MythBackend with WinTV-QuadHD fails to get frontend status

[tike64]

Dear All,

I bought Hauppauge WinTV-QuadHD quad DVB-T2 tuner card. It works basically fine but MythBackend reports tons of failures in syslog:

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Feb 24 09:55:29 talitiainen mythbackend: message repeated 2 times: [ mythbackend[1023]: E SignalMonitor recorders/dvbchannel.cpp:1023 (HasLock) DVBChan[3](/dev/dvb/adapter1/frontend0): Getting Frontend status failed.#012#011#011#011eno: Remote I/O error (121)]

DVBChan and adapter numbers varies.

These are coming with 1-10 minute interval.

I had an incident a couple of days earlier. The card runs a little hot and then my closet also got a little warm. The server crashed and the log had a lot of these from a few hours earlier:

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Feb 21 21:44:54 talitiainen kernel: [15854.450048] si2157 7-0060: found a 'Silicon Labs Si2157-A30'
Feb 21 21:44:54 talitiainen kernel: [15854.479993] si2157 7-0060: firmware version: 3.0.5
Feb 21 21:44:54 talitiainen kernel: [15854.514027] si2157 7-0060: found a 'Silicon Labs Si2157-A30'
Feb 21 21:44:54 talitiainen kernel: [15854.545030] si2157 7-0060: firmware version: 3.0.5
Feb 21 21:44:54 talitiainen kernel: [15854.561514] si2168 6-0066: downloading firmware from file 'dvb-demod-si2168-b40-01.fw'
Feb 21 21:44:55 talitiainen kernel: [15855.173668] si2168 6-0066: firmware version: B 4.0.11
Feb 21 21:44:55 talitiainen kernel: [15855.190031] si2157 7-0062: found a 'Silicon Labs Si2157-A30'
Feb 21 21:44:55 talitiainen kernel: [15855.243324] si2157 7-0062: firmware version: 3.0.5

Then I put a little fan over the heat sink of the card and stress tested it. I recorded 12 programs, 3 from each tuner, for a couple of hours without an incident, other that the 'Getting Frontend status failed' reports.

Why are those reports coming? Are they something to worry about?

Ubuntu 16.04.4
uname -a: Linux talitiainen 4.4.0-112201802110420-generic #0+mediatree+hauppauge-Ubuntu SMP Sun Feb 11 19:52:05 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4000+
ASUS M2A VM/V

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Timo

[MikeB2013]

The "23 (HasLock) DVBChan[3](/dev/dvb/adapter1/frontend0): Getting Frontend status failed.#012#011#011#011eno: Remote I/O error (121)]" reports from mythbackend are due to "No support in cx23885 for legacy v3 status ioctls" whilst annoying these reports are of no concern. The legacy V3 status ioctls are really obsolete (deprecated), but as you have found mythbackend is still using them as many tuner device drivers still use them.

For details see https://github.com/b-rad-NDi/Ubuntu-med ... /issues/16

This is actively being worked on (I have tested a fix) and the fix should appear in new builds in a few days. If your system is setup to automatically update when new software is available via Software Updater the updated build will be installed automatically, otherwise you can use, in a terminal session :

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sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

followed by a reboot (needed when a new kernel has been installed)

The other messages are also normal, again of no concern.
You don't mention which version of mythtv you have, if it is fixes/29 or later and the Capture Cards were setup using the default for "Open DVB card on demand", you can unselect this option which will reduce the number of such messages - due to the card now being open all the time, instead of being opened on demand.

Mike

[tike64]

Mike,

Thanks a lot for exhaustive answer.

My MythTV is fixes/0.28, standard on Ubuntu 16.04. I'm thinking to wait for Ubuntu 18.04 release and its MythTV 29 version.

--

Timo

[MikeB2013]

You can upgrade to MythTV 29 now, by doing in a terminal session:

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sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mythbuntu/0.29
sudo apt update
sudo apt dist-upgrade

After this I recommend a reboot to ensure a clean start.

The ppa:mythbuntu repository is provided by the mythtv team, so you will always be up to date (Ubuntu repositories are almost always out of date with respect to mythtv).

Ubuntu 18.04

As you are using a hauppauge linux kernel, you might have to wait a while after Ubuntu 18.04 is released, as it takes time and effort for hauppauge to build and test a new kernel before releasing it to their PPA. Hauppauge are trying to get all their changes into the V4L (Video 4 Linux) subsystem (so they eventually get into a linux kernel), but this takes time and certainly will not make it into Ubuntu 18.04 as it intends use the 4.15 series linux kernel.

Based on past my past experience, In-place upgrade of the operating system from one Ubuntu LTS version to another, may or may not work. Great if it does, but can be tricky to sort out if it does not. I recommend taking several backups of mythtv database and putting them some where safe (e.g. external hard drive, usb stick) and installing Ubuntu 18.04 from scratch, install mythtv then restore the mythtv database from backup.

In any event there is no hurry Ubuntu 16.04 will be supported for some time to come - April 2021.

Mike