Rasplex 0.4.0 slow and no video?

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1

I tried the latest 0.4.0 on my Pi. Conencted to 1A power supply 8GB Class10 SD card and direct to LAN.

 

Please view this video. There is not sound, sorry. My cam microphone is broken.

 

http://youtu.be/fhYL3JS7ss8

 

I have one of the very first Model B Rev 1.0 Pi's. When it starts its got the rainbow but everything loads as normal. I thought the rainbow meant somekind of issues? Can anybody clarify.

 

Basically when I try and play a video it just grinds to a halt, flashes black and comes back to the main GUI. Even photos do not show, just black screen. Also I can press right and left on photos and I can see the Pi is laoding somethings, or press backspace and it goes back to the main GUI. But then the text goes all garbled, and wierd GUI artefacts.

 

What is the problem? ANybody got similar problems?

2

Did you do the precaching and let it complete ?

these are the main things that could create such an issue :

- it's caching images in the background in which case precaching would help.

- it's downloading a new version in the background which shouldnt be the case if you"re in RC1

- You SDcard has some sort of issue that would make the Read/Write operation slow : maybe you could try with a different one.

3

Did you do the precaching and let it complete ?

these are the main things that could create such an issue :

- it's caching images in the background in which case precaching would help.

- it's downloading a new version in the background which shouldnt be the case if you"re in RC1

- You SDcard has some sort of issue that would make the Read/Write operation slow : maybe you could try with a different one.

Yea I tried 2 Pi's and 3 SD cards brands. I tested them with benchamrk tool and are not fakes but genuine Class 10 cards.

I tried precachcing. It took about 15 minutes to precahce 25 titles. I have lokk 300... Is it supposed to take that long?

Also why dont I have any video just on audio on playback?

4

No the evrage i got is about 2-3 seconds per movie ... 

This is very strange .. first issue i see being reported with that kind of behaviour.

Did you check the logs ? that could be another issue just filling the logs.

5

I tried the latest 0.4.0 on my Pi. Conencted to 1A power supply 8GB Class10 SD card and direct to LAN.


As described that equipment sounds fine, but all PSUs are not equal, and some never live up to their spec's.
I would definitely try using another power supply before ruling that out as a possible cause.
 

Please view this video. There is not sound, sorry. My cam microphone is broken.
 
http://youtu.be/fhYL3JS7ss8

About that test video, I'm a bit surprised that you only launched stuff from the 'On Deck' shelf, instead of entering the proper library section lists. It's not quite the same thing, though both methods work fine for me. But I assume you've tried both too, with similar results as for the shown failures.
 

I have one of the very first Model B Rev 1.0 Pi's.

I never heard of any problems with early versions of that model.
Mine is probably newer, but as long as the design is unchanged that should make no difference.
 

When it starts its got the rainbow but everything loads as normal. I thought the rainbow meant somekind of issues? Can anybody clarify.

The 'rainbow square' is quite normal for a hard powerup or a hard reboot.
It might not be seen for a 'soft' reboot though, when the firmware just restarts itself without full boot sequence.
 

Basically when I try and play a video it just grinds to a halt, flashes black and comes back to the main GUI.

Noted.

Even photos do not show, just black screen. Also I can press right and left on photos and I can see the Pi is laoding somethings, or press backspace and it goes back to the main GUI. But then the text goes all garbled, and wierd GUI artefacts.

The artifacts I saw seemed mostly to consist of text lines superimposed on top of each other. In the plot description it looked as if it was trying to add more text without proper scrolling.

What is the problem? ANybody got similar problems?

At this point it's hard to say what's wrong, but two things I'd suspect first is either a bad flashing or a bad power supply.
I'd try re-flashing the SDcard, and if possible also try another PSU (preferably a 2A unit).

Insufficient power can cause just about any odd behaviour, as some of the digital logic will become erratic with incorrect voltage.

Best regards: dlanor

6

As described that equipment sounds fine, but all PSUs are not equal, and some never live up to their spec's.
I would definitely try using another power supply before ruling that out as a possible cause.
 

About that test video, I'm a bit surprised that you only launched stuff from the 'On Deck' shelf, instead of entering the proper library section lists. It's not quite the same thing, though both methods work fine for me. But I assume you've tried both too, with similar results as for the shown failures.
 

I never heard of any problems with early versions of that model.
Mine is probably newer, but as long as the design is unchanged that should make no difference.
 

The 'rainbow square' is quite normal for a hard powerup or a hard reboot.
It might not be seen for a 'soft' reboot though, when the firmware just restarts itself without full boot sequence.
 

Noted.

The artifacts I saw seemed mostly to consist of text lines superimposed on top of each other. In the plot description it looked as if it was trying to add more text without proper scrolling.

At this point it's hard to say what's wrong, but two things I'd suspect first is either a bad flashing or a bad power supply.
I'd try re-flashing the SDcard, and if possible also try another PSU (preferably a 2A unit).

Insufficient power can cause just about any odd behaviour, as some of the digital logic will become erratic with incorrect voltage.

Best regards: dlanor

Thank you for quite a detailed response. :D  +1

I understand the Pi power supply problems.

On one of the Pi's I soldered a DC jack and it gets powered from a 5A switching power supply - With Voltage tweaked to 5.25 or 5V. Same issues.

I tired 2 different vendors in there a slower 4 class and a Kingston 8 class. Both SD cards do the same. 10 Class loads faster but still GUI is unresponsive. 

I just tried again and waited aptiently. After pressing on a video, it goes black and bout 40 seconds before the videos splash page loads. Then I press play and I waited 4 minutes and gave up... I left it to do whatever. I think my Pi's are are faulted, being from one of the very first batches. I might just go buy the newest one and test it out.

The messages log file contains this

Mar 26 21:10:42 rasplex user.notice Boot: ### set cpu's to 'ondemand' ###
Mar 26 21:11:19 rasplex cron.err crond[803]: time disparity of 23264471 minutes detected
Mar 26 21:20:31 rasplex user.err kernel: [  596.011290] mmc0: Timeout waiting for hardware interrupt - cmd18.
Mar 26 21:20:35 rasplex user.err kernel: [  606.031284] mmc0: Timeout waiting for hardware interrupt - cmd12.
Mar 26 21:20:35 rasplex user.err kernel: [  606.031930] mmcblk0: error -110 sending stop command, original cmd response 0x900, card status 0x900
Mar 26 21:20:35 rasplex user.err kernel: [  606.031964] mmcblk0: error -110 transferring data, sector 85449, nr 192, cmd response 0x900, card status 0x0
Mar 26 21:20:35 rasplex user.warn kernel: [  606.031982] mmcblk0: retrying using single block read

It looks like it has issues with reading data on the mmc (SD) channel. These cards are 100% tested block by block. This reinforces my concern the my batch of the first Pi's could be duff. Incorrect crystal and timing issues, poor workmanship or something. Anyway, worth keeping as a souvenir since they are early boards. Going to buy another Pi one and try again.

How can I enable more verbose logs to be written?

7

you could maybe give a try to USB stick install if this is the case ... 

8

you could maybe give a try to USB stick install if this is the case ... 

Good idea! That could very well eliminate his problem, if it's due to some error specific to the SDcard interface.

This way it will only be used during the initial boot, and not for any time-critical transfers while running the program.

I'd suggest using a USB3 stick for maximum contrast in GUI responsiveness, but any stick should serve to prove the point.

Best regards: dlanor

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