My DVR crashed on Pi.. . again

Channels DVR Server Troubleshooting
#1

I started a post about how I couldn't connect to my DVR. I tried to follow instructions to enable SSH be generating public keys, etc but gave up and attempted to start over with a fresh install.


I used a different portable hard drive to install Channels on my Pi4 2GB, and got it up and running. Then after trying to swap hard drives back and then copying some of the files onto the new hard drive, I was able to select a restore from a few days before everything crashed but I'm right back to getting Connection Refused errors, and it's dead again. I'm stuck, please help!

#2

Is the old or new hard drive connected to it?

When you say "trying to swap hard drives back and then copying some of the files onto the new hard drive"
What exactly does that mean?

Sounds like you either have the old drive connected which has problems or something you copied to the new drive (if that's what you're using now) has problems.

#3

  1. Please don't start a new topic all over again for the same problem.

  2. SSH does not require public/private keys unless it's configured to do so. Every server, router, what-have-you I've ever launched would take a simply username/password login.

  3. If the fresh install crashed after restoring some old files into the fresh install, that would imply corruption in the old files/data. (Though, from the way you describe it, I'm not certain exactly what you actually did.)

#4

The Pi image's SSH server requires a keypair. The authorized_keys file containing the public key is placed in a CONFIG folder, and when the OS boots it will start a SSH server on port 22222. The public key will then be used to authenticate as root.

(All of this is explained in the documentation for the Pi image, and the referenced links.)

#5

Huh. Well that's different. I stand corrected.

#6

Yeah, I'm sorry for starting a new thread but I thought it was a different problem now that reinstalled the whole thing and was able to access the server until I applied the backup. Also, figured this Troubleshooting space was probably more appropriate.
SSH aside for now, why do you think the server stops responding once I restored a previously working backup? I'm using the "new drive" at the moment with minimal copied files from the previous hard drive. I copied the backup file and applied the restore option using that, if that helps

#7

If there was a problem with the previous drive, that problem could have corrupted settings/database that Channels needs. So, restoring that corrupted state put your new install right back where it was.

What I would recommend is this:

  • start fresh with a wiped hard drive that has its own separate power supply;
  • re-image the latest Pi image to the drive;
  • setup the DVR as new, without restoring;
  • copy your existing recordings to the new drive and place them in the Imports directory, so Channels can index them and you can still access them.
2 Likes
#8

What member @racameron said.

#9

Can you try restoring the backup into a test install on your computer and see what happens.

A full fresh import is not going to lead to a good experience as you will lose commercial index and other meta.

#10

Thanks for the suggestion. I re-installed it on my Windows 10 machine that I used to use before buying a Pi4. Then I restored to a backup about a week ago when things were working, but it just broke the win10 dvr server now too. It's saying Connection Refused, same thing when I try to load it

#11

I've since wiped it again on my win10 machine and didn't restore from any backup. I was able to import the recordings, but as you just said, it's missing the Mera data, etc.

#12

You may want to try an earlier backup to find one that works, then import any newer recordings missing from there.

#13

I was able to restore using an earlier backup and it seems to be pretty stable for now. But I can't figure out how to import my recordings. the recordings look like they are listed in my Library, but when I try playing them, it says Playback Failed. I think I'm missing an obvious step of physically copying the ~1TB of recordings that I have somehow over?