I'm using R4V3, but with debian updates for myth 0.15, but the problem existed before the updates. I suspect that it is a conflict with the onboard ethernet, because, like others, I can boot without the network cable connected consistently, with no problems. I have an SIS chipset ethernet, IRQ10, but the onboard audio seems to be using the same IRQ, so I suspect a conflict:

cat interrupts
CPU0
0: 259260423 XT-PIC timer
1: 26 XT-PIC keyboard
2: 0 XT-PIC cascade
4: 1178390 XT-PIC serial
8: 5 XT-PIC rtc
10: 203368347 XT-PIC SiS SI7012, eth0
11: 9699148 XT-PIC usb-ohci, ivtv: iTVC15/16 mpg2 encoder chip
12: 1 XT-PIC usb-ohci
14: 10579736 XT-PIC ide0
15: 180503 XT-PIC ide1
NMI: 0
ERR: 4

I guess I got to bust out the docs and see how to change it, but I think this is the problem.

Had the same problem when trying to install on K7S5A using onboard SIS 900 NIC, SB Live Value (would like to use the power of my XP1700...)

This board also consistently shows a "Spurious 8259A interrupt: IRQ 7" error at boot, could this be related, anybody else having this kind of error?
I began seing this spurious interrupt error on the K7S5A when using the Sarge distro and tried a few time since. Even installing Sarge alone, without Mythtv, will lock me up. Those leds drove me crazy for a while, and I almost abandoned my Linux PVR project.

I had tested Mythtv 0.13 on Debian Woody with the exact same hardware, including same onboard NIC, without any boot errors or blinking leds lockups.

I scraped together enough hardware to build my present setup, and was a really happy man when Knoppmyth went trough the whole install for the first time. Never had these problems again with the present box.

Now, the faulty hardware just works good booting the Knoppmyth CD and using it as a frontend, no hd install, to access the backend on the slower box I can watch live tv on the K7S5A using the same SIS 900 onboard NIC.

It seems to happen with all kind of different hardware. intel/amd processors, via/sis/intel controlers, 3com/sis/realtek nics, etc

The problem probably is in the software (drivers, kernel?), they must have broken something along the way and that is why Sarge is officialy called a testing distibution I guess.

But it would be nice if we could pinpoint the problem. I would be able to record at more than the 352x480 I have to use with the slower setup.

_________________
Tyan Trinity 1854S - VIA Apollo Pro 133
P3-1000, 768mb PC-133, GF2 MX400 64mb
Avermedia M179, ATI TV Wonder w/remote, Maxtor 160 gig, DVD burner.R5E50.
Second FE - Thinkpad T22, 900, 384mb. Ubuntu Dapper, Mythtv FE 0.20

the spurious interrupt errors are harmless they have been happening on some hardware for quite some time now, I googled along time ago and found an explanation of what they are why they happen and why they are harmless, but I can't remember it all now.

Yes the problems are definitely in the kernel. I know I had wireless problems with the new kernel that forced me back to an older version. Just to let you know this has nothing to do with debian or sarge. The kernels in those releases do not have these problems. Knoppmyth has a custom kernel, and something added in R4V4 has really screwed things up.

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

Xsecrets

Grrr. I've now got this problem too after upgrading my motherboard and AMD CPU.

My PC now hangs occasionally with the flashy lights but if it does, its always at the SIS900 drivers - ie. network.

Looks like a common issue with the network card on these SIS based boards.

I have the same problem on an Intel motherboard, using Broadcom onboard nic. Strangely, the problem occurs more on my 100mb LAN, rather than on my 10MB.

I can cause this to happen on boot by loading the e100 in /etc/modules if i put it anywhere but last. Sometimes it will lock after a couple hours. If i use the eepro100 module it no longer locks at all.

I would try assigning different irq combinations to the devices if you can.

UPDATE: Disabling on-board LAN and using another card has given me a far more stable system.
UPDATE: Having a keyboard permanently connected also makes a difference.

I just wanted to add my 1.8 cents to this...

I was messing around with knoppmyth on some old hardware:

Abit KR7a mb
3com/netgear/noname Realtek based NICS
PVR 250
SB128 and SB Live
Samsung 160Gb drive
440mx video card

This machine with various bits of hardware listed above will do the blinky thing after it goes into a "powersave/monitor blanking state" and I press a key to bring it back.

If I try setterm -blank 0
and setterm -powersave off

It doesnt go into that state and fixes it.......weird stuff.

It seems to always happen to me on boot up. I have to reboot 4-5 times before I get a full boot. It realy looks when the network card is trying to come up, that something else is already trying to use the network card and they conflict. It is like there needs to be a pause statment put in some where because there is a timeing conflict. I will play around some more to see what I can come up with.

Thanks

R4V4.1 gives me blinking LED's after a random length of time (usually after I set it to transcode a bunch of files overnight). My hardware:

Gigabyte 7VT600-RZ(-C) Motherboard
VIA KT600
VIA VT8235
Onboard LAN VIA VT6103L (Using Rhine-II Driver)
Sound: Realtek ALC655 CODEC
IT8705 I/O Controller
ATI Rage Pro PC2TV -- This card doesn't seem to have any way to get X to even work right, but I'm not worried about that. I'm going to by myself a new GeForce4 MX440 tonight.
52X Cheasy CR-RW drive

I also have some install trouble:
I get a bunch of cloop: error -5 messages during install like I'm flooding the pipe and running out of ram or swap or something. I've gotten that before on another machine during install file copy but was able to get it to go away by turning off DMA on my CD-RW drive. Insight?

R4V4.1 gives me blinking LED's after a random length of time (usually after I set it to transcode a bunch of files overnight). My hardware:

Gigabyte 7VT600-RZ(-C) Motherboard
VIA KT600
VIA VT8235
Onboard LAN VIA VT6103L (Using Rhine-II Driver)
Sound: Realtek ALC655 CODEC
IT8705 I/O Controller
ATI Rage Pro PC2TV -- This card doesn't seem to have any way to get X to even work right, but I'm not worried about that. I'm going to by myself a new GeForce4 MX440 tonight.
52X Cheasy CR-RW drive

I also have some install trouble:
I get a bunch of cloop: error -5 messages during install like I'm flooding the pipe and running out of ram or swap or something. I've gotten that before on another machine during install file copy but was able to get it to go away by turning off DMA on my CD-RW drive. Insight?

most of the time cloop errors indicate a bad iso.

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

Xsecrets

Xsecrets: I read the other posts you, cesman, and others had responded to cloop questions. I've made many copies of this from a checksum that has repeatedly given the correct value. How can I check my burn against the iso? It's nearly impossible for a bad iso to give the right checksum, so what else can I check/do. I've burned on different brands of disks in different writers. I haven't fallen back to my old 4X SCSI writer yet, but I'm beginning to run out of options. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to check my burns, other stuff to try?

Like X said, cloop errors are generally bad burns. A corrupt download shouldn't give you the proper MD5SUM. R4V5 will be out soon, you can try wilth that, but if different media and burner are give you cloop errors, something else maybe wrong with your system. Try burning at 1x.

_________________
cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

I fixed my blinky keyboard light problem. It started after upgrading to R4V5. I couldn't even get a full boot before it would hand (same place each time) Well, I went back to my old lilo.conf file and changed the name of the kernal file. Then ran lilo and poof no more problems. I haven't spent much time looking at the difference between the two files but I do know that the default resolution is lower for the version that works. Hope this helps some of you.