Intermittent 0963 freezing approx once every hour on all channels

Hi people,

I have two local 0963 cards and have been getting freezing approximately once every hour on all encrypted channels.
When it freezes, it does so for the whole 8 seconds which suggests to me that it's missing the entire CW cycle and doesn't recover until the next cycle begins.
Most of the time it appears to do it between 40 minutes to 50 minutes past every hour on Sly1 SD (125F) but this isn't always the case.

My test set up consists of 2 static Zone 1 dishes, 1 Vu+ Duo, 1 Vu+ Solo2 each with a local 0963 card.
I'm not sharing the cards so network latency or card IO shouldn't come into it. Both cards are connected to the internal reader of each box.

In an attempt to isolate the problem, the first card is running in a Vu+ Duo with Oscam using the DVBAPI protocol (connected to a dedicated dish).
The second card is connected to a Vu+ Solo2 using CCcam2.3.0 (connected to a second dedicated dish).
Both boxes freeze at exactly the same time, even though they are separate in every way possible.

I've enabled logging on Oscam and at the exact time it freezes, Oscam doesn't show that any ECM has been received.
Therefore doesn't send anything to the reader in the first place. After the 8 second period, the next ECM is received and the CW is returned from the reader.
I've also tried Mgcamd and the results are the same. It never freezes for more than 1 CW cycle.

Does anyone know if there is something going on with ECM's at the moment which is preventing the all CAMS to fail intermittent ECM's?
I apologise if this has been covered elsewhere on the forum, surely other people are having the same problem as me.
Is anybody getting freeze-free viewing using a local card in their receiver?

Cheers all.

Quote from thatfellow

I presume you are aware of the Anti CS push by Sly??

Yeah I'm aware of new card pairing but this seems to be in general and has been happening for about the last 6 months.

It seems as though it could be related to ECM Cycles. Normally ECMS are received ODD then EVEN then ODD then EVEN, etc.
At the time I'm seeing the freezing I've noticed that in the space of 17 seconds Oscam is only processing 2 ECM's and not 3 ECM's as normal.
I'm effectively missing the EVEN ecm everytime it freezes.

I think it could be to do with NDS ECM CW Swapping that I've seen mentioned in another forum.
It's not too clear on how it can be fixed. So far I've tried changing the "wait_time" to 0963:105 but that hasn't worked.
Also tried changing the "CW Cycle Check" settings but it's only trial and error for me at the moment.

Quote from thatfellow

So it is a cache issue then? As mentioned by able2, post your oscam version..

I'm not sure if it's a cache issue. My original analysis led me to believe that an ECM wasn't being received for 1 whole CW cycle.
The OSCam version is r9754. I'll do some more logging and post the results on here.

I've monitored this a bit more this morning and at the time it freezes, there's no sign of an ECM in the "Live Log".
Instead OScam responds with a Cached CW. I'll post my log later today.

Quote from thatfellow

These settings are for more recent versions of oscam (post blaky update) so make sure you are on a reasonably new build..
Also, If 0963 is the only NDS CAID you use, you can delete all other CAIDs from cwcycle_check_caid but probably better to leave as is if you are forwarding cache..

There's only a single 0963 card in each of my receivers. Just to confirm, I'm not forwarding any cache, I don't even have a network cable plugged in the box (apart from when I'm looking at the logs). I can confirm that I have put your cache settings into the OSCam configuration.

Its a waiting game to see if it has an effect, I've now left both boxes switched on, each with a single 0963 card. One box with your cache settings and one box without for comparison (two TV's same room).

I'll let you know how I get on, thanks.

"thatfellow" you're the man! Problem solved!

Viewing the C code for the OSCam source file "module-cw-cycle-check.c" i noticed that a new 0963 NDS specific Control Word Check has been implemented into the latest versions of OSCam.
I hadn't started to use the latest version until today (version r9754) and with the added cache configuration that you provided in an earlier post I'm now pleased to say that my box running OSCam r9754 is freeze free. Whilst using 2 boxes with 2 TV's in the same room on the same channel at the same time, my second box with my second 0963 continues to freeze whilst the other box using r9754 with the other 0963 card does not freeze.

Comparing the OScam logs (at the time of freezing) shows that the the new version of OScam takes care of the Control Word

2014/06/03 21:00:41: found (101 ms) by reader1 - Sly1 (cwc NDS OK)
2014/06/03 21:00:48 cyclecheck [Swapped NDS CW] for: 381277C153D394BA0000000000000000 from: cache -> pass through
2014/06/03 21:00:48: cache1 (12 ms) by reader1 - Sly1 (cwc NDS Swapp)
2014/06/03 21:00:56: found (101 ms) by reader1 - Sly1 (cwc NDS OK)

For anyone who might also be getting freezes, my cache configuration now looks like this (thanks to the help from "thatfellow"):

[cache]
delay                         = 5
max_time                      = 30
max_hit_time                  = 30
wait_time                     = 350,0963:260
cwcycle_check_enable          = 1
cwcycle_check_caid            = 0963
cwcycle_maxlist               = 4000
cwcycle_keeptime              = 20
cwcycle_sensitive             = 0

I can confirm that this configuration doesn't work with the older versions of OSCam and the hourly freezing remains. r9754 now works fine for me.

Top bloke thatfellow :-)

Quote from gazzac5

I too have noticed this recently - have gone back to oscam 9691 - now seems OK again

Fingers crossed

gazzac5, I tend to agree with thatfellow about Eden +1. If it's freezing once an hour (mostly during advert breaks) then you've probably got the same problem as I had.
The way to identify it is to look at the ECM logs. ECM's are normally received ODD then EVEN then ODD then EVEN and so on. Increase the level of logging in your OSCam and if you seeing ODD then ODD or EVEN then EVEN at the same time of the freeze then you're being hit by the CW Cycle Swapping.

Adding this into my oscam.conf helped me to track the issue:

[global]
ecmfmt                        = c&p/i/d/s/l:h.e_w