Audio Feed Drops Off

[toonman4]

no problem, all this time I thought is was just my machine

 

[Ken_Allen]

Use the old software, it's so much better. My stream has been up for days and days straight with not even a drop.

 

[PeterGV]

Well, you might note that there are several hundred streams running on RR right now that use ScannerCast that don't experience any problems at all, day after day. I've been running two sterams, for example (one to RR, and one to a private server) for weeks without interruption. And all the RR-owned streams are run under ScannerCast.

But, running the old odcast/edcast software is definitely an option for those who want to do this. Absolutely.

Peter
K1PGV

 

[eaf1956]

Offline

Quick question - when the feed is "reported" offline by RadioReference - can you still listen to the feed by clicking the speaker?

I guess the question is - is the feed really offline, or is the system just reporting it offline?

Mine showed OFFLINE once even though I could listen to the feed online.

KC9LVX Evansville, IN Feed

 

[scott]

Any ScannerCast log files I can research?

I am having the same issue... just received a radioreference notification this morning at 12:32a CST. My "feed down" notification from radioreference has been occurring about 1 time per week and is completely random.

There is no specific time of day or day of week. I was out of town last week when it happened late night so I rebooted my server remotely to reset the feed. All was fine after the reboot and I could not find any errors in my event viewer logs on the server. Also, my internet did not go down cause I could log in my server remotely immediately following the email from radioreference along with the fact that my other software on the server continued running and had no disconnect errors.

Does ScannerCast create a log file I can research to find an error?

In case other users have similar problems, here are my details. Maybe we'll see some consistencies.
- Windows 2003 Server Standard SP2
- Intel processor
- Dell hardware
- Soundblaster add-in PCI card along with on-board audio
- 2 ScannerCast streams running simultaneously as audio only

 

[ed_giuliani]

my feed has now been up for three days, did you guys fix it? i don't know what has changed but it seems to be working fine now.

 

[jonwrice]

Is anybody else having this problem running AVG?

I read on another thread about someone who had a feed dropping issue and found that the problem seemed to be related to AVG antivirus - specifically it's linkscanner feature. But since this thread is getting a little long in the tooth perhaps I should restate the problem.

Scannercast RR Edition, feed "randomly" drops.

a) RR shows the feed as down.

b) Scannercast shows the feed as up - status page says it is running, connected to RR.

c) If you stop the feed and then restart feed will go back online.

I have AVG free running on my streaming machine. It hasn't been long enough to say for certain but I disabled AVG's linkscanner 3/28/10 and the feed has been steady since.

Just to be clear, I still think this is a problem with Scannercast. The AVG linkscanner seems to just be a resource hog and while that may knock your feed off the air Scannercast should realize whats going on. If you aren't running AVG you could have another resource hog or perhaps multiple updaters kicking on at the same time. Earlier I had gone through and shut off all the updaters I could find which is no big deal on this computer as all I use it for is streaming.

Jon

 

[DigitalMDX]

Is anybody else having this problem running AVG?
I read on another thread about someone who had a feed dropping issue and found that the problem seemed to be related to AVG antivirus - specifically it's linkscanner feature. But since this thread is getting a little long in the tooth perhaps I should restate the problem.-
Jon

Very interesting. My stream has been very solid since I started it, minus the Microsoft Patch Tuesday days.
I installed AVG yesterday on my streaming server and this morning got a message that my stream was offline.
Went to the streaming machine, ScannerCast was happy and streaming.
Went to RR and it showed my stream was offline - I clicked on it anyway... and it played fine.
I stopped and restarted ScannerCast and RR eventually showed I was Online...

***Edit - I've disabled AVG's LinkScanner - we'll see how it goes from here...

-Jay

 

[kb0nly]

Dump AVG and install Avast... I have been a huge AVG fan for years, but the last version update somehow broke the AVG Network Scanner Service. It was affecting my feeds also. Dumped AVG and put on Avast and now nearly a week later NO DROPS!! I'm happy again.

 

[PeterGV]

Just to be clear, I still think this is a problem with Scannercast. The AVG linkscanner seems to just be a resource hog and while that may knock your feed off the air Scannercast should realize whats going on

ScannerCast would handle the problem if it KNEW about it.

The problem is that the TCP/IP stack (and the Microsoft .Net Framework) are not telling ScannerCast that there's a disconnection. As far as ScannerCast knows, data is continuing to be sent and acknowledged.

I have no idea what AVG us doing, but whatever it is... it's something pretty evil.

I can recommend Microsoft Security Essentials, if you're looking for an antivirus program. It's free, it's reasonably effective, and it seems to play nice with others.

Peter
K1PGV

 

[scott]

AVG is not installed on my server and still drops

I do not run AVG and I am still disconnecting. I disconnected again Apr. 1st and Apr. 4th both in the morning hours between 7 and 8a.

 

[PeterGV]

Disconnections are common and to be expected. When this occurs ScannerCast will re-connect as soon as possible.

What we're focusing on in this thread are disconencts where RR is aware of the disconnect, but ScannerCast is not. It's looking increasingly like this is due to the behavior of various antivirus programs.

Make sure you set your AV programs to allow ScannerCast to bypass, or use an AV program that doesn't interfere with legitimate streaming traffic.

Peter
K1PGV

 

[scott]

No AV in use on mine

I have never installed antivirus which takes AV out of the equation for me. I have my server in a DMZ and monitor incoming and outgoing ports closely to avoid using AV. I also have firewall settings turned high and allow only network traffic that I approve. This disconnect problem never occurred before my first post on this forum so I would put my bets on a Windows update of some kind. That is the only change that occurs on my server since the server is specifically for my RR feeds.

 

[PeterGV]

This disconnect problem never occurred before my first post on this forum

As far as I can tell, you haven't actually described for us the specifics of the problem that you're having.

As I said "disconnects" are to be expected when you're streaming audio at 2 buffers per second, all day, every day. As long as ScannerCast and RR both agree that you're disconnected, and ScannerCast reconnects after a few minutes, there's no problem at all. This is "business as usual" and is the way things are supposed to work.

OTOH, if RR says you're disconnected (for hours at a time) and ScannerCast thinks that it's connected (according to the status page and the log), then that's the probelm we've been trying to focus on here in this thread. THIS problem is exceedingly rare, and appears to be related to something other than Windows, ScannerCast, or RR.

Believe me, I *wish* it were a ScannerCast problem. Because if it was, I could fix it and we'd all be done with it!

Peter
K1PGV

 

[jonwrice]

quote
ScannerCast would handle the problem if it KNEW about it.

The problem is that the TCP/IP stack (and the Microsoft .Net Framework) are not telling ScannerCast that there's a disconnection. As far as ScannerCast knows, data is continuing to be sent and acknowledged.
end quote

Peter,

I have run windows update to have the most recent .net framework (well, the most recent they would send me), is there anything else I can update?

Oh, and I apologize for inadvertently disparaging your fine program, I merely was trying to point out that other programs besides AVG could be causing the same problem before I got a bunch of "I don't run AVG and have the problem" posts.

Jon

 

[scott]

As far as I can tell, you haven't actually described for us the specifics of the problem that you're having.

Notice my details post on 03-29-2010, 10:49 AM under user name scott.

You mentioned a ScannerCast log in your most recent post. Where do I find that log file? My ScannerCast client does not pop up with an error when this happens, and my client stays disconnected for hours at the time. The first time this happened I let the feed stay offline over 8 hours before rebooting my server. The down feed the reconnected immediately at time of reboot which makes me think there was something wrong with my client.

 

[rckydenver]

Ok, something is definetly going on here, since the other post where are number of listeners where stuck and it was fixed now my feed has been dropping, twice i had to restart my feed. I have no virus software programs installed so it's gotta be somewhere in the audio server?

I have a DSL with Qwest but that seems to be fine, using XP. Well i'm going to take off for about an hour to do some runnning around so if my feed drops off. I don't know what to say.

 

[PeterGV]

Notice my details post on 03-29-2010, 10:49 AM under user name scott

@Scott:

I saw that post. But it's not clear, at least not to me, what behavior -- specifically -- you're seeing. For example the post just before yours said:

"Mine showed OFFLINE once even though I could listen to the feed online"​

Then your post said:

"I am having the same issue..."​

So, sorry, but I'm not sure the specific behavior that you're seeing.

If the problem you're having is that the feed shows that it's offline, but you can still listen to the audio online, that's definitely a sync problem at the server... something the audio admins can look at for you.

If the problem you're having is that you periodically get disconnects -- and ScannerCast then reconnects automatically after "a while"... that's not a problem, actually, it's how things are designed to work.

If the probelm you're having is that you occasionally get disconnect notifications from RR, but when you look at ScannerCast (on the Status page and in the Log) and ScannerCast thinks you're connected... THAT's the rare, weirdo-problem we've been chasing for a couple of months now. It happens on a VERY small fraction of systems sending feeds to RR, but on those on which it happens, it happens frequently and is very frustrating.

You mentioned a ScannerCast log in your most recent post. Where do I find that log file?

It's in the same directory as ScannerCast.exe (unless you configured it to go elsewhere, see ScannerCast's "Advanced" tab), and it's named ScannerCast.Log -- Note that you can configure the logging level to "Detailed" to get maximal output, which can be helpful in ANY disconnect situation.

I apologize for inadvertently disparaging your fine program, I merely was trying to point out that other programs besides AVG could be causing the same problem before I got a bunch of "I don't run AVG and have the problem" posts

@jonwrice: No worries! You've been ultra helpful in our quest to find the root of this problem. I was mostly "writing for the archives", rather than directing my reply to you Jon... Didn't mean to sound abrupt.

And so... that's leaves us with:

is there anything else I can update?

Sigh... I wish I knew. Are you running ANY antivirus program? If so, what is it?

This is a most perplexing problem ...

it's gotta be somewhere in the audio server?

@rckydenver (and all):

Well, that's what we originally thought. And Lindsay went so far as to actually setup a separate audio server to host several of the folks having problems. But that didn't help.

AND... most interesting of all... the network traces I've looked at appear to show that data is NOT going out on the network, but TCP/IP doesn't report this to ScannerCast. So... ScannerCast just keeps sending data blocks like there's no problem, and the network stack (TCP/IP and friends) just apparently throw that data away.

Like I said... a most perplexing probem. I've never seen anything like it, actually.

Peter
K1PGV

 

[jonwrice]

AVG gone, MSSE in. Scannercast working fine.

I gave AVG Free the boot and installed Microsoft Security Essentials yesterday. A storm blew through and took out internet for a while this AM.

Scannercast recovered from the disconnect and is still running. I've never had it recover on it's own before, at least not when I knew about the disconnect.

And by recover I mean that the feed is still up.

I also never received a notification that it was offline but perhaps it didn't exceed the time limit.

Jon

 

[PeterGV]

YAY! Progress. In little bitty steps, but still... it's PROGRESS!

Thanks for the report, Jon,

Peter
K1PGV