"myth tv seems to have died"

[hobbsc]

Greetings!  This is my first post, but I've done some extensive searching and have come up empty handed.

I've got a Beta 2 setup running and when I click on "TV", I get the following message:

MythTV seems to have died.  I'm trying to reset it now.  If you do not see tv, try stopping the tv and restarting it.  If you still have problems, you may need to reboot."

MythTV then immediately reports the following:

Could not connect to the master backend server -- is it running?  Is the IP address set for it in the setup program correct?

I've changed the Myth setup to point to an IP address, rather than simply "localhost" as per some information I've found through searching.  I've tried both the external and internal IP addresses.

I also read that I might need to check that the backend is actually running and that I may need to manually start it.  I'm completely fine with that, but I don't have any idea how to perform said actions.

Could someone tell me how to check if it's running and/or how to start it?  Is there existing documentation on this that I've missed?

Thank you for your time!

[cckrobinson]

I'm seeing the same problem on occassion.  The solution that I've found is to set both IPs to localhost in the myth setup.  My frontend and backend are on the same box so it works.  Once you exit setup you will be able to connect to the backend.  The problem is that the database gets modified each time you reboot, so the settings are lost.  I probably need to tweak one of the shell scripts to use localhost by default.

Technically I don't think the mythbackend has died.  LMCE just can't connect to it so it assumes it has died and prints out that message.

[hobbsc]

I just set both of them to 'localhost'.  I don't get the first error message any longer, but I still get the second one.

This is a box-stock install, if that helps.  Perhaps I missed a setting somewhere?

[cckrobinson]

That sounds a lot like the dreaded MySQL DBPassword mismatch that Myth is famous for.  Chances are that the database password defined in mysql.txt doesn't match the actual database password.  This should have worked out of the box, but it's possible that you fat fingered the setting when you were configuring things from the GUI.  Changing the password from the GUI updates the file.  Do a grep for mysql.txt (I don't recall where LMCE expects it to live).  The username and password for the mythconverg database are stored there.

I don't recall what the default DBPassword should be for a clean LinuxMCE install.  I can check on my box tonight and post it.  If anyone else knows or can check before then please post it for hobbsc.

Take a look at this thread as well.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=2817553 

[hobbsc]

The password in /usr/share/mythtv/mysql.txt looks to be the same as the password in the Myth setup.

[rwilson131]

There are a few places that this may be an issue:
1. /usr/share/mythtv/mysql.txt which is symlinked to /etc/mythtv/mysql.txt
2. I have found that the best combination of information is to use dcerouter as the DBHostName and not localhost or the IP address
3. The last thing that sometimes cause problems is that the user is not allowed access to the database.

Try the following commands and see if you can log into the database.

Code:

$ cat /etc/mythtv/mysql.txt
$ mysql -umythtv -p(password from the above output) -h dcerouter mythconverg

if you can log on to the database then the information in the mysql.txt file is accurate. If you can not then you will need to try and few things.

if access is denied for mythtv user then try

Code:

$ mysql -uroot -p -h dcerouter mythconverg

If you can log in as root then you can change the password for mythtv user.

Code:

$ mysql> update user set Password=PASSWORD('new-value') WHERE User='mythtv';
$ mysql> flush privilege;

now change the password in the /etc/mythtv/mysql.txt file

and retry the mysql command above for the mythtv user.

If you are still denied access then you may need to allow additional access.  THis is from the mythtv documentation.

Code:

$ mysql -u root mythconverg
$ mysql> grant all on mythconverg.* to mythtv@"192.168.80.%" identified by "mythtv";
$ mysql> flush privileges;

Note that the above command you should put the LAN you are using 192.168.?.%

These are the things that I have had to deal with in the past when trying to get Pluto up and running.  I am not yet running LinuxMCE but I will be when my equipment arrives.

I hope this helps.
Robert Wilson

[cckrobinson]

The password in /usr/share/mythtv/mysql.txt looks to be the same as the password in the Myth setup.

They should match.  I believe the values that you see in the myth setup are pulled from that file.  My point was that the password in the file may not match the database if you accidentally modified that field from within the mythTV setup.

[hobbsc]

Try the following commands and see if you can log into the database.

Code:

$ cat /etc/mythtv/mysql.txt
$ mysql -umythtv -p(password from the above output) -h dcerouter mythconverg

This command worked perfectly, I was able to get into the database without a problem.  I still had the same issue connecting after verifying that the passwords were again, correct.

If you are still denied access then you may need to allow additional access.  THis is from the mythtv documentation.

Code:

$ mysql -u root mythconverg
$ mysql> grant all on mythconverg.* to mythtv@"192.168.80.%" identified by "mythtv";
$ mysql> flush privileges;

I gave this a shot as well, to no avail.  I'll play around with the permissions a bit.

I did, however, get a small change when I set the hostname to dcerouter rather than localhost.  If the hostname is anything other than dcerouter, then the MythTV "skin" or "theme", whatever they choose to call it, is sort of brown in color.  It's a real earthy look at any rate.  When I use dcerouter as the hostname, Myth immediately jumps into a setup mode where it states that it cannot connect to the database.  The theme of this setup utility is a vibrant blue color, much different than that of what I'm used to seeing so far with LMCE and MythTV.

I have also verified that the backend is indeed running.  I've tried every combination of hostname/ip I can think of as well.

I'll play with the database permissions and see what I can come up with.   I really would like LMCE to work, but I think my hair is turning grey over this.

I really appreciate the responses that all of you have given.

[Electuur]

Hello,

I also had problems logging in to mySQL with user mythtv.
I think I solved it with the following procedure:

Login as root:

Code:

mySQL –u root

         (Use –p if you have a password assigned)

Select the mysql database:

Code:

use mysql;

Display al users:

Code:

Select User, Host, Password form user;

Remove all mythtv users:

Code:

Drop user ‘mythtv’@’localhost’;
Drop user ‘mythtv’@’192.168.80.1’;

Etc. whatever ‘mythtv’@......  user is listed in the user table.

When all mythtv users are removed, create a new one with all rights and without a password:

Code:

Grand all privileges on *.* to ‘mythtv’@’localhost’;

Exit mySQL and try to log in as mythtv.

I wrote this procedure without referencing the exact commands. So there may be errors in the commands, but I think the general idea is clear.
If it works you can assign a password and revoke rights if security is an issue.

Succes,
Electuur.