A300 keeps freezing

[Nomadski]

My A300 has been freezing when transferring data (usually thru YAMJ) for quite a while now, but now I cant even FTP any files to it without it dropping connection and the A300 freezing requiring a full reboot.

I spent the whole of today cleaning out my network, buying entirely set of new Cat 6 cables, dumping my router (just using standard Superhub from Virginmedia) and installing my gigabit switch (HP Procurve J9449A). Still no different.

I tried bringing the PH to plug directly into my switch, just in case it was the Belkin Gigabit Powerline Adapters causing the issue, no different.

Ill explain my setup -

50mb Cable broadband (Virginmedia) running into its superhub.
Cat 6 Cable (new) to Procurve J9449A gigabit switch (new)
Cat 6 Cable (new) from switch to Belkin Gigabit Powerline HD (F5D4076)
(Living Room) Belkin Gigabit Powerline HD to A300 via Cat 6 cable (new).

My IP settings are set to Auto, on my superhub I have set the static IP address for the PH, which comes up on the PH. Speed is set to Auto, but have tried 10/100 with no difference.

I can confirm the connection out of the switch is gigabit, both via the online management screen, and the light on the ethernet port.

Dragging files via windows and FTP'ing via Filezilla results in disconnection, and complete system lockup of the A300.

Having spent an awful lot of money making sure my network is gigabit, its getting frustrating not being able to transfer an nfo...

Everything else on the network is performing top notch, my Qnap is reporting LAN transfer speeds of 388Mbps Write, 690 Mbps Reading, the same LAN test on the PH reports 13Mbps Write, 28Mbps Read, with a couple of hangs when it tries to clear the test cache.

System is W7 64 bit, PC NIC is set to Auto on speed, Jumbo frames is disabled. PH A300 has internal 2TB SATA drive.

Basically Ive run out of ideas, and need some advice before I lose ALL my hair.

[halfelite]

have you scanned the drive for errors? and have you tried the rwin value tweak.

[Nomadski]

(03-16-2012 02:37 AM)halfelite Wrote:  have you scanned the drive for errors? and have you tried the rwin value tweak.

I havent got access to a Linux system, so I dont know how to try the rwin tweak.

Will try checking the drive for errors overnight.

[halfelite]

If you have a usb stick install it and install nmt apps on it, try ftping to it, if it works then you know to look at the harddrive if it fails then you know to look at the pch hardware.

[Nomadski]

(03-16-2012 03:02 AM)halfelite Wrote:  If you have a usb stick install it and install nmt apps on it, try ftping to it, if it works then you know to look at the harddrive if it fails then you know to look at the pch hardware.

Thats a good call, as I just realised I wouldnt be able to check the disk from Windows anyway...

---

Not having done this before, should I remove the installed hard drive before attempting to install on USB? I dont seem to come to an option to select where to install the NMT apps, it just defaults to the hard drive.

EDIT: NM went to do the fresh install and could pick the USB.

Files transferred, albeit rather slowly (1MB/s) to USB stick. Tried same files to hard drive, and got the disconnection / freezing issue.

Does this indicate my hard drive is on the blink? Why is the FTP speed still slow, on a gigabit network, to USB?

[Nomadski]

Well have got a new switch box which the popcorn hour has been directly plugged into, via brand new Cat6 cables, and have put a brand new hard drive which is on the recommended list. The FTP worked but the device is still showing old symptoms again.

Tried a brand new basic YAMJ / Eversion install with absolute default settings (no eskin or anything other than what came with the AIO) and the thing froze on me again when running YAMJ.

Am feeling fed up, and am starting to think its the Popcorn Hour A300 hardware that is the issue.

If something was up with my YAMJ setup on my A110 the worst that would happen is YAMJ would not finish a scan. This new box just seems to looks for any excuse to flat out stop working.

[accident]

your last post was 3/15.. you need to engage support because it sounds like your a300 might have a defective part or damaged in shipping to you. why 3 weeks later your still trying to fix a problem that nobody else is posting about is beyond me.. there's very narrow return windows.

[Nomadski]

Well its taken me a month to get a new hard drive and get the content off the last one and back on again. The way it seemed to be going was a bad hard drive. For some people its not an easy thing to check, I don't have hard drives lying around to confirm where the problem actually was. Pretty much eliminated everything else bar this machine.

I was hoping it wouldn't be the A300, its going to be an expensive RMA with shipping from the UK, and probably get hit by customs on the return as well.

[accident]

I know you don't get hit with the fees on a rma being returned but chris57 is pretty quick to reply and will have more specific info on exactly what to expect in the uk. I just remember his previous posts saying this to others.

Everyone can quickly test using a thumb drive or a couple files in a network share.. you don't need all your files copied to test a couple quickly. its also not a bad idea to test with a different device because you could quickly narrow down the player or the drive this way.

[Nomadski]

(04-08-2012 06:36 PM)accident Wrote:  I know you don't get hit with the fees on a rma being returned but chris57 is pretty quick to reply and will have more specific info on exactly what to expect in the uk. I just remember his previous posts saying this to others.

Everyone can quickly test using a thumb drive or a couple files in a network share.. you don't need all your files copied to test a couple quickly. its also not a bad idea to test with a different device because you could quickly narrow down the player or the drive this way.

Yeah I tested with a thumb drive almost as soon as suggested earlier in the thread, and the FTP worked fine, hence I assumed it was the hard drive.

With the new hard drive the FTP now works, its just YAMJ giving me all the headaches, and maybe 1 in 5 times on startup it will freeze, and it froze on both firmware updates (at the point where it says PH is restarting).

What I don't understand is with my old A110 if I experimented, or tried different skins etc the worst that would happen would be...it didn't finish scanning, but unless I copy and paste a movie.properties file from someone my A300 freezes completely.

What worries me is that, as you say, no one else gets (or reports) this freezing behaviour.

Am in contact with PH support, but its not looking good as they say YAMJ is not supported by themselves. They suggest using NMJ, which would be great if it didn't mix up all my covers after the 2nd or 3rd update.

Appreciate your replies anyway accident, will try setting up a small jukebox on the flash drive, though this is my second HD (and a new one at that) so Im struggling to believe it is the HD this time.

[KevG123]

Could this be hardware related, specifically heat related?

Does it only ever freeze when transferring data?

Seems like it freezes at other times too if I've read the posts correctly?

[accident]

are you sure it's freezing? what skin are you using?

[chris57]

(04-17-2012 09:03 AM)wangxin Wrote:  I also do not have access to the Linux system, so I do not know how to try RWIN adjustment. Will try to check the drive for errors overnight.

Must be a bot i'm thinking

[accident]

their other post is spam so yes.

[Nomadski]

(04-16-2012 06:55 PM)KevG123 Wrote:  Could this be hardware related, specifically heat related?

Does it only ever freeze when transferring data?

Seems like it freezes at other times too if I've read the posts correctly?

So far its frozen when after updating the firmware (on the PH is restarting screen) twice, upon startup a couple of times, when transferring via windows or FTP (though I do think this was hard drive related as since my new hard drive was installed it hasn't done this) and when running YAMJ.

It mostly happens when I run YAMJ using a movie.properties file with very little info in it, when I use Legions property file from his AIO package it completes, albeit slowly (probably People related).

(04-17-2012 05:50 AM)accident Wrote:  are you sure it's freezing? what skin are you using?

YAMJ, Eversion and have tried Legions skin. Hmm, I was under the impression the whole thing froze, but it seems to be just incredibly slow - I recreated the issue and pressed the off button and about 30 seconds later it went into standby. Then I pressed on again and eventually it turned on again.

There is a long lag between me doing anything, and the PH responding, until I restart the PH.