Hardware:
Asus a7N8X-VM/400 (nForce2 chipset), onboard GeForce 4MX, with daughter card (video out the back).
Athlon XP 2600.
512 MB.
PVR-250 with remote.

Software:
KnoppMyth R4v3

History:
Auto Install, default i586,
<ctrl><alt><F1> install-nvidia.sh,
<ctrl><alt><F1> install-i686-lx.
In one screen, setup PVR-250.
In another screen setup cable (entered zip code, retrieval of channels etc.).
In yet another screen I associated cable with all options.

Current set up:
Still using a generic monitor. I will (attempt to) migrate to TV or TwinView later.

Evidence:
1. I now have nVidia splash screen.
2. I watched channels and etc being retrieved for my zip code.
3. I can configure and view weather for my community.
4. I can configure and retrieve news as previously selected.
5. I can select and record from programming schedule a program.
5. When live TV is selected there first appears a blue screen (much like a blue screen of death). Then a moment later, a dark screen. I'm able to change channels and the channel number above with a description below of the program will appear (this may be good, the remote must be responding).

Investigation:
1. "mythbackend.log" (condensed for clarity)
QSettings: error creating /.qt
QSettings: sync:filename is null/empty
Unable to connect to database
Driver error was [1/-1]:
Qmysql3: Unable to convert
Unknown database 'mythconverg'
Couldn't open database
Qsettings:Sync: filename is null/empty
Starting up as the master server
ERROR: no capture cards are defined in the database.

Questions:
1. It appears that the backend.log points to some trouble. If so. What must I do to correct the trouble?
2. How can I (without reinstalling the whole system I hope) get back to the configuration screens that will allow me to verify capture cards, input source, etc.

Thanks, Mike.

I initially made this same mistake too. You must associate cable with ONLY the real input you're using, usually "TUNER0". That way when you select a channel it will use the correct input. Otherwise it picks the first one it finds which matches and that's clearly not what you want.

Thanks for the prompt reply!

How can I get back to that screen (I hope not to have to reinstall everything again) to make the needed change.

you do not have to reinstall. to get back to that screen you need to esc out till it asks you to close mythtv. say yes. then click on the desktop and click xterm. once the xterm opens up you need to type mythtv-setup. this will take you back to that screen you are refering to. you should probably answer no to both text based questions (unless you just want to wait for all the channel info to download agian)

once you have made your changes you may have to restart the backend. to do that you would from the same xterm type su then enter the root password you created on install then type /etc/init.d/mythtv-backend restart once all that is done you should be able to exit the xterm and click on the desktop and click mythtv.

Thank you Xsecrets for your earlier reply!

It appears that progress is being made by using only TUNER0. The mythbackend.log has lots of info now.

Some of the entrys include:
Date/Time CheckChannel failed. Please verify etc.
Couldn't read data from capture card in 15 seconds. Game over man.

There of course are many more entrys, these seem most relevant.

One other thing. Seems like a setback. While trying to watch TV there is now no program description at the bottom of the blank screen.

Any ideas about what to change now?

Mike

Sounds like you didn't answer "no" to both questions and wiped out your other configuration including the channel list and program info.

I wondered the same thing. I checked all the configuration screens and also ran mythfilldatabase. Those attempts to correct the problem were not met with success. I'm not sure where to investigate now. Thanks for your continued suppport!

are you sure you did the input connections screen properly. This is the one that usually causes these kinds of problems. I think it's #4 but don't quote me on that.

Well I think I entered the info in the setup screens correctly.

From XTerm; mythtv-setup
No to both questions

2. Capture Cards
[mpeg:/dev/video] It's set to pvr250

3. Video Sources
Cable, with my zip, standardcable not digital.

4. Input Connections
(tuner0)->cable, all others none.

Escape back and run mythfilldatabase, appears successful.

When I run mythfrontend from XTerm then escape back. The dump reveals nothing unusual.

Checked mythbackend.log
One of the last entries:
Error, couldn't find any available channels. Your database is most likely setup incorrectly.

If this log entry is accurate. I've no idea how to correct the problem. I'll bet I don't even know what the entry means! Maybe that's why I've no idea how to fix it! Ha!

I hope one of you knows..........

Thanks guys!

only other thing I can think of is search the forums for how to check and repair the databases. Can't remember the commands right now off the top of my head.

oh and you might want to make sure that mysql is running.

ps -ae | grep mysql

Thank you Xsecrets!

I have no idea what the command "ps -ae | grep mysql" does. Maybe you could explain it to me for future reference.

Any way. I've got video on the monitor! I can't believe it! Progress!

Next I will attempt the twinview thing in XF86Config-4.

I had a similiar problem when I first installed my PVR250. Although, my solution was a little different. It sounds like you had some sort of database error. There also is a problem with the PVR cards sometimes not getting initialized. I am not sure if this is a driver related version - it might be fixed in R4V3 - dunno (some of the other guys might chime in).

Long story short - the PVR card does not get initialized correctly. This will cause the blank black screen when you go to watch TV. This is fixable by doing <CTRL><ALT><F1>:

# depmod -a
# modprobe ivtv

at a prompt - <CTRL><ALT><F7> to get back (I am not a linux expert so if this is a bad way to do this maybe cesman can chime in!). If you then go in to watch TV it should work. This happens to be about 50% of the time after reboots. Kind of a pain - but it is easily solvable. There are a lot of posts about this on the mailing list.

Binarybro
the command ps -ae | grep mysql really doesn't do much. ps basically lists running processes the -ae switches just tell it show processes from everyone not just me. in unix the | means take the output of the last command and use it as input for the next command. so a list of all processes gets run through the grep command and that command has one argument mysql. grep just looks through information (file or in this case text piped to it from another command) and only shows lines containing the argument, in this case mysql. So short version if you run that command and see anything mysql is running, if you don't see anything mysql didn't start for some reason.


Quigs
I have no Idea why you have a problem with the ivtv drivers not loading. I haven't ever experianced that. You should probably look in /var/log/messages or dmesg and see if you can tell why it didn't load. I never have problems with ivtv not loading.