Reinstalled PVR-500, Error: "No Signal"

[Spitzer]

Well, I shot myself in the foot this time...

I recently replaced my motherboard with an identical model (after destroying the first one) and now my PVR-500 card doesn't work. This all stems from an electrical event that I'm not proud of - working on system with power cord plugged in. I know better, but forgot to unplug during upgrade session. I plugged a video card into a PCI slot and the machine spontaneously began to boot. Afterwards, the system worked ok except for 1) multiple bios beeps upon start up, and 2) tuner card not working.

Config: Sage for WHS, WHS platform, 4 GB Ram, 750GB unmanaged disk for record, and PVR-500 dual tunner.

I tested the tuner card in another machine and it works, so at least I destroyed the less expensive component: $55 Motherboard.

I replaced the motherboard with an identical model and managed to get going again but can't get any output from the tuner card. Here's what I've done so far:

1. Reinstalled SageTV. I can play recorded media but get blank screen with "No Signal" when trying to watch live or record.

2. Reinstalled PVR drivers using disk that came with tuner. No effect.

3. I've looked in device manager trying to identify pvr 500 drivers but don't see them. I though I would be able to delete them or relaod but can't find the drivers.


I though I was performing a clean install, but the system knows about my client licenses after each reinstall - so I'm not really starting from scratch.

I've looked around in the forum but don't see anything like this.


Any thoughts?

Thanks

[Spitzer]

Originally Posted by Spitzer

1. Reinstalled SageTV. I can play recorded media but get blank screen with "No Signal" when trying to watch live or record.

2. Reinstalled PVR drivers using disk that came with tuner. No effect.

3. I've looked in device manager trying to identify pvr 500 drivers but don't see them. I though I would be able to delete them or relaod but can't find the drivers.

Update:

4. Found utility on tuner disk called hcwclear.exe. This utility allows various levels of driver update and reinstallation. I chose the most severe level which causes a complete reinstallation. Followed with reboot.

5. Ran HcwDriverInstall.exe to reinstall the drivers.

6. Let windows 'Add/Remove Programs' feature remove Sage server software.

7. Installed Sage for WHS. Still no tuner output.

After each reinstallation of Sage Server for WHS, the system retains knowledge of all my client licenses. I still have not managed a clean reinstall.

I think I'll test the tuner card in another machine one more time just to make sure it really is working. I'm running out of ideas.

Look of concern from wife...

[troycheek]

Did Windows ever say that it had found new hardware? Not seeing the device in the Device Manager makes me think that the motherboard isn't detecting it. Are there other PCI slots on the same motherboard you can try?

[Spitzer]

Originally Posted by troycheek

Did Windows ever say that it had found new hardware? Not seeing the device in the Device Manager makes me think that the motherboard isn't detecting it. Are there other PCI slots on the same motherboard you can try?

Don't think so, but I'm not completely sure. The server runs headless so I don't get to watch the boot sequence. I would think that the 'found new hardware' message would persist until the remote connection is established and that I would see it then. I'll boot from the console once to see for sure. I agree though, that I should see some indication - thanks.

I have other PCI slots available but don't see why that should be a problem with a new motherboard.

I'm also going to remove the video card that also uses the PCI slot. The video card works, but I suppose it could be misbehaving somehow and adversely affect the PCI bus.

I'm also going to install the card in the old machine and watch the installation process there and verify that the card is working.


Thanks for your thoughts, I'll provide a report later tonight after trying some of these things.

[Abev107]

Originally Posted by Spitzer

Don't think so, but I'm not completely sure. The server runs headless so I don't get to watch the boot sequence. I would think that the 'found new hardware' message would persist until the remote connection is established and that I would see it then. I'll boot from the console once to see for sure. I agree though, that I should see some indication - thanks.

I have other PCI slots available but don't see why that should be a problem with a new motherboard.

I'm also going to remove the video card that also uses the PCI slot. The video card works, but I suppose it could be misbehaving somehow and adversely affect the PCI bus.

I'm also going to install the card in the old machine and watch the installation process there and verify that the card is working.


Thanks for your thoughts, I'll provide a report later tonight after trying some of these things.

Spitzer, I didn't either but after 10 days of total instability, getting "no signal" and other errors, I moved my capture card to a different slot and so far so good...

First off: enable logging. Second: move the card.

[Spitzer]

Originally Posted by Abev107

Spitzer, I didn't either but after 10 days of total instability, getting "no signal" and other errors, I moved my capture card to a different slot and so far so good...

First off: enable logging. Second: move the card.

Sounds promising - thanks.

W.r.t. logging, I assume that you mean OS level, such as boot log. I don't know how to use that feature, but should figure it out.

Thanks

[troycheek]

Originally Posted by Spitzer

I have other PCI slots available but don't see why that should be a problem with a new motherboard.

I agree that any recent model PCI card stuck in any recent motherboard running any currently supported Windows OS should work regardless of which PCI slot it is in. That said, the first thing I always try is shuffling the PCI cards around. I've fixed many a "broken" computer that way. My cheap "everything onboard so you don't need cards" motherboard has only two PCI slots, one of which is currently inhabited by my Hauppauge WinTV PVR-500. I'm considering getting a second. You can be darned sure that I'm going to try my current one in that other slot before I place my order.

[Spitzer]

Originally Posted by Spitzer

Update:

4. Found utility on tuner disk called hcwclear.exe. This utility allows various levels of driver update and reinstallation. I chose the most severe level which causes a complete reinstallation. Followed with reboot.

5. Ran HcwDriverInstall.exe to reinstall the drivers.

6. Let windows 'Add/Remove Programs' feature remove Sage server software.

7. Installed Sage for WHS. Still no tuner output.

Look of concern from wife...

Latest attempt:

8. Removed video card (similar to PCI but larger connector - not sure which version of PCI this is) and tried with PVR 500 as only installed component - no joy.

9. Moved PVR 500 to other PCI slots (three total) - no joy.

10. I did see 'found new hardware' messages and did find the tuner card device in the hardware device view. The OS says it works fine.


I'm going to move the PVR back to the other machine just to make sure that it works. I'm beginning to doubt my previous claim that I demonstrated it to work in another machine.

groan...

[Spitzer]

Originally Posted by Spitzer

Latest attempt:

8. Removed video card (similar to PCI but larger connector - not sure which version of PCI this is) and tried with PVR 500 as only installed component - no joy.

9. Moved PVR 500 to other PCI slots (three total) - no joy.

10. I did see 'found new hardware' messages and did find the tuner card device in the hardware device view. The OS says it works fine.


I'm going to move the PVR back to the other machine just to make sure that it works. I'm beginning to doubt my previous claim that I demonstrated it to work in another machine.

groan...

Update:

I moved the tuner card back to the XP box and it works fine. This leads me to conclude that the inexpensive motherboard has some issues with the PCI bus. I can't think of anything else to try, so I'm going to return the replacement motherboard, and purchase a different type.

I'm currently using ECS Elitegroup A7700M-A to support a dual core AMD processor.

[Spitzer]

Originally Posted by Spitzer

Update:

... so I'm going to return the replacement motherboard, and purchase a different type.

- Different type motherboard did not solve the problem.
- Also verified that the tuner works in another PC.

Can't think of anything else except the OS, so I'm going to reinstall Windows Home Server. Perhaps I've misalligned it by accident. It will be a few days before I'll have time so I'll listen for advice until the weekend.

I need to remember to pull the power cord next time I'm under the hood. This has been a costly error.

[Paul H]

When you deleted SageTV, did you delete the SageTV folder? Windows "delete progams" does not completely remove Sage, you have to manually delete the folder if you want to do a new install. Use "Control Panel\Add or remove programs" first, then see if the SageTV folder is still there, if so open it. SUPRISE!! Looks like Windows only removes the program from the registry and any shortcuts.

[Spitzer]

Originally Posted by Paul H

...did you delete the SageTV folder? Windows "delete progams" does not completely remove Sage...

Thanks, but I've seen this. Looks like Windows doesn't remove any user data so you have to do that manually. I've tried both ways and don't see any difference.

I talked to the folks at Hauppauge to see if there is an application that I can run on WHS to test the card on the WHS platform (it works in another machine). They told me to try the WinTV app, but that it was not tested for WHS.

Unless I hear otherwise, this will is probably the last thing I try before reinstalling the OS.

Thanks for the tip.

[Henki]

hi..

I'm expriencing the same problem as you describe with WHS and hauppauge pvr-500. The strange thing is that the card worked perfect untill i reinstalled the OS two weeks ago. Did you find any solution to your problem...

Henki

[Henki]

My error was caused by new installed memory. I added 2 GB more RAM, totally 4 GB before I reinstalled WHS. When I removed the chip everything was back to normal. I can't say the reason for this, but it could be that the new pair of ram was different from the original ones, or it was because the total amount of RAM became too large.

I'll hope this could be helpful to anyone who got this error.