Colossus stopping system on second access

[jghanisco]

I had been using the Hauppauge HD PVR as a loner while waiting for my Colossus to arrive. I had finally made the HD PVR work well, and have since removed that and installed the Colossus, but have run into some big problems that I've been able to mostly work through with hours of trying. But I just can't get this issue to stop. First off, Windows XP, latest fixes installed.

The logs that I attach will show a fresh boot into Windows XP and the initial NPVR run. The first issue isn't Colossus related. I have two 950q devices installed, and NPVR shows them both as available in the settings - device page, but they are unable to be accessed until I unplug and then plug each out and into the computer. Then NPVR uses them both flawlessly. This is only an issue on rebooting, mainly power failures. If I reboot the computer, I just know to do the unplug / plug thing, but not if there's a power failure.

Issue two, and the main issue. When NPVR starts up, I can use the Colossus fine. I can watch live tv, I can record. If I'm watching live tv, I can switch from Colossus channel to Colossus channel at will, and have no problems. But the second I deactivate the Colossus, either by stopping a recording or exiting Live TV, if I try to utilize it again, it locks up NPVR.

For example, in the first log attached, I have started a recording, stopped it, then attempted to start again. I can move through NPVR, but once I try to make a change, such as starting a second recording on the 950, or delete a recording, NPVR freezes. In the background, it will still be recording any 950 file it started, but I am effectively locked out. I can't mouse click in the tray, can't close a NPVR window (status or NPVR), etc. I can then stop the service, and restart, and the Colossus will commence the recording that I had tried prior to the lockout automatically. I can stop that recording, and then try to use the Colossus again, and again, it fails. I have attached logs with the initial start-up, the second run, and then the 3rd run. (Start - stop / start - stop / start)

Help!!!

[jghanisco]

Update: I have removed the pvr-150 from the computer in case it was interfering, but that was no help. I also completely removed npvr and reinstalled, only using the 950q x 2 and the Colossus, and it didn't fix it.

Next will be pulling all hauppauge history, and only load the Colossus, and see what the results are unless anyone has any ideas...

[mikeh49]

Sounds like XP related or MB related to me, especially the two USB tuners, i.e., the USB isn't coming up right. Maybe MB driver updates, if they have any USB related stuff.

My experience is that XP can have a lot of these problems, especially after years of installing and removing stuff. A clean install of XP may help. Is the box used for anything but HTPC?

Windows 7 should be an improvement. My sense is that XP is just not up to the demands of multiple tuners/multiple drivers/high bitrate service.

Note that I did not look at the logs, just considered your symptoms.

[johnsonx42]

The way I read your log the lockup occurs when you try to start the colossus the second time. It seems to terminate from the first time ok, but when starting the second time it hangs when trying to set the encoding parameters and the graph never really starts. That part of NRecord gets stuck waiting for the driver call to return which never happens, and it's all bad from there. Obviously the first thing to try is to update your drivers.

Your USB issue also makes me wonder about the colossus, given that the colossus card is essentially a USB HD-PVR on a PCIe card with a USB controller to interface the two. If your system is having general USB issues, that might explain the colossus problems as well. Just because the 950Q problems and colossus problems don't seem the same doesn't mean they can't both trace down to USB problems.

[jghanisco]

Thanks for the responses guys. It seemed more and more like a system problem to me, and I don't see anything else that it can be. My Windows install was quite new, and I even stepped all the way back to having only the Colossus active on a fresh install of NPVR, and I still get the freezing on the second run. It's strange because the USB HD PVR didn't give me issues like this, but I'm using a Dimension 9200, so it's over 6 years old and I think PCIe was pretty new back then. I've done all the driver updates that I can find, and that hasn't helped. Maybe I'll try a copy of Windows 7 on another partition...

Too bad, looks like the Colossus is gone and I'll roll back to an HD PVR. Thanks again.

[Graham]

I've done all the driver updates that I can find, and that hasn't helped.

I am a past victim of USB problems that have been fixed by a BIOS update.

[jghanisco]

BIOS has been updated also, so that won't be helping, since it's been 4 years since the last firmware.

I just tested this a few minutes ago, and on WinTV, I can switch between the 950q and the Colossus back and forth, and the Colossus never hangs on the second and subsequent accesses. Any idea if WinTV keeps the Colossus active the whole time, or could this actually be an NPVR issue with my system? I haven't read this with anybody else, so it must be my system...

[jghanisco]

One more note here. After I utilize the Colossus and stop the use (either a recording ends or I stop watching Live TV), if I click "Restart Recording Service" and then re-use the Colossus, I don't have to shut down the service and start over because the Colossus works fine. Is there a batch file that somebody could help me with which would restart the recording service after recording a show on the Colossus? This could be problematic on back-to-back recordings, but it would help regardless.

Thanks in advance.

[Graham]

Is there a batch file that somebody could help me with which would restart the recording service after recording a show on the Colossus?

You could try the SC command http://ss64.com/nt/sc.html

in postprocessing.bat http://www.nextpvr.com/nwiki/pmwiki.php?...BatchFiles

[johnsonx42]

the problem may be that the conhost.exe that is spun up to run the postprocessing.bat is "owned" by NRecord. I'm not sure it will be able to stop and restart the process that owns it. Give it a try though....