Object reference not set to an instance of an object

Started by dale_mac, June 15, 2016, 06:17:43 PM

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dale_mac

Hi all,

I received an email from IceTV yesterday telling me that my recorder had stopped downloading the guide five days previously.
I checked and sure enough, I only had a couple of days on my guide left.
I manually updated which seemed to work okay but it doesn't look like it updated today. I only have five days of listings when I usually have up to seven.
Looking at the log in the IceTV Interactive tool (v3.00.37) it shows the "warn" error "Exception System.NullReferenceException - Object reference not set to an instance of an object".
This error repeats every minute. When I first looked at the log yesterday, I saw something mentioning a server error and to contact the server administrator. I'm assuming that means the IceTV server.
Unfortunately I cleared the log yesterday not realising I should've saved a copy.
So the short story is, I'd like to know what the error means and why my media centre suddenly stopped connecting to the IceTV server last Thursday at 11:34pm.
If someone can help me, I'd much appreciate it.
I've zipped the ice.log and ice.log.1 files and they are attached.

Cheers, Dale
Windows 7 Media Centre
Kodi

Dave at IceTV

I answered Dale via email but for anyone else seeing the same or similar warnings in the IceTV Interactive log see the steps on clearing IceTV Interactive's cached data here:
http://support.icetv.com.au/entries/45514040
cheers

Dave
Customer Service

Dave at IceTV

Quote from: dale_mac on June 15, 2016, 06:17:43 PM
I'd like to know what the error means and why my media centre suddenly stopped connecting to the IceTV server last Thursday at 11:34pm.

We had an unexpected issue last Thu-Fri after moving to new servers last Thursday. This unexpected issue caused many different types of recorders to stop updating or worse. Most came good on their own on the Friday but your Media Center seems to have corrupted its IceTV cached database.
cheers

Dave
Customer Service

dale_mac

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your response.
I deleted the cache as you suggested and aside from multiple errors where the software can't find the path to certain .png files (channel logos by the looks), everything looks good.
I'll monitor it over the next day or so, but I'm confident that was the answer.

Thanks, Dale
Windows 7 Media Centre
Kodi

Dave

Dale,
I've found the same issue when deleting the cache.
You need to create a directory that the error is referring to.  I think it's the cache subfolder under 3.0 from memory.
Dave.
Antec NSK2480B Case & PSU, Asus M4A785TD-M-EVO motherboard, AMD Phenom II 965 3.40Ghz quad core CPU, 4Gb RAM, Hauppauge HVR2200 Dual Tuner, 1Tb and 500Gb WD HDDs, Windows 10 running NextPVR

Dave at IceTV

Usually when you first open IceTV Interactive after deleting the cache Windows will pop up a permissions error message asking do you want to allow IceTV Interactive to create its folders. If you missed that message or didn't answer yes that could explain the missing channel logos folder.
cheers

Dave
Customer Service

Dave

Dave,
I've never actually seen that message.
I've always had to recreate the directory myself.
Dave.
Antec NSK2480B Case & PSU, Asus M4A785TD-M-EVO motherboard, AMD Phenom II 965 3.40Ghz quad core CPU, 4Gb RAM, Hauppauge HVR2200 Dual Tuner, 1Tb and 500Gb WD HDDs, Windows 10 running NextPVR

Dave at IceTV

Maybe I should change the instructions to just delete the files within those folders and not the folders themselves.
cheers

Dave
Customer Service

dale_mac

Quote from: Dave at IceTV on June 17, 2016, 10:58:58 AM
Usually when you first open IceTV Interactive after deleting the cache Windows will pop up a permissions error message asking do you want to allow IceTV Interactive to create its folders. If you missed that message or didn't answer yes that could explain the missing channel logos folder.
Hi Dave,

I saw the popup and answered yes, so the permissions should've been set properly.
I've just manually created the missing /cache folder and I'll see if the error stops.
It may or may not be of interest, but I'm positive that the /ProgramData/IceTV/Interactive/3.0 was empty before I deleted it yesterday. Only the /3.0.0.37 folder had anything in it.
Maybe that was part of the hiccup in the first place.
Just to be sure, I'll delete the two folders again and make sure I set the permissions correctly.

Cheers, Dale
Windows 7 Media Centre
Kodi

dale_mac

Hi Dave at IceTV,

Dave is correct, the cache folder isn't automatically created when IceTV Interactive restarts.
I set the permissions correctly and then restart the program, there are files written to the /3.0 folder but I had to manually create the cache folder.
Maybe a reinstall would've recreated everything, but I'm just happy it's all working properly.

Thanks to both Daves
Dale
Windows 7 Media Centre
Kodi

Dave at IceTV

Thanks Dale,

I've updated the steps in our various knowledgebase articles to instruct people to only delete the files in the 3.0 folder and leave all the folders alone.
cheers

Dave
Customer Service