Nova-t PCI problems

[frankmcg]

Has anyone else had any issues using a nova-t PCI (latest model) with GB-PVR, particularly in combination with standby/hibernate mode?

I'm having 2 problems with it, one serious and one not so serious, and trying to figure out whether it's a flaky card I've got or some other component of my system is playing up.

The non-serious problems are as follows - whenever I wake up the computer from standby (ie not a fresh restart), the remote control is no longer working. Tray icon shows it still running, but without running "restartir.exe" it doesn't work. Once I have run this, remote is fine until I next put the computer into and then out of standby. Is this normal behaviour and if so, any workarounds eg putting a restartIR.exe command in a batch file that runs coming out of hibernate?

The more serious problem is a complete system lock up, usually as soon as I start trying to play a recording within GB-PVR after coming out of hibernate. Sometimes the thing locks up (blank screen, loud audio buzzing) as soon as I hit play, other times it doesn't lock up until I stop the playback and try to go back to the main menu. In both instances the reset button doesn't even work and I have to turn the whole thing on and off to bring it back to life. The reason I suspect it's the nova-t is that I often see a "hauppauge failed to start" type error msg in the event manager at the time of the crash, but this could just be a co-incidence I guess! Without using standby mode, everything seems to work perfectly - no crashes or remote problems.

Anyway, sorry for the long post but really appreciate any thoughts before I start tearing the whole system (and my hair out) trying to identify the problem.

[fuzzweed]

gbpvr calls wake.cmd on resume, so yes you can restart the ir. Just create a suitable file with a text editor and stick it in your gbpvr folder. Sorry cant hlep you with the other bit....

edit - I noticed you mentioned hibernate and standby - HP cards do have known issues with S3 (full standby), but nothing I know about with S4 (hibernate). Check the wiki and forum out about the wake.cmd function - it was originally intended for PVR350 owners (i think) as a way to reset that card on resume, so you may be able to figure out how to adapt it to reset your drivers too.

[frankmcg]

Thanks for that. I had read around using wake.cmd but I think another prog needs to be running in the background too unless sub has now built something into the core program? Good idea on trying to get it to restart the card but again it's a work around and I'm conscious that the card may be flaky anyway hence is going to need replaced at some point!

Other thing I should have mentioned as further evidence towards its flakiness is that the latest hauppauge drivers will not install correctly (v2.5e), at least they look like they've installed OK but the card doesn't function and I have to roll back. Hence I'm using the previous v2.5d as the only ones that work.

[fuzzweed]

Thanks for that. I had read around using wake.cmd but I think another prog needs to be running in the background too unless sub has now built something into the core program? Good idea on trying to get it to restart the card but again it's a work around and I'm conscious that the card may be flaky anyway hence is going to need replaced at some point!

Other thing I should have mentioned as further evidence towards its flakiness is that the latest hauppauge drivers will not install correctly (v2.5e), at least they look like they've installed OK but the card doesn't function and I have to roll back. Hence I'm using the previous v2.5d as the only ones that work.

you can use the wake.cmd as a straight batch file to restart the ir (not sure on the technical differences between .bat and .cmd, but they work the same way to the layman), but yes I think there is other software involved to reset the drivers - to be fair I'm just recalling what I read when I had S3 resume probs (i ended up just using hibernate - but thats no help to you ) so I haven't really tried any of it out.

As for your driver problem, are you running hcwclear.exe (HP website, or installation cd, or maybe in prog files/haup..) to remove all the HP stuff before adding the new drivers? I've had endless problems installing HP drivers over the top of the old ones - best to completely get rid before you upgrade.

[sub]

Thanks for that. I had read around using wake.cmd but I think another prog needs to be running in the background too unless sub has now built something into the core program?

No, its not built in. You'd need to download GBPVRWake and run that at startup.

I agree that it'd be better to fix the actual problem if you can.

[jonb1974]

My remote would not work out of stand-by, but works fine from hibernate. Although does take about 15-20 seconds for it to start working after it's booted.

[frankmcg]

Thanks for all the responses. Played about with it a bit more over the weekend and switching to hibernate rather than standby seems to fix the worst problem which was the crashing. Remote still doesn't work though without running restartir.exe, so looks like I'm going to have to go down the GBPVRwake / wake.cmd route to run this each time.

[gEd]

I have used wake.cmd since the original pvr-350 problems. I still use it to :

restart ir.exe
restart gbpvr.exe
restart recording service.
check that my usb wi-fi device isn;t barfed
check that my nova-t usb tuner is responding.

bit of a faff but there you go...
I may try leaving gbpvr and recording service running.

here the cmd file I use (for what it;s worth)

Code:

set logfile=r:\temp\syslog.txt

echo Wake from hibernation on %date% at %time%>> %logfile%
REM pushd "C:\windows\DevCon"

rem process downloaded from sysinternals
process -k Ir.exe > nul
process -k GBPVR.exe > nul

SET checkfile=r:\temp\wakingtvout.txt

IF EXIST %checkfile% GOTO EXIT
echo waking started > %checkfile%

rem sleep 10
rem ping 192.168.0.1 -n 1 -w 1000
rem IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO :REBOOTPC
rem del r:\temp\rebootpc.txt

net stop "GB-PVR Recording Service"
Echo GBPVR Recording service stopped at %time% >> %logfile%

REM Check to see if Nova-T status is OK
devcon.exe status "USB\VID_2040*"
IF ERRORLEVEL 0 GOTO :DEVOK

Echo Restarting Nova-T device >> %logfile%
devcon.exe restart "USB\VID_2040*"

IF ERRORLEVEL 3 GOTO SYNTAX
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO FAILURE
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO REBOOT
IF ERRORLEVEL 0 GOTO SUCCES

:SUCCES
echo Nova-T restarted succesfully >> %logfile%
GOTO END

:REBOOT
echo The Nova-T could not be restarted. Reboot required >> %logfile%
shutdown -r -t 0

:FAILURE
echo Nova-T could not be restarted succesfully >> %logfile%
shutdown -r -t 0

:SYNTAX
REM Syntax error.
echo There is a syntax error in wake.cmd >> %logfile%
GOTO END

:DEVOK
echo Nova-T status OK no restart required >> %logfile%
GOTO END

:REBOOTPC
echo no network detected by wake.cmd - rebooting >> %logfile%
del r:\temp\rebootpc.txt
del %checkfile%
shutdown -r -t 0

:END
net start "GB-PVR Recording Service"
echo GBPVR Recording service started at %time% >> %logfile%

START C:\Progra~1\WinTV\Ir.exe /QUIET
echo IR.exe restarted >> %logfile%
start gbpvr.exe /max
del %checkfile%

:EXIT
del %checkfile%