Audio Feed Drops Off

[scott]

Feed offline and does not reconnect

Peter,

My problem is different from all you described in your previous post. My feed goes offline at random and does NOT reconnect. One of my ScannerCast feeds disconnected today at 12:17pm... BUT only disconnected one of my two feeds. Prior to today, both feeds disconnected at the same time when I've had this problem. My second feed (JPD) was live the whole time my other feed (Rankin) was offline.

I left the down feed offline for 1 hour and 45 minutes giving it the opportunity to automatically reconnect as you mentioned before, but the feed did not automatically reconnect. I rebooted my server at 2p and both feeds connected immediately with no problem. I did find the ScannerCast log file on my server based on the response from your previous post. I also answered your other question from a previous post below this log file quote.

Here is todays log file during the time of disconnect. X's denote my removal of port or feed information.

07-Apr-2010 12:17:54 Exiting without Stop Broadcast button being pressed.
07-Apr-2010 12:17:54 Server stop requested.
07-Apr-2010 12:17:55 Disconnected from Icecast server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx
07-Apr-2010 12:17:57 Server Stopping Sound Capture.
07-Apr-2010 12:17:57 Server Final Cleanup.
07-Apr-2010 12:17:57 Server Stopped.
07-Apr-2010 14:01:29 Exiting without Stop Broadcast button being pressed.
07-Apr-2010 14:01:29 Server stop requested.
07-Apr-2010 14:01:32 Stopping Push Connection.
07-Apr-2010 14:03:18 *****************************
07-Apr-2010 14:03:18 Server start requested.
07-Apr-2010 14:03:26 Retrieving initial auto-config for user 'scott'
07-Apr-2010 14:03:32 Selected Feed: Rankin County Police and Fire(xxxx)
07-Apr-2010 14:03:32 Selected Feed: Rankin County Police and Fire(xxxx)
07-Apr-2010 14:03:32 Server started.
07-Apr-2010 14:03:32 Server Port: xxxx
07-Apr-2010 14:03:32 Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy (1)
07-Apr-2010 14:03:33 MP3 BitRate: 16Kbps
07-Apr-2010 14:03:33 Server name: Rankin County Police and Fire
07-Apr-2010 14:03:33 Max allowed clients: 0
07-Apr-2010 14:03:39 Connecting to Icecast server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx
07-Apr-2010 14:03:39 Connection complete to RR server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx
​

As for your other question... maybe I'll be more clear now that I figured out how to quote other forum posts. You quoted me as saying:

:

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

Disregard the above quote. I figured this one out. My feed starts automatically at boot. The problem was that I was launching my ScannerCast feed manually at boot. My manual launch would not connect because ScannerCast was already connected from running in the background at startup. I could not see the automatic startup feed on my screen... all I saw was my manual ScannerCast launch not connecting. Either way, not a problem any more.

 

[PeterGV]

Can you show me the 20 or so lines BEFORE the first line from the log that you showed? What do we see BEFORE:

07-Apr-2010 12:17:54 Exiting without Stop Broadcast button being pressed.

Also... is there a file call ScannerCast_ERROR.log in that same directory as the log file??

Peter
K1PGV

 

[AMDXP]

I just read through this thread and I find the problem rather perplexing. I haven't noticed this problem on any of my feeds.

Possible Virus Scanner interference aside have you tracked which ISPs these users belong in. Also taking note of geographical location.

If the folks experiencing this problem the most are concentrated this could be a problem with a router in the region. A common router that IP traffic from various ISPs are routed through enroute to RR.

Thought I would through that out there.

 

[PeterGV]

It's an unusual problem, affecting waaaay less than 1% of those who forward feeds with ScannerCast.

To be clear, the "regional router" hypothesis won't work. A trace of the network shows network packets are not leaving the system that's doing the forwarding. They're being swallowed up before they leave the system.

So, it's almost certainly a virus scanner doing port interception. Until somebody pinned the problem on AVG, I hadn't considered this... and was ready to blame the network code in Windows .Net...

Peter
K1PGV

 

[scott]

Can you show me the 20 or so lines BEFORE the first line from the log that you showed? What do we see BEFORE:

07-Apr-2010 12:17:54 Exiting without Stop Broadcast button being pressed.

Also... is there a file call ScannerCast_ERROR.log in that same directory as the log file??

Peter
K1PGV

Here are the few lines in the log file prior to the disconnect. The disconnect was the first entry on the 7th. Also, I do not see ScannerCast_ERROR file.

04-Apr-2010 08:59:52 *****************************
04-Apr-2010 08:59:52 Server start requested.
04-Apr-2010 09:00:01 Retrieving initial auto-config for user 'scott'
04-Apr-2010 09:00:09 Selected Feed: Rankin County Police and Fire(xxxx)
04-Apr-2010 09:00:09 Selected Feed: Rankin County Police and Fire(xxxx)
04-Apr-2010 09:00:09 Server started.
04-Apr-2010 09:00:09 Server Port: xxxx
04-Apr-2010 09:00:09 Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy (1)
04-Apr-2010 09:00:09 MP3 BitRate: 16Kbps
04-Apr-2010 09:00:09 Server name: Rankin County Police and Fire
04-Apr-2010 09:00:09 Max allowed clients: 0
04-Apr-2010 09:00:14 Connecting to Icecast server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx
04-Apr-2010 09:00:15 Connection complete to RR server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx
04-Apr-2010 12:17:57 *****************************
04-Apr-2010 12:17:57 Server start requested.
04-Apr-2010 12:18:05 Retrieving initial auto-config for user 'scott'
04-Apr-2010 12:18:11 Selected Feed: Rankin County Police and Fire(xxxx)
04-Apr-2010 12:18:11 Selected Feed: Rankin County Police and Fire(xxxx)
04-Apr-2010 12:18:11 Server started.
04-Apr-2010 12:18:11 Server Port: xxxx
04-Apr-2010 12:18:11 Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy (1)
04-Apr-2010 12:18:11 MP3 BitRate: 16Kbps
04-Apr-2010 12:18:11 Server name: Rankin County Police and Fire
04-Apr-2010 12:18:11 Max allowed clients: 0
04-Apr-2010 12:18:16 Connecting to Icecast server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx
04-Apr-2010 12:18:17 Connection complete to RR server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx
04-Apr-2010 12:23:26 *****************************
04-Apr-2010 12:23:26 Server start requested.
04-Apr-2010 12:23:34 Retrieving initial auto-config for user 'scott'
04-Apr-2010 12:23:36 Selected Feed: Rankin County Police and Fire(xxxx)
04-Apr-2010 12:23:36 Selected Feed: Rankin County Police and Fire(xxxx)
04-Apr-2010 12:23:36 Server started.
04-Apr-2010 12:23:36 Server Port: xxxx
04-Apr-2010 12:23:36 Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy (1)
04-Apr-2010 12:23:37 MP3 BitRate: 16Kbps
04-Apr-2010 12:23:37 Server name: Rankin County Police and Fire
04-Apr-2010 12:23:37 Max allowed clients: 0
04-Apr-2010 12:23:37 Connecting to Icecast server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx
04-Apr-2010 12:23:37 Error status from Icecast (105): HTTP/1.0 403 Mountpoint in use


07-Apr-2010 12:17:54 Exiting without Stop Broadcast button being pressed.
07-Apr-2010 12:17:54 Server stop requested.
07-Apr-2010 12:17:55 Disconnected from Icecast server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx
07-Apr-2010 12:17:57 Server Stopping Sound Capture.
07-Apr-2010 12:17:57 Server Final Cleanup.
07-Apr-2010 12:17:57 Server Stopped.
07-Apr-2010 14:01:29 Exiting without Stop Broadcast button being pressed.
07-Apr-2010 14:01:29 Server stop requested.
07-Apr-2010 14:01:32 Stopping Push Connection.
07-Apr-2010 14:03:18 *****************************
07-Apr-2010 14:03:18 Server start requested.
07-Apr-2010 14:03:26 Retrieving initial auto-config for user 'scott'
07-Apr-2010 14:03:32 Selected Feed: Rankin County Police and Fire(xxxx)
07-Apr-2010 14:03:32 Selected Feed: Rankin County Police and Fire(xxxx)
07-Apr-2010 14:03:32 Server started.
07-Apr-2010 14:03:32 Server Port: xxxx
07-Apr-2010 14:03:32 Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy (1)
07-Apr-2010 14:03:33 MP3 BitRate: 16Kbps
07-Apr-2010 14:03:33 Server name: Rankin County Police and Fire
07-Apr-2010 14:03:33 Max allowed clients: 0
07-Apr-2010 14:03:39 Connecting to Icecast server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx
07-Apr-2010 14:03:39 Connection complete to RR server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx

​

 

[PeterGV]

You definitely have something strange in your configuration. Look at the log. At 9:00 you have the following:

04-Apr-2010 09:00:09 Max allowed clients: 0
04-Apr-2010 09:00:14 Connecting to Icecast server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx
04-Apr-2010 09:00:15 Connection complete to RR server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx

So... your feeds are up and running.

Then, all of a sudden, at 12:17 you get:

04-Apr-2010 12:17:57 *****************************
04-Apr-2010 12:17:57 Server start requested.
04-Apr-2010 12:18:05 Retrieving initial auto-config for user 'scott'
04-Apr-2010 12:18:11 Selected Feed: Rankin County Police and Fire(xxxx)
04-Apr-2010 12:18:11 Selected Feed: Rankin County Police and Fire(xxxx)

This looks like another copy of ScannerCast tried to start, without the previous copy exiting.

Very strange... definitely looks like some sort of setup issue on your end. ScannerCast can't really exit without creating a log entry. So it looks like you have multiple copies of ScannerCast running. What happened at 9:17 that would cause another copy of ScannerCast to try to start?

Did you

Peter
K1PGV

 

[scott]

Peter, I did find an error log on my other feed.

NOTE: This is NOT the feed that went offline today. This error log is from the feed that stayed active today, and the error log time stamp is from April 4 @ 12:18. Also, the time of error is 1 minute difference from my time of error today. That does not hold true for all my disconnect problems though since past disconnect errors have occurred at various times... around 7p, 8p, and 2a that I remember.

Begin error log from JPD stream on 4/4/2010 at 12:18pm:

04-Apr-2010 12:18:59 ScannerCast V0.13 (1224)
04-Apr-2010 12:18:59 Exception: System.InvalidOperationException: Showing a modal dialog box or form when the application is not running in UserInteractive mode is not a valid operation. Specify the ServiceNotification or DefaultDesktopOnly style to display a notification from a service application.
at System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.ShowCore(IWin32Window owner, String text, String caption, MessageBoxButtons buttons, MessageBoxIcon icon, MessageBoxDefaultButton defaultButton, MessageBoxOptions options, Boolean showHelp)
at System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(String text, String caption, MessageBoxButtons buttons, MessageBoxIcon icon, MessageBoxDefaultButton defaultButton)
at ScannerCast.ScannerCast.PushClientThread()
at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(Object state)
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()

​

Can you show me the 20 or so lines BEFORE the first line from the log that you showed? What do we see BEFORE:

07-Apr-2010 12:17:54 Exiting without Stop Broadcast button being pressed.

Also... is there a file call ScannerCast_ERROR.log in that same directory as the log file??

Peter
K1PGV

 

[PeterGV]

Hmmmm... This supports what I just wrote: You've got some strange config issue here.

HOW are you running ScannerCast? You're not running it as a service, with some strange utility thingy are you? Cuz that'll cause the error message you showed in your last post...

Peter
K1PGV

 

[scott]

You definitely have something strange in your configuration. Look at the log. At 9:00 you have the following:

04-Apr-2010 09:00:09 Max allowed clients: 0
04-Apr-2010 09:00:14 Connecting to Icecast server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx
04-Apr-2010 09:00:15 Connection complete to RR server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx

So... your feeds are up and running.

Then, all of a sudden, at 12:17 you get:

04-Apr-2010 12:17:57 *****************************
04-Apr-2010 12:17:57 Server start requested.
04-Apr-2010 12:18:05 Retrieving initial auto-config for user 'scott'
04-Apr-2010 12:18:11 Selected Feed: Rankin County Police and Fire(xxxx)
04-Apr-2010 12:18:11 Selected Feed: Rankin County Police and Fire(xxxx)

This looks like another copy of ScannerCast tried to start, without the previous copy exiting.

Very strange... definitely looks like some sort of setup issue on your end. ScannerCast can't really exit without creating a log entry. So it looks like you have multiple copies of ScannerCast running. What happened at 9:17 that would cause another copy of ScannerCast to try to start?

Did you

Peter
K1PGV

I believe I caused that entry you were referring to. I was trying to find out what caused the error since I was in front of my server that day. I am pretty sure I tried manually running ScannerCast while it was already active.

That being said, I will keep an eye on future disconnects and make sure I don't double-excecute the program so I can see if the same entry occurs in the log file.

 

[scott]

Hmmmm... This supports what I just wrote: You've got some strange config issue here.

HOW are you running ScannerCast? You're not running it as a service, with some strange utility thingy are you? Cuz that'll cause the error message you showed in your last post...

Peter
K1PGV

I have 2 separate copies (ScannerCast.exe) and (ScannerCastJackson.exe) that are both located on the D drive of my server. I have a Windows "Scheduled Task" that starts both exe's at boot.

Don't know that path matters, but the paths are:
Rankin Feed located at D:\ScannerCast\ScannerCast.exe
and
Jackson Feed located at D:\ScannerCastJackson\ScannerCastJackson.exe

 

[PeterGV]

I have a Windows "Scheduled Task" that starts both exe's at boot.

Yeah... that's probably the problem. That's just not the right way to accomplish what you want.

Look at the Wiki entry for setting up ScannerCast, the topic "How do I get ScannerCast to start automatically when my system reboots" -- That'll tell you how to get ScannerCast to start automagically when your system starts.

The probelm is definitely caused by some strangeness concerning the way you've got ScannerCast set up. I know that's hard to believe, but that seriously has to be it. I bet you COULD get it to work the way you're doing it, somehow, but the way that's described in the WIKI is the supported way...

Peter
K1PGV

 

[scott]

Yeah... that's probably the problem. That's just not the right way to accomplish what you want.

Look at the Wiki entry for setting up ScannerCast, the topic "How do I get ScannerCast to start automatically when my system reboots" -- That'll tell you how to get ScannerCast to start automagically when your system starts.

The probelm is definitely caused by some strangeness concerning the way you've got ScannerCast set up. I know that's hard to believe, but that seriously has to be it. I bet you COULD get it to work the way you're doing it, somehow, but the way that's described in the WIKI is the supported way...

Peter
K1PGV

I'll try that and see if it fixes it. Thanks.

 

[scott]

Yeah... that's probably the problem. That's just not the right way to accomplish what you want.

Look at the Wiki entry for setting up ScannerCast, the topic "How do I get ScannerCast to start automatically when my system reboots" -- That'll tell you how to get ScannerCast to start automagically when your system starts.

Peter
K1PGV

Good and bad news. Good: I am running both feeds on a single instance now and I do have a foo.ini file saved with my configuration. Bad: I rebooted three separate times post foo.ini configuration and never did get the feed to start automatically at boot which means I'll manually start them until I find another option. I do have the "Resume Broadcast on Restart" option enabled on both feeds under the Advanced tab along with the other two "ScannerCast Options" being enabled.

I know this is a topic for another forum but just thought I'd follow up. I'll keep an eye on the feed disconnect problem now that both feeds are a single instance and I'll let you know if the feeds drop out again.

 

[PeterGV]

Did you put ScannerCast in the Startup program group? Checking "Resume Broadcast on Restart" is not sufiicient to cause ScannerCast to start automatically.

From the Wiki:

How do I get ScannerCast to start automatically when my system reboots?
Add ScannerCast to your Windows "Startup" program group. In addition, go to ScannerCast's "Advanced" tab and check the "Resume Broadcast on Restart" check box, and optionally the "Minimize to System Tray" and "Start Minimized" check boxes. When all your desired options are set in ScannerCast, click "Start Broadcast" -- When your broadcast has been successfully started, ScannerCast will save the options you selected. Now, when your system reboots, ScannerCast will automatically restart.​

This works... it definitely causes ScannerCast to start automatically, BUT note that this assumes you have only a single user account defined on your Windows system or that you have that user setup to automatically login when the system starts.

Peter
K1PGV

 

[scott]

Gee Wally, that's swell.

Did you put ScannerCast in the Startup program group? Checking "Resume Broadcast on Restart" is not sufiicient to cause ScannerCast to start automatically.

Kinda feels like a "Doh!" moment when you say it like that. I'll try that tonight and see how it goes.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[scott]

Happy Tax Day! My feed dropped again this morning exactly at 06:45:00 according to the log. I ended up restarting the server when it did not reconnect automatically. By the way, I do have both of my live broadcasts running under one scannercast.exe now... 2 different ini files of course.

As with last time, there is no reason for the drop in the log file. The entry below is the first entry of the day for Apr. 15. I have an extra NIC available so I will try changing out my network card sometime soon just to see if it has a glitch of some kind.

15-Apr-2010 06:45:00 Exiting without Stop Broadcast button being pressed.
15-Apr-2010 06:45:00 Server stop requested.
15-Apr-2010 06:45:01 Exiting without Stop Broadcast button being pressed.
15-Apr-2010 06:45:01 Server stop requested.
15-Apr-2010 06:45:01 Disconnected from Icecast server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx
15-Apr-2010 06:45:02 Disconnected from Icecast server audio1.radioreference.com/xxxxxxxxx
15-Apr-2010 06:45:03 Server Stopping Sound Capture.
15-Apr-2010 06:45:03 Server Final Cleanup.
15-Apr-2010 06:45:03 Server Stopped.
15-Apr-2010 06:45:04 Server Stopping Sound Capture.
15-Apr-2010 06:45:04 Server Final Cleanup.
15-Apr-2010 06:45:04 Server Stopped.
15-Apr-2010 08:24:16 *****************************
15-Apr-2010 08:24:17 Server start requested.
15-Apr-2010 08:24:25 Retrieving initial auto-config for user 'scott'
15-Apr-2010 08:24:25 Retrieving initial auto-config for user 'scott'
15-Apr-2010 08:24:29 Selected Feed: Rankin County Police and Fire(xxxx)
15-Apr-2010 08:24:29 Selected Feed: Rankin County Police and Fire(xxxx)
15-Apr-2010 08:24:29 Server started.
15-Apr-2010 08:24:29 Server Port: xxxx
15-Apr-2010 08:24:29 Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy (1)
15-Apr-2010 08:24:29 MP3 BitRate: 32Kbps
15-Apr-2010 08:24:29 Server name: Rankin County Police and Fire
15-Apr-2010 08:24:29 Max allowed clients: 0
15-Apr-2010 08:24:30 Connecting to Icecast server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx
15-Apr-2010 08:24:30 Selected Feed: Jackson Police and Fire(xxxx)
15-Apr-2010 08:24:30 Selected Feed: Jackson Police and Fire(xxxx)
15-Apr-2010 08:24:30 Server started.
15-Apr-2010 08:24:30 Server Port: xxxx
15-Apr-2010 08:24:30 Sound Card: SoundMAX Digital Audio (2)
15-Apr-2010 08:24:30 MP3 BitRate: 32Kbps
15-Apr-2010 08:24:30 Server name: Jackson Police and Fire
15-Apr-2010 08:24:30 Max allowed clients: 0
15-Apr-2010 08:24:30 COM Port: COM1
15-Apr-2010 08:24:30 Port Speed: 115200
15-Apr-2010 08:24:30 Connection complete to RR server audio3.radioreference.com/xxxxxx
15-Apr-2010 08:24:30 Connecting to Icecast server audio1.radioreference.com/xxxxxxxxx
15-Apr-2010 08:24:31 Connection complete to RR server audio1.radioreference.com/xxxxxxxxx

​

 

[PeterGV]

This isn't your feed stopping... this is ScannerCast exiting, without you having clicked the "Stop Broadcast" button. It's also not ScannerCast randomly encountering an error (unless you have a file named scannercard_error.log) and dying on you... It sorta looks like your system might have rebooted... or something ELSE stopped ScannerCast??

Peter
K1PGV

 

[scott]

That's what I figured. I'll try wireshark and see what's happening. Thanks again for the help.

This isn't your feed stopping... this is ScannerCast exiting, without you having clicked the "Stop Broadcast" button. It's also not ScannerCast randomly encountering an error (unless you have a file named scannercard_error.log) and dying on you... It sorta looks like your system might have rebooted... or something ELSE stopped ScannerCast??

Peter
K1PGV

 

[blueangel4]

Any chance there is a way to eliminate the constant baloon coming from the system tray icon saying , scannercast is up .... scannercast is down, I get this everytime I come in and use my computer, I don't have the machine go into sleep mode or hibernate. But it seems like everytime I go to use the machine, I get this baloon popping up every single time, VERY ANNOYING!

 

[PeterGV]

The right way to fix this is to fix your network connection.

Remember, the notification area baloons only happen when ScannerCast actually DOES lose connection -- after retries -- with the Icecast server. If you're logged out when the disconnect occurs, or (maybe??) if you're monitor is powerd down, Windows might hold these notifications until you log in. I see this with other annoying ballon pop-ups.

Of course, we could make all pop-ups in the notification area optional -- This has actually been requested and is being tracked as Ticket #25 on the ScannerCast ToDo List. Is that what you're requesting?

It sounds to me like you have a network problem. Are you using a wired or a wireless connection? Using a wireless connection to provide a 24x7 real-time audio feed is just asking for trouble in my opinion.

Peter
K1PGV