EPG123 Bug Reports

An evolving, supported alternative to Rovi
Forum rules
★ Download the latest EPG123 here: https://garyan2.github.io/ <> Setup guide here: https://garyan2.github.io/install.html
User avatar
garyan2

Posts: 7438
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2015 7:23 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1361

Post by garyan2 » Sat Oct 10, 2020 3:43 pm

alhaunts wrote: Sat Oct 10, 2020 1:16 pm For the past month or so, the tray icon app has been throwing errors every couple of days. Event ID: 1000

Here are the details:

Faulting application name: epgTray.exe, version: 1.2.0.0, time stamp: 0xb5f1213e
Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 6.1.7601.24520, time stamp: 0x5d673e23
Exception code: 0xe0434352
Fault offset: 0x000000000000b87d
Faulting process id: 0x498
Faulting application start time: 0x01d69e7622a518e8
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\epg123\epgTray.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\KERNELBASE.dll
Report Id: 613fc4b8-0a69-11eb-b347-e0cb4e8bb65c

This occurs at random times of the day & doesn't seem to affect functionality AFAIK

System is Win 7 x64

Cheers, Al.
Unfortunately, the details don't help much. Exception code 0xe0434352 is an "unknown software exception." You say these are random? You are not interacting with the tray icon, and there is no update in progress?

The program doesn't do much except sit there and listen to a communication pipe for any messages from the epg123.exe update process or the epg123client.exe import process. If it is not downloading or importing, the tray is really doing absolutely nothing. There is a timer as well that is set 24 hours after your last imported MXF file creation time. If 24 hours has expired then it will turn red. If a download or import is in progress, then that timer gets bumped another hour.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

User avatar
alhaunts

Posts: 66
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2020 5:45 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1362

Post by alhaunts » Sat Oct 10, 2020 3:49 pm

Yes anytime of the day or night. Times don't line-up with epg downloading/importing. Dr Google suggests the exception code may be related to .NET issues. I'll try updating .NET to the latest version & see what happens. Thanks Gary.

User avatar
garyan2

Posts: 7438
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2015 7:23 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1363

Post by garyan2 » Sat Oct 10, 2020 5:53 pm

Does your computer sleep or hibernate? That may explain some of the randomness. I found out that when the computer sleeps, the timer pauses and will resume when the computer wakes back up.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

User avatar
alhaunts

Posts: 66
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2020 5:45 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1364

Post by alhaunts » Sun Oct 11, 2020 1:05 pm

No sleep or hibernation here. I updated .NET from 4.0 to 4.8 and ran sfc /scannow. It found & fixed a few "integrity violations". No further epgTray.exe errors but time will tell. Fingers crossed.

User avatar
Einstien

Posts: 31
Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2018 12:54 am
Location: Venice CA

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1365

Post by Einstien » Sat Oct 24, 2020 5:25 am

I have been an EPG123 user for years now. I think WMC is the most complex software I've ever seen. It boggles my mind how you accomplished this task. I am truly in awe. And you've always been so helpful. Well, on with my question:
Today I got a message on my extender saying I needed to go to the WMC PC and run the TV setup to restore my WMC. I have no clue why this happened. I couldn't run WMC at all, so I went to the PC to run the TV setup. During the setup, I opted out of the guide as always, and entered my zip code, and it would not download the setup data. I got the message "The new TV setup data could not be downloaded. The existing data, if available, will be used". I tried different zips and "fixes" on the net such as flushing the DNS and editing the Hosts file, etc, etc, to no avail. So I ran the rest of the setup without downloading the setup data, and it ended up with no guide. I don't mean the infamous "No Data Available", I mean the guide icon greyed out and no guide display available at all. Could not access any avenue to get to a guide, it just didn't exist. My only options were "Live TV" and "Recorded TV", there was no "Guide" option. My question is this; would the "Rebuild WMC Databases" bring back the guide at this point? I failed to try it and now I wonder. I realize there are a couple of extra steps after rebuilding it, but I just wonder if it would bring it back, meaning there is no need to panic over the message "The new TV setup data could not be downloaded". I am asking 'cause I ended up restoring my WMC from an image file, with of course side effects.

User avatar
garyan2

Posts: 7438
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2015 7:23 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1366

Post by garyan2 » Sat Oct 24, 2020 5:50 am

There is no TV Setup to download anymore. In fact, if it starts trying to download TV Setup data, the best thing to do is to cancel that and acknowledge that you won't get guide listings (again). WMC sometimes will get stuck on that stage and just sit there. https://epg123.garyan2.net/install/step2/

There are some registry settings epg123 will set to enable the guide in WMC since we declined the Program Guide ToS. It will do that when you run your epg123 guide update. Everything should be fine at that point.

A rebuild probably won't work in this case since it will just build a new database on your current WMC configurations. The result will be exactly the same as it is now. If you have recent [Backup], you could use that to restore the WMC configurations to what they were when the backup was created.

So all you need to do is run a epg123 [Save & Execute] and your guide will be imported and the guide option in WMC will be enabled.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

User avatar
Einstien

Posts: 31
Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2018 12:54 am
Location: Venice CA

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1367

Post by Einstien » Sat Oct 24, 2020 5:06 pm

Thanks for your quick reply. Obviously you are the only one on the planet who could answer these qustions. Really appreciate it.
I heard that it sometimes gets stuck at that point, I guess I was lucky mine didn't. However, I tried running the save and execute and still didn't have a guide. I remember the 10 progress bars that EPG runs during setup seemed to end prematurely, like at around 8 I think, so I guess something went wrong. That's when I got out my image file. As you know, WMC is temperamental about being restored from earlier images. I did get the guide itself back, but only the obligatory 7 lines of guide with no data. And this was from an earlier working copy from 2019 that had 100's of lines. It was then I ran the EPG 123 Rebuild option and got my hundreds of lines back. What a relief! Save and Execute rescued my channel listings. All went well. Yea!!! Of course I also lost the ability to view previous copy protected recordings.

EDIT: There is a lot of good information you just provided. I'm going to save this.
After this WMC near death experience, I came up with this survival kit

1. A backup as made by EPG123
2. A copy of the Win registry (I used this once when WMC refused to delete recordings, worked well)
3. A fresh copy of EPG123
4. An image file of the OS

That ought to do it!
Thanks Gary - Donation coming

User avatar
Einstien

Posts: 31
Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2018 12:54 am
Location: Venice CA

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1368

Post by Einstien » Tue Oct 27, 2020 1:08 am

Well I'm back with a two questions.
I successfully removed my cable lineup using the remove option in the EPG Config, and it did indeed disappear, but it was then I noticed a tab called "Custom Lineup". There was a bunch of stuff in there which I don't know how the stuff got in there in the first place, and I can find no way to remove this lineup. It does not appear in the list of lineups I can remove. I know I can de-select all of channels, but is there a way to remove the lineup of channels that are in there completely? Which brings me to next part of this.
I am not clear on what is the difference between selecting all channels, and then selecting "exclude", vs just de-selecting all the channels. I'm sure I'm probably just reading this the wrong way something. TIA, as always!

User avatar
garyan2

Posts: 7438
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2015 7:23 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1369

Post by garyan2 » Tue Oct 27, 2020 2:47 am

Don't need to worry about the custom lineup. That is for users who want to create their own. I created this a couple years ago when SiliconDust temporarily had a streaming service through their hardware and we didn't have any lineups that would work with it. For a while, I used it in order to see what was on my Sling TV within WMC, though I couldn't record anything of course. I could however easily see what was on and do searches in WMC to find premieres and such. As long as the custom lineup is EXLUDED, it is harmless. You can't enable/disable download of channels in the custom lineup. The channels that are enabled means that at least 1 of your subscribed lineups gives you access to that station's guide listings.

A lineup that is INCLUDED will download any station that is enabled for download, and there will be a corresponding lineup with channels based off that in the MXF file. A lineup that is EXCLUDED will not download any stations in that lineup unless it is allowed in another lineup. Any lineup that is EXCLUDED will not be a part of the generated MXF file.

So the scenario for INCLUDED/EXCLUDED. You have one membership to Schedules Direct but you have 2 homes in 2 different locales. Say you have a cable provider in both locations, they have a lot of the same stations but totally different channels numbers. You will have subscribed to both lineups with your membership for the 2 locations, but you do not want to download the wrong lineup at either location. So you will EXCLUDE the lineup doesn't apply to the location you are at.

Another scenario is you have a WMC station that has cable, and another that has satellite. For the cable station you would want to EXCLUDE the satellite and vice versa for the satellite station.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

User avatar
Einstien

Posts: 31
Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2018 12:54 am
Location: Venice CA

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1370

Post by Einstien » Tue Oct 27, 2020 8:35 am

I understood the reason for including or not including lineups. Here's where I was not clear; I was thinking the "Include" "Exclude" was referring only to those channels that were checked, ie; that if a channel was checked, it l would mean to include or exclude it depending on the button at the top, but it is not. It is actually referring to the entire lineup itself. So ALL the channels in the EXCLUDED will not be downloaded being checked or not. Got it. Thanks for clearing that up. Makes sense.

EDIT: Not to belabor this point, but I just read your scenario again and really makes total sense. That never occurred to me. I was showing your program to my brother-in-law yesterday and I guess it's true what we kept saying,
"Boy this guy thought of everything!"

Just one more point, I'm still amazed at how you unraveled WMC. I mean it's not like MS publishes open source. Truly AMAZING work.

The Mac

Posts: 116
Joined: Wed Jun 05, 2013 6:09 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1371

Post by The Mac » Wed Oct 28, 2020 10:01 pm

The homescreen icon seems to still think there is an update out there after updating to 1.5.0

User avatar
garyan2

Posts: 7438
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2015 7:23 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1372

Post by garyan2 » Wed Oct 28, 2020 10:03 pm

The icon will not update until you import a new MXF file with v1.5.0. So the plus sign will disappear after next scheduled update or after you perform a [Save & Execute] if you want it to change right now.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

The Mac

Posts: 116
Joined: Wed Jun 05, 2013 6:09 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1373

Post by The Mac » Wed Oct 28, 2020 10:27 pm

i updated a couple days ago, and did a save and execute at that time.

a couple daily updates have happened since.

i will do another save and execute and see what happens.

User avatar
garyan2

Posts: 7438
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2015 7:23 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1374

Post by garyan2 » Wed Oct 28, 2020 10:30 pm

Then you may be affected by the MXF load verification. See this thread. Since the client doesn't complete, the icon doesn't get updated.

Please take a look at the last post and try the v1.5.0.40 version of the client to see if we get more information on what is causing the issue.
Last edited by garyan2 on Wed Oct 28, 2020 10:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

The Mac

Posts: 116
Joined: Wed Jun 05, 2013 6:09 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1375

Post by The Mac » Wed Oct 28, 2020 10:36 pm

yup, looks like it never actually updated.

The homescreen icon never turned red, just the systray icon.

i will post in the other thread.

bobr31

Posts: 40
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2011 3:20 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1376

Post by bobr31 » Mon Nov 02, 2020 9:55 pm

I just had my guide disappear completely when I started WMC this morning. I got a warning that stated that I had to run TV Setup again. I am using EPG v1.51 and have done multiple Save&Excutes. I have followed the instructions below multiple times but with no joy. I first installed EPG123 in Oct 2019 and it has been bulletproof. Things have been stable for over a year and then this hiccup. Any suggestions on how I can get the guide and data to load. Do I need to manually make any registry setting changes? I keep getting hung up in WMC after declining the tos. Using a CetonInfiniTV4 that is installed and working. I now only get 2 icons on the Recorded TV line in WMC - Recorded TV and TV Setup. Thanks

garyan2 wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2020 5:50 am There is no TV Setup to download anymore. In fact, if it starts trying to download TV Setup data, the best thing to do is to cancel that and acknowledge that you won't get guide listings (again). WMC sometimes will get stuck on that stage and just sit there. https://epg123.garyan2.net/install/step2/

There are some registry settings epg123 will set to enable the guide in WMC since we declined the Program Guide ToS. It will do that when you run your epg123 guide update. Everything should be fine at that point.

A rebuild probably won't work in this case since it will just build a new database on your current WMC configurations. The result will be exactly the same as it is now. If you have recent [Backup], you could use that to restore the WMC configurations to what they were when the backup was created.

So all you need to do is run a epg123 [Save & Execute] and your guide will be imported and the guide option in WMC will be enabled.

User avatar
garyan2

Posts: 7438
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2015 7:23 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1377

Post by garyan2 » Mon Nov 02, 2020 10:15 pm

Yah, getting stuck on the download portion of TV Setup can be a pain. There's some tricks/luck in getting it to work... or simply time. If you can't get past the download part in order to complete TV Setup, I would suggest using the [Client Setup] in the client. This will delete the downloaded packages you had from 2019 and they won't be a problem anymore. It also has the benefit of asking if you want to download and you can say 'No'.

Have you tried the [Rebuild WMC Database] option? You might get luck.

Also, since I am not sure what state your WMC is in, or what database it is trying to use, you might want to copy all the c:\programdata\microsoft\ehome\mcepgX-Y folders (not the mcepgX-Y.db files) to a safe location before doing the [Client Setup]. If you have recording requests, and they don't get restored during setup, we can restore them from one of those.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

User avatar
garyan2

Posts: 7438
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2015 7:23 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1378

Post by garyan2 » Mon Nov 02, 2020 10:17 pm

Just a note to all, I think maybe I will add an automatic backup of WMC configurations monthly. Maybe even right before a garbage collection.... Not a bad idea.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

bobr31

Posts: 40
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2011 3:20 am
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1379

Post by bobr31 » Tue Nov 03, 2020 12:58 am

You're Aces Gary. I have the guide listings back and everything looks good except I lost all of my scheduled recordings. The solution that worked for me was to do a reboot and then run the Client Setup. It allowed my to get by the download screen in WMC where it had frozen before. I did a backup of my eHome folder as you suggested. I was just going to ask you how to restore my scheduled recordings when they suddenly appeared. It took about 5 minutes for them to populate. Thank You, Thank You.

User avatar
garyan2

Posts: 7438
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2015 7:23 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#1380

Post by garyan2 » Tue Nov 03, 2020 1:12 am

Glad to hear it. Though recovering the recording requests is easy to do, it is a bit difficult to explain.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

Post Reply