Jive software update problems?

[nicketynick]

Hi,

Got home really late last night (2300hrs EDT), wife was listening to music downstairs (via old remote), I headed upstairs and tried to power up the JHB for the player up there. Had a hard time getting as far as the Menu - it would show the player name across the top, but no menu. Shut down and restarted 3 times before it managed to get there. I wondered if it was trying to update or something and was having trouble with marginal wireless strength or something, so I checked Software - r616. Hmmmm... so I went to the software update option, thinking it would report whether something was available before asking if you wanted to proceed. Nope - it just went through a lengthy download/install/verify process. But once it was complete, I went back to check, and it still said r616! I note that folks have reported updating to r622 prior to that time so I'm confused!
Any suggestions of what I should look at when I get home tonight? (probably late again.... I have to do something about this work thing so that I can do things, and still have some time at home occasionally!)

[slimpy]

SC only looks for a new Jive fw at startup.
You need to restart SC to get r622. Once downloaded the fw file will be stored in the Cache directory.
The JHW will prompt you to update upon startup.

-s.

[nicketynick]

Aaah, that makes sense. Thanks!

[nicketynick]

I still seem to be running into problems here. I restarted SC, (actually, restarted XP, just to try to make things better), then tried to start JHB a couple hours later. Same problem as before - it would start up, and it would get as far as showing the player name title bar, or even the Home menu, but it would be frozen. Tried this several times. On the last attempt, I decided to power on the SB with the old remote, and the JHB woke right up! Software version still reports as r616, and furthermore, when I went to the Software Update item, I got the dialogue that said "Please choose continue to proceed with ....", but there was no continue - the only place I could navigate was back!
I'm running 9/30, do I need to update to a newer nightly? Are JHB software revisions tied to SC versions, in the same way the SB firmware was?

[slimpy]

No, jive fw is not tied to sc versions.
Check if you have the new firmware file in the sc cache folder. The name should be something like jive_r622.bin. If sc wasn't able to download the latest version you might still have r616 instead.
When on the update screen did you press the centre button?
Even if there is no new firmware it should reload the version that is present in the cache folder. Or give you an error message if it wasn't able to fetch one.

-s.

[Siduhe]

I still seem to be running into problems here. I restarted SC, (actually, restarted XP, just to try to make things better), then tried to start JHB a couple hours later. Same problem as before - it would start up, and it would get as far as showing the player name title bar, or even the Home menu, but it would be frozen. Tried this several times. On the last attempt, I decided to power on the SB with the old remote, and the JHB woke right up! Software version still reports as r616, and furthermore, when I went to the Software Update item, I got the dialogue that said "Please choose continue to proceed with ....", but there was no continue - the only place I could navigate was back!
I'm running 9/30, do I need to update to a newer nightly? Are JHB software revisions tied to SC versions, in the same way the SB firmware was?

I had a similar issue and needed to roll back to a pre-26/09 version of SC (in my case 18/09) and update the Jive hardware from that, then roll forward to the latest nightly and update again. There was some kind of change which has broken the updating between older versions of Jive and the current version - I found a fair amount of discussion about it on the forums. The only thing I would add is that I couldn't force the first update with the 26/09 version, only an earlier version.

I have the 18/09 windows.exe if you need it.

[slimpy]

I had a similar issue and needed to roll back to a pre-26/09 version of SC (in my case 18/09) and update the Jive hardware from that, then roll forward to the latest nightly and update again. There was some kind of change which has broken the updating between older versions of Jive and the current version - I found a fair amount of discussion about it on the forums. The only thing I would add is that I couldn't force the first update with the 26/09 version, only an earlier version.

I have the 18/09 windows.exe if you need it.
That shouldn't be the problem, it only is if you have pre r600 fw, nicketynick already has r616.
I updated from r616 to r622 with the 29/09 nightly without any problems (except that r622 refuses to show artwork but that's another story).
The 30/09 nightly should be fine.

-s.

[nicketynick]

No, jive fw is not tied to sc versions.
Check if you have the new firmware file in the sc cache folder. The name should be something like jive_r622.bin. If sc wasn't able to download the latest version you might still have r616 instead.
When on the update screen did you press the centre button?
Even if there is no new firmware it should reload the version that is present in the cache folder. Or give you an error message if it wasn't able to fetch one.

-s.

I did press the centre button on the update screen - nothing happened. There was nothing on the screen beyond the "Software Update" title bar & the dialogue box at the bottom - no input of any sort seemed possible (I tried pretty much every button, just in case!), I could only back out.
I'll check the cache folder for the .bin file tonight and report back.

[Siduhe]

That shouldn't be the problem, it only is if you have pre r600 fw, nicketynick already has r616.

Good spot - my issue was with pre600fw (replacement remote). Symptoms identical though. May be worth a try in any event (can you downgrade the firmware?).


(except that r622 refuses to show artwork but that's another story).

Same here.

[kdf]

On 4-Oct-07, at 7:55 AM, Siduhe wrote:

>
> slimpy Wrote:
>> (except that r622 refuses to show artwork but that's another story).
>
> Same here.
This is fixed, but unfortunately the nightly builds are having an
issue building jive firmware at the moment.
Hopefully fixed soon. For now, 622 is the most recent, but checkins
are up to 641. Stay tuned.
-kdf

[nicketynick]

This is fixed, but unfortunately the nightly builds are having an
issue building jive firmware at the moment.
Hopefully fixed soon. For now, 622 is the most recent, but checkins
are up to 641. Stay tuned.
-kdf

So does this fit with what I'm seeing, or do I have another problem?

[kdf]

On 4-Oct-07, at 8:26 AM, nicketynick wrote:

>
> kdf;232627 Wrote:
>> This is fixed, but unfortunately the nightly builds are having an
>> issue building jive firmware at the moment.
>> Hopefully fixed soon. For now, 622 is the most recent, but checkins
>> are up to 641. Stay tuned.
>> -kdf
>
> So does this fit with what I'm seeing, or do I have another problem?
Current SC installs should still be downloading the most recent,
which is r622.
If you already have that, then the server/jive will think there is no
upgrade needed.

start SC with --debug firmware, or set firmware to DEBUG in SC
Settings->debugging, check the persist checkbox and hit save change.
then restart SC and check the log for firmware download activity.
You should be getting r622

-kdf

[nicketynick]

I have AVG on the machine - I've been wondering if it could be causing problems with the software update?

[Mark Lanctot]

SC pulls the JHB firmware from the Internet a minute or two after it starts up, so it must have access to the Internet through your firewall (yes, I know AVG isn't a firewall, but it got me thinking about it.)

Otherwise - no new firmware.

Also note that it only does this on startup, so you'll have to restart it to get new firmware.

[andyg]

On Oct 4, 2007, at 12:45 PM, Mark Lanctot wrote:

>
> SC pulls the JHB firmware from the Internet a minute or two after it
> starts up, so it must have access to the Internet through your
> firewall
> (yes, I know AVG isn't a firewall, but it got me thinking about it.)
>
> Otherwise - no new firmware.
>
> Also note that it only does this on startup, so you'll have to restart
> it to get new firmware.

After tonight's nightly, you won't have to restart it anymore, it
will check once a day.

[kdf]

Also note that it only does this on startup, so you'll have to restart it to get new firmware.

As of the Oct 5 build, it will recheck every 24 hours after the startup check.

-kdf

[funkstar]

After tonight's nightly, you won't have to restart it anymore, it
will check once a day.
Is it possible to the ability to force a check for updates?

Could be useful during the period of testing for when we know there is an update waiting on the server, saves re-starting or waiting for the next scheduled check. Also in case there are download problems.

[andyg]

On Oct 4, 2007, at 2:51 PM, funkstar wrote:

>
> Andy Grundman;232658 Wrote:
>> After tonight's nightly, you won't have to restart it anymore, it
>> will check once a day.
> Is it possible to the ability to force a check for updates?
>
> Could be useful during the period of testing for when we know there is
> an update waiting on the server, saves re-starting or waiting for the
> next scheduled check. Also in case there are download problems.

No, just restart it.

[kdf]

Is it possible to the ability to force a check for updates?

Just restart SqueezeCenter
-kdf

[nicketynick]

Hypothetically, what do I do if I find SC has r622 (or later), but somehow it isn't getting to the JHB? Update to the latest nightly? Try the SD-card update method?
Just trying to anticipate what I might be needing to do when I get a few minutes to check things out.....

[kdf]

On 4-Oct-07, at 12:21 PM, nicketynick wrote:

>
> Hypothetically, what do I do if I find SC has r622 (or later), but
> somehow it isn't getting to the JHB? Update to the latest nightly? Try
> the SD-card update method?

Latest nightly is an option, but shouldn't be required as long as you
are relatively recent (post Sept 26)
SD card is always a good backup. Either place jive.bin (rename if
you have to) onto the card using a card reader
or you can use scp if you have remote login enabled from the jive
device (settings->controller settings->advanced)
Make sure you note the password that it gives you when you enable.
if you didn't catch it the first time, you can disable and re-enable.

-kdf

[nicketynick]

Well, even though r622 was in the cached directory, there was no way it was getting onto the JHB - something was broken. I restarted SC and it pulled down the latest software, and the JHB went through the update procedure just fine, same as when r622 was loaded. But on Restart (the JHB did this automatically), it froze - player name title bar, no menu. I'm going to set the firmware debug to running to see if I can capture something interesting next time it goes around.
Has there been anything significant since 9/30 nightly that I should update SC for?

[slimpy]

I restarted SC and it pulled down the latest software, and the JHB went through the update procedure just fine, same as when r622 was loaded. But on Restart (the JHB did this automatically), it froze - player name title bar, no menu.
I've seen this behaviour too a couple of times, also once after upgrading the software. However I don't think it is related to the upgrade itself. The device is not really frozen, it still reacts to button presses, there's just nowhere to navigate.
Most of the times a simple restart fixes the problem. I think it could be related to a weak wireless connection. While in the process of retrieving player data the operation just times out, leaving it in an undefined state.

-s.

[JimC]

I've seen this behaviour too a couple of times, also once after upgrading the software. However I don't think it is related to the upgrade itself. The device is not really frozen, it still reacts to button presses, there's just nowhere to navigate.
Most of the times a simple restart fixes the problem. I think it could be related to a weak wireless connection. While in the process of retrieving player data the operation just times out, leaving it in an undefined state.

-s.

I've seen this behavior at home with the last two nightlies of SqueezeCenter. I have to restart Windows -- not just SqueezeCenter -- to get them speaking to each other. The first time, I thought it was an anomaly but then the exact same thing happened last night.

Anyone else had a similar experience?


-=> Jim

[nicketynick]

I've seen this behaviour too a couple of times, also once after upgrading the software. However I don't think it is related to the upgrade itself. The device is not really frozen, it still reacts to button presses, there's just nowhere to navigate.
Most of the times a simple restart fixes the problem. I think it could be related to a weak wireless connection. While in the process of retrieving player data the operation just times out, leaving it in an undefined state.

-s.


What do you mean by 'it still reacts'? Without anywhere to navigate, how can you tell its reacting?
I also thought it might be a weak wireless connection, so I tried putting the JHB right next to the router. The 'wireless strength' indicator didn't immediately improve, and the JHB acted the same. I've found that starting the SB playing via another method also seems to pretty consistently kick the JHB out of the frozen state.

[slimpy]

What do you mean by 'it still reacts'? Without anywhere to navigate, how can you tell its reacting?

The menu bumps when you press the back key, just like the menus on the SB when you're at the top level and try to go further left.

-s.