IceBox failure after a soft reset

TimC · April 30, 2024, 06:49:00 PM

Today I decided to do a Soft Reset, but the IceBox failed to restart, and subsequent forced restarts have failed as well. Ihe IceTV banners come up and eventually disappear leavung a blank screen.

The TVHeadEnd UI works to a degree (with no channel data) and I can see the IceBox on the LAN.

I am in the process of copying my existing recordings so if worst comes to worst I should be able to restore them.
However I don't know what to do next. For example, if I copy the latest Update to the Updates folder and try a restart, will that get the OS working again?

TimC · April 30, 2024, 08:24:22 PM

I have now tried downloading the latest firmware to the Uploads folder and rebooted without any change. Just a Black screen (both ports)

TimC · April 30, 2024, 11:19:10 PM

I have tried using a number of Firmwares, back to IceBox-Generic.x86_64-1.11.3.img.gz. which I believe is the full IceBox system.
Nothing seems to work.

As I said, After a Reboot, I get the IceTV small banner, then the large Banner, then a Blank Screen.
I can locate it on my network and after each reboot, the Update folder is empty.
Note: All the recordings are retained.

I'm out of ideas now.

IanL-S · May 01, 2024, 08:07:30 AM

Not had anything like that happen to me. The only thing I can think of it to to a USB installation of the latest firmware. As you have already copied the recordings off the IceBox it will not matter that the USB installation nukes the existing installation.

You should also copy the backup folder to external storage, as it is needed to recover the recordings. My understanding is that you copy them back (including the backup folder) when the setup wizard asks for your username.

Daniel Hall at IceTV · May 01, 2024, 09:23:38 AM

Hi Tim,

If you have SSH access there are options to perform either another soft reset or hard reset to ensure that it's clean, however if you have backed up all the recordings (including the '.backups' folder) then a USB re-install might be the way to go, using the same procedure as for a BYOB install.

TimC · May 01, 2024, 06:46:38 PM

I'm not sure what SSH is
As for doing a USB install I'm a bit stumped.
I used the USB I set up for cloning the SSDs, but when I attempt to boot from it, I get an IceBox menu rather than Ubuntu.
From what I can tell, the IceBox software seems to be running on the USB.

I can see the Ubuntu USB from my network as a folder in ICEBOX network location.
I thought that maybe there was a copy of the update on the USB, but I can't see it anywhere.

I assume that if I attempt a Reset (hard or Soft) it would just reset the version on the USB.

I'm confused.

MD · May 01, 2024, 06:52:50 PM

You need a keyboard and power up the IceBox into the BIOS. Then in Save and Exit you can scroll down to choose the USB to reboot then go step by step

TimC · May 01, 2024, 11:34:57 PM

Quote from: MD on May 01, 2024, 06:52:50 PMYou need a keyboard and power up the IceBox into the BIOS. Then in Save and Exit you can scroll down to choose the USB to reboot then go step by step

Ahh, I was selecting the USB in the Boot tab. In any case I ended up doing a Soft Reset in the strange version of the IceBox software that came up and it ended up working.

To be honest I am not sure I could repeat the steps I did to get it working in the end, but it is working now, thanks.

IanL-S · May 02, 2024, 09:04:34 AM

Great news that you managed to solve the problem, even if you are not sure how you managed to do so!

TimC · May 02, 2024, 03:20:16 PM

Now that I have used it a bit, I do notice a few strange things.

Immediately after the Soft Reset, it was working fine. Actually better than it had previously.
This was because I swapped the HDMI port I was using from the one nearest the power to the one furthest from the power and only had one device connected.
The flashing to a black screen whenever I went from a menu to a program had disappeared.
It Looks like the port furthest from the power is the best one to use.
I then reconnected the rest of the HDMI stuff and everything was working well.

Then I got the bright idea to make sure it would continue to work following a reboot.
The result was curious.
First it wouldn't reboot. It would shut down and then bring up the small IceTV logo and stay on it. Ten minutes later, I pulled the power and plugged it back in. It restarted OK.
So I repeated the restart and the same thing happened.
Next I tried a full power off. After that I tried to restart, and nothing happened.
I pulled the power and plugged it back in and it started up normally.
However the IceBox was really sluggish. There was a constant notification saying "TVHeadEnd Failed" and "TVHeadEnd Reconnected" constantly recycling.
If I tried to play a recording or watch a live TV channel it stalled and eventually produced a popup saying something like "Playback Failed, check the Log for more information". After about twenty minutes the "TVHeadEnd" notifications stopped, however I still couldn't watch TV or play a recording.

Finally I tried a reboot, expecting it to stall, but it actually worked OK.
When I tried watching a Live TV channel and playing a recording and it all behaved correctly. Even better the Black screen/flashing issue was gone.

I have seen that others have had the TVHeadEnd Failed/Connected notification issue before and I think their solution was to Reboot. In my case I suspect the interrupted reboot meant that whatever was causing the issue didn't get cleared. When I finally managed a clean reboot, all the issues were sorted.

However, I am now wondering if the latest update is having an impact on the Startup routines.

My whole problem started when I tried the Soft Reset. The Reboot stalled mid-reset and then nothing worked. I suspect that the soft reset is dependent on a reboot being successful, i.e. Interrupting the reboot stuffs up the reset process.

Rebooting is not something I do very often, but I never had any issues rebooting before the latest update.

raymondjpg · May 02, 2024, 03:50:23 PM

Quote from: TimC on May 02, 2024, 03:20:16 PMHowever, I am now wondering if the latest update is having an impact on the Startup routines.

My whole problem started when I tried the Soft Reset. The Reboot stalled mid-reset and then nothing worked. I suspect that the soft reset is dependent on a reboot being successful, i.e. Interrupting the reboot stuffs up the reset process.

Rebooting is not something I do very often, but I never had any issues rebooting before the latest update.

It almost sounds like the issue IceBox users were having with the SSD. If it were me I would try a completely new install, following the procedures as suggested for a BYO setup, and see if that stabilises things.