Thanks
Bob
--
________________________________________
Bob Sully - Simi Valley, California, USA
http://www.malibyte.net
http://www.malibyte.com