Ok, here's why I consider my problem new & different: my Myth backend has been running perfectly since May and just stopped working last weekend when I took my server offline to back it up.

Setup:
Backend server (KnoppMyth R5) is running two Hauppauge 250's one is hooked directly to coax from wall, the other is S-Video from a cable box (tuned with ledxmit through an IR blaster). After I rebooted & imaged (G4U) the server last weekend, I booted the machine and saw only snow (w/no sound) on the Tuner 0 coax card. Like I said, it was working great for a few months... I could watch one tuner while recording the other, or record both, etc.

My first debugging step was to switch the inputs on the cards with mythtv-setup and I found that neither card works with the coax (Tuner 0) input, but BOTH work with the S-Video input.

Tonight I put a brand-new harddrive in the system and installed a fresh copy of KnoppMyth and both cards WORK with Tuner 0 and S-Video.
I don't want to have to rebuild my entire server from scratch, but I don't know what else to look for.

All of the other posts I read here have snow because the IVTV version is not recent enough, or the card type doesn't match the config. To test my configs I diffed the two harddrives (working & not) and didn't see any obvious differences in configuration. I then backed up the mythconverg database from the non-working and restored it on the working drive, but I couldn't make that work (or not work, if you know what I mean).

Any tips on where to look? Any ideas at all? I've given up on this being a hardware problem because I can make it work from fresh installs, but I figure it has to be a hardware configuration error that magically went wrong when I imaged or rebooted?

I've also run mplayer on /dev/video1 while running the ptune-ui.pl while switching the frequency tables & channels, etc. Every combination yields snow except when I switch to another input - then I get black (as expected).

Not sure what to post for logs here, but here's my messages grep:
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: ==================== START INIT IVTV ====================
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: version 0.2.0 (rc3j) loading
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: Linux version: 2.6.11.7-chw-4 SMP preempt 586 gcc-3.3
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: In case of problems please include the debug info
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: between the START INIT IVTV and END INIT IVTV lines when
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: mailing the ivtv-devel mailinglist.
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: Autodetected WinTV PVR 250 card
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: Found an iTVC16 based chip
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:04:00.0[A] -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: XXX PCI device: 0x2588 vendor: 0x8086
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c attach [client=eeprom,ok]
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c attach [client=(tuner unset),ok]
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: tuner 1-0061: chip found @ 0xc2 (ivtv i2c driver #0)
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: msp34xx: ivtv version
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: msp34xx: init: chip=MSP3445G-B8, has NICAM support, simple (D) mode, simpler (G) no-thread mode
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: msp34xx: $Id$ compiled on: Apr 29 2005 04:01:00
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c attach [client=MSP3445G-B8,ok]
Jul 29 22:49:26 durex kernel: saa7115: starting probe for adapter ivtv i2c driver #0 (0x10005)
Jul 29 22:49:26 durex kernel: saa7115: detecting saa7115 client on address 0x42
Jul 29 22:49:26 durex kernel: saa7115: writing init values
Jul 29 22:49:26 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c attach [client=saa7115[0],ok]
Jul 29 22:49:26 durex kernel: saa7115: status: (1E) 0x48, (1F) 0xc0
Jul 29 22:49:26 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c client addr: 0x50 not found!
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Encoder revision: 0x02040011
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Configuring WinTV PVR 250 card with 4 streams
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Create DMA stream 0 using 256 16384 byte buffers 4194304 kbytes total
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, streamtype 0 minor 0
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Create DMA stream 1
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, streamtype 1 minor 32
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Create stream 2 using 40 52224 byte buffers 2097152 kbytes total
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, streamtype 2 minor 224
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Create DMA stream 3 using 455 4608 byte buffers 2097152 kbytes total
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, streamtype 3 minor 24
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: saa7115: decoder set input (4)
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: saa7115: now setting Composite input
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Setting audio matrix to input 3, output 1
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: ivtv_enc_thread: pid = 2750, itv = 0xf9278aa0
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Switching standard to NTSC.
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: tuner 1-0061: tuner type not set
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: saa7115: decoder set norm NTSC
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: saa7115: set audio: 0x01
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Initialized WinTV PVR 250, card #0
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Autodetected WinTV PVR 250 card
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Found an iTVC16 based chip
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:04:01.0[A] -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: XXX PCI device: 0x2588 vendor: 0x8086
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c attach [client=eeprom,ok]
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c attach [client=(tuner unset),ok]
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: tuner 2-0061: chip found @ 0xc2 (ivtv i2c driver #1)
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: msp34xx: ivtv version
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: msp34xx: init: chip=MSP3445G-B8, has NICAM support, simple (D) mode, simpler (G) no-thread mode
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: msp34xx: $Id$ compiled on: Apr 29 2005 04:01:00
Jul 29 22:49:28 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c attach [client=MSP3445G-B8,ok]
Jul 29 22:49:28 durex kernel: saa7115: starting probe for adapter ivtv i2c driver #1 (0x10005)
Jul 29 22:49:28 durex kernel: saa7115: detecting saa7115 client on address 0x42
Jul 29 22:49:28 durex kernel: saa7115: writing init values
Jul 29 22:49:28 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c attach [client=saa7115[1],ok]
Jul 29 22:49:28 durex kernel: saa7115: status: (1E) 0x48, (1F) 0xc0
Jul 29 22:49:28 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c client addr: 0x50 not found!
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Encoder revision: 0x02040011
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Configuring WinTV PVR 250 card with 4 streams
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Create DMA stream 0 using 256 16384 byte buffers 4194304 kbytes total
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, streamtype 0 minor 1
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Create DMA stream 1
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, streamtype 1 minor 33
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Create stream 2 using 40 52224 byte buffers 2097152 kbytes total
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, streamtype 2 minor 225
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Create DMA stream 3 using 455 4608 byte buffers 2097152 kbytes total
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, streamtype 3 minor 25
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: saa7115: decoder set input (4)
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: saa7115: now setting Composite input
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Setting audio matrix to input 3, output 1
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: ivtv_enc_thread: pid = 2810, itv = 0xf928ce00
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Switching standard to NTSC.
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: tuner 2-0061: tuner type not set
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: saa7115: decoder set norm NTSC
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: saa7115: set audio: 0x01
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Initialized WinTV PVR 250, card #1
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: ==================== END INIT IVTV ====================

Thanks in advance )

Ok, I found more info in syslog - it shows an error with tveeprom that didn't show up in the messages log...

Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: ==================== START INIT IVTV ====================
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: version 0.2.0 (rc3j) loading
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: Linux version: 2.6.11.7-chw-4 SMP preempt 586 gcc-3.3
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: In case of problems please include the debug info
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: between the START INIT IVTV and END INIT IVTV lines when
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: mailing the ivtv-devel mailinglist.
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: Autodetected WinTV PVR 250 card
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: Found an iTVC16 based chip
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:04:00.0[A] -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: XXX PCI device: 0x2588 vendor: 0x8086
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c attach [client=eeprom,ok]
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c attach [client=(tuner unset),ok]
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: tuner 1-0061: chip found @ 0xc2 (ivtv i2c driver #0)
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: msp34xx: ivtv version
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: msp34xx: init: chip=MSP3445G-B8, has NICAM support, simple (D) mode, simpler (G) no-thread mode
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: msp34xx: $Id$ compiled on: Apr 29 2005 04:01:00
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex /etc/mysql/debian-start[2703]: WARNING: mysqlcheck has found corrupt tables
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex /etc/mysql/debian-start[2703]: mythconverg.oldprogram
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex /etc/mysql/debian-start[2703]: warning : Table is marked as crashed
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex /etc/mysql/debian-start[2703]: error : Size of datafile is: 86016 Should be: 86040
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex /etc/mysql/debian-start[2703]: error : Corrupt
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex /etc/mysql/debian-start[2703]:
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex /etc/mysql/debian-start[2703]: Improperly closed tables are also reported if clients are accessing
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex /etc/mysql/debian-start[2703]: the tables *now*. A list of current connections is below.
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex /etc/mysql/debian-start[2703]:
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex /etc/mysql/debian-start[2703]: +----+------------------+-----------+----+---------+------+-------+------------------+
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex /etc/mysql/debian-start[2703]: | Id | User | Host | db | Command | Time | State | Info |
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex /etc/mysql/debian-start[2703]: +----+------------------+-----------+----+---------+------+-------+------------------+
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex /etc/mysql/debian-start[2703]: | 4 | debian-sys-maint | localhost | | Query | 0 | | show processlist |
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex /etc/mysql/debian-start[2703]: +----+------------------+-----------+----+---------+------+-------+------------------+
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex /etc/mysql/debian-start[2703]: Uptime: 2 Threads: 1 Questions: 93 Slow queries: 0 Opens: 85 Flush tables: 1 Open tables: 64 Q
eries per second avg: 46.500
Jul 29 22:49:25 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c attach [client=MSP3445G-B8,ok]
Jul 29 22:49:26 durex kernel: saa7115: starting probe for adapter ivtv i2c driver #0 (0x10005)
Jul 29 22:49:26 durex kernel: saa7115: detecting saa7115 client on address 0x42
Jul 29 22:49:26 durex kernel: saa7115: writing init values
Jul 29 22:49:26 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c attach [client=saa7115[0],ok]
Jul 29 22:49:26 durex kernel: saa7115: status: (1E) 0x48, (1F) 0xc0
Jul 29 22:49:26 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c client addr: 0x50 not found!
Jul 29 22:49:26 durex kernel: ivtv: Error -19 reading Hauppauge eeprom.
Jul 29 22:49:26 durex kernel: ivtv: Possible causes: the tveeprom module was not loaded, or
Jul 29 22:49:26 durex kernel: ivtv: the eeprom kernel module was loaded before the tveeprom module.
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Encoder revision: 0x02040011
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Configuring WinTV PVR 250 card with 4 streams
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Create DMA stream 0 using 256 16384 byte buffers 4194304 kbytes total
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, streamtype 0 minor 0
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Create DMA stream 1
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, streamtype 1 minor 32
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Create stream 2 using 40 52224 byte buffers 2097152 kbytes total
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, streamtype 2 minor 224
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Create DMA stream 3 using 455 4608 byte buffers 2097152 kbytes total
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, streamtype 3 minor 24
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Could not detect tuner standard, defaulting to NTSC.
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: saa7115: decoder set input (4)
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: saa7115: now setting Composite input
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Setting audio matrix to input 3, output 1
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: ivtv_enc_thread: pid = 2750, itv = 0xf9278aa0
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Switching standard to NTSC.
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: tuner 1-0061: tuner type not set
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: saa7115: decoder set norm NTSC
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: saa7115: set audio: 0x01
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Initialized WinTV PVR 250, card #0
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Autodetected WinTV PVR 250 card
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: Found an iTVC16 based chip
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:04:01.0[A] -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: XXX PCI device: 0x2588 vendor: 0x8086
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c attach [client=eeprom,ok]
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c attach [client=(tuner unset),ok]
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: tuner 2-0061: chip found @ 0xc2 (ivtv i2c driver #1)
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: msp34xx: ivtv version
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: msp34xx: init: chip=MSP3445G-B8, has NICAM support, simple (D) mode, simpler (G) no-thread mode
Jul 29 22:49:27 durex kernel: msp34xx: $Id$ compiled on: Apr 29 2005 04:01:00
Jul 29 22:49:28 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c attach [client=MSP3445G-B8,ok]
Jul 29 22:49:28 durex kernel: saa7115: starting probe for adapter ivtv i2c driver #1 (0x10005)
Jul 29 22:49:28 durex kernel: saa7115: detecting saa7115 client on address 0x42
Jul 29 22:49:28 durex kernel: saa7115: writing init values
Jul 29 22:49:28 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c attach [client=saa7115[1],ok]
Jul 29 22:49:28 durex kernel: saa7115: status: (1E) 0x48, (1F) 0xc0
Jul 29 22:49:28 durex kernel: ivtv: i2c client addr: 0x50 not found!
Jul 29 22:49:28 durex kernel: ivtv: Error -19 reading Hauppauge eeprom.
Jul 29 22:49:28 durex kernel: ivtv: Possible causes: the tveeprom module was not loaded, or
Jul 29 22:49:28 durex kernel: ivtv: the eeprom kernel module was loaded before the tveeprom module.
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Encoder revision: 0x02040011
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Configuring WinTV PVR 250 card with 4 streams
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Create DMA stream 0 using 256 16384 byte buffers 4194304 kbytes total
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, streamtype 0 minor 1
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Create DMA stream 1
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, streamtype 1 minor 33
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Create stream 2 using 40 52224 byte buffers 2097152 kbytes total
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, streamtype 2 minor 225
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Create DMA stream 3 using 455 4608 byte buffers 2097152 kbytes total
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, streamtype 3 minor 25
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Could not detect tuner standard, defaulting to NTSC.
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: saa7115: decoder set input (4)
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: saa7115: now setting Composite input
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Setting audio matrix to input 3, output 1
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: ivtv_enc_thread: pid = 2810, itv = 0xf928ce00
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Switching standard to NTSC.
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: tuner 2-0061: tuner type not set
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: saa7115: decoder set norm NTSC
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: saa7115: set audio: 0x01
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: Initialized WinTV PVR 250, card #1
Jul 29 22:49:29 durex kernel: ivtv: ==================== END INIT IVTV ====================

Since posting here I've had some new ideas about things to try. It occured to me that a couple of weeks ago (before I did my last backup) I had installed some lm-sensor stuff to monitor the processor temperature. I believe that has pooched my setup.

If I do this:
rmmod ivtv
rmmod tveeprom
rmmod eeprom

and then reload everything
modprobe tveeprom
modprobe ivtv

and I restart the backend, everything works properly. I'm still totally clueless how to fix things for real - anyone have any insight on getting the offending eeprom stuff out of my boot sequence?

Thanks
-mrekted

The i2c driver stuff that lm-sensor requires will almost definitely clash.

To do thermal monitoring most folks here use mbmon/xmbmon which don't seem to cause a problem.

well look in /etc/modules and see if eeprom is in there, if it is delete it.

or the real brute force way would be to search under /lib/modules/kernelversion/
find the eeprom??.ko and delete it that way it can't load. Like I said this is the brute force way and not the recommended way.

_________________
Have a question search the forum and have a look at the KnoppMythWiki.

Xsecrets

I was going to suggest a backup and auto upgrade... Painful if you've done a lot of customization, but probably the most reliable way to get back to a "known good" state.

That did the trick - I went into /etc/modules and removed the line that was loading eeprom. On reboot the machine is now working properly. Doesn't seem to have had any major ill side effects either.

Thanks for all your help!

-Mr. Ekted

well removing the line from /etc/modules is the proper way to stop it from loading if that's where it loads. Sometimes though modules get loaded from other places making things more difficult to do right. which is where the brute force of deleting the module comes into play if you are lazy like me.

_________________
Have a question search the forum and have a look at the KnoppMythWiki.

Xsecrets