intermittent display problems

[jack spit]

so i've got a directv tivo with 6.2 software, networked, and with two 160gb drives. it's been running fine for maybe a year like this.

anyway, just recently the picture has started dropping out on me while watch live tv. it'll be fine for like half a second, then go black for maybe half a second, over and over and over. i'll also get notifications to insert a valid access card (my access card is legit). those notifications only show up occasionally and go away almost imediately.

it gets weirder. if i look at shows that recorded during the time my live tv is messed up, they seem to be fine. i'm still doing some investigating, but it seems the trend is that watching tv while recording will mess up the recorded shows. if i try to record live tv manually, i'm told that my dvr service is not activated (which it is).

the troubleshooting page from the tivo menus indicates strong(ish) satellite signals and that my access card is fine.

i'm still investigating the problem, but it all seems to be related to watching live tv.

i tried searching for the symptoms, but i didn't find anything here.

any thoughts?

oh, and rebooting didn't solve anything.

[jack spit]

checking my tvlog file, i have this stuff going on when i have the live tv on:


Nov 13 22:06:15 (none) Scheduler[3471]: Processing PS [<?>]3:177398
Nov 13 22:06:17 (none) ApgCamInterfaceBase[226]: FindServerObject: scanner found nothing at A00000000, err = 0x0
Nov 13 22:06:17 (none) ApgExprEvaluator[226]: DoEvaluate() returned err = errDbNotFound, setting result to zero
Nov 13 22:06:17 (none) OutputState[239]: BlackSink: fBlackVideo=1 fMuteAudio=1 Reason=7
Nov 13 22:06:18 (none) cam[201]: Received SetCamConfig 0x0801, css = 0x11
Nov 13 22:06:19 (none) OutputState[239]: BlackSink: fBlackVideo=0 fMuteAudio=0 Reason=7
Nov 13 22:06:20 (none) OutputState[239]: BlackSink: fBlackVideo=1 fMuteAudio=1 Reason=7
Nov 13 22:06:20 (none) cam[201]: Received SetCamConfig 0x0801, css = 0x11
Nov 13 22:06:20 (none) OutputState[239]: BlackSink: fBlackVideo=0 fMuteAudio=0 Reason=7
Nov 13 22:06:23 (none) OutputState[239]: BlackSink: fBlackVideo=1 fMuteAudio=1 Reason=7
Nov 13 22:06:23 (none) cam[201]: Received SetCamConfig 0x0801, css = 0x11
Nov 13 22:06:23 (none) OutputState[239]: BlackSink: fBlackVideo=0 fMuteAudio=0 Reason=7
Nov 13 22:06:24 (none) OutputState[239]: BlackSink: fBlackVideo=1 fMuteAudio=1 Reason=7
Nov 13 22:06:26 (none) cam[201]: Received SetCamConfig 0x0801, css = 0x11
Nov 13 22:06:26 (none) OutputState[239]: BlackSink: fBlackVideo=0 fMuteAudio=0 Reason=7
Nov 13 22:06:26 (none) OutputState[239]: BlackSink: fBlackVideo=1 fMuteAudio=1 Reason=7
Nov 13 22:06:27 (none) OutputState[239]: BlackSink: fBlackVideo=0 fMuteAudio=0 Reason=7
Nov 13 22:06:27 (none) OutputState[239]: BlackSink: fBlackVideo=1 fMuteAudio=1 Reason=7
Nov 13 22:06:28 (none) cam[201]: Received SetCamConfig 0x0801, css = 0x11
Nov 13 22:06:28 (none) OutputState[239]: BlackSink: fBlackVideo=0 fMuteAudio=0 Reason=7
Nov 13 22:06:29 (none) source[234]: Detecting a discontinuity in the stream. Recovering : 0
Nov 13 22:06:30 (none) ContextMgr[192]: WATCHTV::LOCK (mode LIVETV)
Nov 13 22:06:30 (none) last message repeated 2 times
Nov 13 22:06:30 (none) OutputState[239]: BlackSink: fBlackVideo=1 fMuteAudio=1 Reason=7
Nov 13 22:06:30 (none) cam[201]: Received SetCamConfig 0x0801, css = 0x11
Nov 13 22:06:30 (none) ContextMgr[192]: WATCHTV::LOCK (mode LIVETV)
Nov 13 22:06:30 (none) last message repeated 2 times
Nov 13 22:06:30 (none) OutputState[239]: BlackSink: fBlackVideo=0 fMuteAudio=0 Reason=7


the investigation continues...

[jack spit]

kernel log:


Nov 13 22:29:58 (none) kernel: /tvbin/dssappAV: ### WARNING: CamIoSequence: Failed to read procedure byte: (timeout)
Nov 13 22:29:58 (none) kernel: /tvbin/dssappAV: ### WARNING: LL_GetUartStatus: UART status is not clean: 02
Nov 13 22:29:58 (none) last message repeated 2 times
Nov 13 22:30:07 (none) kernel: /tvbin/dssappAV: ### WARNING: CamIoSequence: Failed to read procedure byte: (timeout)
Nov 13 22:30:07 (none) kernel: /tvbin/dssappAV: ### WARNING: LL_GetUartStatus: UART status is not clean: 02
Nov 13 22:30:08 (none) last message repeated 3 times
Nov 13 22:30:08 (none) kernel: !!!!WARNING: Needed 2 tries to set video STC to 0x04dac98a
Nov 13 22:30:08 (none) kernel: Before = 0x04db1bd8, After = 0x04db1c06
Nov 13 22:30:08 (none) kernel:
Nov 13 22:30:12 (none) kernel: /tvbin/dssappAV: ### WARNING: CamIoSequence: Failed to read procedure byte: (timeout)
Nov 13 22:30:12 (none) kernel: /tvbin/dssappAV: ### WARNING: LL_GetUartStatus: UART status is not clean: 02
Nov 13 22:30:12 (none) kernel: /tvbin/dssappAV: ### WARNING: LL_GetUartStatus: UART status is not clean: 02
Nov 13 22:30:14 (none) kernel: /tvbin/dssappAV: ### WARNING: CamIoSequence: Failed to read procedure byte: (timeout)
Nov 13 22:30:14 (none) kernel: /tvbin/dssappAV: ### WARNING: LL_GetUartStatus: UART status is not clean: 02
Nov 13 22:30:14 (none) last message repeated 2 times
Nov 13 22:30:18 (none) kernel: /tvbin/dssappAV: ### WARNING: CamIoSequence: Failed to read procedure byte: (timeout)
Nov 13 22:30:18 (none) kernel: /tvbin/dssappAV: ### WARNING: LL_GetUartStatus: UART status is not clean: 02
Nov 13 22:30:18 (none) last message repeated 2 times
Nov 13 22:30:20 (none) kernel: /tvbin/dssappAV: ### WARNING: CamIoSequence: Failed to read procedure byte: (timeout)
Nov 13 22:30:20 (none) kernel: /tvbin/dssappAV: ### WARNING: LL_GetUartStatus: UART status is not clean: 02

[jack spit]

turns out to have been a cable issue. go figure.

got word that water can cause this problem, so i tried to figure out which cable might have the problem. unhooked sat 2, no change. unhooked sat 1, and reconnected sat 2. problem persisted. plugged the old sat 1 into sat 2, problem went away. plugged in the old sat 2 into sat 1, everything still okay.

no idea why this fixed anything, but it did. odd.