>>>I don't know if this is a hardware or configuration problem, and I don't know if its my sound card (basic ensonic PCI soundblaster type), PVR-250, or what but my sound is out of sync with the video.
>>>
I don't know how or why, but I did a reinstall and the sync is fine. However the picture quality is not.

Now this may be related to it, the video quality is not good, and playback (NOT just live TV) stutters. I'm on a Sempron 2400 with 512MB ram.

What should I do or what diagnostics do I need to run.... in the current reboot I noticed that HD DMA was not able to be set as it was not allowed. Is this normal?

I'm using an ATI card (until I get a GeForce) is that the reason my playback stuters and I can't watch live TV?

The DMA should be set automatically. Also, the model of PVR-250 definitely matters and especially what sort of tuner you require. It is not necessarily going to autodetect properly.

Given all the grief you are getting with that motherboard, I strongly recommend you return it and get a Chaintech 71nf2 or similar board.

If you are getting poor video, you'll probably need to change the PVR-250 tuner type. Please post your dmesg so we can see what your tuner is detected.

Thanks!

Andrew Lynch

Returning the motherboard at this point is unfortunately not an option (for various reasons). However, I seem to have gotten most things working, and adding a cheap NIC card is not an issue. The question is would changing the video card from an ATI Rage to a GeForce help anything?

I finally got the output you requested and pasted it below, although I must say it was a pain. How can I enable telnet on the mythTV box? I use a PowerBook and tried to telnet it so I could get the file but no luck... I didn't want to invest the time in setting up file shares at this point.

BTW, I originally had tuner type=2 but per an earlier post tried changing it to 39 and then 44. Ever since I did that the tuner stoped working (even when I changed it back). But it did something wierd, in that it stoped me from changing channels (it actually might be working with 44, but its on a bad channel)

Linux version 2.4.25-chw (root@km_dev.mysettopbox.tv) (gcc version 3.3.2 20030812 (Debian prerelease)) #1 Sat Apr 10 15:46:31 PDT 2004
BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
BIOS-e820: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009f800 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000000009f800 - 00000000000a0000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000000f0000 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 0000000000100000 - 000000001fff0000 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000001fff0000 - 000000001fff3000 (ACPI NVS)
BIOS-e820: 000000001fff3000 - 0000000020000000 (ACPI data)
BIOS-e820: 00000000fec00000 - 00000000fec01000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000fee00000 - 00000000fee01000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000ffff0000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
0MB HIGHMEM available.
511MB LOWMEM available.
On node 0 totalpages: 131056
zone(0): 4096 pages.
zone(1): 126960 pages.
zone(2): 0 pages.
Kernel command line: auto BOOT_IMAGE=Linux ro root=301 hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi hde=scsi hdf=scsi hdg=scsi hdh=scsi apm=power-off nomce
ide_setup: hda=scsi
ide_setup: hdb=scsi
ide_setup: hdc=scsi
ide_setup: hdd=scsi
ide_setup: hde=scsi
ide_setup: hdf=scsi
ide_setup: hdg=scsi
ide_setup: hdh=scsi
Initializing CPU#0
Detected 1666.699 MHz processor.
Console: colour dummy device 80x25
Calibrating delay loop... 3329.22 BogoMIPS
Memory: 515264k/524224k available (1363k kernel code, 8572k reserved, 490k data, 116k init, 0k highmem)
Dentry cache hash table entries: 65536 (order: 7, 524288 bytes)
Inode cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 6, 262144 bytes)
Mount cache hash table entries: 512 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
Buffer cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
Page-cache hash table entries: 131072 (order: 7, 524288 bytes)
CPU: L1 I Cache: 64K (64 bytes/line), D cache 64K (64 bytes/line)
CPU: L2 Cache: 256K (64 bytes/line)
CPU: After generic, caps: 0383fbff c1cbfbff 00000000 00000000
CPU: Common caps: 0383fbff c1cbfbff 00000000 00000000
CPU: AMD Sempron(tm) 2400+ stepping 01
Enabling fast FPU save and restore... done.
Enabling unmasked SIMD FPU exception support... done.
Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK.
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
mtrr: v1.40 (20010327) Richard Gooch (rgooch@atnf.csiro.au)
mtrr: detected mtrr type: Intel
PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xfbb70, last bus=2
PCI: Using configuration type 1
PCI: Probing PCI hardware
PCI: Probing PCI hardware (bus 00)
PCI: Discovered primary peer bus ff [IRQ]
PCI: Using IRQ router default [10de/01e0] at 00:00.0
isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards...
isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.4
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
Initializing RT netlink socket
Starting kswapd
VFS: Disk quotas vdquot_6.5.1
vesafb: framebuffer at 0xe0000000, mapped to 0xe080d000, size 3072k
vesafb: mode is 1024x768x16, linelength=2048, pages=20
vesafb: protected mode interface info at c000:4ce6
vesafb: scrolling: redraw
vesafb: directcolor: size=0:5:6:5, shift=0:11:5:0
Looking for splash picture... no good signature found.
Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 128x48
fb0: VESA VGA frame buffer device
pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured
Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 4096K size 1024 blocksize
loop: loaded (max 8 devices)
Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00beta4-2.4
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
hda: SAMSUNG SP1604N, ATA DISK drive
hdc: TSST CDW/DVD TS-H492A, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15
hda: attached ide-disk driver.
hda: host protected area => 1
hda: 312581808 sectors (160042 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=19457/255/63
ide-cd: passing drive hdc to ide-scsi emulation.
hdc: attached ide-scsi driver.
Partition check:
hda: hda1 hda2 hda3 hda4
ide: late registration of driver.
Promise Fasttrak(tm) Softwareraid driver 0.03beta: No raid array found
Highpoint HPT370 Softwareraid driver for linux version 0.02
Guestimating sector 312560384 for superblock
driver for Silicon Image(tm) Medley(tm) hardware version 0.0.1: No raid array found
SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
scsi0 : SCSI host adapter emulation for IDE ATAPI devices
Vendor: TSSTcorp Model: CDW/DVD TS-H492A Rev: TB03
Type: CD-ROM ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0 at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 5x/52x writer cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.12
Initializing Cryptographic API
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP, IGMP
IP: routing cache hash table of 4096 buckets, 32Kbytes
TCP: Hash tables configured (established 32768 bind 65536)
NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux NET4.0.
RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
Freeing initrd memory: 152k freed
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
Journalled Block Device driver loaded
kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds
EXT3 FS 2.4-0.9.19, 19 August 2002 on ide0(3,1), internal journal
EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.
Freeing unused kernel memory: 116k freed
Adding Swap: 779144k swap-space (priority -1)
EXT3 FS 2.4-0.9.19, 19 August 2002 on ide0(3,1), internal journal
Real Time Clock Driver v1.10f
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:02.0. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin B of device 00:02.1. Please try using pci=biosirq.
usb-ohci.c: found OHCI device with no IRQ assigned. check BIOS settings!
usb.c: deregistering driver usbdevfs
usb.c: deregistering driver hub
Serial driver version 5.05c (2001-07-08) with MANY_PORTS SHARE_IRQ SERIAL_PCI ISAPNP enabled
ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ne2k-pci.c:v1.02 10/19/2000 D. Becker/P. Gortmaker
http://www.scyld.com/network/ne2k-pci.html
eth0: RealTek RTL-8029 found at 0xd400, IRQ 11, 00:20:18:2C:9E:8A.
Linux agpgart interface v0.99 (c) Jeff Hartmann
agpgart: Maximum main memory to use for agp memory: 439M
agpgart: Detected NVIDIA nForce2 chipset
agpgart: AGP aperture is 64M @ 0xe8000000
ttyS1: LSR safety check engaged!
ttyS1: LSR safety check engaged!
kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds
EXT3 FS 2.4-0.9.19, 19 August 2002 on ide0(3,4), internal journal
EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.
Linux video capture interface: v1.00
i2c-core.o: i2c core module version 2.6.1 (20010830)
i2c-algo-bit.o: i2c bit algorithm module
i2c-core.o: driver i2c TV tuner driver registered.
i2c-core.o: driver saa7115 registered.
i2c-core.o: driver i2c msp3400 driver registered.
ivtv: version 0.1.9 (release) loading
ivtv: SGarray_size = 340, DSGarray_size = 16
ivtv: Found an iTVC16 based chip
ivtv: Unreasonably low latency timer, setting to 64 (was 32)
tuner: chip found at addr 0xc2 i2c-bus ivtv i2c driver #0
i2c-core.o: client [(tuner unset)] registered to adapter [ivtv i2c driver #0](pos. 0).
tuner: type set to 44 (Philips 4 in 1 (ATI TV Wonder Pro/Conexant)) by insmod option
tuner: The type=<n> insmod option will go away soon.
tuner: Please use the tuner=<n> option provided by
tuner: tv aard core driver (bttv, saa7134, ...) instead.
saa7114.c: starting probe for adapter ivtv i2c driver #0 (0x10005)
saa7114.c: detecting saa7114 client on address 0x42
saa7115.c: writing init values
status: (1E) 0x48, (1F) 0xc0
i2c-core.o: client [saa7115[0]] registered to adapter [ivtv i2c driver #0](pos. 1).
msp34xx: init: chip=MSP3435G-B6, has NICAM support
msp3410: daemon started
i2c-core.o: client [MSP3435G-B6] registered to adapter [ivtv i2c driver #0](pos. 2).
i2c-core.o: adapter ivtv i2c driver #0 registered as adapter 0.
ivtv: Encoder revision: 0x02040011
ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, minor 0
ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, minor 32
ivtv: Registered v4l2 device, minor 224
ivtv: loaded
lirc_dev: IR Remote Control driver registered, at major 61
bttv: driver version 0.9.15 loaded
bttv: using 8 buffers with 2080k (520 pages) each for capture
bttv: driver version 0.9.15 loaded
bttv: using 8 buffers with 2080k (520 pages) each for capture
i2c-core.o: driver i2c ir driver registered.
lirc_i2c: chip found @ 0x18 (Hauppauge IR)
i2c-core.o: client [Hauppauge IR] registered to adapter [ivtv i2c driver #0](pos. 3).
lirc_dev: lirc_register_plugin:sample_rate: 10
saa7115[0]: decoder set norm NTSC
saa7115[0] set audio: 0x02
saa7115[0]: decoder set input (0)
saa7115[0]: now setting Composite input
saa7115[0]: decoder set size
Setting full NTSC width
Setting full NTSC height
apm: BIOS version 1.2 Flags 0x07 (Driver version 1.16)
[drm] AGP 0.99 Aperture @ 0xe8000000 64MB
[drm] Initialized r128 2.2.0 20010917 on minor 0
saa7115[0]: decoder set input (4)
saa7115[0]: now setting Composite input
saa7115[0]: decoder set norm NTSC
saa7115[0] set audio: 0x02
saa7115[0]: decoder set size
Hpsc: 0x00001, Hfsc: 0x00600
Setting full NTSC height
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder set size
Hpsc: 0x00001, Hfsc: 0x00600
Setting full NTSC height
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder set size
Hpsc: 0x00001, Hfsc: 0x00600
Setting full NTSC height
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder set size
Hpsc: 0x00001, Hfsc: 0x00600
Setting full NTSC height
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder set size
Hpsc: 0x00001, Hfsc: 0x00600
Setting full NTSC height
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output
saa7115[0]: decoder disable output
saa7115[0]: decoder enable output

telnet is an unsecure protocol that is basically dead.

Use SSH instead. Install putty on your Windows PC.

Do a google on putty for reference.

I suspect your troubles are with the PVR-250 tuner. What model do you have?

Post the results of the other files as well. the dmesg is not telling the whole story. Especially the lspci -vv file.

Without that I can't see what PVR-250 model you have and even guess properly as to the tuner type.

Google is your friend, once you know the model number.

Thanks!

Andrew Lynch

Based on the box the PVR-250 is model 980

As I said, I bought a GeForce MX4000 video card and replaced the LAN card ($3 used card from a computer show), so I should basically have the equivalent of the "reference system" NF7-M

My IVTV file that works but is jumpy and poor quality is:
alias char-major-81 videodev
alias char-major-61 lirc_i2c
options ivtv debug=1
options tuner type=2
options msp3400 once=1 simple=1
add below ivtv msp3400 saa7115 tuner
add above ivtv lirc_dev lirc_i2c

I tried changing tuner type to 39 and 44 but neither worked at all. Luckily when I changed it back to 2 it worked again, but poorly

Also, what is causing the playback to be jumpy? I would think I had enough power to get a smooth playback. I can't believe this is a tuner issue (though I'm sure the video quality is related to the tuner)

here is the output from the lspc :

00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 01e0 (rev c1)
Subsystem: ABIT Computer Corp.: Unknown device 1c08
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66Mhz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0
Region 0: Memory at e4000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: [40] AGP version 3.0
Status: RQ=32 Iso- ArqSz=2 Cal=0 SBA+ ITACoh- GART64- HTrans- 64bit- FW+ AGP3+ Rate=x4,x8
Command: RQ=1 ArqSz=0 Cal=0 SBA- AGP- GART64- 64bit- FW- Rate=x4
Capabilities: [60] #08 [2001]

00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 01eb (rev c1)
Subsystem: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0c17
Control: I/O- Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap- 66Mhz+ UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-

00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 01ee (rev c1)
Subsystem: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0c17
Control: I/O- Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap- 66Mhz+ UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-

00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 01ed (rev c1)
Subsystem: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0c17
Control: I/O- Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap- 66Mhz+ UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-

00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 01ec (rev c1)
Subsystem: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0c17
Control: I/O- Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap- 66Mhz+ UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-

00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 01ef (rev c1)
Subsystem: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0c17
Control: I/O- Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap- 66Mhz+ UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-

00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0080 (rev a3)
Subsystem: ABIT Computer Corp.: Unknown device 1c08
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle+ MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66Mhz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0
Capabilities: [48] #08 [01e1]

00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0084 (rev a1)
Subsystem: ABIT Computer Corp.: Unknown device 1c08
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66Mhz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11
Region 0: I/O ports at ec00 [size=32]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot+,D3cold+)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0087 (rev a1) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: ABIT Computer Corp.: Unknown device 1c08
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66Mhz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0 (750ns min, 250ns max)
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 0
Region 0: Memory at eb001000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0087 (rev a1) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: ABIT Computer Corp.: Unknown device 1c08
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66Mhz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0 (750ns min, 250ns max)
Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 0
Region 0: Memory at eb002000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

00:02.2 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0088 (rev a2) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: ABIT Computer Corp.: Unknown device 1c08
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66Mhz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0 (750ns min, 250ns max)
Interrupt: pin C routed to IRQ 0
Region 0: Memory at eb003000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [44] #0a [2098]
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

00:08.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 008b (rev a3) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B-
Status: Cap- 66Mhz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=32
I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000dfff
Memory behind bridge: ea000000-eaffffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: e0000000-e3ffffff
BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR+ NoISA+ VGA- MAbort- >Reset- FastB2B-

00:09.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0085 (rev a3) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: ABIT Computer Corp.: Unknown device 1c08
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66Mhz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0 (750ns min, 250ns max)
Region 4: I/O ports at f000 [size=16]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (rev c1) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B-
Status: Cap- 66Mhz+ UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 32
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=32
Memory behind bridge: e8000000-e9ffffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: d8000000-dfffffff
BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR+ NoISA+ VGA+ MAbort- >Reset- FastB2B-

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0185 (rev c1) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66Mhz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 32 (1250ns min, 250ns max)
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 10
Region 0: Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Region 1: Memory at d8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
Capabilities: [44] AGP version 3.0
Status: RQ=32 Iso- ArqSz=0 Cal=3 SBA+ ITACoh- GART64- HTrans- 64bit- FW+ AGP3+ Rate=x4,x8
Command: RQ=1 ArqSz=0 Cal=0 SBA- AGP- GART64- 64bit- FW- Rate=<none>

02:08.0 Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1370 [AudioPCI]
Subsystem: Unknown device 4942:4c4c
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B-
Status: Cap- 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=slow >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 32 (3000ns min, 32000ns max)
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 9
Region 0: I/O ports at d000 [size=64]

02:09.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82557/8/9 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 08)
Subsystem: Intel Corp. EtherExpress PRO/100+ Management Adapter with Alert On LAN*
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 32 (2000ns min, 14000ns max), cache line size 08
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11
Region 0: Memory at ea200000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Region 1: I/O ports at d400 [size=64]
Region 2: Memory at ea000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=1M]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=2 PME-

02:0a.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc: Unknown device 0016 (rev 01)
Subsystem: Hauppauge computer works Inc.: Unknown device 4009
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 64 (32000ns min, 2000ns max), cache line size 08
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 3
Region 0: Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

If the tuner is working, check you HD DMA

hdparm /dev/hda

You should see something like this:

/dev/hda:
multcount = 16 (on)
IO_support = 3 (32-bit w/sync)
unmaskirq = 1 (on)
using_dma = 1 (on)
keepsettings = 0 (off)
readonly = 0 (off)
readahead = 8 (on)
geometry = 9964/255/63, sectors = 81964302336, start = 0

if you have all zeros or mostly zeros then DMA is switched off. Do a google or search the forums on how to turn on DMA. I recall you said something about the mb not like HDD DMA earlier, I think.

Thanks!

Andrew Lynch

I just reread your earlier message where you noticed a message about DMA not allowed. Could you post those messages? It may be in the syslog.

/var/log/syslog

You are going to have to get DMA working or you are truly screwed. MythTV is essentially dependent on DMA working correctly especially with the PVR-250 cards. Working DMA is not an option.

Please post what your hdparm says.

hdparm /dev/hda

Thanks!

Andrew Lynch

You are correct DMA is not on, but the bigger problem is that I can't turn it on. I get an error: HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted.

The HD is a new Samsung 7200rpm ATA133 160GB drive and the MB is an Abit nForce2 chipset so it should not be a problem. Any idea why? The bios setup is not help... as there is no control for DMA

Probably, but I am guessing here, you are going to have to compile new driver modules for the nForce2 chipset to get the EIDE chipset to work properly. I seriously doubt its the HD fault or it would have been shunned out of existence. It may require a kernel recompile but maybe there is an easy tweak out there.

A quick google indicates that DMA failure is common on nForce2 motherboards. I would google on your exact mb model and that failure message (HDIO_SET_DMA).

Before that though, as you should be seeing a pattern here....

Do a quick search on the forum for that error message. I bet you'll find lots of interesting conversations. Forum Search is your friend.



Thanks!

Andrew Lynch

PS, are you absolutely positive its too late to return that motherboard? It sounds absolutely snakebitten to me. Sorry, it just doesn't have to be this hard to install knoppmyth and you are probably getting the wrong impression. KnoppMyth works and works well with supported hardware.

Andrew,
Thanks for the input, I bought the board since it most closely resembled the refrence platform, and from searches on this site, everyone seemed to say "get the nForce2 chipset", which is why I bought the board. With the add on cards and shut of features, what I have should resemble a NF7-M exactly. Besides, all the other motherboards I found (local store and even the computer show today) had chipsets that at least one person here said "stay away from"

While, I would have liked this to work flawlessly the first time, I don't really mind THAT much since I have been looking for an excuse to learn Linux, and boy am I doing that (well, slowly).

I have used google, and searched these forums before I ever ask a question. The problem is based on the search words, you get different results. For example, once I found info on tuner types, but was not able to get back to it since I could not remember the same seach words I used. When I searched on this forum for HDIO_SET_DMA I found a lot of talk but nothing that helped me.

There is nothing on my MB (NF7-S2G) and HDIO_SET_DMA, there is information about "rebuilding" kernal and drivers, etc for nForce2 and other Linux distributions, but since nForce2 is supposed to work out of the box with KnoppMyth I shouldn't have to do that. Should I?

IMO, staying with your system as presently configured is non-viable.

I don't think all nForce2 chipsets are built alike. There are usually many variants within a mb chipset family and if you have an extremely new one it may not be supported. Maybe R5 will support you out of the box but I wouldn't wait for it.

I was thinking about your predicament while I was out jogging and probably your best route is to go back to the store and purchase a cheap PCI EIDE board. Get the cheapest, oldest, and slowest one you can find to maximize your chances of getting an EIDE chipset that is supported. Or go with one is common as dirt like PROMISE or adaptec. Config your mb to boot of the PCI card and press ahead. Keep your receipt though because its a gamble.

IMO, again, I am not the KnoppMyth supragenius uberhacker just a plain old user trying to help out.

The other alternative is not pleasant. I have done it on other machines because I had to but never with KnoppMyth because it defeats the entire purpose of KnoppMyth. That is ... recompile the kernel. Even upgrade it to the 2.6 series. Of course that is going to set off a chain reaction of pain such as recompiling ivtv and lirc most likely plus whatever else depends on loading a module (alsa?).

If it were down to that option for me, i would start exploring other options because there is no gaurrantee that approach is going to work.

possible alternatives off the top of my head
1. jarod's guide with FC3. I have never gone that route because its a rpm based distribution and I have always been partial to deb. Sorry.
2. knoppix 3.7 or 3.8 beta. Probably going to require some serious recompiles to just get the hardware supported (ivtv, lirc). MythTV would be a new project too
3. 100% Debian. My old reliable but it is non-trivial install
4. Gentoo, some people have luck with this but I haven't tried it.

Best of luck. Wish I could be of more help here. Keep us posted on your decision.

Thanks!

Andrew Lynch

Andrew,
Thanks again for all your help! OK, I will try this out (as I watch the superbowl):

I can't use the eMachine one since its my son's and he would not be happy. I can't use my other PC since its a Via KT133 chipset and I read that it won't support DMA. Thus I will try with another PC I have that would not work under windows (windows drivers could not find the tunner card), but may work under Linux. If that works, then I will "swicth" PCs. If not I will break down and buy another motherboard.

The reason I can't return mine is that there was a "deal" (one time) buy a motherboard + CPU and get $100 off. The CPU is not returnable, and all the other motherboards were either Intel based, or using the Via chipset that everyone says to stay away from (KT400, KT800, etc.).

If I have to buy another motherboard, and suggestions on where I can get one that will work out of the box?

Rob

I'd try to PCI EIDE card option first. It may be an easy way out. If not its only $20 and you probably could return it if it doesn't work out.

Here's one

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductde ... 002&DEPA=1

As for which motherboard to get, you got me. If I were starting from scratch, I'd go with the Chaintech 7NIF2

Thanks!

Andrew Lynch

I wish I realized the HD problem earlier today I could have picked one up for under $10 (used) at the computer show (and likely didn't need to buy the video card). Oh well.

I'm trying to use my best PC now a 2.4GHz P4. It installed OK in front of the TV (I'm watching the game), rebooted and everything was fine (even DMA worked). I unplugged everything and brought it upstairs to where i had been doing everything since there is a monitor, keyboard, mouse, lan AND cable. Rebooted and it would crash with the flashing lights. I'm reinstalling from up here (not watching the game ) hopefully it will work on the first go around

IT WORKS....sort of. I reinstalled on my best home PC the above mentioned P4, however I had to use the low end network card, sound card, and video cards I bought today for the other system.

I get video and audio that is mostly insync, although it seems like its off by a millisecond or so. However that could be from the placement of the speakers which is to the side of the monitor. Comments?

The video playback is mostly smooth, but fast action (like in the football game) seems blurry. This is not the case with my Tivo. I hope its just a setting (right?).

OK, now for the big question. CAN I get Tivo quality and can I do it with an AMD 2400 (1.6 GHz) chip? The reason I ask is that my 2.4GHz P4 seems to be "just" making it.

There is always some a/v mismatch but you cannot detect it below a threshold (40ms or 70ms or something like that)

What sort of video card are you using? The NVidia? Go get it installed and use the propietary driver (not nv). It will improve things a lot, especially if XV is on.

type

install[press tab to reveal options]

there are a couple install-nvidia.sh available. Try the latest first. 6111?

A 2.4 GHz P4 is massive overkill for CPU. I am working with a 2.6 GHz celeron (which is 50% or so) of your CPU and I have no problems. Yes, there are tweaking to do but get a working stable system first.

I will see how you are doing tomorrow as I have to crash now. Work and all that stuff.

Thanks!

Andrew Lynch