Hi all,

Initially everything was fine and KnoppMyth was running ok using the keyboard to navigate.

I have recently re-installed LIRC (IRW seems to show correct keys) and LCDproc (still not working) and configured for the imon multimedian and now KnoppMyth no longer starts. When I try to run KnoppMyth from the desktop (Apps/Graphics/MythTV) I get a the blue screen flash up for a split second then it drops back to the desktop.

Is this correct? Am I missing something here? Maybe KnoppMyth is running, but I cannot see it. Has anybody else had this issue? Or, meybe is is not running because it is damaged / the config has changed and causing errors. If this is the case, how can I check / seek the errors to fix? I get no warnings / error messages, it just drops back to the desktop.

Any ideas anyone? I'm keen to see if my remote now works with KnoppMyth.

Cheers,

Dean

Dean,

Can you try launching mythfrontend from an Xshell and see if you get any more clues about what is going on? Do so by going to XShells/XTerm from the Knoppmyth desktop and typing 'mythfrontend'.

AE

Good call AE.

Well, I ran mythfrontend as suggested, and I got a Segmentation Error. Full output as below:

[code]
sh-3.00$ mythfrontend
2006-05-24 20:49:32.847 Using runtime prefix = /usr
2006-05-24 20:49:32.907 New DB connection, total: 1
2006-05-24 20:49:32.914 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2006-05-24 20:49:32.919 Total desktop dim: 1280x1024, with 1 screen[s].
2006-05-24 20:49:32.927 Using screen 0, 1280x1024 at 0,0
2006-05-24 20:49:32.949 Current Schema Version: 1123
2006-05-24 20:49:32.965 mythfrontend version: 0.19.20060121-2 www.mythtv.org
2006-05-24 20:49:32.981 Enabled verbose msgs: important general
2006-05-24 20:49:33.375 lang0: eng
2006-05-24 20:49:33.390 lang: eng
2006-05-24 20:49:33.423 lang1: eng
2006-05-24 20:49:33.437 lang: eng
2006-05-24 20:49:33.583 Total desktop dim: 1280x1024, with 1 screen[s].
2006-05-24 20:49:33.600 Using screen 0, 1280x1024 at 0,0
2006-05-24 20:49:33.617 Switching to square mode (Titivillus)
Segmentation fault
[/code]


When running mythbackend, I get the following:

[code]
sh-3.00$ mythbackend
2006-05-23 23:00:56.483 Using runtime prefix = /usr
2006-05-23 23:00:56.528 New DB connection, total: 1
2006-05-23 23:00:56.535 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2006-05-23 23:00:56.552 Current Schema Version: 1123
Starting up as the master server.
2006-05-23 23:00:56.580 New DB connection, total: 2
2006-05-23 23:00:56.583 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
ERROR: no capture cards are defined in the database.
Perhaps you should read the installation instructions?
2006-05-23 23:00:56.611 mythbackend version: 0.19.20060121-2 www.mythtv.org
2006-05-23 23:00:56.613 Enabled verbose msgs: important general
2006-05-23 23:00:56.616 New DB connection, total: 3
2006-05-23 23:00:56.618 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2006-05-23 23:00:56.623 AutoExpire: Found 0 recorders w/max rate of 0 MiB/min
2006-05-23 23:00:56.627 AutoExpire: Required Free Space: 1.0 GB w/freq: 10 min
QServerSocket: failed to bind or listen to the socket
2006-05-23 23:00:56.635 Failed to bind port 6543. Exiting.
[/code]

Does anybody have any ideas how to fix this?

Regards,

Hi

While you have the xterm open do $ df -h and $ df -i to ensure you have drive space left. Things don't run well if 0

Mike

Thanks Mike results as follows:

I thingk it was the swap.

Can you tell me where I need to put mkswap and/or swapon to ensure that it is set-up whenever I boot?

So nearly sorted. (Just need to get / build an lirrc file!)

Many thanks.

OK -- It was working for a second!!!

I then added the lircrc file (downloaded from http://mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-user ... 98417.html )

This was placed in /root/.mythtv/lircrc. And, now I am getting the following when I run mythfrontend.

2006-05-24 23:52:32.442 Using runtime prefix = /usr
2006-05-24 23:52:32.517 New DB connection, total: 1
2006-05-24 23:52:32.537 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2006-05-24 23:52:32.556 Total desktop dim: 1280x1024, with 1 screen[s].
2006-05-24 23:52:32.579 Using screen 0, 1280x1024 at 0,0
2006-05-24 23:52:32.605 Current Schema Version: 1123
2006-05-24 23:52:32.620 mythfrontend version: 0.19.20060121-2 www.mythtv.org
2006-05-24 23:52:32.636 Enabled verbose msgs: important general
2006-05-24 23:52:33.134 lang0: eng
2006-05-24 23:52:33.149 lang: eng
2006-05-24 23:52:33.183 lang1: eng
2006-05-24 23:52:33.198 lang: eng
2006-05-24 23:52:33.426 Total desktop dim: 1280x1024, with 1 screen[s].
2006-05-24 23:52:33.444 Using screen 0, 1280x1024 at 0,0
2006-05-24 23:52:33.461 Switching to square mode (Titivillus)
Segmentation fault


Any ideas? What is a Segmentation Fault?

Thanks again in advance for any advice.

Regards,

Basically it's how the system reacts to an illegal memory reference cause by the code trying to read/write to a "segment" of memory it doesn't have or have permissions for. It usually means that a developer got sloppy about initializing an address or index variable, checking an address calculation, or some other chunk of misbehaving code stepped on the address/index. Basically whatever is wrong with your LIRC config file has managed to trigger a latent bug in lircd.

BTW - Why are you running the frontend as root? That's generally not a good idea, as files can end up owned by root, which will cause permission problems when you run it normally as the mythtv user.

Ahhh. Yes I was running as root.

Just switched back to mythtv, and the error has changed as follows.

Does this mean anything to anyone?

2006-05-25 00:28:41.519 Using runtime prefix = /usr
2006-05-25 00:28:41.579 New DB connection, total: 1
2006-05-25 00:28:41.586 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2006-05-25 00:28:41.592 Total desktop dim: 1280x1024, with 1 screen[s].
2006-05-25 00:28:41.599 Using screen 0, 1280x1024 at 0,0
2006-05-25 00:28:41.607 Current Schema Version: 1123
2006-05-25 00:28:41.609 mythfrontend version: 0.19.20060121-2 www.mythtv.org
2006-05-25 00:28:41.611 Enabled verbose msgs: important general
2006-05-25 00:28:41.992 lang0: eng
2006-05-25 00:28:41.993 lang: eng
2006-05-25 00:28:42.013 lang1: eng
2006-05-25 00:28:42.014 lang: eng
2006-05-25 00:28:42.147 Total desktop dim: 1280x1024, with 1 screen[s].
2006-05-25 00:28:42.151 Using screen 0, 1280x1024 at 0,0
2006-05-25 00:28:42.154 Switching to square mode (Titivillus)
*** glibc detected *** free(): invalid pointer: 0x082a0268 ***
Aborted

Then running again, I got the Segmentation fault again!

Uhmmm.

Hi,
Assuming you did an auto install everything should have been basiclly good to go. You haven't given much for the folks to get a mental image of things.

Some good bits are version of KM, mem size, hd size, video type, tuner card, remote type. A general location helps also, pal / ntsc.

Also, always run as mythtv if you can, if it complains do sudo <what ever command> and if that fails, then drop to root for that one task. As tjc mentioned, permissions become those of root and mythtv does not have the power to override root so somewhere down the road it will bite you.

Your best bet from this vantage point would be cough up some details first, do a command line backup and then do an auto upgrade with R5C7 restarting fresh. The settings that have been done should be saved and then restored with the upgrade.

Mike

Hi Mike, and thanks again. I will run everything as mythtv in the future, dropping to sudo and root as required.

Yes, I did do an auto install. But I guess the system has changed a fair bit as I have installed LIRC & LCDProc (for iMon VFD), compile / configured the network / Samba, configured MythTV, installed Firefox plus various other utilities / tools as recommended in the various forums.

If I do an auto-upgrade will this not format hda2 (my frontend) and I will need to reinstall / configure the above from scratch? I have had to re-install many times already and it has taken several hours since my last install to get to this point. Is there another way?

The current error is linded to LIRC, because if LIRC is not running, MythTV opens fine. Once I run LIRC I get the problems. Also, the problems only really started when I created the lircrc file for myth.

It there not a config that I could have wronge / rebuild LIRC? Anything rather than a complete re-install!!! I really hope that this is the case.

Regards,

_________________
Motherboard -- VIA EPIA SP8000
CPU -- see MBoard
RAM -- 512mb
HDD -- Seagate, 40gb
Vid / Sound / LAN -- On board
TV -- No TV card, playback only
OS -- KnoppMyth R5C7

Hi deansewell,

There is a guide that Xsecrets suggests, I was just reviewing it myself last night but forget where it was for the link. He most likely has it on the wiki also. What that will allow you to do is make a list of the "stuff" you want to save special. Then after an upgrade, it will put back what you have listed in a second file. You can also put things back one at a time if desired.

You may be able to make repairs to your current install, just may be quicker and easier to start fresh. Copy any changed scripts to /home/mythtv and the do a backup. That directory is saved with either backup method.

It may be a little extra work, but it is all a learning experience and not a life threatning situation.

Maybe if someone sees the pre upgrade guide, they will drop th link here.
Have a great day!
Mike

Mike - Somehow I think your talking about another thread that included a lot of tips, but here is the current "Hints for upgrading to R5C7" which includes a link to the write up on the new backup and restore. http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10116

The hard part is just determining what all your tweaks were and what files they affected unless you keep good notes. I used to use find to determine what files had changed and apt-show-versions to generate a list of packages which I could then compare to what was in the new install. After I got hings more figured out I ended up scripting most of my tweaks, so that there's a script to restore webmin, another to restore NFS, yet another to set up for the USB keys, others to install jed and apcupsd, ... and finally a script which does some setup and checking and runs all the rest.

BTW- This post shows the old apt-show-versions trick - http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4730 but since it's not part of the stadard install you need to apt-get install that first...

Hi

Thanks tjc, you are getting good at reading what mean I have stashed that "reference" several places for future needs.

Since mr deansewell has just really started, he probably knows where most of the files are that were tweaked and would be able to copy them to the mythtv home directory. Before backup! That should make short work for a fresh start. Or even better, use your backup tool.

Then do one step at a time, check all is well, next step, etc
Just my humble ideas

Mike

Dean - when you were installing all of the various tools / utilities you wanted, did you happen to notice a bunch of packages getting updated also? For example, if you do an 'apt-get install firefox', it not only wants to install Firefox but some other stuff like 'libc'? The Debian apt repositories being used with Knoppmyth are currently in a state of transition and it is really easy to accidentally upgrade some of your libraries to current while MythTV is still expecting the old libraries. That may explain these segfaults. If you already have a reinstall in progress, just be careful any time you do an 'apt-get install' and check that no unexpected 'additional' packages are upgraded also before you hit 'Y' to allow it to proceed.

Thanks for all your tips.

I have not tried to reinstall yet and I'm not sure how to proceed. I really want to get a Linux PVR (well, music / media servier) running, but to be honest I am very busy and don't really have the time to invest in getting a system working. I just wanted a simple devise to browse / run my media. I'm happy to play / configure for a few hours, but I have now spent several days trying to get this running and I have to start again from scratch. I think it may be easier to just plug in my ipod.

I probably will try again, but is there a way to simplify the update process? I'm new to all this, and although it is fairly simple to install it is time consuming and it feels too easy to mess things up (as I have clearly done several times).

Thanks again for all your advice, but can someone point me to a "dummys guide to installing / upgrading" linux / knoppmyth / knoppix / mythtv to minimise effort?

Cheers,