Anybody using a BGT3600 on XP? (1 Viewer)

[RobNorthcott]

I'm trying to install a BlackGold BGT3600 in my HTPC, which is running XP Home SP3. The driver claims to support XP, but as soon as I install the driver the machine goes unresponsive (100% CPU usage) and will not boot again until I go into safe mode and system restore.

I'm just posting here on the off chance that somebody may be successfully using a BGT3600 on XP, so I can at least eliminate faulty drivers. Then it's either a faulty card or some conflict on my machine (although I can't find anything so far). Tried removing all other cards except the graphics (a Hauppauge HVR3000 and a Twinhan DVB-T card).

I've emailed BG's support but so far no response (I suspect they'll just say use Windows 7...)

 

[mm1352000]

Hi Rob

I take it you've plugged in the power connector. Does the red LED on the board glow?

mm

 

[RobNorthcott]

Yes, done that, light is on. It's only for LNB power though - haven't got as far as plugging any aerials in yet! The card appears in the device manager and is detected properly when installing drivers, then the machine just dies. It'll boot into safe mode and everything seems fine (it shows BlackGold DVB-S2 and DVB-T2 devices as expected), but won't boot into normal mode unless I roll back to before the BGT drivers were installed.

I may try putting it temporarily in another machine with Win7 just to make sure it's not a problem with the card - if that works I can assume it's either the XP drivers or a conflict with my hardware (which would be a bummer)

 

[mm1352000]

Do let us know how you get on. *Lots* of people are interested in Blackgold products at the moment so if there are any caveats to using them with MP then we want to know about it.

 

[RobNorthcott]

It's not a MediaPortal problem - I can't even manage to get the driver to install properly. I've downloaded the previous release of the driver to see if that behaves any better - I'll try it later. Still no reply from BG support.

Rob

Just had a reply from BG support. They claim they have users on XP and there have apparently been no problems reported. They tried the usual "why are you using an obsolete OS? you should be using the fantastic Windows 7 Media Center" stuff, but basically confirmed that it allegedly does work in XP as advertised. So I'll have to try it in another machine (which has Win7) to see if the card is OK, then fight with diagnosing conflicts on my HTPC, or fork out for a new OS and reinstall it (which I REALLY don't want to do).

 

[RobNorthcott]

OK, I completely uninstalled all the drivers for my old Hauppauge tuner and still no luck. Older BGT driver hangs as well. Tried looking at the Windows boot logs but haven't been able to find what the problem is.

I've tried the card in my other machine (which is utterly different, Intel-based with Windows 7 64 bit) and it works, so at least that proves the card is OK. But I still don't know if it's the XP drivers or some hardware conflict with my HTPC machine that's the problem.

I can't think of another machine with XP and a PCIe slot that I could try it in (loads of XP machines at work, but they're all too old and cheap to have PCIe I think - I'll have a look later).

I suppose another option is to install Win7 on my HTPC on a spare drive and see if the BGT drivers will install. If that works I'll have to reinstall properly with Win7, but I'd rather just get it working in XP really (as BG claim the drivers support XP!)

Grrrr

I'll keep you updated.



ANOTHER UPDATE:

Sorry about the multiple posts...

Getting a bit further looking at the boot logs:

Without the BGT driver installed the first line of the bootlog is loading ntkrnlpa.exe, but with the drivers installed it loads ntoskrnl.exe instead (and everything after mup.sys fails). Remove the driver and it goes back to the pa version.

Could this be significant? There's only 2GB RAM in that machine, so I don't know why it should need PAE, but it seems to be the only difference.

I don't know enough about the workings of the OS and drivers to know if it should matter. Any brainy people on here know anything I should try? What tells the machine whether to load ntkrnlpa or ntoskrnl?

 

[mm1352000]

Sorry Rob - I have no idea about ntkrnlpa and ntoskrnl.

So are you using the 8.1.0.0 driver, or the 8.1.1.1 beta driver - I take it these are the releases you've tried?

If other people have got it working in XP and the card itself works then it does narrow down the possibilities. Hardware conflicts do happen occasionally - I'd be most worried about compatibility with the mobo chipset than issues with other cards that you have plugged in. You could try W7 on your HTPC *or* you could try XP on the machine that you know works. Don't know which would be faster really but either way you'd be able to narrow down the possibilities further. If it were me that would be the next thing I would try rather than messing in the bowels of the OS...

mm

 

[RobNorthcott]

So are you using the 8.1.0.0 driver, or the 8.1.1.1 beta driver - I take it these are the releases you've tried?

I've tried 8.1.1.1 and 8.1.0.9.

If other people have got it working in XP

Allegedly - but they would say that wouldn't they

I'd be most worried about compatibility with the mobo chipset

Is that likely? I had wondered with it being an nvidia chipset, but thought once the chipset drivers were installed then it shouldn't matter if it's Intel, VIA, nvidia, SIS etc.... perhaps I'm wrong. Could be an expensive mistake if I have to build a new machine just to support the new tuner, after I purposely checked it came with XP drivers

I'll try Win7 or Vista on that machine sometime and see what happens - that'll be much quicker than installing XP on my other machine (I've only got a SP1 install disc and updates take forever!)

Rob

 

[mm1352000]

Is that likely? I had wondered with it being an nvidia chipset, but thought once the chipset drivers were installed then it shouldn't matter if it's Intel, VIA, nvidia, SIS etc.... perhaps I'm wrong.

I certainly think of things differently. Sure hardware seems like it all works the same from an OS perspective once you've installed drivers because the drivers implement standard interfaces. However, I'm talking compatibility at a hardware level here. Voltages, signalling rates and quirks... Sometimes hardware support can be different between mobo models from the same manufacturer with the same chipset. BIOS updates are issued in situations where issues can be identified and it is possible to fix without a hardware change...

Could be an expensive mistake if I have to build a new machine just to support the new tuner, after I purposely checked it came with XP drivers

Don't get too worried until after you've tried W7 - that will be the acid test so to speak.

mm

 

[RobNorthcott]

Did some more testing today. Looks like you might be right mm...

I installed Win7 (Pro 32) on a spare drive on my HTPC machine and the same thing happens when I install the BGT driver - maxes out the CPU and hangs, then will not reboot. Looks like the problem isn't with the OS, but with the motherboard. Looks like it doesn't like the nVidia chipset, or just the BIOS on that board. I'm already running the newest bios, so looks like I'm going to have to use another mobo. Hopefully I can get one with a more normal chipset and an AM2+ socket so I can keep everything else from the existing machine.

I'll let BG know just in case they know (or can find) a solution before I buy any new kit, but it looks like I'm probably going to have to change at least the mobo before I can use this tuner.

Rob