Windows 8.1 Media Center - Help request.

[wewantrice]

I've got the house wired with a mix of MOCA and AV2 powerline adapters, the HD Homerun Prime is connected directly to my router. Live TV works fine on all other HTPCs

[reluctantflux]

I have a coax cable line coming into the house.  It splits with one going to my modem, and another to my hdhomerun prime.  Both of those are then connected via ethernet to my router, which my unraid box is also plugged into.  I'm running Unraid 6 beta 10a with a Windows 8.1 WMC virtual machine using KVM.  The VM has GPU passthrough (Sapphire Radeon HD 7770), and a few USB passthroughs.  I had to use the digital cable advisor override found here.  I then had a ton of problems with Playready not properly installing until I downloaded ResetDRM.exe from Microsoft, extracted it, and ran CleanDRM.exe as an admin.

 

Now I can get Live TV to work, but I have to start a stream and then minimize and maximize WMC, otherwise it gets stuck at Display Driver Error.  I remember fixing this issue with WMC7, but that was a long time ago, and it was from just blind dumb luck of doing any number of things a certain amount of times in a certain order.

 

1) Have you run the Digital Cable Advisor successfully?

2) Have you gotten Playready to install successfully?

[wewantrice]

Yeah I already had playready installed using the DCA Override workaround. If I maximize and minimize the WMC Window I can intermittently get like 1 second of audio but still getting the 'Display Driver Error'. WMC is so temperamental sometimes.

[dmacias]

Yeah I already had playready installed using the DCA Override workaround. If I maximize and minimize the WMC Window I can intermittently get like 1 second of audio but still getting the 'Display Driver Error'. WMC is so temperamental sometimes.

Did you install any other codecs?

[wewantrice]

Nope no codecs or codec packs. This is a relatively clean install

[reluctantflux]

I then had a ton of problems with Playready not properly installing until I downloaded ResetDRM.exe from Microsoft, extracted it, and ran CleanDRM.exe as an admin.

 

I would do the above mentioned even if you had Playready installed properly, to see if it resolves your issue. 

[wewantrice]

Gave it a try, still no luck 

[reluctantflux]

So I created a new VM with just a VNC connection (no hardware passthrough), and he's not playing nice with my other VM.  Basically, I can only have one of them running at a time.  I have total RAM of 12GB, 2GB allocated to the new guy, 8GB allocated to the old guy, and 2GB for the host.  I haven't done any vcpu pinning. 

 

XML of new Test VM:

<domain type='kvm' id='24'>
  <name>Test Machine</name>
  <uuid>93299f8d-6272-fa38-2c7b-269948e7ec3a</uuid>
  <memory unit='KiB'>2097152</memory>
  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>2097152</currentMemory>
  <vcpu placement='static'>1</vcpu>
  <resource>
    <partition>/machine</partition>
  </resource>
  <os>
    <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-i440fx-2.1'>hvm</type>
    <boot dev='cdrom'/>
    <boot dev='hd'/>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
    <apic/>
    <pae/>
  </features>
  <clock offset='localtime'>
    <timer name='rtc' tickpolicy='catchup'/>
    <timer name='pit' tickpolicy='delay'/>
    <timer name='hpet' present='yes'/>
  </clock>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>restart</on_crash>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64</emulator>
    <disk type='file' device='disk'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='qcow2'/>
      <source file='/mnt/cache/vm/testmachine.qcow2'/>
      <backingStore/>
      <target dev='hda' bus='virtio'/>
      <alias name='virtio-disk0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x04' function='0x0'/>
    </disk>
    <disk type='file' device='cdrom'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
      <source file='/mnt/cache/iso/Halloweenpsycho Windows 8 Pro.iso'/>
      <backingStore/>
      <target dev='hdc' bus='ide'/>
      <readonly/>
      <alias name='ide0-1-0'/>
      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='1' target='0' unit='0'/>
    </disk>
    <disk type='file' device='cdrom'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
      <source file='/mnt/cache/iso/virtio-win-0.1-81.iso'/>
      <backingStore/>
      <target dev='hdd' bus='ide'/>
      <readonly/>
      <alias name='ide0-1-1'/>
      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='1' target='0' unit='1'/>
    </disk>
    <controller type='usb' index='0'>
      <alias name='usb0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x2'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pci-root'>
      <alias name='pci.0'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='ide' index='0'>
      <alias name='ide0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x1'/>
    </controller>
    <interface type='bridge'>
      <mac address='52:54:00:84:9a:dc'/>
      <source bridge='br0'/>
      <target dev='vnet1'/>
      <model type='virtio'/>
      <alias name='net0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x03' function='0x0'/>
    </interface>
    <serial type='pty'>
      <source path='/dev/pts/3'/>
      <target port='0'/>
      <alias name='serial0'/>
    </serial>
    <console type='pty' tty='/dev/pts/3'>
      <source path='/dev/pts/3'/>
      <target type='serial' port='0'/>
      <alias name='serial0'/>
    </console>
    <input type='tablet' bus='usb'>
      <alias name='input0'/>
    </input>
    <input type='mouse' bus='ps2'/>
    <input type='keyboard' bus='ps2'/>
    <graphics type='vnc' port='5900' autoport='yes' websocket='5700' listen='0.0.0.0'>
      <listen type='address' address='0.0.0.0'/>
    </graphics>
    <video>
      <model type='cirrus' vram='9216' heads='1'/>
      <alias name='video0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x0'/>
    </video>
    <memballoon model='virtio'>
      <alias name='balloon0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x05' function='0x0'/>
    </memballoon>
  </devices>
</domain>

 

XML of HTPC VM with GPU and USB passthrough

<domain type='kvm' xmlns:qemu='http://libvirt.org/schemas/domain/qemu/1.0'>
  <name>WMC8.1</name>
  <uuid>554cbf6b-aa75-4044-b1b3-c1005bea6064</uuid>
  <memory unit='KiB'>7813120</memory>
  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>7812500</currentMemory>
  <memoryBacking>
    <nosharepages/>
    <locked/>
  </memoryBacking>
  <vcpu placement='static'>4</vcpu>
  <resource>
    <partition>/machine</partition>
  </resource>
  <os>
    <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-q35-2.1'>hvm</type>
    <boot dev='hd'/>
    <bootmenu enable='no'/>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
    <apic eoi='on'/>
  </features>
  <cpu mode='host-passthrough'>
    <topology sockets='1' cores='4' threads='1'/>
  </cpu>
  <clock offset='localtime'>
    <timer name='rtc' tickpolicy='catchup'/>
    <timer name='pit' tickpolicy='delay'/>
    <timer name='hpet' present='yes'/>
  </clock>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64</emulator>
    <disk type='file' device='disk'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='qcow2'/>
      <source file='/mnt/cache/vm/WindowsMediaCenter.qcow2'/>
      <target dev='vdc' bus='sata'/>
      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='2'/>
    </disk>
    <disk type='file' device='cdrom'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
      <source file='/mnt/cache/iso/virtio-win-0.1-81.iso'/>
      <target dev='hdb' bus='ide'/>
      <readonly/>
      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='1' target='0' unit='0'/>
    </disk>
    <controller type='sata' index='0'>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x1f' function='0x2'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pcie-root'/>
    <controller type='pci' index='1' model='dmi-to-pci-bridge'>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x1e' function='0x0'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='2' model='pci-bridge'>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x01' slot='0x01' function='0x0'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-ehci1'>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x02' function='0x7'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci1'>
      <master startport='0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x02' function='0x0' multifunction='on'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci2'>
      <master startport='2'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x02' function='0x1'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci3'>
      <master startport='4'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x02' function='0x2'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='ide' index='0'/>
    <interface type='bridge'>
      <mac address='52:54:00:14:b4:7b'/>
      <source bridge='br0'/>
      <model type='virtio'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x01' function='0x0'/>
    </interface>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <vendor id='0x046d'/>
        <product id='0xc52b'/>
      </source>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <vendor id='0x046d'/>
        <product id='0xc50e'/>
      </source>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <vendor id='0x045e'/>
        <product id='0x006d'/>
      </source>
    </hostdev>
    <memballoon model='virtio'>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x06' function='0x0'/>
    </memballoon>
  </devices>
  <qemu:commandline>
    <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
    <qemu:arg value='ioh3420,bus=pcie.0,addr=1c.0,multifunction=on,port=1,chassis=1,id=root.1'/>
    <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
    <qemu:arg value='vfio-pci,host=01:00.0,bus=root.1,addr=00.0,multifunction=on,x-vga=on'/>
    <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
    <qemu:arg value='vfio-pci,host=01:00.1,bus=pcie.0'/>
  </qemu:commandline>
</domain>

 

I'm not at home so I can't see what's happening with my HTPC, but with the Test VM running, I'll start my HTPC VM, and he'll say running for about 15 seconds and then he'll be shutoff.  Am I missing something obvious?

Thanks!

[reluctantflux]

Lowered the ram on my HTPC from 8GB to 6GB and now it is running (still can't see the screen cause I'm not home).  Looks like it was a RAM issue, so looks like I'll have to upgrade my RAM sooner than later.