2004-09-25, 03:53 PM
Hi everyone,
I've just finished building a GBPVR box and I'd like to post what I experienced for the benefit of those people contemplating building a machine from scratch.
The donor machine I selected was a fairly mediocre Athlon XP 1800 using a cheap ECS K7S5A motherboard with 512MB of PC2100 RAM. I was lucky to buy a Hauppauge WinTV 350 with a free bundled 80GB deskstar drive so that dealt with any storage issues. For connectivity, I used a non descript 802.11b wireless PCI card and bunged it in slot 5, as far away from the Hauppage card as I could. The WinTV went in slot 2 as i'd read of potential issues with slot 1 and for video out, I used an OLD Asus V6800 AGP video card with TV out. Audio is a generic AC97 system built into the board. I installed XP pro, using the drivers on the Hauppauge CD to install the 350, patched it up complete with the .NET framework and topped it all off with SP2. I then went to the Hauppauge Web site, downloaded all the latest drivers and application builds and cleared down/re-installed the card.
For remote control, I selected an IR200L to drive my sky digibox. Next thing was to install GBPVR itself and that's when problems started.
I had issues with random hanging of the system and suffered big problems with Live out which always locked GBPVR up completely. VMR9, VMR7 and overlay manager modes didn't work and things generally were misfiring.
Thinking my old graphics card was to blame, I went out and bought a generic FX5200 card which was the lowest spec I could find that supported DirectX 9 and hence VRM9. Installing this card didn't cure the problem, so I changed tack and used an approach that has produced a working system aside from niggles with the IR control. Although I can't vouch for these steps, they worked for me and delivered a stable and working setup.
1. Make a GBPVR install CD containing XP service pack 1, the latest Hauppauge driver set (unzipped) and applications, GBPVR itself and any other drivers and updates you need, except XP SP2. You can alternatively run Windows update and get what you need online for things like Direct X 9.
2. Take the PC chassis and clear down the NVRAM before starting the install. Check that your BIOS settings are optimised for your setup before you begin if you have to do a hard reset of the CMOS.
3. Boot the XP install CD with the WinTV card removed from the system initially. Peform a base install and get your graphics board and sound up and running.
4. Patch to SP1 and grab all the latest driver and security updates but don't get SP2 at this stage. Make sure you get the .NET 1.1 framework and DirectX 9.
5. Power down and install the WinTV card, avoiding the first and last PCI slots on the motherboard. Boot up and install using your own install CD, *NOT* the CD that came with the unit.
6. Install the WinTV decoders and apps.
7. Install GBPVR and test everything thoroughly
8. If things are working OK you can go ahead and install XP SP2 - you can always roll it back if things break.
Hope this helps someone.
Don't forget that you can set restore points in XP at each stage in the installation process if you're concerned about a step you think might blow things up!
http://makeashorterlink.com/?K14D51F59
Stu
I've just finished building a GBPVR box and I'd like to post what I experienced for the benefit of those people contemplating building a machine from scratch.
The donor machine I selected was a fairly mediocre Athlon XP 1800 using a cheap ECS K7S5A motherboard with 512MB of PC2100 RAM. I was lucky to buy a Hauppauge WinTV 350 with a free bundled 80GB deskstar drive so that dealt with any storage issues. For connectivity, I used a non descript 802.11b wireless PCI card and bunged it in slot 5, as far away from the Hauppage card as I could. The WinTV went in slot 2 as i'd read of potential issues with slot 1 and for video out, I used an OLD Asus V6800 AGP video card with TV out. Audio is a generic AC97 system built into the board. I installed XP pro, using the drivers on the Hauppauge CD to install the 350, patched it up complete with the .NET framework and topped it all off with SP2. I then went to the Hauppauge Web site, downloaded all the latest drivers and application builds and cleared down/re-installed the card.
For remote control, I selected an IR200L to drive my sky digibox. Next thing was to install GBPVR itself and that's when problems started.
I had issues with random hanging of the system and suffered big problems with Live out which always locked GBPVR up completely. VMR9, VMR7 and overlay manager modes didn't work and things generally were misfiring.
Thinking my old graphics card was to blame, I went out and bought a generic FX5200 card which was the lowest spec I could find that supported DirectX 9 and hence VRM9. Installing this card didn't cure the problem, so I changed tack and used an approach that has produced a working system aside from niggles with the IR control. Although I can't vouch for these steps, they worked for me and delivered a stable and working setup.
1. Make a GBPVR install CD containing XP service pack 1, the latest Hauppauge driver set (unzipped) and applications, GBPVR itself and any other drivers and updates you need, except XP SP2. You can alternatively run Windows update and get what you need online for things like Direct X 9.
2. Take the PC chassis and clear down the NVRAM before starting the install. Check that your BIOS settings are optimised for your setup before you begin if you have to do a hard reset of the CMOS.
3. Boot the XP install CD with the WinTV card removed from the system initially. Peform a base install and get your graphics board and sound up and running.
4. Patch to SP1 and grab all the latest driver and security updates but don't get SP2 at this stage. Make sure you get the .NET 1.1 framework and DirectX 9.
5. Power down and install the WinTV card, avoiding the first and last PCI slots on the motherboard. Boot up and install using your own install CD, *NOT* the CD that came with the unit.
6. Install the WinTV decoders and apps.
7. Install GBPVR and test everything thoroughly
8. If things are working OK you can go ahead and install XP SP2 - you can always roll it back if things break.
Hope this helps someone.
Don't forget that you can set restore points in XP at each stage in the installation process if you're concerned about a step you think might blow things up!
http://makeashorterlink.com/?K14D51F59
Stu