PVT 150 MCE IR Blaster not initiating at windows boot (1 Viewer)

[luiciphier]

I apologise as this is a Windows problem really, but having scoured the forum for the last two days, the level of knowledge displayed prompted me to give it a go!

I've installed a PVR 150 MCE card on my XP Home system, and everything is working well with Media Portal (TV, EPG, Remote Control) but I cannot get the Hauppauge IR Blaster software to start. I receive a "IR Transceiver Failed to start" (or similar) message on booting and on any subsequent manual restarts.

The Device Manager shows that the eHome Infrared Transceiver has installed correctly, and I'm assuming that the little IR Blaster itself (plugs directly into one of the two ports on the Infrared receiver, which in turn is connected via USB on this model) uses the same Irbus.sys driver and needs no seperate driver/setup.

I'm reasoning then that either:

a) The setup doesn't like the fact that it's MCE kit running on XP Home (despite adverts and testimonies to the contrary)

b) There's a config knackered or an MCE specific file missing.

c) There's a driver version conflict (tried 3 so far)

d) The device is actually knackered! (but how can I tell?!)

It it's a), b) or c), does anyone know of a workaround or do I perhaps not need the IR Blaster software anyway (I initially assumed it was a bit like a driver but now believe it's just an App?) and can I use the MyBlaster plugin to set up my cablebox codes?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am thoroughly enjoying MediaPortal's incredible flexibility (that's not me crawling, that's the truth!) and having this work would persuade my wife to let me keep the 'Huge ugly lump' or XPS as I call it, to stay in my living room!

The courses I would consider are:

- Some wonderful person tells me I don't need the Hauppauge Blaster software running and I can use MyBlaster without it (it actually only just occurred to me just before posting that it might not be a driver...)

- Installing MCE over XP Home will fix it

- I can use HIP with it after much screaming and reading through the forums again.

- Lastly, I'm screwed, shouldn't have bought the MCE and now have to fork out for another remote and blaster, meaning divorce is close!

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Na, the last one costs to much

Cheaper to wait until someone reads this post, with your setup. :lol:

8)

 

[luiciphier]

I agree, although being divorced from my puter could have a higher cost in mental health terms...

until someone reads this post, with your setup.

Did you mean I should leave details of my full setup?

 

[WebKnight]

Are you using the MCE driver for your Hauppauge card? Thats all you need

 

[luiciphier]

Having installed several versions of the drivers, your reply prompted me to try once more, as I was no longer sure what the current, mostly working ones were.

So I popped on over to Hauppauge, downloaded the MCE drivers and installed.

And suddenly no TV at all!

So I then installed the regular PVR 150 drivers (as opposed to those listed for MCE).

And back to normal.

I read the blurb on the same MCE download page and it states "The WinTV-PVR MCE products only include the board plus driver, and do not include the remote control." So, I'm then looking at my TV card box and it states I have the "WinTV PVR 150 Media Center Kit" and the model number is 1063.

What is the difference? I'm assuming now that the words "Media Center Kit" and "MCE-KIT" on the packaging and the references on E-Buyer to MCE do not necessarily mean I have the MCE version and that in fact I have the regular version plus Hauppauge Remote and Blaster. Or something...

I'm also assuming that as the regular PVR 150 flavour drivers MOSTLY work, that I should stick with these, and also that my intial worry about not using XP MCE might not be an issue.

However, this leaves me confused as I now have contradicting descriptions about what I actually own - it says MCE all over the packaging, and refers to upgrading XP Media Center Edition, yet the MCE drivers don't work at all (although they give me tons of new options within Media Portal, just not one to choose an input port!).

www.WTF.com?

I suppose in the end, I just don't care, I want my MTV. Well, I want the IR Blaster to start up so I can use the software to change channels in my cable box, impress my friends, avoid divorce, spend more time recording TV and playing MP3's and spend NO TIME lying on my stomach in front of the TV hurling abuse at the PC. Cos my back hurts.

I could send the kit back and get another, or even just the IR Blaster if it's a hardware fault, but if it's not, I've just spent beer tokens on nothing and as I've read other reports of the same (sadly with no follow up solutions, nor reports of faulty hardware), i'm not convinced it's faulty. Yet.

I'm hoping that someone out there has experienced the same, has been sleeping all week and is going to rise fully energised from their hibernation for their weekly weekend revels, pop in here, see my cry for help and give me a 30 second fail safe solution.

You can do it, Super-Hauppauge-Expert-Guy - I know you're out there, somewhere...

 

[WebKnight]

Do you uninstall the drivers before testing new ones? ¨Run the HCWCLEAR utility to do this.

There may be a problem with XP Home, but I did som searching for you and found this : http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=36993

try it and see if it helps..

 

[luiciphier]

Thanks for this - I've not yet had a chance to test this via an uninstall and clean re-install - the demands of a 1 year old dictate otherwise. Once I get a chance, I'll post my results here.

Lui

 

[obbiie]

Did you manage to get this working? I have the same problem gettign the USB Receiver/Blaster to co-operate on my PVR 150 Media Kit / MCE Edition (?!?)

Only real difference is I am using MCE2005.

 

[luiciphier]

I think your problem is slightly different from mine - I finally got a reply from a Hauppauge guy a few days ago, and he informed me that the drivers I had installed (he was assuming I'd installed the MCE versions) weren't compatible with my XP setup. I actually got error messages (not surprisingly) when trying the MCE drivers and have been happily using the standard XP drivers (minus the IR Blaster functionality) since installation. My probem therefore maybe does make some sense as the XP drivers would be looking for the blaster in the wrong physicaly place.

Note: I'm using XP drivers that expect a connection on the TV card for the blaster and thus had error messages. I did ask whether one could 'fudge' the system by mixing drivers/configs to get the best of both worlds but haven't had a reply yet.

When I installed Media Portal RC4, it informed me my drivers were out of date, prompted me to download new ones and after this, the annoying "What bloody blaster?" boot message has disappeared. Still doesn't work when I go to the Hauppauge Blaster config but better nevertheless. I'm now pondering whether MyBlaster will ignore the actual connection (USB in my case as opposed to TV Card Phone plug) and let me config my controls anway? Once my one year old stops throwing my remotes (anything but my Philips Pronto!) down the toilet, I may have a chance to find out.

So, you seem to have a whole new problem - I would try the usual: Download the latest drivers, uninstall the current, switch off, remove the card, reboot, switch off. plug in card, redirect the installer to your new drivers, etc. My setup couldn't even find drivers and I had to copy irbus.sys and irbus.inf from another setup to get the basic blaster (remote) to work. Your setup should already have this.

Initially, I was under the impression that there were varying versions of these drivers, but then, as the drivers and hardware are Microsoft designed/approved, it probably couldn't care less about where the blaster connection is (Card or USB) so this removes another possibility from the puzzle, but doesn't really help.

The Hauppauge guy stated that the remote and blaster were entirely Microsoft's bag but I reckon this can't be entirely true as Hauppauge's standard (non MCE) card has the blaster connection in a different place - did Microsoft plan for this or did Hauppauge work around it?

Hope it all works out for you - as soon as anything changes, I'll post again.