Timer ZAP hangs box

[pmatil]

So this is a week old flash of 5.1.020. This doesn't happen very often (this is the 2nd time) as I usually have enough tuners but last night it ran out of tuners when starting timer recordings and didn't respond to the remote and the spinner appeared.

I have total of 4 tuners (all internal) DVB-C only. I had all the tuners used up (3 for recordings and 1 for current live feed). Another timer recording started and got a brief message on screen about not enough tuners. Then the spinner appeared, live feed and sound continued to run but... Had to power off the box. After reboot all the recordings resumed but there was a zero-size recording in addition to the growing one.

I have a debug log snippet. If you need any other files or more of the log, please let me know. The log is quite big since I've had it on for some time now.

<813055.493> [eEPGCache] nownext finished(1522090938)
<813055.493> [eEPGCache] stop caching events(1522090938)
<813055.494> [eEPGCache] next update in 60 min
<813065.484> [eDVBServiceRecord] pcr of eit change for event 28306: 115ea24ba
<813065.484> [eDVBServiceRecord] now running: Kuppilat kuntoon, Jyrki Sukula! (3600 seconds)
<813065.484> [eDVBDemux] open demux /dev/dvb/adapter0/demux1
<813065.484> [eDVBSectionReader] DMX_SET_FILTER pid=18
<813098.265> [eDVBServicePlay] timeshift
<813098.266> [eDVBServicePlay] timeshift
<813127.604> [eDVBServiceRecord] pcr of eit change for event 26097: 122057a5d
<813127.604> [eDVBServiceRecord] now running: The Walking Dead (16) (3600 seconds)
<813127.604> [eDVBDemux] open demux /dev/dvb/adapter0/demux0
<813127.605> [eDVBSectionReader] DMX_SET_FILTER pid=18
<813127.607> [eDVBServiceRecord] pcr of eit change for event 26097: 122058165
<813127.607> [eDVBServiceRecord] now running: The Walking Dead (16) (3600 seconds)
<813127.607> [eDVBDemux] open demux /dev/dvb/adapter0/demux0
<813127.607> [eDVBSectionReader] DMX_SET_FILTER pid=18
<813136.658> [RecordTimer] activating state 1
<813136.660> [RecordTimer] Found enough free space to record
<813136.662> [RecordTimer] Filename calculated as: '/media/hdd/movie/20180326 2204 - Nelonen HD - Elokuva_ Beck_ Sairaalamurhat (12)'
<813136.662> [Navigation] recording service: 1:0:19:3331:1F:0:FFFF0000:0:0:0:
<813136.663> [eDVBResourceManager] allocate channel.. 001f:0000
<813136.663> [eDVBResourceManager] available channel.. 0002:0000
<813136.663> [eDVBResourceManager] available channel.. 001a:0000
<813136.663> [eDVBResourceManager] available channel.. 0019:0000
<813136.663> [eDVBResourceManager] available channel.. 0011:0000
<813136.663> [eDVBServicePMTHandler] allocate Channel: res -6
<813136.663> [eDVBServiceRecord] RECORD service event 0
<813136.664> [RecordTimer] 'prepare' failed: error -6
<813136.664> [RecordTimer] backoff: retry in 5 seconds
<813136.664> [eDVBServiceRecord] stop recording!
<813136.664> [eDVBServiceRecord] (was not recording)
<813136.665> [Trashcan] Recording(s) in progress: 4
<813136.667> [RecordTimer] prepare failed
<813136.667> [eDVBServicePlay] timeshift
<813136.668> [RecordTimer] zap without asking
<813136.684> [Skin] processing screen MessageBoxSimple:
<813136.721> [Skin] processing screen MessageBoxSimple_summary:
<813136.728> [RecordTimer] ok, zapped away
<813139.323> [gRC] main thread is non-idle! display spinner!

So it did try to zap, but something went wrong. I found a similar thread here: http://www.world-of-satellite.com/sh...without+asking but didn't really see a solution or cause. In my case I only use 1 favourite list, no additional bouquets etc. and no auto-timers.

[birdman]

According to that log the "final" recording didn't start as it ran out of tuners, so it didn't kick you off from viewing.
What setting do you have in
Menu -> Setup -> Recordings, playback & timeshift -> Recording & playback
for "Recordings always have priority"?

[pmatil]

According to that log the "final" recording didn't start as it ran out of tuners, so it didn't kick you off from viewing.
What setting do you have in
Menu -> Setup -> Recordings, playback & timeshift -> Recording & playback
for "Recordings always have priority"?

That setting is set to "Yes". By the way, how does it decide what channel to zap into? I would like it to go to one of the channels that already has an active recording.

[birdman]

That setting is set to "Yes". By the way, how does it decide what channel to zap into?

It doesn't. In theory you just lose your channel and it's up to you to find one that can be shared.

[abu baniaz]

If you want to "zap and record', you can set your timer to do that.

[pmatil]

It doesn't. In theory you just lose your channel and it's up to you to find one that can be shared.

Losing a channel is fine. If it's not supposed to zap into an available channel, then in what situation it is going to zap if the setting is set to yes? It said "zap without asking" so where was it trying to zap into? Either way it should somehow recover without crashing, right?

In the debug log I see a list of available channels. Why not zap into one of those? It was trying to allocate a channel that wasn't available, and then issued an error. Then it could zap into one of the available channels (maybe it was trying but it doesn't say where was it trying to zap).

I would think that if recordings have priority, then if no tuners are available when a recording starts it would zap into a channel that would free a tuner, thus preventing a lock-up.

Or in simpler words: how it is supposed to handle this situation I was in? And what is the function of the setting "recordings have priority" if a recording can't overrun a live view?

[birdman]

Losing a channel is fine. If it's not supposed to zap into an available channel, then in what situation it is going to zap if the setting is set to yes?

To the channel that is about to be recorded.

Either way it should somehow recover without crashing, right?

Yes, but in order to find out what is going on we (usually) need to be able to reproduce it, and that requires knowing the environment settings in which it occurs - hence the question.

It was trying to allocate a channel that wasn't available, and then issued an error

That might be for the recording...

I would think that if recordings have priority, then if no tuners are available when a recording starts it would zap into a channel that would free a tuner, thus preventing a lock-up.

It can just go into a "no free tuner" state....

Or in simpler words: how it is supposed to handle this situation I was in?

....which is what should have happened (you might not wish to switch to the channel that is about to record).

And what is the function of the setting "recordings have priority" if a recording can't overrun a live view?

You seem to be forgetting that there is a bug here.

[birdman]

I found a similar thread here: http://www.world-of-satellite.com/sh...without+asking but didn't really see a solution or cause. In my case I only use 1 favourite list, no additional bouquets etc. and no auto-timers.

I've just had a chance to look at this, so congratulations(?). You've managed to hit the second block of code mentioned in that link.
I'll check that the same sort of workaround can be added there. I might even drop both into a function....

[birdman]

I'll check that the same sort of workaround can be added there. I might even drop both into a function....

Done that and it works for me.
However, it worked for me before the fix (it did last time too...). The reason it fails is that it is looking for a service ref in the bouquets which isn't there (which is a bit odd...on that last occasion it seemed to be a result of a leading zero being present in one place and absent in another).
Mind you, the only thing it wants to do with it (AFAICT) is add it to your history - this fix just adds "nothing" (I hope).

[birdman]

PR submitted:

https://github.com/OpenViX/enigma2/pull/249

[pmatil]

Hello and thanks for looking into this. I assume this latest patch is going into the next(?) release which is... .023? Just to know when to update and test it. Unless I can test it without updating the entire system?

[pmatil]

.024 is in and simulated situation where it previously hung the box now works. Will monitor the situation.

By the way, does it handle encrypted channels when allocating tuners? What I mean is, if there is already a recording on an encrypted channel and another recording starts on another encrypted channel so you can't tune into that second channel as the module is already reserved.

[abu baniaz]

tuning and decrypting are two different things.

If a tuner is free you will always be able to tune, that does not mean you can decrypt.