Problems? Try turning off UPnP (even if you don't think you are using it)

[Ozpeter]

This is a spinoff from another thread - http://forums.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=22873 - where some users have discovered that having UPnP data on their network is causing instability / crashes / freezes in their Boxee Boxes - even if the symptoms don't necessarily seem to be UPnP related.

I've been experiencing problems with audio playback in particular (playback starts fine, then very short freezes begin to happen, then they get worse, and finally the Box reboots itself) but some instability (self rebooting) has been happening even when the system is doing nothing.

Turning off UPnP media servers on my system seems to have cured the problems at once - for instance, when I went out earlier I left a two hour audio playlist running, and when I came home the playlist had completed and the box had not rebooted, which would have been impossible before.

I recall some threads where the symptoms described were much like I have experienced, but no mention was made of UPnP being involved. It's possible that those users had some UPnP stuff running on their networks even though they weren't using that stuff in connection with the Box in particular.

So - my point is, if you are experiencing general instability problems, check whether you have any UPnP media servers running on your system, and try disabling them to see whether your Boxee Box then runs better. In the thread mentioned above, there's talk of disabling UPnP at the network level (eg in the router) but here just shutting down the servers was enough.

If anyone gets a good result from trying that experiment it would be interesting to know here.

(In the next day or two I will try re-enabling the media servers one by one to see whether it's a particular one that causes the problem - normally I have Nero MediaHome, Twonky Media Server, PS3 Media Server, and TVMOBiLi running).

[Ozpeter]

(Note to mods - I've created a separate thread on this because the heading of the other thread may not encourage people to read it who may, unwittingly, have this problem).

[rawmill]

I thought it was just me. I had tons of freezes, but once I created Samba shares instead of accessing my upnp server, I have had no freezes at all.

I am using Playstation Media Server as a upnp server, fwiw.

[FirstGear]

thanks. is there a location in the the boxee settings to disable UPNP?

[darcilicious]

It's not a setting on the Boxee Box, the issue is the use of UPnP on any other device on your network.

[gmd024]

thanks. is there a location in the the boxee settings to disable UPNP?

No - UPnP has to be disabled at the server - or simply do not run/turn on a UPnP server on your network - and possibly disabled at your router, if it supports UPnP

FWIW - my W7 PC has it's UPnP server enabled 24/7 and it shows up in both of my BBoxes whenever they're turned on - and I frequently use the PlayOn UPnP server, plus my router is enabled for UPnP but I've never experienced the issue mentioned here - so apparently this issue does not occur on all BBoxes - or possibly with different UPnP servers other than the ones on my network

[darcilicious]

For what it's worth, I have two sometimes three UPnP servers on my network and I don't experience freezes or crashes (well, not on regular basis at any rate per the OP). I've played music for several hours non-stop without any problems, for example.

[Ozpeter]

I left my two-hour playlist playing overnight on "repeat all" and this morning it's running fine (with all UPnP servers off - except I've just noticed that PS3 Media Server was actually still running on a Win 7 PC, though the Boxee doesn't seem to work with it anyway). Now I've restarted the Twonky server and I'll see whether that "breaks" the Box playback after a while... then I'll try the others in turn.

How much of a local issue this will turn out to be remains to be seen but I'd still say that it's an area worth checking for anyone having general stability problems (doesn't take long to do the experiment).

[gmd024]

I left my two-hour playlist playing overnight on "repeat all" and this morning it's running fine (with all UPnP servers off - except I've just noticed that PS3 Media Server was actually still running on a Win 7 PC, though the Boxee doesn't seem to work with it anyway). Now I've restarted the Twonky server and I'll see whether that "breaks" the Box playback after a while... then I'll try the others in turn.

How much of a local issue this will turn out to be remains to be seen but I'd still say that it's an area worth checking for anyone having general stability problems (doesn't take long to do the experiment).

Definately - even if it's a small amount of BBoxes experiencing this, your taking the time to help the community will be appreciated

[Ozpeter]

I first re-enabled Twonky Media Server (v5) and ran that for an hour or so with no effect on the Box (which was still playing audio from a normal network share). I then disabled TMS and re-enabled TVMOBiLi (latest beta), and after about an hour the Box started stuttering on the ongoing audio playback. Disabled TVMOBiLi service, and by the time I'd walked back to the lounge, Box playback was running smoothly.

I can hear "told you so" from a certain mod here...!

Well, that's a pity as TVMOBiLi otherwise has a lot to recommend it. I'll try some other versions.

But - I think the point remains that UPnP stuff has the potential to mess up the Boxee Box (dunno why...) and TVMOBiLi may not be the only source of trouble out there. In another thread a Linksys router/server seemed to be the culprit. So my recommendation remains that if you have mystery Boxee Box problems, consider the UPnP angle even if you're not actually using UPnP for playback or whatever.