An attempt to save somebody, somewhere, some time if they run into the same problem as me.
SYMPTOMS: No guide data at all, for no good reason. System status says “no guide data – is mythfilldatabase running?”. If you stop the backend then run mythbackend from a terminal (I did it with options “-v eit” thinking I had a different problem but I suspect that was irrelevant) there’s a message in the output saying mythconverg/program has crashed/is in a crashed state.
FIXING IT: is easy-peasy, thanks to Drew at dinomite.net and with clarification from JimJ.
In short, and purely to provide a backup as Drew’s site seems to be the only hit for the obvious google (copying Drew, the relevant part of the error is “Table ‘./mythconverg/program’ is marked as crashed and should be repaired” – pro bono google-o):
- stop the backend (“/etc/init.d/mythtv-backend stop” on my Xubuntu-based box)
- type “mysql -p” (you may need your database password here if you set one)
- type “use mythconverg”
- type “repair table program;” and remember the semicolon after program. Wait until this completes
- type quit to return to the shell, then restart the backend and frontend. Cross your fingers!