[mythtv-users] Cant load bttv module, ALSA module load problem

[Ray Olszewski]

Hmmm ... usually when I probe on this, it turns out that just the 
mythfrontend process itself is hung, not the underlying machine. If it does 
not even respond to pings (Linux kernels are awfully resilient in this 
respect), it means a bad kernel-level problem, even if Myth is the 
proximate cause. So you might check this detail, trying to ping the Myth 
host from the Linux host after it (apparently) hangs.

Your guess about alsa sounds like a good place to start. I don't think 
you've said anything about the details of the alsa install beyond that you 
"followed the instructions on the alsa site" and that "all the builds and 
make installs worked great" ... but then snd.o failed to load properly at 
least once. So it's hard to offer specific advice.

If there is an alsa-users list associated with the alsa site, it might be 
the better place to describe the details ... but to get help, you''re going 
to need to tell *someone* the details. For example:

1. What modules does lsmod report as installed just before you start 
mythfrontend?

2. Does sound work properly to playback using some other Linux app (mpg123 
or xmms, for example)?

3. Does sound work properly to record using some other Linux app that uses 
the sound card's line input (gramofile, for example)?

4. Does some other video capture application (vcr/avifile, avicap, 
mencoder, or ffmpeg, for example) work?

5. Run "top" over an ssh session where the window will stay open even if 
the session terminates (putty on Windows does this, for example). After the 
system dies, did the last update of "top" reveal anything instructive?

The alsa experts can probably suggest better questions, but this is at 
least a place to start.

Oh ... let me ask one long-shot question: do you have DMA enabled on the 
hard drive that Myth is using for the "live" TV buffer? (You can check this 
with "hdparm /dev/hd?", replacing ? with the appropriate drive designator.) 
If not, DMA-related errors can make a system unresponsive for a 
surprisingly long time (another one I learned the hard way).


At 01:27 PM 6/7/2003 -0400, Michael Williams wrote:
[...]
>I am thinking the problem with it locking up when trying to view live tv
>is with Alsa actually.  When I try to do it I hear a few clicks from the
>speaker RIGHT before it freezes the system.  Strangly enough, bttv seems
>to be loading more often than not now, right after boot.  I have no idea
>why.  Sometimes it does give me the unresolved symbol error. Does anyone
>know if bttv has some kind of sound driver dependencies?