Re: Live TV video/audio freezing?

Hi JW:
The only elevated temperature was on the motherboard I/0 controller hub.
I'm thinking there is a problem with the video card. Prior to this problem,
everytime I used live tv or played a dvd or recorded tv in Media Center an
nVidia icon would appear in the taskbar to allow using their "control panel".
Ever since that problem occurred, I no longer see an nVidia icon in the
taskbar and it has disappeared from the start menu as well. I'm wondering if
the O.S. is smart enough to fall back on the onboard graphics when a video
card malfunctions? The device manager still shows "GeForce 7600GT under
display adaptors though. Since I'm using a DVI-D output to the LCD monitor,
the graphics card must be working though! After 4 hrs of operation today, I
have had no problems with live tv on media center and the temperature
monitors all show normal temperatures. My power supply is an Antec 500W
modular unit and all the voltage readings are in the normal range and very
steady. The 5-V ranges from 5.00-5.014 which is a very narrow range. I've
never used the nVidia control panel anyway since the gateway LCD monitor
comes with it's own adjustment program. If there is any cooling problem, it
would have to be the video card fan malfunctioning because the case
temperatures are very good. Motherboard sensors report 37C & 38C, CPU is
running at 31C-33C using everything I would likely ever use at once and
that's with the fan running at only 870 rpm. I probably made a mistake
buying a "factory overclocked" video card. It shouldn't be overheating just
running the desktop and putting out an already digitalized video picture
though..........right? LOL Well..........for now, I'm going to see if the
problem happens again and if not, do nothing else. If it happens again,
I'll pull the graphics card and see if it goes away using the onboard
graphics. If it still occurs, I'll pull one of the 2 tv tuners and see if
that cures it, if not pull the other one. Sooner or later I'll find out if
it's a hardware problem LOL. If not, I will rmove the nVidia drivers and
re-install them from a new download of the latest MCE drivers. They are
coming out with some new ones that interface with the MCE2005 O.S. right in
the media center window I understand. If you come up with any other
suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I really appreciated the advice I've
gotten in this newsgroup. It helped a complete novice build a Media Center
computer with everything I could ask for!

xiowan...........in tucson

"JW" wrote:

It appears that the Hub is drawing too much power due to elevated
temperature and it is the Hub or your video card that is freezing due to
heavy load when watching Live TV. How big is your power supply? and is your
Hub separately powered?
"xiowan" <xiowan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1E482E12-BA2F-42B2-AE9A-A9F337CD627D@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Update: Recorded tv plays back without problems. Does this mean maybe
one
of the two tv tuners is malfunctioning? I also just noticed that the
nVidia
icon is now missing from the taskbar and the listing from the start menu.
Geesh.

"xiowan" wrote:

Hi All:
I put the final touchs on my homebuilt Media Center PC a few weeks ago
and it has been working great. Tonight while watching live tv in a
reduced
window while surfing online, the picture & audio both froze and the
speakers
started emitting a "high-pitched 'did-did-did-did-did-did-did-did' noise.
My
system also froze with no keyboard or mouse function.
Control/Altenate/Delete would not bring up the task manager either. I
pressed the "reset" button on the case and the pc started up again with
everything working fine including Media Center live tv.......for about 5
minutes! Then the same thing happened again. There is nothing
indicating
problems in any of the "event recorder" reports. I'm wondering if I may
have
a malfunctioning video card? That was the last hardware I
added......about 3
weeks ago. The card is an nVidia GeForce 7600GT O.C. I checked the
Intel
"Desktop Utilities" monitoring program and 2 things stood out also. The
I/O
controller hub (ICH) is running warmer than normal but within acceptable
temperatures. Normally 48, now 64. Board temps read 37C & 38C. Core2
Duo
cpu temp reads normal at 31C. The second thing that is different is that
one
of the 7 hard drives is showing a red warning symbol with some weird
symbols
next to it. They aren't on my keyboard but look like a "Q, then an l
with
an upside down v above it, followed by a little box and a tiny * or
something similar. That hard drive is partititioned into 3 volumes and
contains only about 80 GB of stored videos. It is not used to record
programs or for the O.S. , so I don't think it has anything to do with
the
Live TV freeze up. The problem has not happened again for about an hour
without the Media Center live tv running, just the desktop with regular
windows running. Also, I didn't have any problems streaming live tv on
my
LAN thru an Xbox360 to my TV for several hours. The monitor is a 21"
Gateway
LCD monitor connected via DVI-D cable from the graphics card. It worked
fine
for months using the onboard graphics on the Intel DG965WH m-board
connected
with VGA cable. I downloaded the latest nVidia MCE drivers before
installing
the graphics card and used those instead of the drivers on the retail cd.
I
am at a loss as to how to determine where the problem lies LOL! If any
of
you want to make some suggestions as to how I should proceed, I would
sure
appreciate it!

xiowan.........in tucson



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