Sorry, for the newbie question. I have been on this for 3 days. I installed first as DHCP install and then later in the setup on the "general" screen in Myth I left it at 127.0.0.1 on both entries and after reboot when trying to watch TV it fails with the Can't connect to backend. Tried reinstall from scratch with static...upon reboot same error. Tried a number of IP combinations,...nothing. Wondering if I got a bad iso.

I've tried the how to on converting dhcp to static, etc. I noticed in the "General" section of Myth setup it asks for a host name it defaults to localhost. Is that the same as the other initial setup question about hostname that defaults to mythbox. I have struggled with some other issues, but have decided that if I can't connect to the backend, all other errors might be related to the apparent IP address issue. I'm grasping at straws.

Hi,
Several little tid-bits would be invaluable. What version are you trying to install, what method of installation, on what kind of hardware?

The backend not running is not related to connection to the network. It usually means that you haven't gone through all the setup steps so it doesn't know what to do or where to put files.

Once you think that all is correct, open an xterm window, switch to superuser fondly known as "root" by using su - once the prompt is a # then enter at the
# /etc/init.d/mythtv-backend restart wait for a moment then enter ps ax there should be a line that displays: /usr/bin/mythbackend --daemon -- (and etc)

do alt tab to switch back to the myth menus and see if things work better. Some times the storage paths get confused, they should look simular to /myth/___ tv, gallery, video, tmp.
Also if you do an alt tab you can switch back to the xterm and do ls -al /myth to see who owns the directories. Almost all should be mythtv mythtv except two:
www-data www-data 4096 Oct 19 2004 avimanager
and
mythtv www-data 4096 Sep 16 20:22 image_cache

The www-data allows access for the web features.
if not, you can fix that with:
chown mythtv:www-data /myth/image_cache

Note the colored red commands need to be done as root.

As a suggestion for a new user, try the R5C7 version as it very friendly and only needs one little tweak for long term stablity. Then later maybe do an upgrade. I know my first car was an "older" model but it work well

One more tip, once all is running good, do a backup.
Mike

Thanks, I will try those ideas ASAP and fill in the information you mentioned. Great tips.

Thanks for your advice. I may be trying an overly ambitious install. I had been told that I could install to an 8 Gig hard drive and create an LVM setup across HDA3 and my 250Gb usb HD.

I am installing R5D1 and as it boots I choose auto install. I set time and zone.

Name and password. and let it partition, format and copy.
When it reboots and i get the initial request for password, I follow the LVM setup wiki:

http://knoppmythwiki.org/index.php?page=Lvmhowto

create_lvm.sh /dev/hda3 /dev/sda1
umount /myth
mke2fs -j -O sparse_super -m0 -8000000 -L myth /dev/vg/myth
mount /myth

It shows the proper size of the external Hard Drive

I follow through the steps of time and zone. Choose DHCP. I go to "general" and leave 127.0.0.1. Next add Mpeg x50 card ( I also tried a wintv go card - see below). Next I add source name and then input associated to source. When I choose retrieve line up after entering my dataservice name and password it shows my zip code.

After completing 4 of the 5 items ( I left "edit" item alone), I escape. It does mythfilldatabase, sometimes it is able to download my channels. it goes back to general screen, i escape again and it asks questions about which cable service, etc. I choose antenna to be safe. after completing questions about IR blaster etc. it exits to front end. Sometimes it allows me to press the "watch TV button and it shows a green screen with snow at top. when i exit out and reboot, it will not allow me to enter the watch Tv item. It says:
" Could not connect to the master backend server- is it running? is it the ip address set for it in the setup program correct?

I have changed from dhcp to static several times. The wintv go card and the haupage pvr150 card both show a tuner not set message on setup. I also see a message during boot up that says can't find jbd and ext module. I have tried several ip address setups and I believe the LVM is setup right. I'm not sure why it can't see the backend and why the tuner is not set. I tried the command above to check that backend is running and it is. I have clean installed 14 times. I appreciate your advice, here is some system information.

My system includes:

PC Chips FSB266 K7 MB Model no. m811
Via kt 266a/8235
512 Mb Ram
WD 8 Gig drive
LaCie USB ext. Hard Drive

Tried WinTV go card #109 first
Then I tried a Haupauge Wintv PVR 150

Hi Mike,
Could you elaborate on what the one tweak is for R5C7 for long term stability?
Thanks,
Zig

woodeye18 - You may need to have the LVM init script load the SATA driver, or change the init order... I helped some folks with this ages ago, but you should be able to find the posting by searching for "lvm sata" with me as the author. Here is at least one of them: http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7840

Hi
tjc has some very good material well worth the time.

Personnally, WD 8 Gig drive & LaCie USB ext.250Gb Hard Drive, I would cheat. I would download a fresh Ubuntu 6.06.1 live iso. Boot in to it, use the gparted application, and make a 4.0 gig partition for myth, a 384 ~ 512 swap partition and the remainding space for Ubuntu. Format them with the Ubuntu disk manager (ext3) Then exit Ubuntu.

But before going through all the fun stuff, try an auto install to the 8 gig, usb drive off. I don't recall for certain but I am pretty sure it works. Don't try to watch tv till after setup and after doing a backup.

If the auto install fails then do an auto upgrade and it will create everything you need in hda1, reboot and do the setup (don't try tv yet) When finished, do a backup via the KnoppMyth menu. Then fire up the usb drive, follow the pamphlet (original flavor) and you can manually format the usb drive to be setup for myth recordings.

Once backup is complete and drive is formated, you can then add it to the /etc/fstab file for use. You would mount the drive as
/mnt/sd_1 , then
cp -a /myth /mnt/sd_1/
Once finished,
umount /mnt/sd_1, re-edit the fstab making
/dev/sd_1 /myth ext3 auto .... etc
my /myth entry looks like this:
/dev/hda8 /myth ext3 auto,users,exec 0 0
but could just as well be:
/dev/sda1 /myth ext3 auto,users,exec 0 0

Now you should be able to
mount /myth
and then record, watch, play tv etc. In theory, when you fill up the 250 gig drive, you do a backup, then umount /myth (the system will revert back to the original /myth directory) At this point if you were to do a restore,you would have all the clean original settings. Sooo, if you were to repeat the steps for a second usb drive, you should be able to build a library of drives You do a backup before removing the drive, and a restore when reconnecting a drive. The only thing that will get wacky would be the tv listing guide as they run out of days.

I don't think you can switch drives with lvm but maybe tjc can offer some insight.

Just some ideas, if you need / want more details I will give what I can.

Then, reboot into Ubuntu and do an install to hda 2 or 3, the other large partition. It will pick up the KM install and add it to the boot loader called grub. Now when you reboot you should be able to select either. Default will be Ubuntu but that is easily changed.

Any future KM upgrades would be manual installs with lilo installed to partition (critical choice), a simple edit to grub and done.

You can always re-install till you get it the way you like it to be Enjoy!
Mike

Thanks to MJL and TJC. I will try your ideas. It appears as though the 600mb /hda3 (myth) was not big enough for setup. Or my lvm setup for the sda1 was wrong.

Yesterday, I used gparted in puppy linux to partition the wd drive as hda1=2gb , hda2=500 swap and hda3=3gig and then did a manual install. Forgoing the usb drive for now...as a test. Is 2gb going to be too small in future for hda1? It only has 250 mb free.

The error message about not seeing the backend is gone. So, I think your ideas are right and now I can try to use them as a path to making this setup access the USB drive.

My wintv go card is snow and still has not recognized the tuner, so i will be working on that too. Thanks for getting me this far. I will follow your links and see how that progresses. Thanks.

Hi,

Stop being skimpy, use the whole 8 gig drive as root with 512 as swap. The media storage is going to be on the usb drive so you don't need a /myth partition. There is a /myth created in the root as a failsafe which once all is going, you will copy to the external drive.

Try an auto install, I believe it will work as cesman set the default / as ~ 4- 5 gig. Important step is to get the os loaded cleanly and setup properly. Very importantly, do a backup before watching tv! You want to have that clean backup to be available once you bring the usb drive on line, or the second or the third....

Read closely tjc's guidence as it is very good, my stuff is a little more vague

Mike