[Solved] Viewing or Listening Conflict/All TV Tuners in Use

[Phylum]

Things have been running fine for several months now. Recently one of the drives failed requiring a system restore from the week before. Since the restore, I've been having issues with Live TV in MC where every so many hours (usually overnight and when we return home from work) it fails to locate a TV signal. While a reboot usually fixes the problem, I'm hoping to find a long term solution! So below is a brief summary of what's been done so far.

The first time this happened I restarted MC, saw no change, closed MC, launched Ceton Diagnostics & it just let it refresh for ages never actually locating a tuner. I don't remember the status messages on the other tabs so I rebooted which resolved the issue leading me to believe this was a fluke and I left it at that.

The second time this happened it was only a few hours (2-4) after the first time, which got me worried. I cleared the network settings, re-detected the tuner via Ceton Diagnostics, MC still didn't see the tuner so I restarted. (This process has been going on for a week or so now.)

This past weekend I had some time to look into this a bit and tried the following

1. Renamed c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome
2. Stopped the "Windows Media Center Scheduler" and "Windows Media Center Receiver" services
3. Renamed "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome" to .OLD (or something)
4. Deleted the Turners key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Video
5. Restarted the services & rebooted

When it came back up, things were working fine so I left it at that; until it happened again. This time I tried:

1. Steps 1-4 above
2. Removed Ceton Network Device via Device Manager
3. Uninstalled all Ceton software
4. Rebooted
5. Reinstalled the Ceton Drivers (since Windows didn't recognize the device automagically)
6. Launched MC, went through the TV setup again and all was well.

The next time it happened I closed MC, launched Ceton Diagnostics and this time it actually found the tuner. There were no errors on any of the tabs.

I came home this afternoon, and after clicking 'cancel' a quarter of a million times due to lack of a TV signal and/or tuner, was finally able to navigate MC and

• Tried to launch Live TV where I got the 'Viewing or Listening Conflict No tuner available to satisfy the current request' error.
• I went to Tasks > Settings > TV Signal > It no longer has the same list of options as before (just 'Set Up TV Signal' & 'Digital Tuner Diagnostics') and both result in a 'Tuner Not Found' error
• I restarted MC, went to Live TV giving me a 'Please Wait Searching for tuners' that ultimately resulted in a 'Service is unavailable no TV signal detected' error.
• I went back to TV Signal but this time I saw all four options: 'Set Up TV Signal', 'Activate Digital Cable', 'Digital Tuner Diagnostics' and 'Help Setting UP CableCARD™'.
• When clicking 'Set Up TV Signal' this time, it actually detected the tuner and I was able to go through the process (tuner detection, activate CableCARD etc)
• At the end, when trying to watch Live TV, it said 'Weak TV Signal' or 'Subscription Required'
• Minimized MC

I launched Ceton Diagnostics:

• Shows the device at the top (in the drop down - only one option)
• Devices tab shows no errors - all green check marks
  • Go to Device Webpage and it loads - Not sure what woudl be useful here but
    • One Tab
    • WMDRM Pairing is Green
    • Carrier and Digital Locks = 1
    • Signal Level = 6.1 dBmV
    • Playback = Stopped
    • Program Number & PID's = 0
    • CableCARD = Inserted
    • Channel = 288
    • Descrambling Status = Possible
    • Copy Protection = Copy Free
    • Two Tab
    • WMDRM Pairing is Green
    • Carrier and Digital Locks = 1
    • Signal Level = 6.1 dBmV
    • Playback = Stopped
    • Program Number & PID's = 0
    • CableCARD = Inserted
    • Channel = 288
    • Descrambling Status = Possible
    • Copy Protection = Copy Free
    • Three Tab
    • WMDRM Pairing is Green
    • Carrier and Digital Locks = 1
    • Signal Level = 4.1 dBmV
    • Playback = Playing
    • Program Number = 622
    • PID's = Several
    • CableCARD = Inserted
    • Channel = 669
    • Descrambling Status = Unknown
    • Copy Protection = Copy Free
    • Four Tab
    • WMDRM Pairing is Green
    • Carrier and Digital Locks = 1
    • Signal Level = 5.4 dBmV
    • Playback = Playing
    • Program Number & PID's = 0
    • CableCARD = Inserted
    • Channel = 288
    • Descrambling Status = Unknown
    • Copy Protection = None
• CableCARD Tab is all green

I went back to the MC window, pressed 'chan up' and got a channel. *gasp* (this is the first time it worked without rebooting)

It was working for a maximum of two hours before giving me this prompt: "All TV tuners are currently in use. To change the channel, select the program or recording that you want to stop."
I clicked the up & down arrows on the prompt but there were no other options so I clicked the only other button: Cancel.
After clicking cancel it dropped me back to the main menu. I tried to watch live TV and I got the viewing or listening conflict error again.
I quickly minimized MC, launched Ceton Diagnostics and it cannot find the tuner: 'No InfiniTV found will continue to search' at the top.
Under the 'Devices' tab it says 'InfiniTV is not connected'
I had the tuner website still open so I went to a few different tabs and it appeared to be responding normally.

After 30-40 minutes, without me doing anything, it started playing live TV again. (I was researching this issue online and drafting a list of things to try) And another 30-40 minutes after that it died again.
I've never been able to witness this - it usually happens when we're away so this is very interesting!

Not sure where the problem lies: InfiniTV, Windows 8, Media Center, other?
Is this fixable without reformatting?
Help!


HTPC Setup:
Ceton InfiniTV 4 (PCIe)
InfiniTV PCIe Driver Version 1.0.2.4
Driver Package & Tool Version: 13.6.3.1088
InfiniTV Firmware: 1266
InfiniTV Hardware: 6212

HP Proliant ML150G6: 1xE5504, 10GB, GeForce GT 610

Windows 8 Pro with MC fully patched as of today.
Power plan is high performance - system never goes to sleep

[erkotz]

Do you see anything related to ehrecvr in your event logs?

[JohnW248]

Have you checked the event viewer for MC and Windows for any errors? There should be lots in Media Center for all the failed recordings and in the Windows log there will probably be listings for ehrecvr errors. Next time, just close media center and then open the services console (it's a littler harder to do than with Win 7 but it's still there) and close/stop and then restart the ehrecvr services. Then open Media Center again and see if the tuners appear.

There may have been something wrong with image you restored or perhaps with the DRM and Playready if you didn't do a mirror copy of the image to the new disk....I've done it successfully with Win7 but not with Win8 as yet.

I think the repair console still exists for Win8 and you might try that and do a repair of the image you installed and see how that works but it sounds like a system issue rather than a tuner issue.

[Phylum]

Evening
Thanks for taking the time to review the post & reply! I haven't been able to give this much attention this week for a couple of reasons. (I'm far more responsive on the weekends.)

I created a custom view to show me all Windows Logs (Application, Security, Setup etc) and when the results loaded, searched for "ehrecvr":

Code: Select all

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Windows Error Reporting
Date:          7/8/2013 9:02:16 PM
Event ID:      1001
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      HTPC
Description:
Fault bucket 109972864, type 4
Event Name: APPCRASH
Response: Not available
Cab Id: -525086722

Problem signature:
P1: ehRecvr.exe
P2: 6.2.9200.16384
P3: 501092f1
P4: ntdll.dll
P5: 6.2.9200.16579
P6: 51637f77
P7: c00000fd
P8: 0000000000005644
P9: 
P10: 

Attached files:
C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Temp\WERDEA8.tmp.appcompat.txt
C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Temp\WERE5EA.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Temp\WERE5EB.tmp.hdmp
C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Temp\WEREA3F.tmp.dmp

These files may be available here:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_ehRecvr.exe_4ce239e23324ff8bb3c692d91b8d5784368c6bc1_cab_0beafc27

Analysis symbol: 
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report Id: 2d4c9daf-e833-11e2-be8c-0002720c9583
Report Status: 8
Hashed bucket: e2b00caf49122d6c136f1d36cac0b263
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Windows Error Reporting" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="0">1001</EventID>
    <Level>4</Level>
    <Task>0</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2013-07-09T01:02:16.000000000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>23038</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>HTPC</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>109972864</Data>
    <Data>4</Data>
    <Data>APPCRASH</Data>
    <Data>Not available</Data>
    <Data>-525086722</Data>
    <Data>ehRecvr.exe</Data>
    <Data>6.2.9200.16384</Data>
    <Data>501092f1</Data>
    <Data>ntdll.dll</Data>
    <Data>6.2.9200.16579</Data>
    <Data>51637f77</Data>
    <Data>c00000fd</Data>
    <Data>0000000000005644</Data>
    <Data>
    </Data>
    <Data>
    </Data>
    <Data>
C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Temp\WERDEA8.tmp.appcompat.txt
C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Temp\WERE5EA.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Temp\WERE5EB.tmp.hdmp
C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Temp\WEREA3F.tmp.dmp</Data>
    <Data>C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_ehRecvr.exe_4ce239e23324ff8bb3c692d91b8d5784368c6bc1_cab_0beafc27</Data>
    <Data>
    </Data>
    <Data>0</Data>
    <Data>2d4c9daf-e833-11e2-be8c-0002720c9583</Data>
    <Data>8</Data>
    <Data>e2b00caf49122d6c136f1d36cac0b263</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>
// SAW THE ABOVE 2-3 TIMES //

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Application Error
Date:          7/8/2013 9:02:08 PM
Event ID:      1000
Task Category: (100)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      HTPC
Description:
Faulting application name: ehRecvr.exe, version: 6.2.9200.16384, time stamp: 0x501092f1
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.2.9200.16579, time stamp: 0x51637f77
Exception code: 0xc00000fd
Fault offset: 0x0000000000005644
Faulting process id: 0x898
Faulting application start time: 0x01ce7b621950b70d
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\ehome\ehRecvr.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Report Id: 2d4c9daf-e833-11e2-be8c-0002720c9583
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID: 
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Application Error" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>100</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2013-07-09T01:02:08.000000000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>23036</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>HTPC</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>ehRecvr.exe</Data>
    <Data>6.2.9200.16384</Data>
    <Data>501092f1</Data>
    <Data>ntdll.dll</Data>
    <Data>6.2.9200.16579</Data>
    <Data>51637f77</Data>
    <Data>c00000fd</Data>
    <Data>0000000000005644</Data>
    <Data>898</Data>
    <Data>01ce7b621950b70d</Data>
    <Data>C:\Windows\ehome\ehRecvr.exe</Data>
    <Data>C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll</Data>
    <Data>2d4c9daf-e833-11e2-be8c-0002720c9583</Data>
    <Data>
    </Data>
    <Data>
    </Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>
// SAW THE ABOVE ONLY ONCE //
// LAST ENTRY //

I repeated this process for 'Media Center' under 'Application and Services Logs': No results for ehrecvr

I repeated this process for several logs under 'Application and Services Logs', searching each custom view for "ehrecvr":

Code: Select all

This service caused a delay in the system shutdown process: 
     File Name		:	ehRecvr
     Friendly Name		:	Windows Media Center Receiver Service
     Version		:	6.2.9200.16384 (win8_rtm.120725-1247)
     Total Time		:	5564ms
     Degradation Time	:	3230ms
     Incident Time (UTC)	:	‎2013‎-‎07‎-‎15T22:45:20.655349700Z
// SAW THIS 2-3 MORE TIMES BUT THEY WERE BACK TO MARCH //

I then created a custom view using the following criteria

• Logged: Anytime
  Event level: all
  Event Sources: ehExtHost, ehRecvr, ehSched, ehshell

Only two hits by 'ehExtHost' and they're 4-5 months old.

So I went into the following Logs & applied the same filters

• Windows Logs > Application: None
  Windows Logs > System: None
  Windows Logs > Applications and Service Logs > Media Center: only 2 informative results by ehExtHost (same as above)

Where else in eventvwr should I be looking?

Stop reading if you already know this: Since Vista, one has had the ability to create full backups of the system via wbadmin. Wbadmin is 'tried and true'; its the default backup utility for Server 2008! (I used it when I upgraded our AD schema for Exchange 2010 and again for SCCM 2012). In addition to that, in Windows 7 & 8 you also have the ability to not only create a 'System Repair Disk' but also to create a 'System Image' (Control Panel > Windows 7 File Recovery > Both options should be on the left side). You can leverage all of these utilities to help create full backups that can later be restored, even on bare metal if needed.
Prior to the hard drive failure, everything was fine. This problem manifested itself 'overnight', which is to say after the restore. While I acknowledge the possibility exists that something could have gone wrong during the backup and/or restore process/es, I just don't want that to be the default knee jerk reaction! I suspect (read: want to believe) its not a very common scenario that a bad backups are taken and thus restored, but, yes, I'm aware its still possible. Aside from MC, nothing else appears to be wrong: Windows is very responsive, it hasn't exhibited any unusual/unexpected behavior, all the other apps (Plex, PlayOn/PlayLater etc) also continue to function normally. All in all, nothing has presented itself that would make me think that maybe it was a bad image or there was a bad restore. But who knows! I just don't want to have to format/reinstall *.* if I don't have to.


I'm running `sfc /scannow` now and later I'll uninstall & reinstall MC via `dism /online` (rebooting in between each) and see what happens after that.

[JohnW248]

If you do the uninstall and re-install, you'll have to run the DCA again and set-up the tuners over again and of course any DRM recordings from the past won't play. If you can do a repair from the repair disc, you won't have to re-install or run the DCA or lose the DRM.

You should have found recording errors in the MC file in event viewer at the time you had the multiple recording failures when mc kept trying alternate tuners (I think it tries one, get a failure, tries it again, failure and then one to tuner 2 and so forth). I have never seen the ehRecvr error in MC only in the Windows logs and if that was at fault it should have happened at the same time as the start of the recording failures. If you have a corrupted copy of ehrecvr either in the ehome directory or in the back up folder in Windows, that might be a place to look.

Since, if I recall correctly, it runs for a time and then the failures hit, you might also look at some other posssiblities like a bad RAM stick or a HD that is starting to have SMART issues. Also since you just replaced the HD, you might also want to examine permissions, For fun, you might go into the resource monitor, click on CPU and under processes put a check mark in ehrecvr.exe and then look at the associated modules. There are lots.....

[Phylum]

Ohh no no no - this is really, really sad sad news.

If you do the uninstall and re-install, you'll have to run the DCA again and set-up the tuners over again and of course any DRM recordings from the past won't play. If you can do a repair from the repair disc, you won't have to re-install or run the DCA or lose the DRM.

So the umpteen hundred GB's of TV shows are now unusable? (No wonder they didn't show up in MC - I thought maybe the library was not configured properly...)

[shortcut3d]

Oddly enough, I had a similar issue last night switching my iSCSI RAID array for recording because of an upgrade to an 8 disk NAS. For some reason, Ceton InfiniTV6 ETH would say Viewing or Listening Conflict on All Tuners. Initially, I thought it was iSCSI so I recorded to a locally attached drive. (Deleted, Rebuilt Array, Restored for a complete waste of time). All recordings failed and same error. The failed file size was 510MB each time for each recording. I had to power down everything for about one minute then power back up to get the tuners working again. Very strange.

[foxwood]

Ohh no no no - this is really, really sad sad news.

If you do the uninstall and re-install, you'll have to run the DCA again and set-up the tuners over again and of course any DRM recordings from the past won't play. If you can do a repair from the repair disc, you won't have to re-install or run the DCA or lose the DRM.

So the umpteen hundred GB's of TV shows are now unusable? (No wonder they didn't show up in MC - I thought maybe the library was not configured properly...)

They'd show up in the library, they just wouldn't play.

[Phylum]

Well some interesting news and its somewhat difficult to explain.
Because it kept happening periodically throughout the day, and complained that there were not enough tuners available to record whatever show as playing at that time, I decided to take a closer look at the scheduled recordings. One of the scheduled was setup to record multiple instances of the same show at the exact same time & channel. So lets say Spongebob is on at 3PM on Nick and again at 3:30 on ABC, there were dozens of recordings trying to happen simultaneously for the 3PM showing, then again dozens for for the 3:30PM showing. I could scroll through the recording list, and that was just for today - It was bonkers! I checked a few dozen recordings and they were all for the same channel & time before I saw the next showing on a different channel.

I deleted the offending schedule, checked the other ones (they were all ok) but deleted them anyway. I have no scheduled recordings at this time and I haven't seen the problem in 2-3 days. I think that fixed it. (Lets hope)