'Failed while loading series.' Error on Setup Call

[Dave Hatt]

I'm have been trying to reinstall a UK Tivo after it had a HDD problem.

Now I cannot get past the Setup Call screen. I get the following error message at the importing step :

'Failed while loading series.'

I have tried many times and always get this error. Note that the importing does count up, and usually to around 90% and fails, but this varies.

Does anyone have any ideas about what I should look at. Is there a problem with the HDD? :confused:

Thanks

[petestrash]

Post your tclient.log file here

Peter

[Dave Hatt]

Since creating this thread, I've tried many things but still no success.

First, I tried installing the latest Phillips Oztivo image to the UK TiVo, and whilst this worked well and I was able to complete calls and download data, I couldn't get it into RGB mode. I had to give up on this option as my Digital TV box would not output s-video (and I really wanted Scart RGB anyway).

Now I have tried again, and in the process I've even replaced the harddrive. However I am still getting failures in the first Setup Call screen during the data load process (i.e. after the call completes).

Strangely enough, I have used the exact same procedures several times to get my TiVo working previously, however this time no-go. I am starting to suspect that the size of the Hard Drive (300Gb) might be something to do with it.

I am using a UK Tivo (PVR10UK, with Seagate 300Gb HDD, Cachecard (now using latest drivers) 2.5.5 oztivo image and the following command to restore the image:

mfsrestore -s511 -r4 -xzpi /mnt/c/pvr10uk.255.oztivo_emulator.release1.3beta /dev/hdc

I am attaching a zip file with the log files from the /var/log directory (but I cannot find any tclinet.log file?) I've had a look at the logs, and whilst I can see a quite a few things reported, I can't trace anything back to any actions I should take.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Dave Hatt]

Ok, I've tried a full reinstall, but still the same problem. Here is what I am doing:

1. Deleted all partitions using pdisk
2. Booted from Oztivo image CD.
3. Restored UK image using command:
mfsrestore -s511 -r4 -xzpi /mnt/c/pvr10uk.255.oztivo_emulator.release1.3beta /dev/hdc
4. Put drive in TiVo temporarily to format HDC9
5. Added latest cachecard drivers (have cachecard, but no RAM chip, not that I think this is the problem)
6. Put drive back into TiVo, set up swap drive:
mkswap -v1 /dev/hda8
swapon -a
7. Go through guided setup, configure network settings ,#401 etc
8. Try first call home. Downloads data, indexes and fails after it reaches 100%. Tried a few more times, but no different.

Here are the latest logs.

[petestrash]

There used to be some issues with using the native cachecard installer as buggers up portions of the Oztivo files.

Have you tried without updating the drivers?

Peter.

[Dave Hatt]

I was wondering about that, and I can't rule it out. I have tried two versions of the drivers, including a version that I have used twice before with success on UK Tivos. The problem is there are no cachecard drivers on the UK Oztivo image natively and I don't know how to make the first call home without having the cachecard working. Is there something I should look for here?

Another thought I am considering is that the failure is something to do with free memory when indexing the mfs database. It seems to load 100% of the data and then fail. I wonder if my swap partition is not working correctly (e.g. not formatted properly) or if not having RAM in the cachecard is causing some sort of memory problem at this step.

[Darren King]

or if not having RAM in the cachecard is causing some sort of memory problem at this step.

The RAM in the cachecard is only used for the "now playing" recorded programs list. Nothing more. Cachecards work without any RAM just as a network card without any issues.

[petestrash]

As Darren has said having no ram is not an issue, but also means there is no benefit using a cachecard.

I was unaware that their were no cachecard drivers at all on the UK image. Currently no one is looking after that image and it has not been updated for a long time.

Are you in a position to setup the TiVo to use PPPonDSS for guided setup, and then we can try and install the cachecard drivers manually once the TiVo is running normally.

Peter.

[Dave Hatt]

I believe I can try PPPonDSS for guided setup as my ISP is one of the supported ones (Optusnet) and I know my way around the bash prompt enough.

There are a few other things I might try too, including lifting a Turbonet card out of one of my other TiVos.

Will report the results back in a couple of days when I get a chance to try things.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the suggestions.

[petestrash]

Dave,

I think you are getting PPPonDSS confused with using the internal modem.

PPPonDSS uses your existing ADSL/Cable connection, via a PC.

See here (http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/view/Network/NetworkingHowto).

Peter

[Dave Hatt]

Hi Peter,

Yes, sorry I did get confused. I was looking at both those threads. I concluded that it might be easier to get the internal modem working for a test.

I guess either way, so long as I can prove/rule out that its the cachecard drivers causing some sort of problem with the indexing on the first call home. This is why I thought of trying the Turbonet card as well.

In any case, work is going to get in the way of me trying this until tomorrow, but I will be certain to follow up and report back here.

Cheers,
Dave

[Darren King]

I concluded that it might be easier to get the internal modem working for a test.

Unless you have access to a dialup ISP that the TiVo likes talking to (harder than it sounds) the best option would be to try the Turbonet option first.

[Dave Hatt]

Ok, the plot thickens! I have now tried the Turbonet card and it has made no difference to the problem (i.e. on the first call home it loads data up to 100% then stops with the message 'Failed while loading series').

With the recent testing I recreated the image totally: booted from Oztivo disk, restored the "pvr10uk.255.oztivo_emulator.release1.3beta" image, installed the turbonet drivers, and then put the drive straight into the TiVo.

I did not boot off any SiliconDust boot images, so we can rule this out as the source of the problem.

I have also tried other ideas such as manually creating the swap partition (in case the swap partition is causing lack of temp space) and updating the time on the TiVo in case a warped clock was somehow causing the problem.

The only thing I can think of is that somehow the file on minnie for the first call home has changed somehow, and this is now no longer compatable with UK TiVos. (This would only show up when someone was re-doing their setup, I guess.) I have built UK Tivo's 4 times previously (12 to 18 months ago) and did not had this problem once.

Is there any way to verify this? Or does anyone have any ideas on what to try next?

Thanks,
Dave

[Dave Hatt]

A bit of an update on my ongoing issue...

After trying many things to get this UK TiVo working I thought I would try to clone another UK TiVo that is still working fine (i.e. doing daily calls with no "Failed to load series" messages happening).

Well the cloning part worked just fine and I was able to change the IP address, get it to record, make test calls and even get it to do a daily call. However to my dismay I am still seeing the "Failed to load series" message. This time it is at the end of the daily calls data load process (it gets up to 98%+ in the indexing before the message comes up). It has been operating this way for 3 days now with no improvement. That said, I can see that *some* guide data is getting loaded, so not all is lost here!

So to summarise, so far I have tried 2 different Network Cards, 3 different HDDs in the TiVo, and even 2 different Hubs. This TiVo is now connected to the same hub and network connection that is working just fine for the other UK TiVo that it was cloned from, but still I can't solve this problem!

I guess it could be corruption in the MFS database, but I find it unlikely because the source machine is having no problems. I will keep pondering and trying things, but if anyone has any ideas, no matter how wild, I would appreciate them!

[petestrash]

Just confirming that you changed the MAC address of the network card when you cloned.

Peter.

[Dave Hatt]

Hi Pete,

Yes, I did remember to change the MAC address when I changed the IP address (I'm using fixed addresses). Both TiVos can be seen properly on my network, I can access TiVoWeb on both and use TyTools on both.

But I appreciate the thought!

[Darren King]

I will keep pondering and trying things, but if anyone has any ideas, no matter how wild, I would appreciate them!

Well I guess the only thing you haven't mentioned doing is putting the hard disk as it now stands (ie don't touch any settings) into the "good" TiVo and verifying that the error vanishes.

[Dave Hatt]

Good point! It's probably going to be a job for the weekend, but I like the idea, thanks! At least this could help narrow things down. :cool:

Another thing I believe I forgot to mention is that this TiVo was working fine for ages, and then suddenly started having errors one day. I took it out of service, and can't remember the exact errors, but now that I think about it they could have been the same "failed to load series" errors that I am getting now on daily calls. I can't think of any condition that would suddenly cause this sort of problem, especially hardware ones.

[Dave Hatt]

Ok, I have to confess that the weekend got away from me and I didn't get a chance to try the suggestion of swapping the TiVo HDD out to a functioning TiVo to see whether its the hardware or the disk image that could be causing the problem. However I still aim to do this because I'm still very interested in trying this out to see what happens.

That said, I've tried a few other things after reading a few other threads (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/archive/index.php/t-319700.html) about what to do to fix the problem. Some threads suggested that a "Reset Thumb Ratings & Suggestions" would fix the problem. Others said "Clear Programme Data & To Do List". I performed both of these commands on the TiVo but they made no difference to my "Failed to Load Series" problem.

One more thing to note, is that I am actually getting guide data, despite the error! I guess this reflects that something is going wrong at the end of the indexing stage. This makes sense as it seems to get to 100% indexing consistently now and then fail a short while after that. So whatever it is performing at the end of the process is failing, but I can't figure out what. Even Season Passes seem to be working fine, so that's not it.

So, even with the error, it seems that the TiVo is functioning mostly normally. Wierd!

[MattCallow]

This is the same problem I am getting trying to use the UK image in your Otverr log you have:

Sep 22 18:02:14 (none) Database[150]: Duplicate index: /Genre/120
Sep 22 18:02:14 (none) last message repeated 4 times
Sep 22 18:02:14 (none) DbLoad[150]: err 0x00030012 loading group item
Sep 22 18:02:14 (none) DbLoad[150]: Error in DbLoader::Process -- 0x00030012

I've posted a message about this on the mailing list. Warren tells me it's because the tivo is trying to load the US Genre slice, which conflicts with the genres already in the UK image

[Dave Hatt]

Thanks Matt, I've spent weeks trying to figure this out!

It does sound like it is exactly what is happening, and matches the symptoms.

Do you think there is a way to delete the offending Genre(s) from the TiVo? (And I wonder why my other UK TiVos are not having the problem?)

[MattCallow]

I did consider deleting the Genres, but it looks too difficult (I don't know enough about the MFS structure and the tivosh functions to do it ). It's also not the the answer - I asked on the mailing list and Warren Toomey has changed the Emulator to send my Tivo UK headends instead of the US headends. (Thanks again Warren)
Now my guided setup completes (I now have other issues with the channels i can get, but that's another story!)

[Dave Hatt]

Sounds like I need to beg/bribe Warren to do the same for my UK TiVos! :D

Is there a link to the mailing list exchange on this, or do I need to email Warren?

And for that matter, do you have a similar link to your channel issues -- maybe I can help out a bit there (I have begun to tinker here too because this is also my next issue!)

[MattCallow]

http://minnie.tuhs.org/pipermail/oztivo/2007-October/032172.html