Remote Control stops working nzTivo 1.5

[sadrake]

I resently re imaged to 1.5 3 weeks ago and have had issues with the remote control failing.

Like this morning watching the super 14 and fast forwarding all the boring bits, the control stopped being able to control the tivo, the light on the remote still works and it still controls the TV but Tivo fails to get any codes from it. the way out was to reboot. This has happend twice now on 1.5 where as before I never had this issue at all.

Any idears as to whats going on with the Tivo?

[bigmal]

I had (and rarely still do) similar problems. Does the green light on the Tivo flick to orange at all?

Mine would just sit there and refuse to respond and even rebooting didn't help it.
I tried everything from different Tivo remotes to taking the batteries out of remotes from other devices in case it was flooding the IR.

In the end I found giving it a reboot into Guided Setup mode then reboot again into normal mode would solve the problem, don't know why but it did.

My IR hasn't locked up for ages now.

[petestrash]

Next time it happens, try using TWP. If you can't access your TiVo with TWP, then it's what is known as the event bug. This commonly happens when the TiVo get overloaded, usually by a lot remote usage or a lot of mfs manipulation.

Peter.

[sadrake]

Next time it happens, try using TWP. If you can't access your TiVo with TWP, then it's what is known as the event bug. This commonly happens when the TiVo get overloaded, usually by a lot remote usage or a lot of mfs manipulation.

Peter.

It sounds like the bug then, as I went to look at the logs via TWP but could not access it so rebooted it via telnet. is there a fix for the event bug?

Cheers.

[petestrash]

In short No. All software based on the US3.0 has the issue. This includes all NZ & OZ Philips images.

There is a module in the sysadmin area of TWP which attempts to fix the causes before they become a problem, but I cannot say it works for sure.

Removing system load also helps, so I you want to trade off hacks for a more stable system, stop them from loading at boot.

Peter.

[dyrplq]

Where do we need to look to see what hacks we have currently kicking in at startup?

[petestrash]

ps ax will show the loaded programs, and lsmod the modules.

Peter.

[dyrplq]

Thanks Pete. What file do we need to change to stop things starting up at load?

[petestrash]

For most programs try the following:

1. Make the TiVo Read/Write with rw
2. Then copy /etc/dflt_sysinit.conf to /etc/sysinit.conf
3. Now make your changes in /etc/sysinit.conf (never edit /etc/dflt_sysinit.conf)
4. When finished make the sytem read only again with ro
5. reboot

Peter.

[Skolink]

For most programs try the following:

1. Make the TiVo Read/Write with rw
2. Then copy /etc/dflt_sysinit.conf to /etc/sysinit.conf
3. Now make your changes in /etc/sysinit.conf (never edit /etc/dflt_sysinit.conf)
4. When finished make the sytem read only again with ro
5. reboot


I have experienced the same things as sadrake.
I don't seem to have either of those files on my TiVo which is using the nzTiVo v1.5 image (August 2006).
Instead I edited /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.author
Is that correct?

[petestrash]

I don't know, but rc.sysinit.author, rc.sysinit.local and rc.sysinit all were used to load hacks in old images.

I don't have any NZ images. And we have gone a different direction since mid last year. We now call a separate file for loading hacks (sysinit.conf).

This stops people from making mistakes in rc.sysinit.author which could potentialy end with the tivo stuck in a reboot loop.

Peter.

[thomson]

FYI: Most of the IR hangs I have seen recently have been the cause of remote IR transmitters leaking out interference - which upsets the TiVo's receiver.

[mpnash]

It sounds like the bug then, as I went to look at the logs via TWP but could not access it so rebooted it via telnet. is there a fix for the event bug?

Cheers.

You might like to check out:
http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/view/Software/EvtSwitchFixer
and there's some related info at:
http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/view/Hintsortips/EvidenceForLockedRemote

I have similar problems from time to time (running oztivo 1.6.2), and whilst the above has made things better (I think), it has not resolved the issue for me altogether.

[mpnash]

FYI: Most of the IR hangs I have seen recently have been the cause of remote IR transmitters leaking out interference - which upsets the TiVo's receiver.

What exactly do you mean by 'remote IR transmitters'? eg.
1. the TiVo's IR blaster
2. the TiVo remote
3. remotes for other devices
or other?

The only remote we use the TiVo remote (with IR blaster), and I still get this problem every now and then. Hard to remember exact details leading up to it, but I think it happens after:
a. lots of activity with the TiVo remote; or/and
b. watching TiVo recordings on my laptop (via TWP asx links)

Is there a log file related to IR activity or db commands or similar that we can use to try and trace the cause of this problem straight after it happens? I once stumbled across a log file that seemed to indicate TiVo remote button presses, but have since forgotten where to find this file. Not sure if it will help...

[petestrash]

You might like to check out:
http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/view/Software/EvtSwitchFixer

I have similar problems from time to time (running oztivo 1.6.2), and whilst the above has made things better (I think), it has not resolved the issue for me altogether.

EvtSwitchFixer is already included in TWP, look under SysAdmin or your.TiVo's.IP/sysadmin/evtfix

Running it won't fix the problem once locked out though. It may be a preventative.

Peter.

[petestrash]

The only remote we use the TiVo remote (with IR blaster), and I still get this problem every now and then. Hard to remember exact details leading up to it, but I think it happens after:
a. lots of activity with the TiVo remote; or/and
b. watching TiVo recordings on my laptop (via TWP asx links)

Is there a log file related to IR activity or db commands or similar that we can use to try and trace the cause of this problem straight after it happens? I once stumbled across a log file that seemed to indicate TiVo remote button presses, but have since forgotten where to find this file. Not sure if it will help...

Overloading the processor by running extra hacks such as pushing a 2nd stream to your laptop can trigger it.

As can a solid session of TiVo catch-up with a lot of FFWDing and deletions. In fact any IR whether TiVo or not is caught by the TiVo for processing so can bog it down.

As for the log, look in tivoLog.prv for key presses.

Peter.

[sadrake]

I have found this somewhere. I hardly use tivoweb. where can i disable it?

My TiVo occasionaly stops responding. What could be wrong?
Under version 3.0 of the software there is an issue where the system will stop processing remote events. This seems to be caused by a process that hooks into the event system and later stops responding or is unable to process waiting events. It is commonly known as the '3.0 event bug'. To help reduce the risk you may wish to watch what TivoWeb modules and utilities you run. Modules such as 'Phone' hook into the event handler to perform various tasks. It also seems to happen more often after heavy use of a remote control which also implies that a process is not able to clear its queue before hanging.

The TiVo will still record programmes in this 'non-responsive state', it will just not repond to events (such as those created by the remote control). The system can be fixed by either killing the hung process (if you can determine which one it is), or by rebooting.

One of the known causes of the event bug is IR overload, but this is not just TiVo's remote we talk about but any IR signal from any remote or IR source. The TiVo tries to decode them all and they all get added to the queue for processing. It could be that something in your room is producing excessive IR and overloads the TiVo. It may be worth covering the eye at the front of your TiVo for a few days and see if improves your uptimes.

With all the different results and uptimes that people report it is suspected that there must be some hardware issues which causes the same software to act so differently on different TiVo's. Some people had success in curing problems by replacing their power supplies.

If you don't use TivoWeb often, it is better to disable it and start it as-needed. Reloading TivoWeb frequently (i.e. in a cron job) seems to increase the time until lock-up. This shows that TivoWeb is at least partially responsible for this problem.

From comments made on the Australian mailinglist it feels like the minority running the ozTiVo-image have uptimes of over a month and the majority have uptimes of 2 to 4 weeks. Which is liveable. Even a series-2 TiVo with minimal hacks installed, only averages about a month between reboots. Some people reboot their TiVo's each night in a cron-job to reduce the chance of a 'hanging' TiVo.

[petestrash]

I'm sure at least the last paragraph is something I wrote.

Either way I don't think most of that is relevent anymore. Current TWP releases put much less strain on the TiVo. And from recent tests uptimes do not seem to vary much between a TiVo running TWP or not.

If you want to try for yourself, I think it is started from rc.sysinit.author in the NZ image.

Peter.

[tonys]

I had the freezing remote issue ages ago, it quietly went away. However, since reimaging to the latest NZ image, it seems to be happening a lot lately, doesn't seem to be neccessarily related to excessive IR usage either. Strangely, my sons Tivo is also running the NZ image and never has a problem!

[sdan]

Hi - I too am having remote not working every few days after upgrading to latest NZ image. I have never had it hang in 3 years using my old image.
Is there a process I can restart via telnet rather than having to reboot?
I have researched extensively and there doesn't seem to be an easy solution to the problem - mine is definitely not caused by other IR and it seems to happen when not particularly overloading the Tivo with with keypresses.
I would also appreciate the command to stop and start Tivoweb via telnet.
Regards
Brian

[petestrash]

There is no process you can manually restart if it was caused by the event bug, Reboot only.

If you are using the latest NZ image, then you should be running TWP not TW.

To stop TWP enter:
/var/hack/TivoWebPlus/tivoweb stop

To start TWP enter:
/var/hack/TivoWebPlus/tivoweb


Peter

[sdan]

Many thanks
Brian

[tonys]

Brian,
Did the above commands work to start and stop TWP for you? and more importantly, did turning TWP off solve the remote freezing problem?

[tonys]

Well, it's a good few weeks since I turned off TWP and no freezes since, couple of long ominous oauses, which ordinarily would have led to a hang, so it would appear that TWP uses a bit to much resource? Would a cache card help?

[petestrash]

No, the cachecard only caches the mfs it does not effect programs running in regular memory.

Also a Cachecard loaded with 512mb of ram puts a large strain on the PSU, possibly causing extra problems if your supply is still an original.

Peter.

[Skolink]

In the past I've tried turning off TWP, but I tried again anyway. The TiVo still locked up after about a week. I've tried disabling TWP on a friend's TiVo also but it still locks up every now and again. Something else must have changed since NZ image v1.4

[tonys]

Well mine is definitely caused by TWP, after the storm/powercuts last week, our Tivo had obviously rebooted itself, which turns TWP back on, it hung again on Saturday, switched TWP off again, fine since.

[petestrash]

I've tried disabling TWP on a friend's TiVo also but it still locks up every now and again. Something else must have changed since NZ image v1.4

This is a familiar thought after each image since OzTiVo 1.2 was released. However people who changed back found they now had the same amount of lockups.

Personally I think part of the problem may be age of hardware related. I replaced all the Electrolytic caps on the PSU of one TiVo and it seems more stable.

It still has issues, but less than before.

There have been no extra changes to TiVoapp since r1.2, so the only changes though the last few revisions have been to palmod and other hacks which are loaded.

All of these add an extra load to the processor and memory.

You could stop all the extra processes like Telnet, mfs_ftp, cron, twp, autospace, emuprozyza, trickey, endpad, etc and You will find your TiVo more stable but less functional.

Peter.