WMC Finds Error Wants to Download Guide - all dissapear

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MikeB

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WMC Finds Error Wants to Download Guide - all dissapear

#1

Post by MikeB » Fri Jan 24, 2020 12:04 am

WMC pops up error message that it corrected and error and that guide data needs to be downloaded. All guide data is gone even if I don't press OK button. Second time this has happened since I started using EPG123 3+ weeks ago

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garyan2

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#2

Post by garyan2 » Fri Jan 24, 2020 4:53 am

It looks like MS once again pushed some kind of update to annoy everyone about ending guide support and using an alternate provider. There seems to be a correlation between that and WMC performing some database recovery tasks.

When WMC does a recovery task, it wipes out everything and creates a new database without any guide data. You will need to use the client and do a [Manual Import] to bring them back in.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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#3

Post by MikeB » Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:57 pm

Sounds great. Will do next time Microsoft makes things hiccup. Thanks for the quick reply.

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StinkyImp

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#4

Post by StinkyImp » Fri Jan 24, 2020 4:43 pm

This post examined this problem in detail.

viewtopic.php?f=99&t=11236&p=122051#p122051

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IT Troll

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#5

Post by IT Troll » Sat Jan 25, 2020 11:49 pm

As detailed in the linked thread, the best solution is to disable the mcupdate task. I’ve never had this issue again since doing that.
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#6

Post by Space » Sun Jan 26, 2020 12:25 pm

Are you talking about the "Client Maintenance" task (displays "Starting Client Maintenance" in the event viewer).

I always assumed that this task purged old data from the WMC database that was no longer needed (old guide listings, one-off recording schedules, etc.) Doesn't your database become too large if you disable this?

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#7

Post by stuartm » Sun Jan 26, 2020 6:40 pm

Yes, I would think it is NOT a good idea to disable client maintenance and in fact I have not done so and in the years since I switched to EPG123 have never had any database problems. I think one thing to do that might help prevent problems is to not schedule your daily guide update task during times you are either recording or watching live TV (EPG123 already will postpone the update if a recording is in progress).

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#8

Post by IT Troll » Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:34 pm

Space wrote: Sun Jan 26, 2020 12:25 pm Are you talking about the "Client Maintenance" task (displays "Starting Client Maintenance" in the event viewer).
No, it is the mcupdate_scheduled task found in Task Scheduler. It has the description “Check for Media Center updates”. I found that this would periodically cause a database recovery event if allowed to run. I’m guessing something it downloaded didn’t play nice with the EPG123 data.
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#9

Post by stuartm » Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:00 pm

Ah, I also disabled that years ago after switching to EPG123. Since Microsoft long ago disbanded the WMC team there was no real reason to expect any useful updates and the only updates would be further stripping of WMC components (e.g. the Netflix capability) So most likely it could only cause problems.

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#10

Post by Space » Mon Jan 27, 2020 11:27 pm

IT Troll wrote: Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:34 pm
Space wrote: Sun Jan 26, 2020 12:25 pm Are you talking about the "Client Maintenance" task (displays "Starting Client Maintenance" in the event viewer).
No, it is the mcupdate_scheduled task found in Task Scheduler. It has the description “Check for Media Center updates”. I found that this would periodically cause a database recovery event if allowed to run. I’m guessing something it downloaded didn’t play nice with the EPG123 data.
Ah, OK, I think that is one of the tasks that WMC will re-create if you delete it. I guess you just right click on the task and select "Disable"?

I assume WMC will not detect that it is disabled and still schedule the task to run (changing the start time based on the settings in WMC) but it will not actually run due to it being disabled?

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#11

Post by IT Troll » Mon Jan 27, 2020 11:54 pm

Space wrote: Mon Jan 27, 2020 11:27 pm I assume WMC will not detect that it is disabled and still schedule the task to run (changing the start time based on the settings in WMC) but it will not actually run due to it being disabled?
I've not checked the time/date, but it never runs if you disable it.

Edit: Just checked, the run time does indeed get updated but it never actually runs or gets re-enabled.
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#12

Post by mwpeterson » Thu Jan 30, 2020 10:41 pm

I have disabled mcupdate_scheduled. There is another mcupdate task that runs mcupdate $(Arg0). Should this instance also be disabled?

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#13

Post by IT Troll » Sat Feb 01, 2020 12:09 am

I think that one is set to manual rather than having an actual schedule.
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#14

Post by Space » Sun Feb 02, 2020 11:00 am

I just installed EPG123 and during this process realized that the normal mcupdate_scheduled DOES also do the garbage collection/purge (Client Maintenance) every 5 days (in addition to downloading the guide). So I'm thinking that it is not a good idea to disable this unless you have another method of doing the garbage collection/purge.

I had already set up (years ago) a separate Task to just do the garbage collection (and disabled it in the mcupdate_scheduled task) so I could have better control over when it occurred, so that is why I didn't remember that the same task normally had both functions.

It may very well be this garbage collection/purge that causes the database recovery problem, however, so I'm not sure if having a separate task that JUST does the garbage collection/purge would resolve the problem.

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