Bugzilla – Bug 1626
Device should not blank during initial setup
Last modified: 2005-06-03 14:55:39 UTC
When setting up my unit, a configuration error caused the server to not be found. The sequence of events was that upon power-up, the box would prompt me to setup networking, I'd do it, and after searching for the server for about 5 seconds the box would shut down. This is very confusing and frustrating. On the surface it appeared to be a catestrophic hardware failure. I appreciate that shutting down the box when the server quits is probably a reasonable thing to do. However, doing so without notice can be very confusing and anxiety provoking for a new user, particularly if the box has never gotten to the point where it actually works. I suggest that at a minimum, the box should always display some explicit message, such as "lost link to server-- shutting down". Then the behavior clearly is intended, rather than puzzling. Furthermore, I suggest that configuring the network is a special case. If the box is in the configure network state and searching for the server for the first time after setup, then I think it would be more useful to continue to search forever or at least much longer than the present (5 sec.?) default. It would allow the user to fiddle with the rest of the network in order to debug the problem. When the box is NOT in setup mode, then the normal timeout would apply. Another possibility would be to make the auto-shutdown a user option and have the box stay running by default. Then shutting down wouldn't be a surprise becuse it'd be something the user expressly selects. In ANY CASE, the box shouldn't silently shutdown without warning or indicating why.
numerous complaints about the constant messages when the server was not found caused this message display to be turned off, only to display in response to ir and returning to blank
Do note that the device doesn't shut down, but rather display blanks after 10 seconds if it's trying to connect to a server that's not there. Pressing any button on the remote causes the display to come back on. While it's blank, it's still trying to connect, so if the server comes up (or the network gets fixed) it will be able to connect. As KDF says, this behavior was added in response to complaints that the display would stay on continuously if the server was unavailable. I'm not sure how to improve this behavior. Reopen the bug if you have other suggestions.