[linux-dvb] Pinnacle HD Stick (801e SE) and i2c issues

[linux-dvb] Pinnacle HD Stick (801e SE) and i2c issues

[John Orth]

First, thanks to all for the wonderful v4l project.  I am able to get 
this card going in Ubuntu 9.04 on my laptop (Dell Vostro 1700) with no 
changes apart from copying the correct firmware.  What fantastic 
progress. :)

I have been trying very hard to get this USB tuner to work on my Asus 
M3A78-EM board in Ubuntu 9.04 with no success.  I have tried the stock 
Jaunty kernel, the mainline (vanilla?) kernel, the included kernel 
modules, and modules compiled from v4l Mercurial with no success.  
Generally speaking, after a cold boot, the stick will work for a while.  
It will scan channels, lock one or two, and then I will receive a filter 
timeout.  Once the filter has timed out, not even a cold boot will 
revive the stick.  I have to power down the system, remove the stick, 
and place it in a different USB port.  Once I have done this, I am able 
to filter/lock with varying degrees of success.  Sometimes it will allow 
me to generate a full channels.conf, sometimes not.  However, once 
hitting the "filter timeout" error, dmesg gets flooded with:

---
s5h1411_writereg: writereg error 0x19 0xf5 0x0000, ret == 0)
dib0700: i2c write error (status = -108)
---

The filter timeout occurs after running "scan tuning.dat > channels.conf"
The file tuning.dat is generated via "w_scan -fa -x > tuning.dat"

The firmware dvb-fe-xc5000-1.1.fw was copied to /lib/firmware per the 
v4l Wiki instructions.

lspci of working system:  http://pastebin.com/f31efd30a
lspci of non-working system:  http://pastebin.com/fa80c2f7

Is there something major I'm overlooking?  Are there any known issues 
with this hardware combination?  I am willing to test any changes to the 
xc5000 driver if needed.

Thanks!
John


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Re: [linux-dvb] Pinnacle HD Stick (801e SE) and i2c issues

[Devin Heitmueller]

On Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 11:29 PM, John Orth <john@orthfamily.net> wrote:
> First, thanks to all for the wonderful v4l project.  I am able to get
> this card going in Ubuntu 9.04 on my laptop (Dell Vostro 1700) with no
> changes apart from copying the correct firmware.  What fantastic
> progress. :)
>
> I have been trying very hard to get this USB tuner to work on my Asus
> M3A78-EM board in Ubuntu 9.04 with no success.  I have tried the stock
> Jaunty kernel, the mainline (vanilla?) kernel, the included kernel
> modules, and modules compiled from v4l Mercurial with no success.
> Generally speaking, after a cold boot, the stick will work for a while.
> It will scan channels, lock one or two, and then I will receive a filter
> timeout.  Once the filter has timed out, not even a cold boot will
> revive the stick.  I have to power down the system, remove the stick,
> and place it in a different USB port.  Once I have done this, I am able
> to filter/lock with varying degrees of success.  Sometimes it will allow
> me to generate a full channels.conf, sometimes not.  However, once
> hitting the "filter timeout" error, dmesg gets flooded with:
>
> ---
> s5h1411_writereg: writereg error 0x19 0xf5 0x0000, ret == 0)
> dib0700: i2c write error (status = -108)
> ---
>
> The filter timeout occurs after running "scan tuning.dat > channels.conf"
> The file tuning.dat is generated via "w_scan -fa -x > tuning.dat"
>
> The firmware dvb-fe-xc5000-1.1.fw was copied to /lib/firmware per the
> v4l Wiki instructions.
>
> lspci of working system:  http://pastebin.com/f31efd30a
> lspci of non-working system:  http://pastebin.com/fa80c2f7
>
> Is there something major I'm overlooking?  Are there any known issues
> with this hardware combination?  I am willing to test any changes to the
> xc5000 driver if needed.
>
> Thanks!
> John

Hello John,

I added support for that device.  A couple of questions:

1.  Are you sure the port on the PC supports USB 2.0?

2.  Which application are you using to test with?

3.  Are you doing anything with suspend/resume on the PC?

4.  Are you plugged directly into the USB port, or are you using any
sort of USB extension cable?

Once I know the answers to the above questions, I will see what I can
figure out.

Regards,

Devin

-- 
Devin J. Heitmueller
http://www.devinheitmueller.com
AIM: devinheitmueller

Re: [linux-dvb] Pinnacle HD Stick (801e SE) and i2c issues

[John Orth]

Thank you for your prompt response, Devin.  

> 1.  Are you sure the port on the PC supports USB 2.0?
>   
According to the M3A78-EM spec, all 6 USB ports are 2.0, so I don't 
think that is the issue.  I will double-check this, though.
> 2.  Which application are you using to test with?
>   
I am using MythTV to view video, the "scan" utility from the Ubuntu 
package dvb-apps, and I compiled "w_scan" from source.
> 3.  Are you doing anything with suspend/resume on the PC?
>   
Not at the moment.  The only power save feature I have enabled is 
turning off the monitor, but these issues occur before the system is 
idle long enough for that to take place.
> 4.  Are you plugged directly into the USB port, or are you using any
> sort of USB extension cable?
>   
Yes, my 801e SE came with a short (~3") USB extension cable which I am 
using to snake the device out the back of the media shelf.  Not a huge 
deal if it needs to be removed, though.
> Once I know the answers to the above questions, I will see what I can
> figure out.
>   
Great, thanks so much for your help!

John

Re: [linux-dvb] Pinnacle HD Stick (801e SE) and i2c issues

[John Orth]

Thank you for your prompt response, Devin. 
> 1.  Are you sure the port on the PC supports USB 2.0?   
According to the M3A78-EM spec, all 6 USB ports are 2.0, so I don't 
think that is the issue.  I will double-check this, though.
> 2.  Which application are you using to test with?   
I am using MythTV to view video, the "scan" utility from the Ubuntu 
package dvb-apps, and I compiled "w_scan" from source.
> 3.  Are you doing anything with suspend/resume on the PC?   
Not at the moment.  The only power save feature I have enabled is 
turning off the monitor, but these issues occur before the system is 
idle long enough for that to take place.
> 4.  Are you plugged directly into the USB port, or are you using any
> sort of USB extension cable?   
Yes, my 801e SE came with a short (~3") USB extension cable which I am 
using to snake the device out the back of the media shelf.  Not a huge 
deal if it needs to be removed, though.
> Once I know the answers to the above questions, I will see what I can
> figure out.   
Great, thanks so much for your help!

John

Re: [linux-dvb] Pinnacle HD Stick (801e SE) and i2c issues

[Devin Heitmueller]

On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 9:42 AM, John Orth <john@orthfamily.net> wrote:
> Thank you for your prompt response, Devin.
>>
>> 1.  Are you sure the port on the PC supports USB 2.0?
>
> According to the M3A78-EM spec, all 6 USB ports are 2.0, so I don't think
> that is the issue.  I will double-check this, though.
>>
>> 2.  Which application are you using to test with?
>
> I am using MythTV to view video, the "scan" utility from the Ubuntu package
> dvb-apps, and I compiled "w_scan" from source.
>>
>> 3.  Are you doing anything with suspend/resume on the PC?
>
> Not at the moment.  The only power save feature I have enabled is turning
> off the monitor, but these issues occur before the system is idle long
> enough for that to take place.
>>
>> 4.  Are you plugged directly into the USB port, or are you using any
>> sort of USB extension cable?
>
> Yes, my 801e SE came with a short (~3") USB extension cable which I am using
> to snake the device out the back of the media shelf.  Not a huge deal if it
> needs to be removed, though.

Hmm...  Yeah, don't worry about the 3" cable that came with the 801e.
I just asked because I've seen 6 foot cables that had issues.

I suspect this is probably some issue with the USB host chipset.  The
error messages you provided suggest a problem sending commands to the
dib0700 USB bridge, so this does not appear to be related to the
s5h1411 or the xc5000.

I'll have to take a look at the code and see what I can figure out.
Do other high speed USB devices work with your host without any
problem (like USB hard drives, etc?)

Devin

-- 
Devin J. Heitmueller
http://www.devinheitmueller.com
AIM: devinheitmueller

Re: [linux-dvb] Pinnacle HD Stick (801e SE) and i2c issues

[John Orth]

I'm not much of a hardware guy (I know enough to get around) so 
hopefully I don't sound too inept here.
> I suspect this is probably some issue with the USB host chipset.  The
> error messages you provided suggest a problem sending commands to the
> dib0700 USB bridge, so this does not appear to be related to the
> s5h1411 or the xc5000.
>   
That was my initial thought as well, but I don't have a great 
understanding of what exactly the i2c bus does and how it works with the 
other hardware.  Is it possible that some other piece of hardware 
(non-USB, and non-USB host chipset) is impacting this?  The only reason 
I ask is that I have a PCI wireless card that is using the kernel 
rtl8185 driver (which thus far could best be described as "functional") 
and network traffic often gets dropped for several seconds.  Is it worth 
unloading the rtl8185 module and seeing if that makes a difference?

Also, would more output from dmesg (or any other command) be helpful?
> I'll have to take a look at the code and see what I can figure out.
> Do other high speed USB devices work with your host without any
> problem (like USB hard drives, etc?)
>   
The only other devices I have attempted to attach are a 2GB flash drive 
and a wireless keyboard/mouse combo.  Those devices work without any 
issues, but I don't think they qualify as "high speed."  I do have a USB 
2.0 hard drive, though.  I'll hook that up and see what happens.

Thanks again!
John

Re: [linux-dvb] Pinnacle HD Stick (801e SE) and i2c issues

[Devin Heitmueller]

On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 12:12 PM, John Orth <john@orthfamily.net> wrote:
> That was my initial thought as well, but I don't have a great understanding
> of what exactly the i2c bus does and how it works with the other hardware.
>  Is it possible that some other piece of hardware (non-USB, and non-USB host
> chipset) is impacting this?  The only reason I ask is that I have a PCI
> wireless card that is using the kernel rtl8185 driver (which thus far could
> best be described as "functional") and network traffic often gets dropped
> for several seconds.  Is it worth unloading the rtl8185 module and seeing if
> that makes a difference?

It's possible.  Since the issue is highly reproducible, I would
suggest you pull the card and see if it makes any difference.  Same
goes for any other suspect hardware.

To be fair though (and I hope nobody from Realtek is listening), the
rtl8185 isn't the most reliable card around.  I have a couple I bought
a couple of years ago, and they only stopped panic'ing the kernel in
recent versions (at least for Ubuntu).

> Also, would more output from dmesg (or any other command) be helpful?

Yeah, if you could pastebin the full dmesg output, I can see if there
is anything else that jumps out at me.

Devin

-- 
Devin J. Heitmueller
http://www.devinheitmueller.com
AIM: devinheitmueller

Re: [linux-dvb] Pinnacle HD Stick (801e SE) and i2c issues

[John Orth]

It turns out that the issues I was having with the Asus M3A78-EM and 
Pinnacle HDTV Stick 801e SE were completely unrelated to the v4l 
driver.  I added a PCI USB 2.0 card and plugged the tuner stick into 
that and things are working, and working very well I might add. 

The original issue was that, after a seemingly random time of usage, 
dmesg would get filled with:

---
s5h1411_writereg: writereg error 0x19 0xf5 0x0000, ret == 0)
dib0700: i2c write error (status = -108)
---

and the tuner would cease to work in any fashion without a cold boot and 
switching the USB port to which the tuner was attached.

Thanks much to Devin Heitmueller for all his help.  This actually is an 
issue with the USB host controller on the AMD SB700, so the PCI card was 
a great and inexpensive (~10 USD) workaround.

John