Topic: Imported Media Disappearing from Ubuntu 14.04 (Read 7800 times)

EdM244 · « **on:** February 09, 2015, 03:47:34 pm »

Hello,

Although I've never had any problem importing media to other Windows computers on my home network, I am at a loss to understand why imported media disappears from my newly built Linux computer. Media disappears after a reboot, etc.. Media Center 20 is installed on all computers.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Ed

aoqw76 · « **Reply #1 on:** February 10, 2015, 09:20:51 am »

Possibly permissions? Check the ownership of the .jriver directory and all files under that (look in your home directory).
If you are launching mediacenter as yourself, then make sure that directory has you as owner. If not, then chown -R it.

EdM244 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 10, 2015, 11:00:03 am »

Looking at the permissions tabs I see that the owner is "Me". Being new to Ubuntu 14.04, I assume that is ok? After a lot of trial and error, I think I've found a work around to the problem with the database disappearing after rebooting. As I said, after rebooting previously, Media Center would tell me that the files didn't exist. It had somehow lost the "path"? After opening the Windows share drives and folders, I decided to bookmark those drives. Now, after rebooting, the problem remains. Media Center tells me the files don't exist. But when I open the Home folder and open the bookmark for each shared drive, the files become accessible in Media Center again. Not very elegant but it works.

Off topic... For those having problems with playing back files at their native sample rates, I fixed my problem as follows. After disabling on board audio in my Computer's Bios, I noticed I have the option to select the setting for my M-Audio 2496 under "Audio Device" iec958:Card=M2496,DEV=0 [ALSA] Output Format: Auto

Thanks for the reply.

bob · « **Reply #3 on:** February 10, 2015, 11:05:28 am »

Quote from: EDM244 on February 10, 2015, 11:00:03 am

Looking at the permissions tabs I see that the owner is "Me". Being new to Ubuntu 14.04, I assume that is ok? After a lot of trial and error, I think I've found a work around to the problem with the database disappearing after rebooting. As I said, after rebooting previously, Media Center would tell me that the files didn't exist. It had somehow lost the "path"? After opening the Windows share drives and folders, I decided to bookmark those drives. Now, after rebooting, the problem remains. Media Center tells me the files don't exist. But when I open the Home folder and open the bookmark for each shared drive, the files become accessible in Media Center again. Not very elegant but it works.

Off topic... For those having problems with playing back files at their native sample rates, I fixed my problem as follows. After disabling on board audio in my Computer's Bios, I noticed I have the option to select the setting for my M-Audio 2496 under "Audio Device" iec958:Card=M2496,DEV=0 [ALSA] Output Format: Auto

Thanks for the reply.

MC will not automount your external media. If you have files on external shares those shares need to be mounted before you run MC.

EdM244 · « **Reply #4 on:** February 10, 2015, 11:16:10 am »

Although it seems apparent I might have missed a step or something, I did previously open the Windows shared folder in Ubuntu and "mount" the shared drives. That didn't work in itself.

bob · « **Reply #5 on:** February 10, 2015, 12:13:35 pm »

If you aren't sure they are mounted you can open a terminal window and type
mount
at the prompt

mwillems · « **Reply #6 on:** February 10, 2015, 12:23:28 pm »

Quote from: EDM244 on February 10, 2015, 11:16:10 am

Although it seems apparent I might have missed a step or something, I did previously open the Windows shared folder in Ubuntu and "mount" the shared drives. That didn't work in itself.

Just mounting them one time won't solve the problem on reboot; you need to set them up to auto-mount at boot or login. That means making an entry in the fstab either by hand or through a GUI front end. I don't use Ubuntu, so I'm not sure what tools are available, but this looks like it might help you through the process: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MountWindowsSharesPermanently

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #7 on:** February 10, 2015, 12:27:33 pm »

You can open the Unity dash and search for Disks - this utility will allow you to setup auto-mounting (read the documentation for it, and I suggest using a label like Music or Movies or Media or something). Here's what my auto-mounted Music partition options looks like;

EdM244 · « **Reply #8 on:** February 10, 2015, 04:01:10 pm »

I take it that utility is used to mount external drives? If it also works for mounting network shares, that might help. The only disk utility I can find shows me what's installed and data about the installed drives. No other menus. Managed to create a windowsshare folder, but using fstab was unable to mount the share from the windows computer. "mount error: could not resolve address for "computer name"

//servername/sharename /media/windowsshare cifs guest,uid=1000,iocharset=utf8 0 0

Thanks

bob · « **Reply #9 on:** February 10, 2015, 04:44:54 pm »

Quote from: EDM244 on February 10, 2015, 04:01:10 pm

I take it that utility is used to mount external drives? If it also works for mounting network shares, that might help. The only disk utility I can find shows me what's installed and data about the installed drives. No other menus. Managed to create a windowsshare folder, but using fstab was unable to mount the share from the windows computer. "mount error: could not resolve address for "computer name"

//servername/sharename /media/windowsshare cifs guest,uid=1000,iocharset=utf8 0 0

Thanks

You are probably missing the winbind package, associated packages and configuration. It'd likely work with your current method if you accessed the share by IP address instead of windows name. You probably also want to add "user" to the options or only root will be able to mount it.

EdM244 · « **Reply #10 on:** February 10, 2015, 05:19:48 pm »

I do have the winbind package, but being new to Linux there's more than a good chance that I haven't got it configured properly. I did try substituting the IP address for the windows name and it worked. Or, because the created share file contains the files from the Windows computer, at least I think it's worked. I guess I'll find out after a re-boot.

Thanks for your patience.

bob · « **Reply #11 on:** February 10, 2015, 05:38:08 pm »

Quote from: EDM244 on February 10, 2015, 05:19:48 pm

I do have the winbind package, but being new to Linux there's more than a good chance that I haven't got it configured properly. I did try substituting the IP address for the windows name and it worked. Or, because the created share file contains the files from the Windows computer, at least I think it's worked. I guess I'll find out after a re-boot.

Thanks for your patience.

Probably have to edit your /etc/nsswitch.conf file
google that and winbind and you should find the solution.

EdM244 · « **Reply #12 on:** February 10, 2015, 05:56:43 pm »

Now that the windows share files are mounted, should the "Group" permissions be changed from "root" to something else? Like sambashare or ? Does it matter?

Thanks/

EdM244 · « **Reply #13 on:** February 11, 2015, 02:45:18 pm »

Using fstab, the following configuration mounted the windows shares: //IP address/d/ /media/windowsshare1 cifs username=guest,password=,uid=1000 0 0 ("d" is a shared network drive)

According to info obtained from dmesg, it seems the shares can't auto mount during the boot sequence. Makes sense. As yet, I've been unable to fix this issue using fstab.

CIFS VFS: Error connecting to socket. Aborting operation.
CIFS VFS: cifs_mount failed w/return code = -101

Still investigating whether editing nsswitch.conf or anything else will fix this issue.

mwillems · « **Reply #14 on:** February 11, 2015, 03:09:50 pm »

Quote from: EDM244 on February 11, 2015, 02:45:18 pm

According to info obtained from dmesg, it seems the shares can't auto mount during the boot sequence. Makes sense. As yet, I've been unable to fix this issue using fstab.

If they try to mount before the network is up, the mount will obviously fail. There are directions in the wiki I linked on how to mount them at login instead after network is up. Those instructions assume you're on a system that still uses init scripts/upstart, which I think Ubuntu 14.04 still does, so it should work.

EdM244 · « **Reply #15 on:** February 11, 2015, 03:35:40 pm »

I did try to reconfigure using the info you provide under the heading "Mount during login instead of boot". Guessing I may have entered the wrong values? //servername/sharename /media/windowsshare cifs noauto,credentials=/home/ubuntuusername/.smbpasswd 0 0 After "home" the actual ubuntu username and password should be entered?

Also, I think I may got lost here:

In /etc/rc.local:

mount /media/windowsshare
exit 0

Thanks for you help.

mwillems · « **Reply #16 on:** February 11, 2015, 04:01:01 pm »

Quote from: EDM244 on February 11, 2015, 03:35:40 pm

I did try to reconfigure using the info you provide under the heading "Mount during login instead of boot". Guessing I may have entered the wrong values? //servername/sharename /media/windowsshare cifs noauto,credentials=/home/ubuntuusername/.smbpasswd 0 0 After "home" the actual ubuntu username and password should be entered?

No, that assumes you're keeping your samba credentials in a file as described under the section higher up in the wiki. If you're just logging into the shares as a guest with no password, you should use the same format you used in the fstab i.e. " username=guest,password=,uid"

Quote

Also, I think I may got lost here:

In /etc/rc.local:

mount /media/windowsshare
exit 0

Thanks for you help.

That section is telling you to add those two lines to the file rc.local in the /etc directory.

EdM244 · « **Reply #17 on:** February 11, 2015, 04:31:51 pm »

After adding those two lines to the rc. local: directory and hitting save an pops up "Could not find the file "/home/"actual user name"/etc/fstab?

Is this correct? //IP address/d/ /media/windowsshare1 ,cifs no auto,username=guest,password=,uid=1000 0 0 ("d" is a shared network drive) or should it be: //IP address/d/ /media/windowsshare1 ,cifs no auto,home/username=guest,password=,uid=1000 0 0 ??

Without "no auto" added or something else what changes?

Sorry for the confusion.

EdM244 · « **Reply #18 on:** February 12, 2015, 05:12:43 pm »

After starting to get fstab errors for some unknown reason, I decided to abort and reinstall Ubuntu 14.04 from scratch. Before I attempt to install Media Center 20 again, is there anything I should configure first that would make setup go a little smoother?

Thanks.

Nil Desperandum

EdM244 · « **Reply #19 on:** February 13, 2015, 02:37:36 pm »

Hi Bob,

I re-installed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 32 bit today after getting what I thought were "fstab" errors. As it turns out the errors were likely not related to fstab. But I don't know. Here's what I did:

1. Clean re-install
2. Updated software package through the software updater
3. installed sudo apt-get install samba system-config-samba cifs-utils winbind
4. Created a share directory /media/windowsshare
5. Before installing Media Center, I thought I'd try to mount the shares. However when I tried to open fstab using the command gksu gedit etc/fstab all that opened was a blank page. Even though I knew this was different from my previous install (there were values on that page) I typed //IP address/d/ /media/windowsshare1 cifs noauto,username=guest,password=,uid=1000 0 0 and tried to save. This produced the following error "Could not find the file "/home/username/etc/fstab". Please check that you typed the location correctly and try again.

6. I was going try what you suggested by adding user to the string, but seems like that's impossible if I can't edit fstab. Was going to try this string:

//IP address/d/ /media/windowsshare1 cifs user,noauto,username=guest,password=,uid=1000 0 0 (does that look ok?) and then add:

mount /media/windowsshare
exit 0

As suggested, but impossible to do if fstab can't be edited.

Thanks

bob · « **Reply #20 on:** February 13, 2015, 03:07:50 pm »

it's not
etc/fstab
it's
/etc/fstab

etc/fstab is a relative (to what directory you started in) path.

EdM244 · « **Reply #21 on:** February 13, 2015, 03:18:42 pm »

Got it. All I can do is laugh.

Thanks.

EdM244 · « **Reply #22 on:** February 13, 2015, 04:26:44 pm »

Entered //IP address/d/ /media/windowsshare cifs user,_netdev,username=guest,password=,uid=1000 0 0 (d is a network drive on windows computer) The share is mounted in the media folder. After re-booting the same error appears:

CIFS VFS: Error connecting to socket. Aborting operation.
CIFS VFS: cifs_mount failed w/return code = -101

Yet, when I open Media Center all the files that I imported are there. And when I hit play, they play. Prior to this change, I'd hit play and Media Center would tell me the file doesn't exist. I also notice that when I open up the import options there is now a direct link to the windowsshare folder. I added _netdev to the string because this was supposed to cause a wait time for mounting before the network was up. Given the error, I don't see how this has helped. Perhaps adding user to the string is what caused the improvement. Given that the shares actually seem to be mounted after a re-boot, maybe the CIFS warning can be ignored. Or?

bob · « **Reply #23 on:** February 13, 2015, 04:57:31 pm »

Quote from: EdM244 on February 13, 2015, 04:26:44 pm

Entered //IP address/d/ /media/windowsshare cifs user,_netdev,username=guest,password=,uid=1000 0 0 (d is a network drive on windows computer) The share is mounted in the media folder. After re-booting the same error appears:

CIFS VFS: Error connecting to socket. Aborting operation.
CIFS VFS: cifs_mount failed w/return code = -101

Yet, when I open Media Center all the files that I imported are there. And when I hit play, they play. Prior to this change, I'd hit play and Media Center would tell me the file doesn't exist. I also notice that when I open up the import options there is now a direct link to the windowsshare folder. I added _netdev to the string because this was supposed to cause a wait time for mounting before the network was up. Given the error, I don't see how this has helped. Perhaps adding user to the string is what caused the improvement. Given that the shares actually seem to be mounted after a re-boot, maybe the CIFS warning can be ignored. Or?

I don't play with ubuntu and don't automount shares so I'm no expert however if after booting and before starting MC, if you open a terminal window and type
mount
and the share shows up, all is good.

EdM244 · « **Reply #24 on:** February 13, 2015, 05:30:09 pm »

Not sure what all this means, but everything seems to work.

xxx@xxxx-System-Product-Name:~$ mount
/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-root on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys/fs/cgroup type tmpfs (rw)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
udev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,size=10%,mode=0755)
none on /run/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=5242880)
none on /run/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /run/user type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=104857600,mode=0755)
none on /sys/fs/pstore type pstore (rw)
/dev/sda1 on /boot type ext2 (rw)
systemd on /sys/fs/cgroup/systemd type cgroup (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,none,name=systemd)
//192.168.10.xxx/d on /media/windowsshare type cifs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
//192.168.10.xxx/f on /media/windowsshare3 type cifs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
//192.168.10.xxx/j on /media/windowsshare4 type cifs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
//192.168.10.xxx/e on /media/windowsshare2 type cifs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfsd-fuse on /run/user/1000/gvfs type fuse.gvfsd-fuse (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=xxx)
xxx@xxx-System-Product-Name:~$

bob · « **Reply #25 on:** February 13, 2015, 05:52:08 pm »

Quote from: EdM244 on February 13, 2015, 05:30:09 pm

Not sure what all this means, but everything seems to work.
...
//192.168.10.xxx/d on /media/windowsshare type cifs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
//192.168.10.xxx/f on /media/windowsshare3 type cifs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
//192.168.10.xxx/j on /media/windowsshare4 type cifs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
//192.168.10.xxx/e on /media/windowsshare2 type cifs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)

Tells you that the shares are mounted, where those shares are mounted and how (read-write).

EdM244 · « **Reply #26 on:** February 13, 2015, 05:54:10 pm »

So, all it good? (For now)

bob · « **Reply #27 on:** February 13, 2015, 06:13:16 pm »

Quote from: EdM244 on February 13, 2015, 05:54:10 pm

So, all it good? (For now)

Yes, if those are the shares you were expecting.

EdM244 · « **Reply #28 on:** February 13, 2015, 06:26:33 pm »

Yup... Thanks to you.. and others who have helped me through this.

EdM244 · « **Reply #29 on:** February 15, 2015, 01:09:26 pm »

On Friday, while attempting to complete the importation of windows shares, Media Center crashed and all settings reverted to default. That is, all settings, including the database.

Starting all over again, I started importing the database with System Monitor open and noticed CPU usage was peeking or staying at 100% most of the time. Memory usage varied, but seemed stable.

AMD Athlon 64x2 Dual Core Processor 2.0 GB Ram (Old Win XP computer)

After doing a bit of research, I did the following:

1. Changed the desktop environment to LXDE
2. Shut off "Run auto-import in the background" and "Run import on empty libraries"
3. Shut off Media Network (Not needed anyway)

After making changes, System Monitor was still peeking or staying at 100% during periods of the import process, but Media Center did not crash. The system has been running stable for almost 24 hours and Media Center hasn't crashed. Given that my Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit i7 16GB Ram computer crashes occasionally for no apparent reason without losing settings, or the database, why would this occur on the Linux computer?

Also noted how CPU usage changes during playback at different sample rates. Up to 100% while processing Sacd files. If I decide to purchase a license for this Linux computer, a rebuild might be necessary.

However, the main issue is why Media Center reverted to default settings after the crash? While this issue might belong in a separate thread, it still relates to a disappearing database.

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #30 on:** February 15, 2015, 03:23:19 pm »

Considering MC makes regular backups of your settings/database you should be able to easily restore them.

EdM244 · « **Reply #31 on:** February 15, 2015, 07:46:24 pm »

Right, but I guess that didn't come to mind because I've never had to use that option before. And still don't know why MC would revert to default settings? Thought maybe it had something to do with it being a trial and/or Linux edition. Bizarre.

EdM244 · « **Reply #32 on:** February 19, 2015, 02:33:11 pm »

As a follow up, MC crashed again, but not only MC. Desktop settings, as well. There was no way to access a back up folder because everything was gone. Since then, I reinstalled Ubuntu in a different computer with a faster processor and more ram. Still flaky at times because auto-import still causes CPU usage to peak at 100% at times, but otherwise more stable.

bob · « **Reply #33 on:** February 20, 2015, 10:36:44 am »

Quote from: EdM244 on February 19, 2015, 02:33:11 pm

As a follow up, MC crashed again, but not only MC. Desktop settings, as well. There was no way to access a back up folder because everything was gone. Since then, I reinstalled Ubuntu in a different computer with a faster processor and more ram. Still flaky at times because auto-import still causes CPU usage to peak at 100% at times, but otherwise more stable.

If your cpu usage is at 100% from importing (to be expected) you may find this exposes weakness in the hardware. If you are overclocking 100% cpu usage is when you'll see failures.
If you are overclocking, try turning that off.
You could always do a memory test as well.

It's also possible you have a bad file and it's exposing a bug in the file handling process of the import function. If you turn on logging you may get a useful "last file processed" before the crash in said log.

EdM244 · « **Reply #34 on:** February 20, 2015, 11:27:58 am »

No overclocking. Memory test looked ok. Guessing the processor in that computer was not up handling the demands of running MC? Or something else?

Except for being unresponsive at times, it's running fairly stable with this build. MC ran without any problems with Windows installed on this computer.

Thank you.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: Imported Media Disappearing from Ubuntu 14.04 (Read 7800 times)