Demigrator.exe issues

B

benogil

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 28, 2006
Messages
143
One of the most common complaints about WHS is the interruption of media streaming caused by Demigrator. Some have this problem, some don't. I was wondering if there was any insight from the board members on if they have, or don't, and if they do have it were they able to resolve it. Also, does any particular brand/type of mobo have or not have it.

Best Regards,

Ben Ogilvie
 
I didn't have it with my old Opty 175 / A8R32-MVP Deluxe, but now I'm having the issues with a Q9400 and a Gigabyte EP45-DS4P. More power, less silky.
 
I see lots of reports with Gigabyte mobo's, wanted to see if others experience was the same.

Ben
 
No problems with my Asus P5E VM DO either, but perhaps the question still stands, if you do have this problem, how do you address it? And, why does it happen with some boards and not others ?
 
Honestly if you have the latest updates the demigrator should not be an issue.
When WHS first came out it was written to the OS disk and then moved to the storage disk(s).
Now data is written directly to its final location.

If people are having streaming issues its network related.
 
Well, this continues to be a topic on the wegotserved and MS WHS boards, since the main report is that streaming stutters every 30 minutes ( during demigrator activity ) for about a minute or two, that does not sound like a network issue. Nor does switching to Intel Nics always cure it.
 
I have the same stutter issues.

My WHS is none to shabby either, quad core, 4gb ram, etc etc... I also have some nice gigabit network stuff...

I have all the latest updates and ran a clean install more than once.

It is some glitch in the software I think.
 
And, that is why I am asking about this. Some are afflicted with the Demigrator disease, some are not. Throwing a quad and 4 GB does not seem to always work. If WHS works with no problems for some, what is the difference, and how can it be addressed or avoided?

Ben
 
Buy a good mobo?

Ask people what they are using, and if they have that problem?
 
I was having this problem with my HP MSS streaming to a Popcorn Hour A-110, so I built a new WHS based on a Norco 4220, AMD 5050e and a Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-UD4H mobo. I have not had any studdering problems with the new WHS machine.
 
Thanks, that is good to know. A friend on WGS is trying to fix his stuttering by converting to 64k blocks. The instructions are on the SageTV forum. Problem is he had 12 TB of DVD's, so it takes awhile for him to move it and reformat, then move it back. I'll post if this works.
Still makes little sense why it appears on some systems and not on others. When mentioned on other forums, usually it just gets passed off with " I'm not having that problem".
Ughh. Or, on the MS forum, you are invited to vote on the already long standing ticket open on connect. Yeah, that works.

Ben
 
Thanks beephaha,
Yeah, that is a good mobo, too bad about the stutters. Just a question, but did you load WHS in IDE and then update your drivers, or did you load WHS with SATA ?
Not sure that matters, but it may.

Ben
 
Hmm, the 64k cluster thing is interesting, because my drive pool is set up with that. For those experiencing the stutter, what cluster size did you use for your drive pool?
 
benogil said:
Thanks beephaha,
Yeah, that is a good mobo, too bad about the stutters. Just a question, but did you load WHS in IDE and then update your drivers, or did you load WHS with SATA ?
Not sure that matters, but it may.

Ben
Click to expand...

Well WHS is running off an IDE drive, the other drives are all on my Supermicro controllers except for a few off the mobo's SATA. However, I kept those in IDE mode too, loading three sets of drivers if I ever had to do a reinstall would be a pain in the ass.
 
Farscape,
Good question on the 64k clusters. I don't know if it will work with every situation, but some reports are that 64k clusters and diskkeepr for defrag have resolved some folks stuttering.
That makes sense, as the " traditional" approach to video streaming is 64k clusters and defragged drives for best performance.

Ben
 
beephaha -
The cruel world of media servers- yikes - most often heard phrase " if I knew then what I know now ". A reinstall is a major pain, but reports are that the IDE/SATA can matter.

Ben
 
Q8200, 4GB on a Asus P5BV/SAS and no stuttering here. My OS drive is a 1TB WD Black and I do believe I have it in IDE mode on an ICH7 mobo port. The rest of my drives are hanging off the mobo's LSI 1068E controller. I was using the mobo's Broadcom NICs teamed up, and no problems then. I just added an Intel Pro/1000 MT Quad PCI-X NIC with all 4 ports teamed and no problems now either.
 
Could this possibly have something to do with inefficient NIC drivers? Demigrator.exe hits the CPU up with some load and the NIC drivers burp?
 
That has been reported as well, sometimes an upgrade to Intel PCI Nics has worked, sometimes not, even on high-spec systems.

Ben
 
OS drive is the 1TB WD Black. I've got 6 1TB WD Greens, some EACS and some EADS, and 2 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11s.
 
I went to the link and not sure which work around you are referring too? Having an issue with mine just like this right now.
 
Omegas,
The best method ( and,still, not sure it works all of the time ) is to try an upgrade to an Intel PCI NIC. This problem happens frequently. A friend of mine tried moving his 12 TB's of DVD's, and reformatting to 64k clusters without relief. There have been some reports of diskkeeper and the NIC upgrade working.

Ben
 
I'll see about the NIC. Also something I'm doing right now (haven't fully tested yet) is to set your computer backup times from your server to include anytime you might be watching movies. I know this sounds rediculous, but the idea is that no additional programs run during backup times on the server which includes the Demi. My media center stays on 24/7 so very little chance I'll get hit for a backup in the middle of a movie and even then I can tell it to skip. Will see if this how this works for the next couple days....
 
Good idea, please let me know. Another forum recommended no file transfers for 30 minutes before a movie.

Ben
 
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