I had the honor of being able to put together an impromptu instructional video with Alex Kuretz of MediaSmartServer.net and John “Diehard” Zajdler of the Home Server Show. Check out this three part video of Alex fixing my TwonkyMedia on my HP MediaSmart Server while John and I observe and talk about the issue.
Background
How did this happen?
I posted an article about turning off my CPU intensive TwonkyMedia after the 3.0 software upgrade on my EX485. Now, while turning off TwonkyMedia stopped the high CPU utilization, it did not fix the underlying problem. Alex saw my issue (and the screenshots) and commented on the post. John and I had already been talking with Andrew about the temporary fix but it was Alex that came up with a solution to the Twonky stalling during the indexing.
The article that Alex published is at:
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2010/03/04/how-to-fix-twonky-issues-in-3-0-patch-2/
My original article is at:
https://moviesgamesandtech.com/2010/03/11/twech-twip-on-a-twuesday-twuring-off-twonky/
If you are having issues with Twonky I would suggest turning off Twonky until you decide how you are going to approach it.
Turn it off if you do not plan to use Twonky OR find the file that is causing the stall.
The Video Collaboration
So how did we do this?
I sent Alex a Windows Remote Assistance to access my main PC. I then called Alex over Skype and then did a conference with John. I then used the Remote Desktop into my Windows Home Server and let Alex control the PC while he talked John (no video for John since remote is only for one connection) through the process. I used my screen recording software to pick up the video and the webcam microphone (hence the poor audio) to get the sound from our voices over Skype.
Special Thank You and Credit
I cannot express how cool it was to listen to and talk with two experts in the Windows Home Server field. In addition, I think this was the first collaborative effort to take place with three different websites across three different time zones!
The link for the actual instructions at Alex’s website are at:
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2010/03/04/how-to-fix-twonky-issues-in-3-0-patch-2/
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/
Three Part Video of TwonkyMedia Troubleshooting
Had to break it into three parts due to YouTube limitations. I hope you enjoy it and that it helps with your TwonkyMedia issues.
Conclusion
Alex fixed my system and showed me that with a little help and some logic that I can get TwonkyMedia to work. I will try and upload those two videos again and see if there was an issue with the file or just with how Twonky processed those two folders.
Thank you again to Alex Kuretz and John Zajdler for their expertise and patience during the making of this video.
Timothy Daleo
I like that line Tim, WHS brings together 3 guys from 3 different websites during 3 different time zones together to help the WHS community. It was fun, I hope we do more.
Very nice, Tim
John i heard during the chat you werre using a dual core on your 470 i am wanting to upgrade my 470 from the 1640 to a dual core, mind telling me the model that works for you i have done the bios update already. and have been trying the BE-2400 without luck
I hope we can do more too. Next topic?
I am sure this must have been a terrific instructional… but the sound was HORRIBLE. The voices were so low, even with the volume cranked, I could not make out what was being discussed! The host's voice was understandable, but the instructors voice was lost…
This twonky and firefly issue is one I too am experiencing, and would very much like to figure out how to resolve.
In regard to problem files encountered by these services… when they encounter a problem file, why the heck do they not simply skip the problem file, tag it for later resolution, and continue with files it CAN deal with!?
Trying to work on some new sound options.
I tried to boost the sound and even it out as best I could. I bought new software so I hope I can keep this from happening again. Of course I am still using Skype…