Now playing list blank [6.2]

[whisla14]

Hey all. I have a hacked DirectTivo running version 6.2 software. A problem appeared with my now playing list which is kind of hard to explain. Imagine a normal now playing list but instead put 100 + blank items below the last item in the list and selecting the very last blank item. If I push and hold channel up (which is page up) for a while eventually I'll reach the top and my recordings show up like normal. Weird huh? After I restart the Tivo and go to the now playing list for the first time, my recordings show up like normal, but as soon as I go back to DirecTV Central then back to the now playing list the problem happens again. It also seems that if I don't touch the Tivo for longer than 10 minutes or so the now playing list behaves how described when I restart the Tivo.

I'm not sure exactly when the problem arose. I had run the 6.2 superpatch which at first glance appeared to work correctly. Shortly after I realized my hda4 was 90% full, so I hit the threads trying to find a solution for that. I read a post which mentioned to run a utility "e2cck" (its something like that). After I ran that utility my hda4 was only 30% full so it fixed the problem. Then the now playing list problem started. Now I"m not sure if the problem arose after running the superpatch or after running that utility. I would try reverting to my backed up tivoapp to see if the superpatch was the problem, but I stupidly deleted the backup. I've also tried commenting out all my hacks from executing except for tnlited and tivoftpd and restarting, no success.

Anyone else having a problem like this? I've tried searching the forums but was unable to find anything.

Any suggestions would be awesome. Thanks.

- Andrew

[thornd7]

This issue has already been covered in several threads..

In short, Fix your DNS entries..

Tivo is looking for other other tivos with MRV before it generates "now showing".. but if DNS is wrong or blocked, then it waits for DNS resolves to fail before it builds "now showing"..

Search for "DNS blank now showing"..

Or start here:
http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?p=222358&highlight=DNS+blank+showing#post222358

[whisla14]

Hey thanks for responding. I figured this problem had been convered, and I did try searching the forums. I way I was phrasing the search didn't give me any results.

I try to use posting as a very last resort, but thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

- Andrew

[RavenStL]

If I search for your subject, I get a lot of response. (no 6.2 in it though)

You need to learn or build on your "googling" skills.

If I mis-spell a word, its amazing how many MORE hits you get cause thats what the guy with the info did. So learn to start small and add more words to limit the results.

[OrionsHunter]

I had this same problem. My DNS is fine since when the TiVo is connected to my router, the Now Playing List is fine. However, since my TiVo is not always connected to the router, I was having this issue too when the TiVo was not connected to it.

The only thing that has resolved the problem for me is to unplug the USB adapter from the unit until it is connected to my router.

Orion

[DocTauri]

So let me see if I understand this correctly... If your DNS is wrong, then the Tivo's Now Playing list will come up blank (then populate after DNS times out)? As an example, a friend who's ISP is currently down will be experiencing this issue as his [default] resolv.conf points to his Linksys Router at 192.168.1.1?

Thanks,

[turpint]

I saw the same issues with the Now Playing going blank for a period of time when switching inside a folder or going back and forth to Live TV. This seems to be related to DNS issues. My system is using a wired network connection. Initial setup with ifconfig statements in .author file, switched to DHCP expecting it to clear the issue, but to no avail. I finally found the following

http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43383

The solution seems to be setting up the IP and it's configuration via a netconfig.tcl script that has been posted. This script then places the IP configuration inside the MFS. I set my default DNS to the router I have on my network. With that done, I can ping out to internet. YMMV. I have blocked access to the mothership via the .author file to prevent the dreaded 180 MRV Key downloads.

Again, YMMV. :cool:

EDIT: For the netconfig.tcl script go to

http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43375

[DocTauri]

Thanks for the info, but I guess what I'm asking for is a technical description of cause of the problem? As it's been explained before, the problem is related to an unreachable DNS server. I'm wondering, if this is the case, what is it that the box is attempting to resolve, and why not just create an entry in /etc/hosts?

Thanks,

[Jamie]

Thanks for the info, but I guess what I'm asking for is a technical description of cause of the problem? As it's been explained before, the problem is related to an unreachable DNS server. I'm wondering, if this is the case, what is it that the box is attempting to resolve, and why not just create an entry in /etc/hosts?I'm not sure anyone investigated it further once they found a work around. Suggestion: reproduce the problem, and use a packet sniffer such as ethereal or tcpdump to examine the network traffic. Reporting your findings.

[DocTauri]

That's what I was planning on doing, just wanted to make sure I understood the problem (as it's never happened to me, but apparently is happening to a friend who's network is currently down [thus I can't log in and monitor his machines]).

Thanks,
Doc

[DocTauri]

Ok, first off, when you click the List button to bring up the Now Playing list, the first thing the Tivo appears to do is a dns lookup of it's own serialnumber.localhost. From what I can tell, this is it's quick and dirty way to determine if the network is available. It doesn't seem to care that it gets an nxdomain response, just that it got a response. After that times out, it seems to partially draw the list (but didn't draw my other Tivii for another min. or so).

What I did to simulate the error was to disable the dhclient app and change /etc/resolv.conf, which didn't help (it reset at boot). What DID work was use netconfig.tcl to change the DNS server setting in MFS to a false address (which means that /etc/resolv.conf is created each boot from the entries in MFS). After reboot, I started getting the Now Playing hangs.

As supposed above, if you create an entry in /etc/hosts for 127.0.0.1 of your serialnumber .localhost, the hang seems to stop. I wrote a little script that sits in my /init directory (as 001_checkhostentry.init) that looks like this:

if [ -z "`grep $SerialNumber /etc/hosts`" ]; then
mount -o remount,rw /
echo "127.0.0.1 $SerialNumber.localdomain $SerialNumber" >> /etc/hosts
mount -o remount,ro /
fi


(Of course, if we moved /etc/hosts to /var and symlinked it back, we wouldn't need to remount root twice.)

Add it to your /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.author or /test.conf, as /etc/hosts appears to get rewritten at each boot as well. I'd appreciate if someone who is currently experiencing the issue give this a try, it seemed to resolve my simulated problem.

Note: Disregard previous note, it works ;)
Thanks...

[Smee]

Note: Disregard previous note, it works ;)
Thanks...

I'de say amen to that. I started having that issue on my 4.01b SD-DVR40 box this week out of the blue. This also seems to have sped up the drawing up of the Now Showing menu by quite a lot. Kinda weird that this would make such a difference.

Smee

[cyklfreak]

that code works when adding to the rc.sysinit.author file!


worked for 2 days to fix then found it, could i recommend that person who authored the fix trying to get a notation put in collected info tips thread?

just a thought!!

[dxh]

I am pretty sure I fixed mine by putting an entry into /etc/hosts on my tivo for his own IP.

Here is my /etc/hosts on the tivo now:

bash-2.02# cat /etc/hosts
# Copyright (c) 2001 TiVo Inc.
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
192.168.0.6 tivo2
192.168.0.11 pc1
192.168.0.1 router
192.168.0.2 server


Just put everything into the /etc/hosts file that the tivo needs and it won't need to consult DNS for anything as long as the /etc/nsswitch.conf file has "file dns" listed for the hosts: entry line.

[DocTauri]

I don't think this is the case. Try restarting your Tivo and see if those settings are retained.

Thanks,
Doc