Re: Black Screen Problem

From: Craig (mapsliame2004-craig_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 11/18/04 

Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 10:18:28 -0800

I have now reloaded the computer OS and apps to just run on one 250gb
Western Digital SATA drive, which was no easy task because of the computer
not liking the main hard drive being so big, but so far everything is good.
I have delivered the computer to the person I built if for and I KNOW that
he will call upset if this happens again, so I am sitting here with fingers
crossed. If this is the cure for my situation, then I have one suggestion I
would have liked to try before I switched to the single hard drive
configuration. Here's my story:

During the reload of the OS the computer didn't like the set up during
initial boot. After all the files were loaded from the Windows disc and
computer restarted, I would get an error saying "error loading OS". After
browsing many other discussion groups I finally found the cure in a MSI
discussion group. For some reason I had to enable RAID in the BIOS and set
up the drive as a striping configuration on a single drive, it's the only
way the motherboard or BIOS would boot from the 250gb drive. So, what I
would like to have tried before I switched to this set up is to have enabled
the RAID configuration like I needed to, but with the smaller hard drive
still as the main OS and apps drive. Maybe for stability the larger drive
has to be set up this way regardless of actually using RAID or not. So my
question to others having this problem now would be - what kind of
motherboard are you using, does it support RAID, and has all the large drive
setup been done correctly. If your board does support RAID and you are
using a single drive, did you enable it as I discussed? If not, it might be
worth a try.

That's my two cents forth, please keep me posted.

Craig

"buckeyeboy" <buckeyeboy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:87B65B8E-C31F-4CCA-AE95-5D89F7024799@microsoft.com...
>I finally have joined this "issue" you all have been having. MCE2005 been
>up
> for two weeks without issue, but now this morning...Black screen, audio
> fine.
> Restart media center all is well.
>
> Current MCE2005 build:
> Intel P4 3.2E
> Zalman CPU Cooler
> SilverStone Case
> 1 gig of ram
> 2 PVR 250's
> 1 ATI HDTV
> Nvidia 5700 256meg
> c:\<OS load> 40 gig IDE
> d:\ <recorded storage> 250gig IDE
> MCE2004 remote, dual IR support
> Dual Cable Set top boxes (STB) <500+ channels>
> Nvidia 5700 256meg
> Nvidia Decoder ($20)
>
> I have been able to record 3 shows and watch recorded shows all at the
> same
> time without an issue. In an interest to not have so much hard drive
> activity when I am not home, I hit the "green button" and the "stop", via
> a
> Harmony 680 Remote "macro" when turning things off. The media pc stays
> on,
> but no video is being streamed or played. The tv then turns off.
>
> I do not think it is an heat issue.....the ASUS monitor says that things
> are
> a constant temperature. Doesn't matter if I am recording 1, 2, 3 shows
> or
> watching recorded TV, things are stable.
>
> I wonder ,if like all things except my SBS2003 server which has been up a
> few hundred days, it just needs a weekly reboot? Couldn't hurt. Think
> about
> it, a Microsoft Desktop that does not need to be rebooted. I know that my
> ReplayTV's rebooted every once in a while during their 3 years of
> ownership.
> Doesn't seem that unreasonable for MCE2005.
>
> NOW, if they would create a PLUG-IN for MCE2005 so that I could manage
> this,
> it would be even easier. Anyone want to take that on? A reboot at 2am on
> Sunday mornings would be just fine for me. Saturday Night live has just
> finished recording.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "awsedit" wrote:
>
>>
>> OK - I'm having the same problem, and my fiance is killing me!
>>
>> My setup is with 2 eHomes, a Nvidia 5600 card using the S out, and a
>> single 200 gb HD.
>>
>> Having enough with Sage, I decided to switch over to MCE. After a
>> normal install, I was amazing that everything worked fine - Both
>> tuners, the output looked wonderful - everything. Then the black
>> screens. Like everyone has said, they come, and they go at random
>> times. When it happens, audio is fine and I can switch to something
>> pre-recorded and all is well. The only thing that fixes the issue with
>> live tv is a hard reboot. I purchased NvDVD to do my decoding.
>>
>> Someone HAS to know how to fix this.....right?
>>
>>
>> --
>> awsedit
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>> View this thread: http://forums.tech-arena.com/showthread.php?t=18187
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>>
>>