Hello, I have a question about how to setup

[JavaWiz]

Oh cool!

I'm going to look at that now.
It's kind of hard to work on this with little ones, they get first priority.

Ok, question is, I've clicked on and installed so much stuff I don't know what I've done anymore. Is there anyway to like purge it all out and start over? I don't know what to uninstall now. I'm just lost.
Windows gets me all flustered, I'm just not used to it.
Here's a list of stuff that shows up in the program files folder.
I don't know what should stay and what can go.
I know if I go in and start deleting stuff I'm gonna break something.
[...]

Like 9/10 of that stuff, I have no idea what it is.. I mean I can guess at it but.. I'm good at breaking things. Real good..

First off, don't delete anything directly out of Program Files. Go to control panel and use Add/Remove programs.

I've marked several that I don't think you'll need, but you might want to wait and get confirmation from a few other users before you start wacking away.

For those items not in Add/Remove programs, see if there is an uninstall under start-programs and the package name.

For those that aren't in either, you may.... be safe to delete right out of program files, but, if they aren't causing you any problems you might just leave them. Or, possibly, rename the directory (maybe add an 'x' to the end), run for a couple weeks, if no problems, then delete.

Code:

3ivx - Remove
Apple Software Update - Remove if you don't use ITunes/IPod
Common Files - leave
ComPlus Applications - Not needed.
devnz - this is gbpvr, leave
DivX - you probably should leave this
Grisoft - This is AVG anti-virus
Haali - This is a media splitter, you may want to leave this
Illustrate - Artist renderer tool
Internet Explorer - leave
iPod - if not using itunes/ipod remove
iTunes - if not using itunes/ipod remove
IVT Corporation - Bluetooth software??
K-Lite Codec Pack - Leave this
MediaInfo - Leave this
Messenger - leave
microsoft frontpage - remove
Microsoft Plus! - remove
Movie Maker - remove
Mozilla Firefox - leave
MSN - remove
MSN Gaming Zone - remove
nanoPEG for WinTV - video editor, comes with Hauppauge card
NetMeeting - leave
NVIDIA Corporation - probably leave this, probably the nvida drivers
Online Services - remove
Outlook Express - remove or leave...
QT Lite - Quicktime Lite, you may not need this since you are using the K-Lite codec pack
VideoLAN - This is the VLC player, leave this
Windows Media Player - leave
Windows NT - leave
WinRAR - Like PKZip
xerox - not sure...
Xvid - xVid codec, leave this

[Morticia]

oh I'm soooo about to burst into tears.. I'm totally stressed out now.
I've spent so much time and way too much money on this now.
I have no idea what to do now.

I haven't touched the pc in a few days, been too busy so I haven't messed with the drivers and stuff. But this is different.

So today that s-video switch came in.

Ok, so I hooked up the switch and it puts this nasty humming noise on the TV and the picture looks BAD, it's got these black bands that roll around up and down and make the picture unwatchable.

If I hook ONLY the gb pc to the tv it looks and sounds great.
If I hook ONLY the satellite pc to the TV, it looks and sounds great.
If I hook both of them into the switch the picture goes bad and the humming comes out of the TV.

Both computers are putting out s-video through Nvidia cards.

One at a time they look great on the TV. Even one at a time through the new switch. You just can't have both on the switch at the same time..

Also, *everything* and I mean *everything* is plugged into some really huge battery back up boxes, I mean like there is a warning sticker on them that says they weigh 175lbs and not to pick them up. Duh!
There's one battery system for the satellite pc and a seperate one for the big TV and the gb pc in the other room. Nothing is plugged straight into the wall. Someone asked me about that before.

Does anyone know what the heck is going on? I mean like all the video cards are new and check out fine, the cables all check out fine too.
It's just messed up when you put both pc's on the switch at the same time.

Help!

[pastro]

oh I'm soooo about to burst into tears.. I'm totally stressed out now.
I've spent so much time and way to much money on this now.
I have no idea what to do now.

I haven't touched the pc in a few days, been too busy so I haven't messed with the drivers and stuff. But this is different.

So today that s-video switch came in.

Ok, so I hooked up the switch and it puts this nasty humming noise on the TV and the picture looks BAD, it's got these black bands that roll around up and down and make the picture unwatchable.

If I hook ONLY the gb pc to the tv it looks and sounds great.
If I hook ONLY the satellite pc to the TV, it looks and sounds great.
If I hook both of them into the switch the picture goes bad and the humming comes out of the TV.

Both computers are putting out s-video through Nvidia cards.

One at a time they look great on the TV. Even one at a time through the new switch. You just can't have both on the switch at the same time..

Also, *everything* and I mean *everything* is plugged into some really huge battery back up boxes, I mean like there is a warning sticker on them that says they weigh 175lbs and not to pick them up. Duh!
There's one battery system for the satellite pc and a seperate one for the big TV and the gb pc in the other room. Nothing is plugged straight into the wall. Someone asked me about that before.

Does anyone know what the heck is going on? I mean like all the video cards are new and check out fine, the cables all check out fine too.
It's just messed up when you put both pc's on the switch at the same time.

Help!

As you probably already guessed, you have a ground loop.
Usually this is caused my the cable input, but I'm not so sure in your case with your backup system. You might try disconnecting the analog cable as a test though.
I'm assuming the video switch is active since it has a remote. Try plugging the vid switch into one backup and then try the other. Any change?

[Morticia]

As you probably already guessed, you have a ground loop.
Usually this is caused my the cable input, but I'm not so sure in your case with your backup system. You might try disconnecting the analog cable as a test though.
I'm assuming the video switch is active since it has a remote. Try plugging the vid switch into one backup and then try the other. Any change?

Um, I don't know anything about ground loops but I'll take your word for it. I guess that means something is wrong with the electrical, right?

I'm so tired. It's been a very long day. You just don't know.
Anyway, I'm just to tired to mess with it tonight.

Ok, here's what I did.

The output port of the switch is connected to the TV.

I took an old satellite receiver that has s-video output and plugged it into port 2 on the switch.

I connected the GB pc s-video to port 3 of the switch.

Looks great, sounds great. I can switch back and forth between the two and there's no problem at all. No humming, no black bars, no squiggly pictures. All is wonderful..

I disconnected the satellite PC which has an Nvidia GeForce Ti4200 VIVO card installed and carried it into the room with the TV and the GB pc.

Ok, so nothing at all it connected to the satellite PC at all. No wires, no cables, nothing.

I take another svideo cable and plug it into port 1 of the switch and the other end into the satellite PC, into the video dongle that comes out of it's Nvidia card. So far, so good.

No other wires or cables, just the svideo wire.

Next I plug a power cord into the battery box that the TV and the GB pc is plugged into. I put the power cord into the power socket on the back of the satellite pc and instantly the TV starts humming and the picture goes bad. And I did NOT turn on the pc, I just plugged the power cord in to it.
So the only thing on that pc is an svideo wire and the power cord.

Pull the power cord and the humming stops. Plug it back in, hums. Take it out, stops humming. And never even turned it on.
I even flipped the switch on the back where the power cord goes in to the off position so it's impossible for the pc to power up and it still hums.

I can pull the svideo cable from the gb pc and everything is fine.
I can have either one connected at a time and it's great. But I can not have both pc's plugged in at the same time. Doesn't matter which one you unplug, either one and the humming stops.

Also, that no audio cords plugged in from either pc to the switch, just video only with the only audio cable plugged in between the switch and the TV.

I guess it can't be done.

I'm totally at a loss. I have no idea what to do now.
There's nothing at all wrong with either pc, they both work great by their selves. The satellite pc has a new power supply in it too. The ex changed it out not to long ago. He put new, big hard drives in it and a heavy duty power supply. I helped him do it. Oh and I PAID for all of it.
All these toys are MINE... I told him what I wanted to do and he got it all together and I helped build it all. That's why it's all still here after he left.

I'm totally bummed out now. I have no clue on earth what to do now.
I think I'm going to put it all back like it was and forget about it tonight and get some sleep.
Maybe the good fairy will come fix it while I sleep.
Sigh.... Good night...

[richardw456]

Sure sounds like a ground loop. Two things occur to me. Both plugs on the PC's should have 3 "pins" (for want of a better word) on the power plug. If they don't, use a different cord that does. The TV probably only has the 2 blade like ones. One blade should be wider than the other. That is to be sure you plug the TV in correctly. (It does make a difference.) Make sure the TV is plugged in the correct way. If the PC's both have 3 wires and the TV is in correctly, try lifting the ground on the Sat PC. To do that use one of those converter plugs that lets you plug a 3 wire cord into an old 2 wire outlet. The third "pin", the round one is a ground. See if any of that helps.

[Morticia]

Sorry for staying gone so long. (is that a bad thing?)

I have been so frustrated that I had to just walk away from this stuff for awhile. I came close to pitching it all out to the curb.

As a last desperate move I ripped everything apart.
I had wanted the gb pc to be in the same room as the 36" tv.
Well for some reason that was causing major problems.
Everyone seemed to suggest the problem had to do with the electrial wiring. Well I tried everything I could think of and nothing worked.

So last night I put everything back like it used to be and took all the gb pc stuff out of that room and moved it back into the room with the other home theater pc.
I took the new svideo switch in there too.
So I put it all on the same battery back up, everything.
I put both pc's into the switch then that into the octopus thing that feeds the rest of the house. I have these cone things that let me use the remote controls in any room.
Guess what?
No humming noise, perfect picture!
And what's better, the first way I was trying to do it would only let me watch the gb pc in one room. This way it goes to the whole house now and I can switch between the satellite pc or the gb pc from anywhere.
Woo hoo!!
So like I can be in the kitchen, where I also have a tv and if I decide there's nothing to watch, I can push the little remote and switch to the gb pc and watch anything I want from the kitchen! Or listen to music!
Or youtube! And maybe stuff I don't even know about yet!!
Woo hoo!!

Ok, it's been a long, stressful experience getting this thing to work.
But in the end, it was worth it. It does what I wanted to do.
And I'm a very happy girl today.

Now I need to learn more about this gb pc system.
Can I add to it? Like can I get my local weather on it?
Games? Any other neat things it can do?

Thanks guys for putting up with Ms Crabby. :o

[whurlston]

Sorry for staying gone so long. (is that a bad thing?)

No. We have members who have been using GB-PVR for years and never have to post on the forum. Then there are those of us whoget the shakes if we don't post once an hour.

So like I can be in the kitchen, where I also have a tv and if I decide there's nothing to watch, I can push the little remote and switch to the gb pc and watch anything I want from the kitchen! Or listen to music!
Or youtube! And maybe stuff I don't even know about yet!!
Woo hoo!!

You may want to take a look at the plugins: http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Plugin/Plugin

Ok, it's been a long, stressful experience getting this thing to work.
But in the end, it was worth it. It does what I wanted to do.
And I'm a very happy girl today.

Glad to hear it.

Now I need to learn more about this gb pc system.
Can I add to it? Like can I get my local weather on it?
Games? Any other neat things it can do?

See the plugin link above. Also check out the Skin and Pugin Support forum.

Thanks guys for putting up with Ms Crabby. :o

No problem. Glad you got it working and you're happy with it. Of course, we knew you would be.

[Morticia]

Woo hoo!!

I just installed the weather thingy and it works! Very nice!
I've got to cook dinner now, I've got little ones in distress.
I'm going to try to add some more goodies in later!

Thanks guys!

[stefan]

Glad to hear you got it going. And in a fairly advanced setup environment too. Yes, I'm a bit jealous

[ram4x4nut]

Just a tip ... you may consider stopping the GBPVR service and copying the entire gbpvr directory to another drive, or in temp or something. That way if any of the plugins flip out and muck up your database you can always go back to where you were when things were good.

Glad you got everything working the way you want. I knew you'd end up loving this, everyone does!