Help with PC crashing in MP - Not like other issues? (1 Viewer)

[Niroth81]

Hi, My name is Jase, and I have been Media Center free for 4 days now...

Converted over after searching for literally months for the best media center solution. I have to say and I'm just flat out impressed with the quality of MP. I'm having one little issue however. I've spent hours and days searching the forums and it seems people are having a similar problem but not exactly like mine. So here it is:

Everything works 100% except TV. Let me tell you my setup:

MP RC3 on Intel E8500, 2GB Ram, PCI-E 7600GT, Compro PCI-E E700. Vista Ultimate.

The problem that I have is that when I am watching TV, after approx 40 seconds or so, the whole machine freezes. TV picture hangs, no keyboard or mouse, cannot CRTL+ALT+DEL, and have to hard reboot to get it working again.
Everything works well, all my music, all my moves (which are .avi format encoded in either divx, xvid, and a handfull in h.264) are working perfectly fine without any problems.

Now I have done a lot of testing and here are the results of what I have done so far:

Vista Media Centre will play TV without an issues, as does the ComproTV software that comes with the card. Fairly certain this rules out the card as being the issue.
Filmerit shows that there are 0 errors among 288 filters.
I have played with all the different codecs in the TV settings and it doesn't matter which it is set to, the same thing happens.
I am not using the powerdvd software? I have read that this can be an issue, but it's not installed at any rate.
The Compro E700 is a dual digital tuner, and I have tried it with one tuner disabled - Same problem.
I have changed the SQL password to something other than "sa" (The installation process defaulted the password to "MediaPortal"
I have tried to preview the channels in the TV config, and again the machine froze and needed a hard reboot.
I have disabled Windows Defender and all my anti-virus software.
I have made sure that the physical hardware isn't overheating at all.
I have updated all the system drivers, including video and tv tuner, and am getting the same hanging problem.

I am a little lost as to what to do. All the other threads that I've read have people with MP freezing, but can get into task manager to kill it, but my machine freezes completely. This is pretty much a fresh install of vista ultimate.

Hopefully there is someone out there that can see something I have missed that can help me get this sorted.
I've spent so much time looking for the perfect solution, and I am so close to having it right.

Thanks Guys,
Jase

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

I have tried to preview the channels in the TV config, and again the machine froze and needed a hard reboot.

That brings it back to drivers\TVServer or sql.

Have you got another pci-e slot spare you could move the card too, and delete the sql database using sql management express (don't want it to remember old card address)

Could be something as simple as above, also make sure you tune both cards for your region and select the same recording folder for all cards.

 

[Niroth81]

Thanks for such a quick reply.

I on't have another PCI-E 1x slot. Don't believe thats the issue though, as VMC doesn't have any problems.

I uninstalled SQL and reinstalled it after removing all the left over bits. Same issues.
I tried to use the MySQL but for some reason it wouldn't install.

Tuned in both tuners again and made sure the recording folders were both the same.

Is there some sort of way to view TV on MP RC3 without using the TV server?
There has to be something that is causing issues, its hanging consistantly within a couple minutes of watching TV.

Any More Ideas?

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

TV on MP RC3 without using the TV server?

Uninstall the TVServer, then you can use internal TV engine (MP config\television), but this is no longer supported by team-mediaportal.

 

[Niroth81]

For testing purposes, would this get me any closer to a solution?

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Hmm, just checked back on other posts regarding this card and seems it does not work successfully with MP, seems it packs up after so many seconds on resume.

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...ate-dvb-e700-digital-tv-internal-pci-e-34842/

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/271460-post8.html

Looks like your out of luck, sorry.

 

[Niroth81]

Never mind about the previous question. Perhaps someone can tell me why it isn't supported? I was under the impression that the TV-Server enabled a situation where if the card worked in windows it would work in MP. What exactly does MP do with the card, that VMC doesn't (or vice versa)

Can you suggest an alternative PCI-E 1X Digital Tuner?

I am not having issues with the TV when on after suspend. This is just on a fresh boot from turned off.

Jase

 

[Niroth81]

Just an update for those interested.

Because I am outputting to an old screen, I had to add a PCI-e 16x card to the system (in addition to the on board that is). Tonite I pulled that card out to see if that was the issue, and found that it was indeed the cause of windows hanging, rebooting and all the other little erroneous things that were going on. I have also tested the card coming out of S1 and S3 and its not hanging up at all.

To think all my woes were caused by a stupid video card. Maybe its time to invest in an LCD that has HDMI. What better excuse do I need? "Honey It just simply won't work on this screen, I'll have to buy a bigger better one" hahha

Anyway, Thanks for the help guys. Despite the problems I've had, I've already converted 2 others away from vista MCE with amazing results.

Thanks all once again,
Jase

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Yes always interested when hardware causes this kind of issue, because it happens a lot.

If only everything regarding pc's worked 100% all the time it would make everyones life easier

And out of interest does your compro card work with standby\hibernate, just for future reference.

Regarding the graphics card, did you disable the onboard chip in the BIOS (auto is usually not 100% reliable), also check for any update of the BIOS from manufacturer.