[linux-dvb] Re: Problems w/ VDR recording

[Georg Acher <acher@in.tum.de>]

On Wed, Sep 12, 2001 at 04:34:13PM +0200, Deti Fliegl wrote: 
> The system itself is very stable. It could work for days and weeks if the DVB 
> drivers are not loaded.
> 
> Deti
> 
> PS: Maybe Georg will write his DVB/VDR Story.

I have now a new system for three days, but haven't used vdr much, so I can
tell only the problems with the old system:

CPU: IDT Winchip2 240MHz
Board: Asus P5TPXE (FX-Chipset)
RAM: 48MB, Swap 128M
VGA: ISA, only console used
Kernel: various 2.4.* (last was 2.4.4) with reiserfs and xfs.

The system ran stable for more than 2 years before, no heat or RAM problems.

The old drivers/vdr (older than 4-5 months) had sometimes problems (ARM
reset etc), but (except one hang due to a never ending loop in some filter
code) nothing that couldn't be solved by reloading the modules.

But then (I can't recall at which driver/vdr change it started), some
processes died (sendmail) or became "silent" (smbd). It happened only when
vdr was running (though not used), and happened typically after a few days
after starting vdr. Without vdr, the system had no problems. Since this
error was very unspecific (I first thought of a problem in smbd, but using
newer versions didn't help), I simply restarted the services every day. The
kernel logs showed no oops or (for smbd) any hint what was going on. I also
changed the RAM modules, no improvement.

Additionally, a second, much more serious error occured when accessing the
soundcard. For MP3-Playback, the system uses a SB128PCI (es1371) with a
patched mpg123 to use crossfading with the two available /dev/dsp*, ie. a
second mpg123 starts before the end of the currently playing. Rarely (every
other day or so), but definitely correlated with the "standby" vdr, the
system crashed hard when opening the second /dev/dsp. It _never_ happened
when only one device was used. There was no oops, no alt-sysreq, just a
raw hang.

Since I experienced none of these problems when I started with the DVB-stuff
(dvb-0.6/dvb-0.7), it seems to be a SW problem in the newer drivers.

However (maybe it's a mixed HW-SW-problem) I have replaced the CPU and the
mainboard (now Duron 900). I'm now looking for similar effects...

-- 
         Georg Acher, acher@in.tum.de         
         http://www.in.tum.de/~acher/
          "Oh no, not again !" The bowl of petunias          


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