Problem capturing with Combo card

[Aguila]

Hi.. I bought a Sitecom combo card FW-008 (USB 2.0 + Firewire) to capture video from my Sony DV camera.
I have tried to capture with Wimdows Movie MAker and with Vegas, but always with the same result... PC reset while capturing after one or two minutes... no message at all, just reset... I can capture small clips and no more
I have the card at the PCI slot nº2, and my PC is AMD 2200XP, 1 GB RAM.
Yesterday I bought a new HD with 160 Gb, but problem remain the same

Any idea ???

Thnaks

Luis

[ofbarea]

Try installing the latest chipset drivers for you mobo. If it is Via based go to www.viaarena.com and get the drivers (VIA Hyperion 4in1 drivers).

If this does not work try upgrating the Bios of your mobo to the latest version. Since combo cards use a PCI bridge, sometimes newer Bios fix problem with them.

Also move the card to other slot.

Finally try to capture using WinDV.

[Aguila]

Thx for your reply Ofbarea.
First I have done is downloading WinDV... its great, cause it name the files with the date and hour ... but problem stay the same
Second I update my chipset drivers, with VIA Hyperion 4in1 v4.56 drivers, but problem persists.... third I tried to update Bios, but the software Magic Bios that came with my motherboard (Lex Bn790E) said that Bios was right (I have never update it before).... and the last, I moved card to other slot... but problem continue
This is quite frustrating..... maybe I have to change the card... so on , the sitecom people havent answer me... and I email them the problem time ago...

Thx again

Luis

[Aguila]

Now I have updated my BIOS, from version B10 to B13, but problem is still the same...
Sometimes the PC reset even before starting the capture... while I am viewing the tape to select the point to begin.
I have seen with the software PCHealth that came with my motherboard, that my CPU temperature is about 56ºC (Must be under 60º) but my System Temperature (Dont know what is this) is 42ºC when should be under 40ºC... in spite of this, my PC doesnt reset usually... just when using firewire port.

Luis

[ofbarea]

Aguila,

maybe you have a faulty card. I have used Adaptec, Orange Micro and Belking combo cards and all of them have worked peroperlly.

[KenJ57]

Do you have anything else plugged into the new combo card? All devices connected to this card share and devide the resources. Adobe, for instance, recommends no combo cards and no other Firewire devices connected during capture for best results. If it won't work with only your DVcam then it's probably defective.

Also, you might check Microsoft for a service bulletin concerning Firewire and XP SP2 since some folks report only 100 Mb/s after the upgrade.

[Aguila]

In the same combo card I have plugged the ADSL modem, the scanner and the printer, in the USB 2.0 ports.
Once I tried to unplug the modem, and the PC reset the same while capturing video.
I usually have no problem working with scanner and printer.
I am starting to think that card may be defective.

Thanks for your help. I will check Microsoft side.

[KenJ57]

OK, but buy seperate USB2 and Firewire cards. Highly recommended.

[ofbarea]

This weekend I had a similar problem. In my case it happened with a Ethernet/firewire combo card. When transferring large files through the Ethernet port my PC rebooted by itself.

The machine was a 1.26 Ghz P-III S in a Via based mobo. I think the problem is related to the PCI bridge chip as this card worked properly in a Intel chipset mobo.

The PCI bridge is a HiNT HB1 and the Ethernet chip is a National Semiconductor MacPhyter DP83815. The firewire portion is NEC chipset (worked fine).

I tested another combo card in the same machine . This time it was an Ethernet/SCSI one. The PCI bridge was an older Dec DC1040F and the Ethernet portion is and AMD PCnet. The SCSI portion is Symbios logic.

With this card I do not have network problems. I solved the problem by using separated cards for firewire and ethernet.

Try selling your firewire/USB2 combo card to someone with an intel chipset and get separated cards for USB2 and firewire. If you runs out of slots, get a combo card with Via based firewire, or get a combo card with 1 chip solution.

[ofbarea]

I think a combo card like this would be a good option:

http://www.siig.com/product.asp?catid=29&pid=669&chsr=hardware

[stiltman]

I had a similar problem with my combo card. I change the PCI slot and it didn't cure the problem. I almost returned the camera as it was an open box purchase. I was thinking it was the camera. At the last minute I desided to just change the to another port on the card. Fixed the problem. I tried hooking my HDD to the other port and the problem now was with the HDD, so it would seem I have a bad port on my card.