TV Card is found only after a Restart

[peter56]

I have a new Win XP SP3 system,
4GB RAM, 2 X 1TB WD Green HD, Q9550 CPU and Antec Sonata III case with 500W PSU.
LG and Pioneer DVDs.

I also have a Sonomec 600VA/ 360W UPS connected to this system plus a 24" Dell LCD and the Logitech Z10 speakers


I have consistent problem on cold booting or waking from hibernation.
The Compro TV card is not found and DTV4 S/W says to reinstall drivers.
A simple Windows Restart fixes the issue.

I replaced the Compro E800 card with a E850 from my helpful supplier, using all the latest drivers in each case.
So now I don't think that there is anything wrong with the Compro H/W.

I suspect that the power supply is not up to the peak load at cold boot time. The theory is that on Restart, there is enough charge in the TV card to have it functioning during the boot sequence at the correct time.

The other suspect here is the 600VA UPS - which I have not as yet looked at to exclude it.
However I was using this to power 2 PCs (boxes only - average video cards, but both had 2 DVDs and TV cards)
with no problems until I tried to do a virus check on all 5HDs at the same time (!)
This took the power draw over its limit.


I would look at a 750W PSU, but what brands are recommended?
Before shelling out for a more powerful PSU I would like others to venture their opinions on this issue.

Thanks.

[Bjs]

1: "waking from hibernation" needs to be setup in bios before os install to function correctly (hardware driven priority)

2: As for card, try in a different pcie 1x slot

Note: Uninstall device software and device drivers before shutting down to move device to another pci-e 1x slot or conflict with software may result.

[redwudz]

Another possibility is the order in which the drivers are loaded. There may be another driver that 'trumps' it while loading. Sometimes temporarily blocking other drivers by using msconfig may be a way to test. (Type ' msconfig ' into a command window without the quotes)

But I would try another PCI slot as Bjs suggested. Usually the worst slot is the one directly below the video card, as it ofter shares IRQs. That could cause startup problems if they are both fighting for it. But I don't know if that problem is still around with PCI-E.

A 500W PS should be more than sufficient unless you run dual SLI video cards.

[peter56]

I forgot to mention I have a GA-EP45-DS3P motherboard and ATI 4850 video card. The RAM is 2 sticks of 8500 Corsair.

Thanks for the suggestions - they are both good ones.

The TV card is installed in the PCI X1 slot just below the video card as mentioned by redwudz.

I tried switching the E800 to another PCIE X1 slot above the video card (as my supplier suggested) but this didn't help. On the other hand I may not have uninstalled the drivers first - can't remember, although it seems the right thing - so I will give this a go for the E850 TV card and get back if it works.

If it is an IRQ issue (which is what my supplier reckons as well), then how does this explain that everything works great only after a RESTART from Windows?
When you RESTART the BIOS POST screen appears so I would have thought it would be equivalent to a cold boot except that now ALL the hardware has been warmed and will contain some charge. The power drawdown would be less for this peak load. Also the TV card H/W gets lost after waking from hibernation, so how does the IRQ come into play here? Presumably the IRQs were OK before hibernation, why should they get lost/confused after coming out? Wouldn't the IRQ tables be stored somewhere and the system would also by default assume that no hardware was changed during hibernation? At least it does not report any H/W changes were detected.

On the other hand, in both these cases the H/W is cold and will have low charge retained.

Also how does driver order get affected by a RESTART? (ie. if this is causing the issue, then that implies a RESTART affects the order)

[redwudz]

A bit far from my knowledge, but with most MBs, the IRQs are assigned automatically at startup. Maybe a restart is different. Usually moving the card to a different slot can change the assignments. But I don't know how that applies to X1 slots.

You can check IRQ assignment methods in BIOS. You could try manually setting the assignments, though that I'm not sure about as I've never done that.

msconfig may be able to stop some drivers from loading, but you would have to try several different configurations to hopefully find one that works and that may give you a clue to what is going on.

Sorry, about the only other advice is to check for forums pertaining to your card, maybe the MB, and the chipset, to see if anyone else has had a similar problem.

[peter56]

I have tried uninstalling drivers etc., then moving the TV card to another PCI X1 slot, reinstalling drivers etc. and I get the same problem.

I have noticed at start up the BIOS POST (2nd screen) only reports 1 multimedia device (IRQ 10). I'm not sure what this is but its not the TV card. This Multimedia Device is seen when no TV card is installed, and also when the card is installed but is not found by the Videomate S/W and drivers.

When the PC is then restarted the TV card appears as an additional Multimedia Device (IRQ 7) and the Videomate S/W finds the TV card and all is well.

So it looks like the BIOS of the GA-EP45-D3SP is not finding this hardware at normal boot time, but is finding it and allocating an IRQ on a restart I have the latest version of this BIOS - F8 - installed.

Can someone explain what is going on here and how I can solve this? Is there a BIOS setting that I can make?
Do I need to get Gigabyte to fix the BIOS for this TV card?

Thanks for your help on this interesting problem.

[redwudz]

The other multimedia device could be a audio device or something else. Not sure. I don't have a clue about the BIOS settings and the way the IRQs are set up. Good luck, though. Let us know if you find a solution.

[peter56]

Another failure.

I have also tried setting IRQ methods in the BIOS.
I've been into the boot POST BIOS menu, found the PnP/PCI menu
and changed the IRQ method from Auto to 7 (and later 10).
I then Save and Exit and the system reboots. The TV card is then found and all is well.

However subsequent boots fail to find the TV card again.

This indicates that a Save and Exit boot from the BIOS menus works
much like a Windows Restart type of boot, as opposed to a cold, hit-the-power-switch boot up.

This appears to support the charge-retention theory, but is also not incompatible with other explanations.

I am thinking that since the TV card Multimedia Device is not being displayed on the POST screen of normal boots
that the problem is not the fault of Windows XP SP3 or of the TV card drivers, or even of the motherboard chipset drivers,
but of the motherboard BIOS or IRQ allocation at normal boot times. What do others think of that proposition?

My next experiment will be to try installing the card on an older motherboard.

[peter56]

Another failure.

Compro support suggest setting the PCI latency (32, 64, 96 etc) in BIOS.
This sounds like the right direction, but my F8 GA-EP45-DS3P BIOS doesn't support this.

I tried running PCI Latency 3.1, which dates back to 2005, and it locked up my system.

I have tried slowing down the PCI bus to 94MHz (90MHz won't boot) and
also increasing the PCI clock voltage from 900mV to 1000mV and these don't help.

I have tried going back to two earlier BIOS firmwares and this didn't help either.

The BIOS is just not detecting the TV card on normal boots, but will detect it after exiting the BIOS or a Windows Restart.
This indicates to me that some setting in BIOS may be able to fix it.

I have seen a similar problem on tomshardware where changing the video card to an earlier model at 8X (down from 16X) fixed the issue.

Somebody must have a solution, but I feel I am getting close to at least an explanation.

[SmokieStover]

Drop the RAM to two gig.

[Bjs]

Gpu is 16x so it should be in the pci-e 16x slot closest to cpu (blue slot according to picture)
In bios > Init Display First > PEG (this sets display init on 16x slot only) ... it don't go looking elsewhere

There are 3 pci-e 1x's ... the one next to 16x slot should in general be avoided

Power Management Setup > PME Event Wake Up = disable
If this was not setup correctly before os was installed there will be conflicts (bios settings take precedence over software control)

All other settings should be system default, ie, non-tinkered with.

Note: 16x gpu can be installed in 8x ... but defeats the point.

Have you installed the power patch cable?

[peter56]

verify: Video card is in the 16X blue slot.

I have tried Set Init Display First to PEG (PCI Express 16X slot) - this doesn't help, but it seems to be a good setting in general.

Power Manaagement Setup > PME Event Wake Up = Enable when OS installed. Need this enabled if you want the TV card to wake up the PC for a scheduled recording? Disabling doesn't help.

I have also Loaded Optimise Defaults in BIOS with a few tweaks such as No Floppy, Boot from HD (only), Disable Logo, Disable IDE, Disable Serial port, Enable CPU Thermal event 80deg, Enable CPU Fan Fail warning, Init Display First:PEG

Further info. The TV card is found by the BIOS when the power is turned off to the power supply and then the system is booted.

In other words, the only time the TV card is not found by the BIOS is when the system is booted from a Windows shutdown and subsequent cold boot where residual M/B power stays on. So something is going on here.

Power-off boots, BIOS resets and Windows Restarts all locate the TV card.

Shutting power off the PSU will reset the TV card, but this would probably not happen under a BIOS reset or Windows Restart.

[peter56]

I have not installed the power patch cable on the TV card. This is optional. It allows the TV card to start the PC. Had it been used this may have been a cause of similar issues if incorrectly connected.