Guide Data Outage - 2017 Edition

Global guide related discussion. All Windows versions.
AChanceFind

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#1801

Post by AChanceFind » Mon Nov 27, 2017 3:31 am

notecgirl wrote:My guide runs out on November 30th 7:00 pm - are you all doing a manual update or something? Or rather do I need to keep doing that?

St. Louis Charter Spectrum
The updates have been working great for me, sometimes I do manual updates as new data sometimes comes in later in the evening while other times it auto updates in the mornings. You can check your download schedule by going to Settings >> General >> Automatic Download Options. I get automatic downloads every 12 hours.

Tonight I got a 2 day update and now have data to 12/10 . Some days there will be a download but no date advancement, although I see new data filled in that I hadn't seen earlier before the last update, such as SNL hosts and talk show guests whereas before a generic description was in place; but there has been 1 or 2 day advancement in the end date almost every day for me. I suspect this would vary by region/provider.

tdodel

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#1802

Post by tdodel » Tue Nov 28, 2017 12:39 am

My EPG guide runs out on November 30th also. The date for the .mxf file is 16 November. It seems like I'm not getting updates. Anyone else having this problem?

JohnW248

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#1803

Post by JohnW248 » Tue Nov 28, 2017 3:30 pm

tdodel wrote:My EPG guide runs out on November 30th also. The date for the .mxf file is 16 November. It seems like I'm not getting updates. Anyone else having this problem?
Some times MC gets "stuck" and doesn't update the data. If you haven't tried already, do a manual forced update which should move your to Dec 10 or so.

From command prompt (run as administrator) Change directory to Windows/ehome and then type the command mcupdate.exe -uf

The -uf switch requests the latest guide from the server even if the server things you have it and then runs a client maintenance which cleans up all old data from the guide.

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davidhp

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#1804

Post by davidhp » Fri Dec 01, 2017 6:18 am

Well it appears the EPG has been ending on Mon 12/11 at about 4:00 pm (pacific time) for a few days again now. I guess it was too good to last with the regular updates coming without our complaints through ROVI to Microsoft.

anotheruser

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#1805

Post by anotheruser » Fri Dec 01, 2017 9:27 pm

davidhp wrote:Well it appears the EPG has been ending on Mon 12/11 at about 4:00 pm (pacific time) for a few days again now. I guess it was too good to last with the regular updates coming without our complaints through ROVI to Microsoft.
The last 2 daily WMC EPG updates have not had any new data.

The Xbox One EPG updates usually come 6-12 hours earlier and have also not updated for 2 days but just got an update to 7 pm EST on 12/14. I'd expect WMC to get the same update overnight with a slight chance of it happening earlier.


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AChanceFind

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#1806

Post by AChanceFind » Sat Dec 02, 2017 5:33 am

"anotheruser" thanks for the report -- I have been manually updating every few hours since I saw your post and just now ~9:30pm PST got data up to 12/14 , two days added at once.

Since we seem to now have reliable updates I am wondering if these days when there are blank/no data are actually normal as so far it hasn't stayed more than a few days behind. Also I am fairly sure sometimes when the end date doesn't advance there is still new description data that gets added to some shows.

RSaunders

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#1807

Post by RSaunders » Sun Dec 10, 2017 2:58 pm

Now that the guide doesn't automatically update problem seems "ongoing", what's the best practice for automatically forcing full updates? I tend to do them every weekend, when I notice that I have network channel data for many days and other channel data for only a few. I'm thinking about scheduling a windows task every night to do a full update. There are two commonly used commands:

mcupdate -uf -pscn 0 -dbgc 2

and

mcupdate -uf

Which would be the best choice, and what time of day would people recommend? Is there any downside I need to consider? I have a couple of weeks vacation upcoming and so I'd like to get the new normal automated. Thanx in advance.

Roginator

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#1808

Post by Roginator » Mon Dec 11, 2017 3:48 am

I do a manual update using a one-line BAT file consisting of c:\windows\ehome\mcupdate.exe -uf

You can easily look up how to schedule the running of BAT files using Google.

Space

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#1809

Post by Space » Mon Dec 11, 2017 9:07 am

Looks like I've got a new failure scenario happening.

The following message appears in the Event Viewer:

Failed to retrieve EpgListing-2.enc (Error: HTTP status 404: The requested URL does not exist on the server.)

I have been seeing this message since 12/8/2017 (although I did have one successful download the day after I first saw that message).

Also, normally when WMC downloads the data file daily, it first creates a temporary file that it then renames after the download is completed. This data file is saved in the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\Packages\EpgListings folder and ends with .enc (after it is renamed).

However, with this current situation, a temporary file is being created, but it is 0 length and never gets renamed or deleted, so I currently have several *.tmp files in this folder.

Example filenames:

BITAE64.tmp
BITD6D3.tmp
BITF622.tmp

If you initiate a download from the GUI, it quickly returns with a failure message.

Does anyone else see these same symptoms?

I want to rule out that I have some kind of local networking problem and that it is, indeed, a MS server issue.

I suppose I can also try a different MS server (by making an entry in the hosts file), but I want to hold off on that until I have a better idea of what the problem is.

Thanks!

AChanceFind

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#1810

Post by AChanceFind » Tue Dec 12, 2017 2:29 am

Looking good here for OTA in N. CA. Have data until 12/24 with a day augmented I believe every day this week.

I looked through my logs and I have not been having these issues with the errors seen by user "space". My updates have been working both automatically with the scheduled task set inside WMC settings, and when I trigger them manually from within WMC. I've never had to manually run any of the command line tasks.

space, I would guess this could be a routing issue based on your location or something with your DNS or internet connection but you would probably be having other issues.

Space

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#1811

Post by Space » Tue Dec 12, 2017 4:31 am

Thanks for the reply. Today's update worked fine without any intervention. I'll keep an eye on it... It may have just been an issue with one of the servers or perhaps a routing issue. The error message seems to indicate that it did contact the server, it just could not find the file to download on that server, but the error message may be used for other types of problems...

toshfive

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#1812

Post by toshfive » Sat Dec 16, 2017 2:08 am

As of the date/time of this post, my EPG works fine.

All channels list correct guide info.

Thx Mr Gates

mainertodd

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#1813

Post by mainertodd » Sun Dec 17, 2017 11:17 pm

Down to 8 days of additional data, and some of the stuff from the coming week is out of date. Manual downloads during the past two days have finished in just about 10 seconds and contained no new data.

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Bee_Dee_3_Dee

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#1814

Post by Bee_Dee_3_Dee » Mon Dec 18, 2017 9:32 am

i'm bak to up 12 days.

the last two days went down from only 11 to just 10.

mainertodd

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#1815

Post by mainertodd » Mon Dec 18, 2017 6:53 pm

Mine got new data today, thankfully, after a manual update. I now have data through 8 PM on the 28th, which is fairly typical.

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davidhp

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#1816

Post by davidhp » Tue Dec 19, 2017 2:26 am

I have been getting daily updates for at least a month now, Microsoft appears to have fixed the problem (knock on wood).

Space

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#1817

Post by Space » Tue Dec 19, 2017 5:54 am

It has started to get a little erratic lately (at least for me), but for the most part it's been good. For instance, the day before yesterday, the update was a duplicate of the previous day. But other than these few hiccups, it's been so much better than it had been.

ratbrain

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#1818

Post by ratbrain » Mon Dec 25, 2017 6:57 am

dont want to start a new thread in this forum but think this is the most appropriate place.

ive been using w7 since 2011

just updated my HTPC to w10 and reinstalled media center.

I can not get my tv signal setup to download any guide at all.

I live in LOS ANGELES, and ive tried 20+ different zip codes but none of them work.

Ive also tried the tip regarding modifying the host file, but i still cant get any zip code to at least download any type of guide regardless if the info is good or not

Im using OTA and my previous install was still downloading guide data.

Any suggestions?

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Bee_Dee_3_Dee

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#1819

Post by Bee_Dee_3_Dee » Mon Dec 25, 2017 4:28 pm

ratbrain wrote:dont want to start a new thread in this forum but think this is the most appropriate place.

ive been using w7 since 2011

just updated my HTPC to w10 and reinstalled media center.

I can not get my tv signal setup to download any guide at all.

I live in LOS ANGELES, and ive tried 20+ different zip codes but none of them work.

Ive also tried the tip regarding modifying the host file, but i still cant get any zip code to at least download any type of guide regardless if the info is good or not

Im using OTA and my previous install was still downloading guide data.

Any suggestions?
Start with adding ur HTPC Hardware Specs by going to ur TGB Control Panel...
...i think it is: memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=7515 .... Then click on Profile and scroll down half way and fill in and Save ur HTPC's CPU, Mobo, RAM, HDD, GPU, Tuner, Case, Remote, TV Provider, Display, Amp, and Extender. And from that point on ppl here on TGB can see UR specs quickly by clicking on the HTPC Icon that will appear below ur user name on the left of every post u make.

See mine? ...
CPU: Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3GHz
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P35-S3G
RAM: 8GB (4 x 2GB) DDR2 800MHz
HDD: 1.5TB 7200RPM Seagate
GPU: GTX 560 Ti (2GB)
Tuner: InfiniTV 6 ETH
Remote: AVS Gear GP-IR02BK
TV Provider: Brighthouse Networks


GL :)

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davidhp

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#1820

Post by davidhp » Thu Mar 08, 2018 1:52 pm

Removed as not accurate any more.

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