Found out quite some useful things + Request

I don't know where exactly to put this post, as it is partly tips&tricks, partly bugs, partly Hardware problems and partly a feature request, but since the conclusion of everything results in a feature request, I post it here.

In the bugs section I wrote about MP crashing after wakeup from S3 mode and I thought it was faulty RAM. Yesterday I ran memtest86 again the whole day and did another memtest86 run over night and it didn't report ANY errors, so I assume my RAM is OK. When the computer is on, I can also work/play for hours with it and it is stable as a rock.
However I noticed other things. The combination of the SIS chipset, integrated graphics and TV card is causing the crashes. I tried with myHTPC, MediaPortal, the myHTPC plugin "GotTV" and some games.
With only myHTPC loaded, I could put the computer to standby and wake it up again and it wouldn't crash. Then I loaded the TV module and told it to run GotTV. I set GotTV to only hide in the systray and mute the TV card when leaving the TV module so the TV card was still in use in the home screen of myHTPC. When I then put the computer to S3 and woke it up again, in about half the cases it crashed. It either gave me a bluescreen or more often simply hung or restarted itself.
I then set GotTV to actually quit when leaving the TV module and put it to standby again with only myHTPC running and woke it up repeatedly. It worked everytime, however it would crash when using the remote control of the TV card immediately after wakeup. I had to wait for about 20sec after wakeup to use the remote without crashing.
Then I loaded up MediaPortal and did the same thing: standby, on, standby, on, standby, on etc. etc. - In about half the cases it either rebooted, hung, showed a Direct3D exception or just quit with parts still remaining in memory (hang if trying to restart MP, had to reboot).
With DirectX using apps like WMP9 and games loaded, it also crashed quite often when waking up from standby.
It didn't get better with new drivers for chipset, AGP and integrated graphics.

So as a conclusion, this results in a feature request to both MP and PowerScheduler:

For MP:
Add a "super minimize" function which:
- destroys the MP gui and everything DirectX
- stops all media currently playing (maybe remember current media playing and position)
- closes all in-use TV/Radio cards (maybe remember channels and settings)
- minimize MP to tray or taskbar

so only the absolutely necessary soft- and hardware is running

Add a "super maximize" function which:
- re-initializes DirectX and draws the GUI
- maybe continues playing the media as remembered on entering super-minimize (not necessary for now)
- maybe goes to TV module again if watching TV before minimizing (not absolutely necessary for now)

You could put this super-minimize on the shutdown button via config tool


And then extend PowerScheduler with the option to set MP to super-minimize 30sec before going to standby/hibernation/whatever and calling super-maximize 30sec after wakeup from standby

You would help me very much and maybe others using the same chipset and having similar problems.

Oh, and I almost forgot:
The chipset is a SiS 651, the integrated graphics is SiS315 set to 16MB.

[MrMario64]

Why not make multiple posts in their right section ?

This belongs together, so multiple posts would be hard to read and put back together.

I'm having a similar problem, my setup is MSI hermes 845 (Intel 845gl chipset with integrated graphics, SkyStar2 TV). MP crashes when woken up in TV mode; Windows reports "appname mediaportal.exe modname sky2pcavsrc.sc modver 4.3.0.9999 offset 0000bb26.

Seem to be a problem in the SkyStar2 driver? On the other hand, the manufacturer supplied software does not have problems with standby...

Anyome else having this problem?

[SiLenTYL]

sounds like more of a driver problem than anything else..try updating and if that doesnt work im not sure what could help that

regarding the super minimise and super maximise....
quite an interesting thought....im guessing it will help stability when going to standby or hibernate modes.....
obviously it takes time for the computer to return to a fully working state....as u said it took

about 20sec after wakeup to use the remote without crashing

i never really understood why "standby" is so important...but i guess when using a HTPC..u dont want it always on doing nothing in particular....and when coming out of standby its faster than booting up everything again...

come to think of it ....MP could wake when u have a recording scheduled..then could return to standby after its finished...

Hey, standby or hibernate is an essential feature for a computer that
a) is making still some noise in my living room
b) should not consume power when not used

I even built a switch that powers my Tv and audio system when the PC is switched on, saving even more power.

[rtv]

I do note very frequent crashes due to sky2pcavsrc.ax, too :-(