PVR-500 and similar card fix/workaround with more than 3GB Ram

[Protoman]

I did a search but did not find anything similar to a discovery I just made.

I have WHS with 4GB of ram (2 x 2GB sticks), and a Hauppauge PVR-500. I recently discovered that it is not recording TV shows since I switched to WHS. Today, I was trying to figure out how I had my boot.ini file setup that allowed for it to work in Windows XP with 4GB (as a side note XP only detected 3.25 GB or so).

A search for boot.ini options turned up a list that I was looking for. I added /PAE and /3GB to my boot.ini in hopes it was the fix, but after a reboot it had no effect.

I did notice a boot.ini option that I had not known about called **drum roll** /burnmemory. The description from Microsoft is as follows (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833721):

/burnmemory=number

This switch specifies the amount of memory, in megabytes, that Windows cannot use. Use this parameter to confirm a performance problem or other problems that are related to RAM depletion. For example, type /burnmemory=128 to reduce the physical memory that is available to Windows by 128 MB.

I entered /burnmemory=512 in my boot.ini, did a reboot, but still could not record from my PVR-500. I upped it to /burnmemory=1048, and WHS detects 2.97 GB of ram, and I am now able to record from my PVR-500.

I know this can barely be called a permanent fix and is more of a work-around, but it is hard for me to justify ripping out memory for this card to work, when all it will take for this to be fixed is a new driver from Hauppauge.

Hope this helps,
Protoman

[hemicuda]

I may end up trying this eventually. where did you put it, boot.ini in c:\?

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by Protoman;382649[COLOR=black

I know this can barely be called a permanent fix and is more of a work-around, but it is hard for me to justify ripping out memory for this card to work, when all it will take for this to be fixed is a new driver from Hauppauge.[/COLOR]

Hope this helps,
Protoman

Try using this version from the UK. CD Version 1.2-WinTV7_CD_1.2.exe Someone reported on the SHS forums it worked with 8 GB RAM and Win 7 64bit.

Gerry

[Protoman]

Yes, in the C:\boot.ini file.

Mine looks like this (the last line is all on one line. Starts with multi(0) and ends with 1024):

[boot loader]
timeout=15
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server" /noexecute=AlwaysOff /fastdetect /burnmemory=1024

[Spartan]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Try using this version from the UK. CD Version 1.2-WinTV7_CD_1.2.exe Someone reported on the SHS forums it worked with 8 GB RAM and Win 7 64bit.

Gerry

I've tried that one and a few other driver versions. They all seem to say that they fix the > 3GB & 64 bit, but WHS is 32 bit. The only thing that seems to work is reducing the memory by either taking some out, or tweaking the boot.ini file.

[wayner]

I had this problem with my PVR-150s when I first built my WHS Sage box about 10 months ago - I had to take out one of the 2x2GB sticks that I bought for this box. But Spartan brings up a good point - why do you have this problem if WHS is a 32 bit OS?

I thought that 32bit OS's cannot access more than 3.5 GB of RAM. If that is the case then why is having 4 GB of RAM in a WHS box causing hassles if the OS can't see all of the RAM?

[gplasky]

It's a problem with the cards and drivers. not the OS.

Gerry

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by gplasky

It's a problem with the cards and drivers. not the OS.

That said, the cards and drivers work fine on 32bit WinXP with 4GB of RAM.

John

[wayner]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

That said, the cards and drivers work fine on 32bit WinXP with 4GB of RAM.

That's my point, although I haven't tried these cards in XP with 4 GB, my understanding is that isn't an issue - it is just 4 GB with WHS. Why would that be?

[gplasky]

WHS is a Windows 2003 server OS. Go to My Computer and right-click Properties. If you have 4GB of memory in your system It will show all 4GB of memory. Reason being you will see below your memory numbers "Physical Address Extension". This is enabled in all server OS's to use all of the 4GB of memory. Unlike in XP. You can enable that in XP with the /PAE switch in the boot.ini.

Gerry

[wayner]

Thanks Gerry - I new there was some difference between XP and WHS but I never knew exactly how it worked when it comes to RAM.

[freewheeling]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Try using this version from the UK. CD Version 1.2-WinTV7_CD_1.2.exe Someone reported on the SHS forums it worked with 8 GB RAM and Win 7 64bit

Is this a general fix for the 4GB problem for Windows 7 64-bit, or just for this particular Hauppauge card? When I click on the link nothing happens. Is there something like the "burnmemory" command that works in Windows 7 or do you just have to physically downgrade the computer's IQ to make it compatible with the HD PVR?

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by freewheeling

Is this a general fix for the 4GB problem for Windows 7 64-bit, or just for this particular Hauppauge card? When I click on the link nothing happens. Is there something like the "burnmemory" command that works in Windows 7 or do you just have to physically downgrade the computer's IQ to make it compatible with the HD PVR?

I am in the process of setting up a new Sage PC that has 4GB RAM, runs Win7 Home Premium-64bit, and uses some Hauppauge PVR-150 capture cards. I figured out how to do the equivalent of the /burnmemory command with Win7 and so far it seems to work...

Step 1: From the Windows Start Menu, type "msconfig" in the search box. You should get 1 result (msconfig.exe) - click it.


Step 2: Click on the "Boot" Tab in msconfig. Then click the "Advanced Options..." button.


Step 3: In the top-right of the Advanced Options window, put a check mark next to "Maximum Memory" and then specify how much memory you want to be available to Windows (in MB).



Note: 4096MB = 4GB. 3584MB = 3.5GB. 3072MB = 3GB.

I found that 3072MB worked for me, but 3584MB did not. When I tried 3584MB and then tried to watch live TV in Sage, it locked up my PC completely - I had to use the Reset button to restart my PC.

[will]

In Windows 2003 I found that the /burnmemory (preferred method) and /maxmem switches did not work reliably in preventing lockups. I did a lot of testing with burnmemory and was never able to create a stable system.

I read on other forums that the /maxmem and /burnmemory work but not consistently. I truly believe the problems with the Hauppauge cards are how they are interacting with PAE. This MS article references how drivers/hardware not created properly can cause system instability and stop errors with PAE enabled. I was receiving stop errors.

Try disabling PAE and see if it fixes the problem. You might not have a full 4 gigs available but it should solve the crashing.

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by will

Try disabling PAE and see if it fixes the problem. You might not have a full 4 gigs available but it should solve the crashing.

I think PAE only applies to 32-bit operating systems. It was designed to allow 32-bit server OS's like Windows Home Server and Win2K3 to access the full 4GB (and in some cases beyond). Since I am using Windows7-64bit, it natively understands address space beyond 4GB.

[will]

Originally Posted by Tiki

I think PAE only applies to 32-bit operating systems. It was designed to allow 32-bit server OS's like Windows Home Server and Win2K3 to access the full 4GB (and in some cases beyond). Since I am using Windows7-64bit, it natively understands address space beyond 4GB.

You are correct, disabling PAE will only help 32bit OSs like WHS or W2K03. It seems like the Hauppauge internal cards cause stop errors anytime more than 2 gigs of RAM is available for them to utilize.

Try modifying your DEP settings (this site explains how to in Windows 7). Set your DEP setting to "Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only."

Data Execution Prevention could be causing the issue. DEP modifies how programs interact with memory. On W2K03 SP1 and Windows 7 64-bit DEP is automatically set to turn on for all programs and settings. In Windows XP SP2 the default setting is Windows programs and services only. I had a theory that the DEP setting on my system was causing an issue with my HVR-2250, however, disabling PAE also disables DEP and because my system is now working perfectly I never explored my theory further.

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by will

Try modifying your DEP settings (this site explains how to in Windows 7). Set your DEP setting to "Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only."

So far the procedure I described above for setting max memory to 3GB seems to be working (I only had a problem with 3.5GB and that was immediate the first time I tried to record something). I never even tried running with 4GB, since I had already seen the posts warning that it wouldn't work and even Hauppauge's website says it won't work with 4GB or more.

My reason for the post above is that it appears that Win7 no longer uses a boot.ini file (or else it hides it in a different location, since I looked in c:\ and set the folder view options in Windows not to hide system files, not to hide file extensions, and to show system files).

But, I will keep your idea about DEP in mind if I start to see problems down the road...

[TheraEdge]

Don't mean to dig up an old thread, but wanted to say thanks that I found this thread helpful in getting my new 64-bit Win7 Server up and running after determining that my PVR-500 was causing my recording lag / stuttering issues.

One thing I'll mention though is that it seems Hauppauge may have a little newer driver as I was able to get mine running by limiting memory to just under 4GB (I used 4000MB).

I created an updated thread about it here for reference.
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...455#post579455

Thanks again for posting your findings, it really helped.