[mythtv-users] [OT] Ugrading Mythbuntu 12.04 -> 14.04 "broke" my server hardware.

[Alistair Grant]

On Thu, Oct 9, 2014 at 9:23 AM, Kingsley Turner <krt at krt.com.au> wrote:
> On 08/10/14 21:29, Thomas Boehm wrote:
>>
>> On 08/10/14 06:52, Kingsley Turner wrote:
>>>
>>> G'day,
>>>
>>> You may have noticed in a previous email that I was having troubles
>>> after upgrading mythbuntu via "do-release-upgrade".
>>> I chose to do this upgrade because I was having a couple of minor
>>> problems, and guessed this might help.
>>> One of them turned out to be a simple config problem.  *sigh*.
>>>
>>> Anyway ...
>>>
>>> After a word of pain after the upgrade, I backed up, and re-installed
>>> from a mythbuntu 14.01.1 live disk.
>>> However I encountered the same problems I had after the in-place
>>> upgrade, notably: video corruption and lockups.
>>> At the time I figured it was a nvidia driver version mismatch caused by
>>> some incorrect bits left over after years of upgrading.
>>>
>>> Not so it seems.
>>>
>>> I saw the same problems, and lack of stability with the nouveau driver,
>>> the latest mythbuntu-packaged nvidia driver, and the nvidia driver
>>> download from nvidia.com.
>>>
>>> I don't fn() get it.
>>>
>>> This box was rock-solid stable before that upgrade, and now with high
>>> activity, it can barely stay up for 10 minutes.
>>> Surely this can't be a new kernel or suchlike ?!?
>>>
>>> I'm starting to think that I managed to time a hardware failure in
>>> coincidence with a software upgrade!
>>> But surely not?  I don't know, it sure looks it.
>>>
>>> Any sage advice ?
>>> How do you even debug something like this.
>>>
>>> I guess I'll fire off the grub memory checker (I did run it for 1/2 an
>>> hour the other day).
>>
>> I did the same upgrade just over a week ago on my BE/FE with only minor
>> problems with xmltv and mythnettv, nothing graphics related. I have a
>> GT610 and use the nvidia driver version 331.38.
>>
>
> I've now re-installed Mythbuntu 12.04.04, it's been up for some hours
> without a problem.
> (I always erase the disk on install)
>
> I have copied alot of the record-programmes backup onto the main disk again
> (this caused lockups before).
> But I have not yet rebooted after the updates were applied.  The DKMS(sp?)
> process did fail trying to update some kernel module of the install though.
> The update window locked up on the first go, and after re-trying I got this
> failure (running in a shell).
>
> Interestingly, even booting the install disk (both 12.04.04 and 14.04.01) I
> get a couple of random coloured characters on the display before it goes
> into graphics mode for the mythbuntu graphical booting-splash.
>
> I'm so confident the box actually has a hardware problem that I've already
> selected replacements, and after 3 days of no  myth-tv, the SO has approved
> the purchase.  So the 12.04 re-install is just to convince myself to spend
> the money.

I went through this same process: upgrading the graphics stack in
12.04, which broke the system, doing a clean 14.04 install and still
not working properly, wondering about a hardware failure (my old
system was bought in 2005) then buying new hardware.

My old system was running a GeForce 6600, and given the number of
issues that have recently been reported relating to older Nvidia
cards, I suspect it is more of a driver issue than hardware breaking.

But I still like my new i5 / GTX 650 system, and the WAF has gone up
due to the smaller and much quieter box. :-)

Cheers,
Alistair