MyGica Mini DVB-T2 USB Stick T230 running but becomes unstable

stephenliggett · 11-23-2020, 03:27 PM

I have an August DVB-T210 (v2.0) Freeview HD TV Receiver, which has run successfully under windows 10 on my lenovo g780 laptop. It is running successfully under my recently installed linux mint 20 cinnamon edition OS. The USB TV stick is a USB 2.0 device.
Eventually, either immediately, after a few minutes or sometimes not within a given TV watching session, the following error message is displayed in dmesg log

Code:

usb 3-2: dvb_usb_v2: 2nd usb_bulk_msg() failed=-110

followed by the error message

Code:

usb 3-2: dvb_usb_v2: usb_bulk_msg() failed=-110

which repeats continuously every 2 seconds. Once these messages start I can only continue to watch the TV channel I have been watching or end the program. All other actions result in the TV viewer (kaffeine) becoming unresponsive.

Here is the relevant section of dmesg showing the initialisation of the TV USB stick.

Code:

[   24.054473] usb 3-2: dvb_usb_v2: found a 'MyGica Mini DVB-T2 USB Stick T230' in warm state
[   24.054707] usb 3-2: dvb_usb_v2: will pass the complete MPEG2 transport stream to the software demuxer
[   24.054719] dvbdev: DVB: registering new adapter (MyGica Mini DVB-T2 USB Stick T230)
[   24.054722] usb 3-2: media controller created
[   24.055101] dvbdev: dvb_create_media_entity: media entity 'dvb-demux' registered.
[   24.117071] i2c i2c-8: Added multiplexed i2c bus 9
[   24.117074] si2168 8-0064: Silicon Labs Si2168-B40 successfully identified
[   24.117076] si2168 8-0064: firmware version: B 4.0.2
[   24.160592] ACPI Warning: \_SB.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP._DSM: Argument #4 type mismatch - Found [Buffer], ACPI requires [Package] (20190816/nsarguments-59)
[   24.258717] si2157 9-0060: Silicon Labs Si2147/2148/2157/2158 successfully attached
[   24.258742] usb 3-2: DVB: registering adapter 0 frontend 0 (Silicon Labs Si2168)...
[   24.258747] dvbdev: dvb_create_media_entity: media entity 'Silicon Labs Si2168' registered.
[   24.462372] Registered IR keymap rc-total-media-in-hand-02
[   24.462408] rc rc0: MyGica Mini DVB-T2 USB Stick T230 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb3/3-2/rc/rc0
[   24.462475] rc rc0: lirc_dev: driver dvb_usb_dvbsky registered at minor = 0, scancode receiver, no transmitter
[   24.462518] input: MyGica Mini DVB-T2 USB Stick T230 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb3/3-2/rc/rc0/input18
[   24.462563] usb 3-2: dvb_usb_v2: schedule remote query interval to 300 msecs
[   24.462565] usb 3-2: dvb_usb_v2: 'MyGica Mini DVB-T2 USB Stick T230' successfully initialized and connected
[   24.462600] usbcore: registered new interface driver dvb_usb_dvbsky

I am using the most up to date firmware versions of si2168-b40 (v 4.0.25) and si2158-a20 (v 2.1.9) and have tried other older versions without any improvement in the situation.
There are 2 USB 2.0 ports and 2 USB 3.0 ports on my computer, I have tried all of the ports and have had the same problem on all of them.
Here is the lsusb -t output from one of the USB 2.0 ports, which uses the xhci_hcd driver:

Code:

/:  Bus 04.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/4p, 5000M
/:  Bus 03.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/4p, 480M
    |__ Port 2: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=dvb_usb_dvbsky, 480M
/:  Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci-pci/2p, 480M
    |__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/6p, 480M
        |__ Port 6: Dev 3, If 0, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
        |__ Port 6: Dev 3, If 1, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
/:  Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci-pci/2p, 480M
    |__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/6p, 480M
        |__ Port 3: Dev 3, If 0, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=btusb, 12M
        |__ Port 3: Dev 3, If 1, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=btusb, 12M
        |__ Port 3: Dev 3, If 2, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=btusb, 12M
        |__ Port 3: Dev 3, If 3, Class=Application Specific Interface, Driver=, 12M
        |__ Port 4: Dev 4, If 0, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=rtsx_usb, 480M

and here is the lsusb -t output from the other USB 2.0 port, which uses the ehci-pci driver.

Code:

/:  Bus 04.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/4p, 5000M
/:  Bus 03.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/4p, 480M
/:  Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci-pci/2p, 480M
    |__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/6p, 480M
        |__ Port 6: Dev 3, If 0, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
        |__ Port 6: Dev 3, If 1, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
/:  Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci-pci/2p, 480M
    |__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/6p, 480M
        |__ Port 2: Dev 5, If 0, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=dvb_usb_dvbsky, 480M
        |__ Port 3: Dev 3, If 0, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=btusb, 12M
        |__ Port 3: Dev 3, If 1, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=btusb, 12M
        |__ Port 3: Dev 3, If 2, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=btusb, 12M
        |__ Port 3: Dev 3, If 3, Class=Application Specific Interface, Driver=, 12M
        |__ Port 4: Dev 4, If 0, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=rtsx_usb, 480M

The TV media player I am using is kaffeine. The linux kernel version I am running is 5.4.0-54-generic x86_64.

Does anyone understand this problem and how may I fix it, please ?

uteck · 11-24-2020, 09:55 AM

I have not used kaffeine before, but is there some setting in it that might be trying to access the device in the background?
Kaffiene is based on VLC, but have you tried just using VLC to see if it has the same issue?

jefro · 11-24-2020, 04:23 PM

A number of similar posts on subject seems to suggest they borked the driver on newer kernels. Guess you could try a very old live media and see if it also fails.

stephenliggett · 11-25-2020, 04:29 PM

I am now using VLC to view TV and the simpler interface seems to have made the whole process more stable. I also suspect that the picture and sound quality is improved. I have only had one instance of the problem since I started using VLC. So, thank you for your useful suggestion.
I have also noticed, by a process of trial and error, that the USB port that runs the ehci-pci driver is the one that gives least occurrence of the problem. So I now seem to have a viable work around.
The other suggestion from Jethro to try an older kernel seems a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. I am only a few months into my Linux journey perhaps when I have more confidence and experience I might try swopping kernels. But I do thank you for your suggestion, Jethro.