Bugzilla – Bug 3125
audio stuttering issues with firmware 35 related to buffering
Last modified: 2008-12-18 11:38:39 UTC
Please see more information in thread http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=21265.
another customer report of this. his setup is: - airport extreme base station v5.7, 802.11b/g compatible, 40 bit WEP, - iMac 2GHz core duo, 20", OSX 10.4.5, 2GHz, 2GB of ram - music library is ALL in AAC format. - iTunes 6.0.4 (3)
What bit rate AAC?
Is this bug related to 3002 (https://bugs-archive.lyrion.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3002), or are these considered different? I'm not sure I understand the difference between "stuttering" and "gaps", other than the duration.
Dean tells me that for bug 3002 he can reproduce your symptoms even with firmware 28, I'm judging for now that these are separate bugs. I plan to keep an open mind, though! I strongly suspect there are several causes for people having this kind of problem, so my goal right now just has to be to distinguish between them and give reliable analyses and reproduction steps to the developers.
I have been in contact with Kevin via email about a problem that could be related. Description of the symptom I recently bought a SB3. This has the stuttering music symptom, which I believe is down to wireless communication, and in particular an instable signal strength. I have a SB2, which does not exhibit any of the symptoms - it is performing perfectly. With firmware 29-35, when I power up my SB3 to the setup screen, I see a signal strength of about 75%. When I connect to slimserver, and then view the signal strength through player info, I see the same ~75% signal strength for ~30seconds, but then the signal strength drops 20-30%, and then varies wildly by +/- 15%. Music streams okay if I play quickly after powering on (within the 30 secs), and then starts to stutter. I frequently find that at the end of a track the next track will not play (the SB display still says Now Playing, not stopped). This happens every time. If I power off and reconnect, I see the signal strength returns to a stable, reasonable high level, but after ~30 secs, it drops and varies quite a bit. I haven't tried a wired connection. I tried both the SB2 and SB3 from the same location. The SB2 wireless signal strength is a little better than the initially reported SB3 signal strength, but after the initial period, I see the SB3 signal strength drop to about 30% less than the SB2. This evening, I have reverted to SlimServer 6.2.2 SVN 5886 to get back to FW28. I played 65 mp3 songs without a single stop and haven't noticed any stuttering (although I've been out of the house for the majority of the time). I am currently listening to FLAC streaming to the player and no stuttering. However, signal strength still seems to dip and vary, which does not happen on the SB2. I haven't tried moving the SB3 back to the bedroom, where it is intended to go (signal strength is lower there - the SB2 plays fine, but the SB3 might struggle). I have an ADSL wireless router, which is wired to a PC running WinXP. I have a SB2 and a SB3 wirelessly connected, but tend to only play music on one at a time. There are other wireless routers in the area, but by examining channel usage via my PDA I have identified a channel that is clear of any other traffic (with clear channels either side of the chosen channel). I have tried other channels too. The router is a LinkSys Wireless-G ADSL Gateway with SRX200 (WAG54GX2). Firmware Version: V1.00.01, which appears to be the latest (and only available) version. I usually use WPA2-Mixed (TKIP+AES), as I couldn't get WPA2-Personal (AES) to work. However, I have tried downgrading to WEP security, and even no security, even disabling MAC address filtering. My server is WinXP, AMD 64 3000+, 1GB. The PC is not heavily loaded (~8% whilst streaming FLAC and working in other apps). I have a built-in network card (Gigabyte GA-K8VNXP motherboard, VIA K8T800 chipset). This is either a RTL8110S or RTL9201BL (not sure which) - Windows reports it as using a VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter driver. At this point in time, I have requested to replace my SB3 through the retailer I purchased it from. Although music currently seems to play fine through it with FW28, the signal strength still drops a lot lower than the SB2 and varies; I believe it doesn't work in the bedroom, where the SB2 (and my old SBG) play fine (I will try this again later as a final test). It does seem as if the wireless card is acting quite differently to the SB2, and I have not been able to ascertain from tech support if this is lower signal strength and varying signal strength phenomenon is expected.
Hello, i have the same issue: Description of the symptom It happens immediately when i start playing any type of song (music start after 2 seconds, buffer at 8% then it goes down to 0% after nearly 7 seconds and it never be able to fill up a bit, so i can only hear some sounds trying to come out from the sb3 from time to time). If i re-play the song, the issue just repeat as i described. It happens everytime even if i try to reboot the sb3, the wi-fi router, the server, nothing changes, it's always here. It happens only in wireless connection Squeezebox I have this issue since FW29, with FW28 everything is ok I have a signal strength of 90% on my sb3 WAP/Router I'm using a 3COM Office Connect Wireless 11g Access Point, Model 3CRWE454G72 Latest Firmware: 1.03.12 My SB3 is connected with WiFi 802.11g (as declared by the router) Channel 13 (tried with all channels: nothing changed), Nitro mode On (tried to switch it off: nothing changed) I have 1 Laptop connected via Wi-Fi but nearly never used, so the SB3 has full bandwith for him I'm using WEP 40/64 bit encryption with passphrase Server I try with all nighty release everyday, it never solved this bug (6.2.2 and 6.5b) Windows XP sp2 Amd XP 3.0Ghz 512 Mb RAM The PC is used only for slimserver, there's nothing else running on it I'm using a Via Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter to connect it to a Switch 3COM model 3C16791A. Tried with a 3COM Network Card 3C905-TX: nothing changed I'm using MP3 , VBR and CBR at 320Kbits the only difference is how much time is needed before the buffer goes at 0%, lower the bitrate, higher the needed time to reach 0% buffer. Hope it helps.
Please note my library is completely MP3. I have no WMA or AAC files. I will update this evening with the birates.
Hi, if this is related to buffering or not I don't know. But I had this symptom on one server (mac cube 10.4.4) and all other servers (xp,ibook, powerbook) went fine. The solution was to completetly remove Slimserver from that machine, especially clear the home/Library/Cache/Slimserver and reinstall. All is well since then. Before, reverting to FW28 was symptom-free, but installing FW33 and 35 gave stuttering or stopping after one song. Or just a freeze. Rebuilding the db did not help, so IMHO it was clearly an interaction between a file from an earlier version of slimserver based on FW<=28 and a FW>28 on SB3. -Hans
I moved my wireless access point and was using the Network Test module to find the best placement of my access point. During this my wife decided to use the Microwave, and the network speed dropped. I moved the network channel around to see if it improved the signal. After finding a good setup, I tried to play some music. The Squeezebox was working perfectly ... apart from the music wouldn't start. I tried Network Radio ... not a think. All the right things happened in the Squeezebox screen (apart from the device seemed to think it was playing, but the time elapsed didn't change and the small VU , and network traffic was going to the Squeezebox ... but nothing. I was playing with the Net Test module for a good 10 minutes, changing throughput and channel via the Router Access Point (DG834G) Everything else would work - I could view albums / go to all menus / do diagnostics. I rebooted the Server, rebooted the router, click 'forget this device' in the webbrowers, power cycled the squeezebox, used the 'Press 1' on remote when powering on trick, did a 'Press +' on remote when powering on to reset firmware. Had to downgrade to 6.2.1 with the earlier firmware, then move back to 6.2.2 with it's firmware, then everything worked okay. In summary, everything worked on the Squeezebox apart from actually playing the music ... Softsqueeze worked perfectly during all of this.
I usually get the bug just after or during the first song. The player doesn't refill the buffer and then just comes to a complete stop. It pretty much happens every time and the new firmwire (35) has made my Slimbox practically useless. My wireless signal is fine reporting between 85-90%. Summary Control Connection : OK Streaming Connection : Inactive Player Signal Strength : OK Buffer Fullness : Low Server Response Time : OK Player Signal Strength < 10 : 0 : 0% < 20 : 0 : 0% < 30 : 0 : 0% < 40 : 0 : 0% < 50 : 0 : 0% < 60 : 0 : 0% < 70 : 1 : 0% < 80 : 22 : 2% < 90 : 178 : 16% ####### < 100 : 915 : 82% ######################################## >=100 : 0 : 0% max : 94.000000 min : 68.000000 avg : 90.393369 Buffer Fullness < 10 : 685 : 68% ################################# < 20 : 15 : 1% < 30 : 17 : 2% < 40 : 16 : 2% < 50 : 32 : 3% # < 60 : 25 : 2% # < 70 : 16 : 2% < 80 : 19 : 2% < 90 : 18 : 2% < 100 : 169 : 17% ######## >=100 : 0 : 0% My router is a Netgear WGT624 v3 which is using it's latest firmware, V4.2.11_1.0.1 The Squeezebox3 is the only device connected to the wireless network The network is using WEP 64bit in an open system. I have used both SlimServer 6.21 and the nightly builds of 6.22 as well as 6.5beta and still receive the promblems, including a complete new install (ie deleted all old settings) of each server. * What oS? Windows XP Pro * What kind of CPU? Pentium4 2.6 (no HyperThread) * How much RAM? 1gig * Is the PC heavily loaded? No * What kind of PC network card are you using to connect to the WAP/router? (if built-in, what kind of PC?) Realtek RTL8139 * What format(s) are you using? Did you notice any difference between formats? mp3 and wma9 lossless Yes wma9 lossless starts stuttering straight away. I assume due to it's larger bandwidth requirements? I also should note that after i have the problems .. if the player doesnt come to a crashing halt before I intervene (ie stop/pause it myself) then the RSS ticker I use as a screensaver will stutter for a while (30 secs?) before it clicks into it's normal smooth mode. ** What format are you streaming in? (you can tell this by going to the slimserver -> server settings -> file types, and noting the first "stream format" checked for each "file format" .. I have them all set to the default settings.
As per request in forums. Description of the symptom * Does it happen immediately upon playing? Yes * Does it happen every time, or does it come and go? Always * Does it only happen with wireless networking? No Squeezebox * What firmware version did you experience the problem with? 35 (updated to 6.2.2) * What wireless signal strength was it reporting? 85%-100% WAP/Router * What Manufacturer and model of WAP or router are you using? DLink DI-624 * What firmware version does your WAP or router have installed? 2.70 (latest) * Is your Squeezebox connected via wireless or with a cable? Wireless * How heavy is your network traffic? ** Wireless? Low 1-2 MBit ** Wired? Not applicable ** Anything else unusual about your network? * What kind of wireless security are you using? ** WEP *** 128 bit Server * What version of Slimserver? Problems with 6.2.2 * What oS? Winddows 2000 * What kind of CPU? AMD Athlon XP 2000+ * How much RAM? 512 MB * Is the PC heavily loaded? Not at the time the problem occurs. With FW 28 I can have 100% CPU usage (compiling/linking, TMS320 emulator downloads (I work on embedded systems), VisualStudio) I am actually very impressed at how light weight SlimServer is. * What kind of PC network card are you using to connect to the WAP/router? (if built-in, what kind of PC?) TrendNet TEW-423PI * What format(s) are you using? Did you notice any difference between formats? I have everything in FLAC format so I cannot help here. ** Lossless Formats *** FLAC ** What format are you streaming in? (you can tell this by going to the slimserver -> server settings -> file types, and noting the first "stream format" checked for each "file format" *** FLAC
Just an update for people watching this bug. I think I have a good repeatable test case at last, and may be able to stop beating my head against this problem. I just need to do a few more experiments to verify my findings.
Can you please try firmware 41 available in the nightly releases. This includes a fix for the audio stuttering. Thanks.
Thanks - I've upgraded to the latest 6.5 nightly and the new firmware has resolved the issue.