Technotrend common interfaces think my CAM is invalid

A while ago I compiled and installed a new v4l-dvb. After that, my common interface never worked correctly again. Not long after installing the v4l-dvb, the PSU in my computer broke down, most likely coincidence. After replacing the PSU the computer worked again. I've got both a TT S-1500 and T-1500 with CI.

But the common interface still fails. So I:

*Installed the newest v4l-dvb today
*Tried 2 other CI cables
*Tried swapping the CI daughterboards (one 1.0a and one 1.1) *Tried another computer with different mainboard and (much) older v4l-dvb (Ubuntu 6.10)
*Blew the dust off my TT S2-3200 (never used before), connected the CI to it and installed multiproto few weeks ago
*Decided my old PSU must have blasted both CI daughterboards, ordered new ones and installed that with v4l-dvb downloaded today *Re-installed the linuximage package (Ubuntu 7.10) (but not sure if all v4l-dvb from hg is removed with that)

Maybe I've tried more but I don't remember right now. Anyway, nothing of this helped. My official CanalDigitaal/TV Vlaanderen Mediaguard module and Xcam give me "dvb_ca adapter 0: Invalid PC card inserted :(". Only my Matrix Reborn initializes, but does not work correctly (corruption and/or decodes only audio PID and not video and/or just acts weird). Offical Conax 4.00e is not working so well anymore either (does not always initialize correctly), but atm I've got no subscription card to test.

In a standalone Vantage receiver, all modules work well. So they can't be invalid. I just watched Mythbusters with the offical Mediaguard module. And they used to work on the TT, I only remember from the past that the offical Mediaguard gave some corruption (it's compatiblity is not great) but it did run. According to some linuxtv wiki this CAM should now work fine.

I'll go look for some Knoppix and see if my CAMs initialize correctly with that. This is really strange. If anyone's got a clue..

P.

_______________________________________________
linux-dvb mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.linuxtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linux-dvb

Knoppix didn't want to start (couldn't read the CD, not sure why, maybe
too old), but I found a Ubuntu 7.04 live/install CD. Started with that, no difference. I did find something else: I've got three different lenghts CI cables. One approx. 60cm, a few others approx. 40cm and some approx. 4cm. With 60cm, both the offical Mediaguard CAM and Xcam won't initialize. With 40cm, the Xcam still won't and the Mediaguard will init about 50% of the time. With 4cm, both Xcam and Mediaguard will always init. But it still doesn't work properly, even with the 4cm cable I couldn't get a picture with the Mediaguard, and I had a picture for about half a minute with the Xcam after which Kaffeine would freeze.

I'm not sure if it's a driver problem, all I know is that this started right after installing a new v4l-dvb a few weeks ago. The problem seems to have no cause:

Not the DVB-card, as the S2-3200 had the same problem.
Not the CI cable, tried many different cables and I don't believe they are all broken the same way.
Not the CI-daughterboard, I even bought new ones with no result. Not the current v4l-dvb loaded, because a Ubuntu 7.04 live CD (kernel 2.6.20 iirc) has the same result now.
Not the computer, because the setup didn't work in another computer either. Not the CAM, all CAMs work fine in a Vantage standalone.

And note I have used this setup, S-1500+CI+long cable+Xcam for months without any problems.

Quoted 10 lines

Knoppix didn't want to start (couldn't read the CD, not sure why, maybe
too old), but I found a Ubuntu 7.04 live/install CD. Started with that, no difference. I did find something else: I've got three different lenghts CI cables. One approx. 60cm, a few others approx. 40cm and some approx. 4cm. With 60cm, both the offical Mediaguard CAM and Xcam won't initialize. With 40cm, the Xcam still won't and the Mediaguard will init about 50% of the time. With 4cm, both Xcam and Mediaguard will always init. But it still doesn't work properly, even with the 4cm cable I couldn't get a picture with the Mediaguard, and I had a picture for about half a minute with the Xcam after which Kaffeine would freeze.

Not surprising. Many of the CAMs are really picky about timing and signalling. The Conax 4.00 cam works every time for me. What I suggest is that you try the patch I have linked to from
http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/TechnoTrend_TT-budget_S-1500#CAM_tests
Which is this:
http://www.linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2007-July/019116.html

There is some manual labour to get this patch working, but once done, all the CAMs I have initializes perfectly. I have no idea if the cable-length affects the process less after the patching, but it sure helps on initializing the CAMs I have.

Quoted 13 lines

I'm not sure if it's a driver problem, all I know is that this started right after installing a new v4l-dvb a few weeks ago. The problem seems to have no cause:

Not the DVB-card, as the S2-3200 had the same problem.
Not the CI cable, tried many different cables and I don't believe they are all broken the same way.
Not the CI-daughterboard, I even bought new ones with no result. Not the current v4l-dvb loaded, because a Ubuntu 7.04 live CD (kernel 2.6.20 iirc) has the same result now.
Not the computer, because the setup didn't work in another computer either. Not the CAM, all CAMs work fine in a Vantage standalone.

Quoted 2 lines

And note I have used this setup, S-1500+CI+long cable+Xcam for months without any problems.

You said you changed your powersupply. To a more powerful one? Some PSUs does give away troublesome noise, especially when heavily loaded. Also, some powerful PSUs have much of the power on wrong voltages, or spread across different cables, so that you might actually be pushing the PSU to it's limits on one circuit, while swapping some power cables would solve the whole issue.

BTW, the CI daughterboard is very simple, like in _very_ simple. It is very unlikely that this will break. If something is broken with CI, it would probably be the cable or the tuner-card.

-Morgan-

Quoted 46 lines · Morgan Tørvolt

Quoted 10 lines

Knoppix didn't want to start (couldn't read the CD, not sure why, maybe
too old), but I found a Ubuntu 7.04 live/install CD. Started with that, no difference. I did find something else: I've got three different lenghts CI cables. One approx. 60cm, a few others approx. 40cm and some approx. 4cm. With 60cm, both the offical Mediaguard CAM and Xcam won't initialize. With 40cm, the Xcam still won't and the Mediaguard will init about 50% of the time. With 4cm, both Xcam and Mediaguard will always init. But it still doesn't work properly, even with the 4cm cable I couldn't get a picture with the Mediaguard, and I had a picture for about half a minute with the Xcam after which Kaffeine would freeze.

Not surprising. Many of the CAMs are really picky about timing and signalling. The Conax 4.00 cam works every time for me. What I suggest is that you try the patch I have linked to from
http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/TechnoTrend_TT-budget_S-1500#CAM_tests
Which is this:
http://www.linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2007-July/019116.html

There is some manual labour to get this patch working, but once done, all the CAMs I have initializes perfectly. I have no idea if the cable-length affects the process less after the patching, but it sure helps on initializing the CAMs I have.

Quoted 13 lines

I'm not sure if it's a driver problem, all I know is that this started right after installing a new v4l-dvb a few weeks ago. The problem seems to have no cause:

Not the DVB-card, as the S2-3200 had the same problem.
Not the CI cable, tried many different cables and I don't believe they are all broken the same way.
Not the CI-daughterboard, I even bought new ones with no result. Not the current v4l-dvb loaded, because a Ubuntu 7.04 live CD (kernel 2.6.20 iirc) has the same result now.
Not the computer, because the setup didn't work in another computer either. Not the CAM, all CAMs work fine in a Vantage standalone.

Quoted 2 lines

And note I have used this setup, S-1500+CI+long cable+Xcam for months without any problems.

You said you changed your powersupply. To a more powerful one? Some PSUs does give away troublesome noise, especially when heavily loaded. Also, some powerful PSUs have much of the power on wrong voltages, or spread across different cables, so that you might actually be pushing the PSU to it's limits on one circuit, while swapping some power cables would solve the whole issue.

Quoted 6 lines

BTW, the CI daughterboard is very simple, like in _very_ simple. It is very unlikely that this will break. If something is broken with CI, it would probably be the cable or the tuner-card.

-Morgan-

Yeah, more power! Another computer (AMD Geode NX1750 and a laptop harddrive, the 480W Antec is very very bored) gives the same result. My regular computer was turned off when I tested that. The patch made no difference whatsoever. The Xcam is actually not picky at all, it is well
known for working in pretty much any receiver - and it does. For
example, KNC1 CI's are quite picky but the Xcam has no problems with that. Even the Matrix Reborn won't run in a KNC1, yet the Xcam does.

I installed the card on Windows to test a bit. I also noted the CI works better on Linux when I fold the CI cable in tinfoil. Here's an overview of some tests:

*Windows, unshielded 40cm cable:
Xcam sometimes takes a while to init, but works on all tested channels after that (including RTL4 and RTL5).
Matrix Reborn: similar result.

*Linux, v4l-dvb from hg april 12, 40cm cable in tinfoil:
Xcam does init and works. But RTL4, RTL5
(http://nl.kingofsat.net/pack-canaldigitaal.php) give only sound. The videoPID is correct and I did a rescan. Audio is gone if I remove the CAM, so it is encrypted.
Matrix similar result, no picture on RTL4 and RTL5 here either, but apart from that it seems to work.

*Linux, v4l-dvb from hg april 12, unshielded 40cm cable:
Xcam does not init anymore. Not at all. Just "Invalid PC card inserted :(". Matrix Reborn does init, but init fails sometimes as well. When it does init, I can watch most channels.. But not RTL4 or RTL5 (only sound). SCM Conax 4.00e: init sometimes, but can't even get into the menu. Don't have a Conax subscription card right now.

RTL4 and RTL5 do work on Windows or a standalone receiver with CI. I also tried to disable all the power in the house and did a test with UPS, but the Xcam still would not init with the unshielded cable. So no electrical devices in the house went bad. The UPS or display are not the source either, tried unplugging them. And a S-1500, T-1500 and S2-3200 are all doing the same thing. I've also got a Aston 1.05 and official Mediaguard CAM to test if required.

Quoted 83 lines · P. van Gaans

Quoted 44 lines · Morgan Tørvolt

Quoted 10 lines

Knoppix didn't want to start (couldn't read the CD, not sure why, maybe
too old), but I found a Ubuntu 7.04 live/install CD. Started with that, no difference. I did find something else: I've got three different lenghts CI cables. One approx. 60cm, a few others approx. 40cm and some approx. 4cm. With 60cm, both the offical Mediaguard CAM and Xcam won't initialize. With 40cm, the Xcam still won't and the Mediaguard will init about 50% of the time. With 4cm, both Xcam and Mediaguard will always init. But it still doesn't work properly, even with the 4cm cable I couldn't get a picture with the Mediaguard, and I had a picture for about half a minute with the Xcam after which Kaffeine would freeze.

Not surprising. Many of the CAMs are really picky about timing and signalling. The Conax 4.00 cam works every time for me. What I suggest is that you try the patch I have linked to from
http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/TechnoTrend_TT-budget_S-1500#CAM_tests
Which is this:
http://www.linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2007-July/019116.html

There is some manual labour to get this patch working, but once done, all the CAMs I have initializes perfectly. I have no idea if the cable-length affects the process less after the patching, but it sure helps on initializing the CAMs I have.

Quoted 13 lines

I'm not sure if it's a driver problem, all I know is that this started right after installing a new v4l-dvb a few weeks ago. The problem seems to have no cause:

Not the DVB-card, as the S2-3200 had the same problem.
Not the CI cable, tried many different cables and I don't believe they are all broken the same way.
Not the CI-daughterboard, I even bought new ones with no result. Not the current v4l-dvb loaded, because a Ubuntu 7.04 live CD (kernel 2.6.20 iirc) has the same result now.
Not the computer, because the setup didn't work in another computer either. Not the CAM, all CAMs work fine in a Vantage standalone.

Quoted 2 lines

And note I have used this setup, S-1500+CI+long cable+Xcam for months without any problems.

You said you changed your powersupply. To a more powerful one? Some PSUs does give away troublesome noise, especially when heavily loaded. Also, some powerful PSUs have much of the power on wrong voltages, or spread across different cables, so that you might actually be pushing the PSU to it's limits on one circuit, while swapping some power cables would solve the whole issue.

Quoted 6 lines

BTW, the CI daughterboard is very simple, like in _very_ simple. It is very unlikely that this will break. If something is broken with CI, it would probably be the cable or the tuner-card.

-Morgan-

Yeah, more power! Another computer (AMD Geode NX1750 and a laptop harddrive, the 480W Antec is very very bored) gives the same result. My regular computer was turned off when I tested that. The patch made no difference whatsoever. The Xcam is actually not picky at all, it is well
known for working in pretty much any receiver - and it does. For
example, KNC1 CI's are quite picky but the Xcam has no problems with that. Even the Matrix Reborn won't run in a KNC1, yet the Xcam does.

I installed the card on Windows to test a bit. I also noted the CI works better on Linux when I fold the CI cable in tinfoil. Here's an overview of some tests:

*Windows, unshielded 40cm cable:
Xcam sometimes takes a while to init, but works on all tested channels after that (including RTL4 and RTL5).
Matrix Reborn: similar result.

*Linux, v4l-dvb from hg april 12, 40cm cable in tinfoil:
Xcam does init and works. But RTL4, RTL5
(http://nl.kingofsat.net/pack-canaldigitaal.php) give only sound. The videoPID is correct and I did a rescan. Audio is gone if I remove the CAM, so it is encrypted.
Matrix similar result, no picture on RTL4 and RTL5 here either, but apart from that it seems to work.

*Linux, v4l-dvb from hg april 12, unshielded 40cm cable:
Xcam does not init anymore. Not at all. Just "Invalid PC card inserted :(". Matrix Reborn does init, but init fails sometimes as well. When it does init, I can watch most channels.. But not RTL4 or RTL5 (only sound). SCM Conax 4.00e: init sometimes, but can't even get into the menu. Don't have a Conax subscription card right now.

Quoted 7 lines

RTL4 and RTL5 do work on Windows or a standalone receiver with CI. I also tried to disable all the power in the house and did a test with UPS, but the Xcam still would not init with the unshielded cable. So no electrical devices in the house went bad. The UPS or display are not the source either, tried unplugging them. And a S-1500, T-1500 and S2-3200 are all doing the same thing. I've also got a Aston 1.05 and official Mediaguard CAM to test if required.

Interesting that the CAM works on windows and failes on linux, and shielding makes a difference.

Maybe we should try to play with a different debi timing.

In budget-ci.c the CAM timing is controlled by 2 lines:

#define DEBICICTL 0x00420000 -> 1 wait state
#define DEBICICAM 0x02420000 -> 9 wait states

You might try the following:
1) Change DEBICICTL to the same value as DEBICICAM (0x02420000) Any improvement?
2) If it does not help, try value 0x03c20000 (15 wait states) for both constants. Does it help?

CU
Oliver