Comments on: HP releases 3.0 Patch1 for new MediaSmart Servers and Data Vaults

By: Alex Kuretz

Alex Kuretz — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:51:10 +0000

By: Brian Briggs

Brian Briggs — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:36:37 +0000

I understand v3 is out, but what about the EX48x folks!? HP is definitely not going to open this latest update to us that have a very slightly older machine?

Anyone know the reason why they didn’t let this patch get applied to the ex485, for example?

Thanks.

By: Nancy Baily

Nancy Baily — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:18:09 +0000

I have a brand new EX490. After setting up the server, I immediately got the error, “HP Media Collector – Please Update the Client Software”. I was running the latest update 3.0.14.33083. As like others, I reinstalled the client software and it didn’t resolve the issue. So, took Alex’s advise and restarted the “HPMediaSmartService” along with a server reboot… Viola…. the error is now gone. So, good tip!!

By: Gary Johnson

Gary Johnson — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 01:21:53 +0000

I’ve had my ex485for almost a year now. I’ve battled the high CPU usage issue several times. Twonkymedia is the culprit. Uninstall it and everything idles right down. If you reinstall it, be sure to delete the Twonky database first, otherwise when you reinstall, Twonkey starts the index process anew and gets itself all confused with the old db file left behind when you uninstalled.

I recently dropped an E5200 Intel dual core into my ex485 hoping that it would have enough power to actually make remote streaming useable. It helps, but I’m still not happy with the performance. I originally bought the HP WHS instead of building my own so I could setup the streaming for friends and family to view content on the server. After many painful attempts and days of searching for answers I’ve come to the conclusion that this application really demands more processing power than these severs have. Performance does improve after long periods of indexing data if you wait for it to finnish. just setting this all up and getting it to run is a task not for the faint of heart.

I’ve searched everywhere for any assistance relating to making the media streaming features work on these systems. I’ve yet to see any user claim that ” Yeah, this is great … mine works just fine … here’s what I did to get it to work …”

To the contrary, the only posts I’ve found are users who just uninstalled Twonkey, so that the server could then be used for its other functions. Until someone shows me the error of my ways, I must conclude that Twonky and HP’s claims as to what can be done with these systems in terms of media streaming, are greatly exagerated. Maybe if I cut my media library to 10% of its current size it might help, but I’m nowhere near the size of what Twonky claims can be handled by the software on their website.

I don’t know about others, but I’m VERY dissapointed regarding the misleading claims made by HP regarding these features. To think they even had the audacity to name it a “MediaSmart” server! Ah … the irony of it all.

Someone please tell me I’m wrong and that it’s my own stupidity that’s keeping me from getting what I thought I paid for.

By: Alex Kuretz

Alex Kuretz — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:50:42 +0000

Hi Alan, those are some questions that would probably be best answered in the forums, and you may want to use the search feature of the site first. Here is one topic on whether to leave your server on all the time, there are several others.

By: Alan Wilcox

Alan Wilcox — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:03:35 +0000

As I am a relative newbie to mediasmart server, i have a ex490 could someone give me some guidance on the following issues:

Should the server be kept on all of the time.

I have noticed that on each reboot there is a lot of cpu / hard disc activity for a couple of hours – what is this doing, is it indexing and if it is why doed it have to carry out the same activity on each re-boot.

Lastly how can access the server’s task manager to see what is going on.

Thanks for any help

Alan

By: Alan Wilcox

Alan Wilcox — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:46:31 +0000

My thanks to Bob for his tip as my server isn’t displaying any alerts and CPU usage when idle has dropped significantly, it only spikes occasionally at 100% usually when doing something. My only lingering concern is that the memory usage seem to have increased to about 60%, this was after I copied a large number of music files to the server. Can someone indicate if this is anywhere near normal or if there is a problem I can fix. Thanks

By: Max

Max — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:15:19 +0000

I would like to thank Bob Ardrey above for his tip concerning the “Windows Home Server Connector” failure. Bob, your tip worked. My server status has changed to a comforting, green healthy indicator icon. Now onward to learn about normal functions. Hopefully, few or no more problems arise.. THANKS AGAIN BOB, this site is great information. — Max

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:04:33 +0000

Thanks for posting this. Just installed my EX490, everything was going fine until I had a network health alert about 90 minutes after I started setting up the server. This was useful, I’ve installed the client software updated, rebooted my server and all looks fine. Thanks again!

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:40:14 +0000

Same problem here.
Bought mine a week ago. It even crashes my client PC. So this is a nonworkable situation.