Hauppauge TVCard killed my display....

N

NattyDredd

New Member
Hi guys, this seems to have happened twice. I'll try to explain!!!
A friend recently bought a Hauppauge WinTV Card for his computer. After he fitted the TVCard onto the board (PCI), the computer display went very strange. The display became so disjointed (ramdom colours - almost dos-like in appearance:eek:). The computer would start (power running through it all), but stopped performing a self-test on boot, as aresult nothing would happen????:confused:

Anyways, its seems to have happened again. My friend asked me to build him a new computer. So, this is the spec of the new computer:

Gigabyte GA-M61PM-S2 (rev.2.0) motherboard,
2.8 GB AMD (AM2) Processor,
4GB DDR2 Memory,
Maxtor 500GB Sata Hard-drive,
DVD-Player,
DVD-Player/Rewriter respectively,
Hauppage WinTVCard DVB-T 90002 (revC176),
M-Audio Audiophile Soundcard PCI.

A reasonable spec for a machine that will be used as a media center computer, hence the OS is Windows Media Center XP (with SP2 currently).
After building it, installing the OS and performing online updates everything was working well (flying infact!). I then shutdown the puter, unplugged the power, then fitted the Hauppauge WinTVCard. At this point I powered the computer back up again. Then the trouble started.....

Its slightly different from the first time though. On power-up, the computer does perform the self-test (BEEP!). But thats where it differs, but the dispay is exactly the same (ramdon colours, Dos-like in appearance - AGAIN!!!:mad:).
Even though its extremely difficult to make out whats on the monitor.
I did notice however that when I pressed the "del" key to enter the Bios, it seemed to change colour (blue) and entered the bios - but cant see any detail at all - only the ramdom colour changed.....

I'm hoping that posting this puter isue may strike a chord with someone out there in computer-tech-land, as Im at a complete loss - I've never seen/had this before???
Thanks for reading this post and if you can help, I would very much appreciate it (very much!!!:D).
Again, thanks for any advice/help or assistance in advance...

cheers all!!!
 
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Bad tuner card! Replace it with a different make and model in case the vendor got a bad batch of cards in.

When first installing any expansion card Windows should still load right up with the new hardware found message being seen prompting for device drivers. A card seeing type of direct short would be the thing that would pull a system down that far.
 
Thanks for the reply PC eye, :).

I see that its a "type of direct short would be the thing that would pull a system down that far". Now that sounds like something to worry about!!!
So does that mean that its fried elements of my board, like the chipset for the onboard Nvidia graphics port. If so, that means a replacement board right? Or is it recoverable? (Which I imagine, its not!!! :rolleyes:).
How does a faulty PCI(-E) card cause such a major short?

Thanks for the quick responce anyways...... :D
 
A bad card with a faulty component seeing a direct short to ground would simply pull a lot more power then generally seen with any card that simply quit working. The same card seeing the same thing on two different systems rules out a wimpy power supply causing boot problems.

When running the system without the card everything seems normal pointing to the card itself not the board. But you wouldn't want to continue using that card since it could cause damage. Then you would end up needing to replace the board as well.
 
Again, thanks for the replay PC eye,

The thing is after the initial boot that I did with the TVCard, which caused the display problem, I immediately powered down and removed the card.
But the problem still exists... I've tried flashing the bios, which did nothing.
Surely though, i'f I have fried the onboard graphics port it kinda renders the board dead - as I cant even see any of the settings in the bios (to say, set the board to boot to a PCI-E graphics card - and therefore bypass the "fried" onboard graphics port/chipset).
Have you any ideas how I could possibly re-aquire my display? Which is like I mentioned - still dead, even without the TVCard.

cheers.......

ps: In the bios, where there are the Booting Options ie: floppy, CDRom, Hard Drive, AGP or PCI.... Am I correct that this setting in the bios has to be changed to PCI if I want to enable an alternative PCI graphics card??? Or can I just fit another PCI Graphics card and the connect the monitor cable - and the board will magically bypass the onboard G-port....lol.... or is that wishful thinking.......lol.......
 
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If like I mentioned the card was seeing a direct short of some type to ground you wouldn't want to continue trying to use it in order to prevent damage that seems already a bit late to warn you about. Or the onboard chip was defective to start with and the bad card simply revealed it.

For a PCI-E capable board seeing onboard you would set PCI-E as the default adapter. For a board running an AGP card you would set that to AGP not PCI. For both types you later right click and choose the disable option on the integrated graphics item seen in the display adapter section of the device manager so Windows isn't still loading drivers for onboard while running a separate card.
 
thanks PC eye for your assistance... much appreciated...

As an update, My friend has decided to buy another motherboard.
He also mentioned that he's gonna fry that god damn TVCard in a vat of acid. I told him he should video it - post it on YouTube......:). Let out some of the frustration towards a dodgy WinTVCard thats killed two motherboards....

The moral of the story - be warned if you buy cheap PC accessories from EBay... especially when the hardware comes with a home-made set of drivers...

Thanks for the input again PC eye...

cheers........
 
i dont trust Hauppauge cards, i had one years ago, worked for about 2 weeks then blow the motherboard.
 
Meanwhile I'm running into another Vista? problem apparently between two separate makes and model tuner cards not seeing any display while sound, taking screenshots, capturing video input all works. Everything works perfect in XP however while one exact same card of one that quit should be seeing the display since it replaced one that did!

When the old card quit it didn't take the board along with it note. AVerTV MCE A180 The Pinnacle card first used to replace it lacked display seeing a second A180 installed and still no go? I suspect an MS update or Windows problem is being seen however. Repeat attempts and updates of the software haven't worked.

I've been using AVerMedia products for several years with this being the first problem where you couldn't watch the incoming signal. At least when one of the old capture cards quit as well as the year old tuner card no damage was ever seen to anything else.
 
right then, this may be related/unrelated to your problem PC eye, but from the 6 weeks I used Vista on my Sony laptop, the video drivers I used were'nt that great... they would reset all the settings (ie: dual monitor config, refresh rate) every time I restarted the computer - I solved this by finding a modded ".ini" file from some "laptop drivers to go" website, intergrating this .ini file with the original driver package and installing. And eventually downgraded to XP....lol

My point then - is that Vista still seems to have issues with driver compatability (not to mention software???). I know from my 6 week stint with "fat-slug-like-Vista", while at the same time searching/finding all the drivers I needed for XP, there where plenty of modded ".ini" files for a whole range of hardware (and the subsequent drivers), because many people seem to have similar issues as yourself........
 
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The update site for AVerMedia has a working driver for the A180 model that actually works well in Vista. The identical replacement card should also be working as well. But with two separate makes and models both seeing the same problem I have to look at a few recent MS updates as a possible cause.

Unfortunately I don't have any August restore points to go back to since that was when the first card quit and the Pinnacle PCTV Pro was then given a try. No display despite going for their updates for XP, XP MCE, Vista 32/64bit editions.

After the last month trying to get that going in Vista while working well in XP I simply ordered the replacement for the first seeing the exact same application and tuner driver that worked before. Even the dxdiag tool found no errors there leaving me to simply perform a clean install of Windows in order to start fresh adding only one thing at a time to find the cause.
 
You mentioned your performing a clean install of Window, I used to turn off the Restore feature of windows, I now however use it before any change to the system ie: software install, updates etc.... just in case....

It is possible, as I recall, to un-install the updates isnt it??? If so, that may save you having to re-install Windows.....
 
I had a couple of the latest go on sideways for some reason and have already tried removing them to no avail. Here it's not a big issue to see a clean install since I've done that several times already custom booting XP as well as Linux while beta testing a new Vista utility still in prebeta form.

Rolling back SP1 had no effect since that originally as well as 2nd and 3rd times went on and saw no problems with the first AVerTV A180 used for a full year. Why the second one with the exact same disk won't? points at a hidden problem where another fresh copy of Windows should clear that right up.

Basically it's simply the time involved since everything else was where you want it. Unfortunately with Vista you no longer have the repair install option and are forced to see a full reinstall when a problem can't be identified. The irony is that both of the cards mentioned here run perfect in XP and could be recommended while the AVerTV model maximizes to fill the entire screen the Pinnacle PCTV Pro fits to a standard not widescreen lcd seeing borders on both sides when using full screen display for viewing.
 
So you would say it is an OS issue - not an issue with the TV cards. Im interested in hearing that Vista has stoped the option of repairing the Win Installation (Why I ask?). I never noticed that - but I did litterally only used Vista for 6 weeks...lol.

Slightly off topic, but - Im lookig into using NLite (creates Windows Installation Disks). I've used it to config my laptop (WinXP does not install SATA drivers by default so I slipstreamed them into my installation cd - along with SP3).

The reason I mention this - is, as like you, I have installed Windows many times and generally have the same settings, NLite alows you to configure these settings into your Installation Disk (I appologize if you know this already).
 
I generally hand pick the settings according to what is needed at the time. The AVerTV card is now seeing a normail display following the nuke of the Vista primary to see a fresh copy of Windows go on.

Apparently a few of the latest MS updates trashed Windows out of the clear blue for suddenly seeing display problems with working tuner cards. Now the task is simply to see all drivers and softwares put on again.
 
So if it was a Windows update of some sort - what happens if/when you update again, it might happen again? :eek:

So you would recommend the AVerTV cards then - as I can suggest this to my friend - I took delivery of his new motherboard yesturday, so shall be building the puter tomorrow - AGAIN..lol.... Keeping the Hauppauge well away from it....
 
Someone that used to be here always pointed at Hauppauge while I would be explaining seeing generally good results with AVerMedia PCI type capture and later tuner/capture cards. Apparently a pair of recent updates went on sideways dated in September while late August saw the first card give out or simply go black screen in both Vista and XP alike. :(

The Pinnacle card worked well while seeing borders on each side when maxed to full screen viewing in XP. The AVerTV card will fill the entire screen period! I said to myself WHY? did I go and buy a Pinnacle instead of simply replacing the AVerTV card? :confused:

Well it still took a little effort to get the driver to installed completely by Windows but the replacement is running quite well at this time following a clean install to clean up the MS update mess! :D
 
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