Re: Vista Beta 2 AMD and Media Center

After reading several post on these boards, it seems that there is an obvious
problem with AMD X2 Dual Cores and Windows Vista Media Center when watching
live TV.

As a Beta 2 tester, I have installed this OS on my newly built HTPC
originally with a single core processor and it worked flawlessly with the
following components:

AMD 64 3200+ Venice
OCZ DDR 600 2x512
MSI K8NGM2-FID (Geforce 6150 chipset & onboard video)
ATI Elite (550 Pro)

Recently AMD has dramatically dropped their prices on their processors since
Intel's release of Conroe. Like many people, I jumped at the chance of
upgrading to a X2 (X2 4800+ Toledo) without realizing that there would be any
problems with Vista.

Once the dual core processor was installed, I started to experience BSOD,
Freezes, Black screens, reboots, etc when watching Live TV. I went through
the trouble of reinstalling Beta 2 on my HTPC.

I have submitted all problems and many of the solutions from Microsoft says
that its been resolved with Vista RC1 and to wait for it to be available at
the end of the year. I am shocked to see that there is a fix and yet as a
test for Media Center, I have to wait for another release of the OS.

From what I'm reading on these boards, it seems like the problem is related
to the management of the dual core processors and many people have suggested
downloading AMD's dual core drivers (which are for XP only!). All other
software and driver upgrades have not worked. Live TV will freeze up
anywhere from a couple of minutes to a couple of hours with the BSOD saying
there's a problems with "memory management," "IRQ Less than or equal to
zero", or not mentioning anything at all. Other times the screen just goes
black and the computer locks up, or if I'm lucky, the screen goes black and
I'm able to regain control of the computer by pressing the Windows button on
the keyboard and the computer automatically restarts MC.

If this is a known problem and has been for some time, I am shocked that
Microsoft has not at the very least posted this problem offically. No where
in my solutions from MS did they specifically say the cause of my problems
were and I have spent many days trying to resolve.

If the problem is an issue of management of the dual core processors, why
does it require us to wait for Vista RC1 for the fix? Assuming RC1 is a fix
to this problem.

To me, this problem is going to continue to grow as more people, like me,
jump at the oppertunity to buy dual cores without any knowledge of the
incompatiblity with Media Center.

As much as I appricate being a tester of a beta OS, I feel that better
communication should be established about this issue. Communication goes
both ways and I've been doing my best to report this to MS.

-Frustrated.

"Jason Tsang" wrote:

It's a bit surprising that AMD/Microsoft haven't been able to integrate the
appropriate fixes..

I'd suggest you file a bug on the issue.

--
Jason Tsang - Microsoft MVP

Read my blog for the latest in Media Center topics
(and other topics that interest me)
http://jtsang.blogspot.com

More information by me
http://jtsang.mvps.org
http://www.classicsunveiled.com

Find out about the MS MVP Program -
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx



"David C" <DavidC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:2E415E61-FF5E-4D63-9012-CE63D524388E@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Vista Beta 2 Build 5384 x32

"buckeyeboy" wrote:

Which OS?

Beta2? Build?
x32 or x64bit?
--
***************************
What does your MCE2005 setup look like, check out:
http://flickr.com/groups/mediacenter/ to see what others are doing
***************************


"David C" wrote:

I have a AMD 64 dual core 4200 processor with a twinhan tv card. The
Asus
board has the latest bios and the cool and quiet is disabled. The tv is
stuttering similar to what happened in MCE2005 before the AMD patch was
installed. This same patch won't install on Vista due to it not being
XP.

Has anyone got a solution to this problem?



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