Lirc-Drop-Outs / Lirc just stops receiving signals

[whocares]

Hi,
After asking around in several forums I now file a bug-report here because nobody could actually help me.

I'm using Mythbuntu (Ubuntu Precise 12.0.4.1 on 64Bit with always newest kernel) with xbmc on top and an intel CIR-receiver connected with a CIR-header on the mainboard for infrared. I'm sorry I just can't tell you the exact lirc-package-name because I'm using a different computer for writing this report, right now. It is the usual lirc-package provided with mythbuntu. If there were any updates in the last 4 months, I of course installed them.

My problem is that Lirc spontaniously just stops receiving any input. I have to reboot the system afterwards to get it back to work again. The problem can occur a few seconds after boot-up or after a couple of hours - there seems to be no certain time for the drop-out.

Restarting Lirc didn't work for a long time until I found out that /etc/lirc/hardware.conf has a line causing trouble:

LOAD_MODULES="true"

needs to be set to false because lirc is not using any kernel-modules in my mythbuntu-CIR-setup (the setup was done by mythbuntu automatically).

When doing so, lirc can be restarted but without effect. IRW and xbmc both still don't see any input.

Strange thing: When changing the load-modukes-line to "false" xbmc is reacting too quick after a reboot and receives fail-inputs. E.g. When pressing right-button on the remote it sometimes receives left or enter-pushes. Holding the button causes the menu rotating a lot too fast. Drop-Outs still occur.

Therefore I changed the line back to "true". After a reboot, reaction-speed is usual again.

I don't understand at all why lirc is starting-up properly on boot with the faulty line. I figured out that there are just no kernel-modules for my CIR. Lirc is recognizing it as "Winbond 8769L CIR port (e.g. Acer Aspire 6530G)"

The drop-outs are really annoying. When not suffering them lirc is just running fine.

Last forums I discussed the problem on many pages:

http://www.vdr-portal.de/board60-linux/board14-betriebssystem/board68-debian-und-derivate/117969-lirc-läuft-plötzlich-nicht-mehr/

http://www.mythtvtalk.com/suffering-lirc-drop-outs-16275/

My /etc/lirc/hardware.conf:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# /etc/lirc/hardware.conf
#
#Chosen Remote Control
REMOTE="Winbond 8769L CIR port (e.g. Acer Aspire 6530G)"
REMOTE_MODULES="lirc_dev lirc_wpc8769l"
REMOTE_DRIVER=""
REMOTE_DEVICE="/dev/lirc0"
REMOTE_SOCKET=""
REMOTE_LIRCD_CONF="acer/lircd.conf.Aspire_6530G"
REMOTE_LIRCD_ARGS=""

#Chosen IR Transmitter
TRANSMITTER="None"
TRANSMITTER_MODULES=""
TRANSMITTER_DRIVER=""
TRANSMITTER_DEVICE=""
TRANSMITTER_SOCKET=""
TRANSMITTER_LIRCD_CONF=""
TRANSMITTER_LIRCD_ARGS=""

#Enable lircd
START_LIRCD="true"

#Don't start lircmd even if there seems to be a good config file
#START_LIRCMD="false"

#Try to load appropriate kernel modules
LOAD_MODULES="true"

# Default configuration files for your hardware if any
LIRCMD_CONF=""

#Forcing noninteractive reconfiguration
#If lirc is to be reconfigured by an external application
#that doesn't have a debconf frontend available, the noninteractive
#frontend can be invoked and set to parse REMOTE and TRANSMITTER
#It will then populate all other variables without any user input
#If you would like to configure lirc via standard methods, be sure
#to leave this set to "false"
FORCE_NONINTERACTIVE_RECONFIGURATION="false"
START_LIRCMD=""

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is it possible that there is some trouble with the modules lirc_dev and lirc_wpc8769l?

In the first forum someone told me lirc_wpc8769l doesn't actually exist.
Somewhere else (I think it was a bug-report) someone wrote something about conflicts with
lirc_dev, some sources and udev...not sure.

I would be glad for help / confirmations.

[whocares (testing123456)]

I'm now writing from the affected computer and can post some more details:

Lirc-Packages: Version:

lirc 0.9.0-0ubuntu1
liblircclient0 0.9.0-0ubuntu1
lirc-x 0.9.0-0ubuntu1
mythbuntu-lirc-generator 0.26-0ubuntu1

Kernel: 3.2.0-49-generic

Output of less /etc/issue:

    Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS \n \l

[Alec Leamas (leamas-alec)]

This looks indeed weird. You have a Winbond 8769L and tries to use the lirc_wpc8769l kernel module, which should present data from your remote on /dev/lirc0. However, this kernel module has been dropped, it never made the transition process when the kernel modules was moved from lirc to the kernel prior to 0.9.0.

Still, the kernel gives you some sort of input. The question then becomes what module it uses for your device, and if it's supposed to support that device. So, what is the dmesg output when you plugin in the usb receiver?

This is an old bug. We need this input to advance it. Otherwise, it will eventually be closed.

[Alec Leamas (leamas-alec)]

While we are on it: when the dropout occurs, has the lircd daemon died? In this situation, what does 'ps -ef | grep lircd' tell us?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for lirc (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]