Calling all MP New Zealanders (Both of you!!) (4 Viewers)

[TranceManNZ]

TVService only

 

[Bleazle]

I've got a couple of questions for anyone that knows about computers in general:

1. Recently my HTPC hasn't been restarting as it should - it gets to the screen which tells you it has a Pentium CPU and Asus motherboard etc (I don't know what that screen is called, but it's the first one that loads, before it does the self check thing) and then it just freezes. Sometimes it takes several goes (either hitting "Power" for 10 seconds or "Reset") to get it to start. It's betting a bit unnerving - I'm waiting for the time it doesn't start Any ideas? anything I should check? How do I do those checks? etc etc

2. I've got 1GB DDR RAM and a P4 3GHZ CPU. I've noticed that when recording 3 or more channels at once (yeah, it happens sometimes!) the CPU is pretty much maxed out, plus there are other occasions when it seems to be pretty much running at full tit. I'm looking at adding another 3GB of RAM but I just want to be sure that it's worth doing - I know more RAM is always better but will it help when it comes to recording TV?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Dave.

PS. For anyone using the BleazleWide skin I've just added a fade in effect for the Hover images in the Home screen - you can get them from this post: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/skins-50/bleazle-skin-49456/index38.html#post388951

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Dave

Check your boot drive, usually c:\ right click and select properties, then enable a boot time error check, only do this if you are not going to use pc for a few hours.

See what turns up.

If that does not sort it out, then things start getting complicated, as this points back to something failing on the bios startup.

 

[mcraenz]

Hi Dave,

Certainly a HW fault. My guess would be a RAM fault or CPU heat issue. I'd do a RAM test first using memtest86. Then check the CPU temp when it's failing; just grab hold of the CPU heat sink and see if it's hot. Sometimes you can get a very fine dust that blocks air flow though the heat sink.

 

[Bleazle]

Dave

Check your boot drive, usually c:\ right click and select properties, then enable a boot time error check, only do this if you are not going to use pc for a few hours.

See what turns up.

If that does not sort it out, then things start getting complicated, as this points back to something failing on the bios startup.

hmmm.. I can't see where to enable this - I found a link (How To Enable Boot Logging For Fixing Startup Problems in Windows) which says this can only be enabled in safe mode though...

Hi Dave,

Certainly a HW fault. My guess would be a RAM fault or CPU heat issue. I'd do a RAM test first using memtest86. Then check the CPU temp when it's failing; just grab hold of the CPU heat sink and see if it's hot. Sometimes you can get a very fine dust that blocks air flow though the heat sink.

So if I grab the CPU and I can smell a burning pork sort of smell does that mean it's too hot?? I actually thought it might be an overheating issue because the other day I left it for a while and it rebooted just fine - damn! guess I'll have to drag everything out, unhook all the cables and get in there with the vacuum cleaner.

I'd rather do everything a the same time so any advice on upgrading the RAM - "Just do it"?

re: memtest86 - looks like a floppy drive is needed to run that? my HTPC doesn't have a FDD....

Dave

 

[mcraenz]

There should be an iso image of memtest86 you can burn to cd. Also if you're going to vacuum, best to leave the power cord plugged in and the system off. all the fast rushing air can create static and you want the system to be earth the whole time.

 

[sylvester1]

Also

Check that if you have a fan on your graphics card it is still working. My old card (9800 pro) had a fan failure and it only used to be apparent when the machine was on for a bit and would suddenly freeze. There are plenty of after market fans if that is the problem.

Oh, and I found sticking my finger into the fan whilst it was on was the best way to check it's operation!

 

[Bleazle]

There should be an iso image of memtest86 you can burn to cd. Also if you're going to vacuum, best to leave the power cord plugged in and the system off. all the fast rushing air can create static and you want the system to be earth the whole time.

Got an ISO version of memtest (thanks for the pointer) ran it, no memory problem - bummer, I was hoping it would be as easy as sticking in some new RAM note: I turned the PC off and let it cool down for about 30 mins before restarting it but I still hard to start it twice to get past the above mentioned screen so it doesn't look like an overheating issue either Also my VFD display doesn't turn off when I turn the HTPC off - it should shouldn't it? Does that tell you (or anyone) anything?

Re: Vacuuming

OK - will try to remember to turn the power off too - I don't like the smell of burnt pork..

Check that if you have a fan on your graphics card it is still working. My old card (9800 pro) had a fan failure and it only used to be apparent when the machine was on for a bit and would suddenly freeze. There are plenty of after market fans if that is the problem.

Oh, and I found sticking my finger into the fan whilst it was on was the best way to check it's operation!

Thanks for the tip - I'll vacuum the fan when I'm doing the rest of the housework - I've done that before - mainly because it was getting noisy. There don't seem to be any after market fans or heatsinks for my graphics card - I've tried a few but none of them fitted. I'm not having any problems with the system freezing - the problem only occurs when I do a restart (for whatever reason)

Any more ideas? How about my RAM question?

Cheers

Dave

 

[bopbop]

Does the computer complete a POST (power on self test) before it freezes? If it does you should hear something like a single beep. If it doesn't complete the POST and freezes before you hear any beeps then having a quick look at your motherboards manual says that it should vocally say something like "system failed cpu test" (http://dlsvr.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/sock478/P4P800-E DX/e1867_p4p800-e_deluxe.pdf) section 3.3

Does it say anything like that? It might be quite quiet if it does and you may not have heard it before.

Have you also tried just booting up with just a single stick of ram in the motherboard? Try putting a single stick in different slots, also try it with the other stick too (I'm assuming your 1gb is made up of more than 1 stick).

That's all i can think of right now.


I was also hoping you guys might be able to offer me some insight into my problems with TV3 and C4 (DVB-T). Just recently, maybe a week ago, i have started to get terrible reception with those channels. I first thought it was a de-interlacing problem but it is the same sort of problem you get with sky just before you get rain fade (really choppy and mixed up picture). I did a rescan for channels with the tvserver and it now looks like i have zero signal strength and quality for TV3 and C4, enough to get some picture and sound but not enough for watchable tv.

I live in Auckland, maybe 100 meters south of One Tree Hill, and the aerial on the roof has a clear line of sight to Waiatarua. What confuses me is that all the other channels work perfectly fine apart from TV3 and C4. Surely since they are all coming from the same broadcast location I should be getting the same strength for all channels? Any ideas what could be going on?

Any help is appreciated

Cheers

 

[Bleazle]

Does the computer complete a POST (power on self test) before it freezes? If it does you should hear something like a single beep. If it doesn't complete the POST and freezes before you hear any beeps then having a quick look at your motherboards manual says that it should vocally say something like "system failed cpu test" (http://dlsvr.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/sock478/P4P800-E DX/e1867_p4p800-e_deluxe.pdf) section 3.3

Does it say anything like that? It might be quite quiet if it does and you may not have heard it before.

Thanks for the input. No it doesn't get to the POST screen. I'll enable the Vocal Post reporter and see what "she" says - I disabled it ages ago because it used to scare the crap out of me whenever I did a restart and "she" would yell "No keyboard detected!!!"

Re: RAM - it's all on one stick and according the memtest it's all good...

I can't help you out with your TV issue - I'm using DVB-S. Good luck with getting it sorted.

Dave