Motion detect (modect) causes Ubuntu 10.04 to freeze

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GrahamT
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Oct 08, 2010 10:30 pm

Motion detect (modect) causes Ubuntu 10.04 to freeze

Post by GrahamT »

Hi, after many frustrating hours reinstalling Ubuntu, reinstalling Zoneminder and searching the Zoneminder forums for solutions, I have managed to get Zoneminder installed and working (almost) on my Ubuntu 10.04 machine. The capture card being used is a Kodicom 4400r, and I have a single camera set up on it for test purposes. The latest problem I am seeing is that while "Monitor" works ok and I can see the output of the camera ok both on the Ubuntu box and remotely on my windows laptop, when I select "Modect" I will get a few motion detected events to record ok, then Ubuntu hangs completely, no response to mouse or keyboard etc. and has to have the reset button pressed or power cycled to restart the machine. The Ubuntu install is very stable with other applications, it's just Zoneminder that causes this sort of crash. Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this before I give up and move back to a windows based solution? Note that I am no expert on Linux, so please try to be detailed in any replies! Thanks, GT
redxiii
Posts: 48
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 1:47 am

Post by redxiii »

i'm having similar problems. i have a brand-new machine with decent hardware, asus motherboard, antec power supply, kingston RAM, seagate hard drives, AMD CPU, with ubuntu 10.04 desktop 64-bit installed.

zoneminder is 1.24.2 though.

using 2 IP cameras with modetect. the system will run fine but then freeze up randomly. sometimes 1 day later, sometimes 5-6 days later. complete freeze, no console access, no ssh access, have to reset system.


edit: i eventually tracked this down to a faulty motherboard that also damaged some internal CPU memory registers. replacing both components under warranty has stopped the freezing.
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andrewa
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2011 7:22 pm
Location: Bulgaria

Re: Motion detect (modect) causes Ubuntu 10.04 to freeze

Post by andrewa »

This is an old post about a different cause, but leading to tha same result with my box: it freezes randomly after 1 -24 hours. Freezing is total, no response at all even to CapsLock button press on the keyboard. Hardware restart/power down is the only way to restart the machine - it starts OK.
The Cpu is 1.7GHz Pentium4 with 1GB RAM and PATA HDD, OS is Fedora 14 2.6.35.6-45.f14.i686 32 bit, Zoneminder is version 1.24.2 installed from Fedora rpm, MySQL 5.5.16 from Fedora rpm, PICO2000 card with 2 cameras attached. Purge-when-full filter is active and maintains <90% of ocupied disk space on a logical partition separate from where the OS is installed. The box is used as a home router & DVR for video surveilance in RECORD mode - it is constantly recording in PAL 480*320 B&W mode 1fps for both JK-212 CMOS cameras. Shared memory is set to 402653184. The board is set in /etc/modprobe.d/bttv.conf with:
options i2c-algo-bit bit_test=1
options bttv card=77 tuner=4 radio=0 triton1=0 vsfx=0 autoload=0
Freezing does not happen if Zoneminder is stopped and that is why I doubt it is a hardware problem.
If Zoneminder is ON everything works fine for 1 - 4 - 6 - 24 hours after which the box freezes. No recordrs in messages or mysql or zoneminder logs pointing to a problem. Event time length is set to 600sec and actually the event timing only allows me to determine when the freezing had occured. The last event, being recorded prior to freezing, has random length in the range of 1 - 600 sec. Disk space is occupied 86-89%. Initially I tested the monitors for higher resolution and the system was working at the max possible 590*520pixels. I thought this might be the reason and decreased resolution to 480*320pixels with no success.
Same OS&software works OK on another box with a more powerful CPU with 16channel DVR board with 8 cameras attached.
I wonder how to diagnose this problem: how to get logs of what causes the freezing of the box? I am at a loss; the only idea I have is that the watch-dog in the PICO2000 DVR board is causing this problem. How can I check it and deativate it? The DVR software for Windows, bundled with the board, has an option to restart the system at a specified time/day of the week.
redxiii
Posts: 48
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 1:47 am

Re: Motion detect (modect) causes Ubuntu 10.04 to freeze

Post by redxiii »

although it may appear not to be a hardware problem, how extensive has your testing been? zoneminder is a RAM and CPU intensive application, so while it is not running it may take weeks for your system to freeze, if it is a hardware problem. have you run memtest for at least a day? tried switching out the CPU?
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andrewa
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2011 7:22 pm
Location: Bulgaria

Re: Motion detect (modect) causes Ubuntu 10.04 to freeze

Post by andrewa »

I think it is not a direct hardware problem: the same box had WinXP installed & DVR soft bundled with PICO2000 & simple internet sharing without any freezing. Then I experimented with FedoraCore6 for 2 months and Fedora14 for 1 months already (I need better routing, VPN to work and a testing ground not to hinder the routers and DVR at work). I have installed a robust surge filter though no other CPU at home freezes like that. After stopping ZM no freezing is observed for a week while turning on ZM causes repeated freezings after a few hours.
I have not run memtests for a long time. Please, tip me how to do it - I am not a linux expert. Is it logical that after memory faults there remains no trace in the log files about the cause?
Do You think that the hardware watchdog of the PICO2000 board can be responsible? The board has this option as it can be triggered ON in the Win version while in ZM I cannot find any mention about board watchdog function. Probably it is believed that Linux does not need dayly restart.
bb99
Posts: 943
Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:04 am

Re: Motion detect (modect) causes Ubuntu 10.04 to freeze

Post by bb99 »

andrewa: Put a heatsink on the 878 chip; fairly common problem, simple solution.
mastertheknife
Posts: 678
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 4:32 pm
Location: Israel

Re: Motion detect (modect) causes Ubuntu 10.04 to freeze

Post by mastertheknife »

bb99 wrote:andrewa: Put a heatsink on the 878 chip; fairly common problem, simple solution.
Or buy a pico2000 that already comes with a heatsink on it:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Channels-CCTV ... 2a0b96ed6b
I have few of those and they all work ok.

mastertheknife
Kfir Itzhak.
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andrewa
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2011 7:22 pm
Location: Bulgaria

Re: Motion detect (modect) causes Ubuntu 10.04 to freeze

Post by andrewa »

Thanks for the advice. I have old mainboards with appropriate heatsink, silicon thermoconductive paste etc. I will manage it.
It is a strange problem as the box is installed in a cool basement and the side covers are removed, so cooling should be more than normal. Probably it is some lame PCB design on this particular board concerning the working mode of the chip. The 16 channel board with 4 bttv chips works OK in a much harsher environment (they could be different modification).
Once again thanks!
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