Colossus dying?

[mattyb]

Something strange going on here... is my Colossus card (in signature) dying?

Suddenly seems to have stopped working. See logs attached. The channel change works but there seems to be no data flowing and no picture when viewing/recording tv via hdmi.

I tried putting it in another PCIe slot in the PC but nothing. Also getting "No signal' through WinTV8 but it's still showing as device there.

Any ideas??

[mvallevand]

Have you connected that same HDMI output from the STB to a TV to make sure a signal is coming out? If you have a splitter to remove HDCP that could be failing too.

Martin

[jtcreate]

I have three colossus running PCs. This sounds very familiar. The IR flasher that changes the STB is a completely separate circuit on the Colossus board from the capture circuit and has its own drivers (PVR Tuner). Check your "device manager". Look specifically at the "Colossus Capture" driver. See if there are any error codes. If its error code 10 "Board refuses to start", its usually corruption in the driver/firmware. It happens to me about once a year. There are two fixes. One is to completely unplug the power and allow the motherboard to completely 100% drain down. Its weird but both have to discharge together (don't ask me why). If that doesn't work, the driver/firmware has become corrupted. You need to uninstall and re-install the driver. BUT! HERE IS THE TRICK! You have to use Hauppaugges custom "uninstall" software to completely purge the driver/firmware. Its on their website: Colossus >>Support >> Utilities >> HCW Clear.exe. Make sure you read the instructions on the website. You can't use Windows uninstall. You have to remove everything related to the driver with the hauppauge software. Otherwise, the corruption remains. Once you uninstall the driver, then simply reinstall the driver. Last time I checked, Hauppaugge doesn't know the exact cause of the problem but that's the fix they gave me and it does work.

I hope that helps.

[mattyb]

Have you connected that same HDMI output from the STB to a TV to make sure a signal is coming out? If you have a splitter to remove HDCP that could be failing too.

Martin

Good point. I know that one output of the splitter is fine, but I can try plugging the other into the TV tonight.

[mattyb]

I have three colossus running PCs. This sounds very familiar. The IR flasher that changes the STB is a completely separate circuit on the Colossus board from the capture circuit and has its own drivers (PVR Tuner). Check your "device manager". Look specifically at the "Colossus Capture" driver. See if there are any error codes. If its error code 10 "Board refuses to start", its usually corruption in the driver/firmware. It happens to me about once a year. There are two fixes. One is to completely unplug the power and allow the motherboard to completely 100% drain down. Its weird but both have to discharge together (don't ask me why). If that doesn't work, the driver/firmware has become corrupted. You need to uninstall and re-install the driver. BUT! HERE IS THE TRICK! You have to use Hauppaugges custom "uninstall" software to completely purge the driver/firmware. Its on their website: Colossus >>Support >> Utilities >> HCW Clear.exe. Make sure you read the instructions on the website. You can't use Windows uninstall. You have to remove everything related to the driver with the hauppauge software. Otherwise, the corruption remains. Once you uninstall the driver, then simply reinstall the driver. Last time I checked, Hauppaugge doesn't know the exact cause of the problem but that's the fix they gave me and it does work.

I hope that helps.

Awesome! I'll try it tonight.

[mattyb]

Good point. I know that one output of the splitter is fine, but I can try plugging the other into the TV tonight.

Tried this and the splitter is fine. HDMI output is good on both outputs.

[mattyb]

I have three colossus running PCs. This sounds very familiar. The IR flasher that changes the STB is a completely separate circuit on the Colossus board from the capture circuit and has its own drivers (PVR Tuner). Check your "device manager". Look specifically at the "Colossus Capture" driver. See if there are any error codes. If its error code 10 "Board refuses to start", its usually corruption in the driver/firmware. It happens to me about once a year. There are two fixes. One is to completely unplug the power and allow the motherboard to completely 100% drain down. Its weird but both have to discharge together (don't ask me why). If that doesn't work, the driver/firmware has become corrupted. You need to uninstall and re-install the driver. BUT! HERE IS THE TRICK! You have to use Hauppaugges custom "uninstall" software to completely purge the driver/firmware. Its on their website: Colossus >>Support >> Utilities >> HCW Clear.exe. Make sure you read the instructions on the website. You can't use Windows uninstall. You have to remove everything related to the driver with the hauppauge software. Otherwise, the corruption remains. Once you uninstall the driver, then simply reinstall the driver. Last time I checked, Hauppaugge doesn't know the exact cause of the problem but that's the fix they gave me and it does work.

I hope that helps.

Checked Device Manager and there are no errors in the event log recently.

Tried unplugging the power but that didn't work

Used HCWclear to remove the drivers and reinstalled the latest from the Hauppauge website, but that hasn't worked either. Anything else I can try? Maybe my card is really on the way out.

[jtcreate]

Checked Device Manager and there are no errors in the event log recently.

Tried unplugging the power but that didn't work

Used HCWclear to remove the drivers and reinstalled the latest from the Hauppauge website, but that hasn't worked either. Anything else I can try? Maybe my card is really on the way out.

Lets quickly start from scratch and do a process of elimination.

1# Inspeacted the HDMI ports on the Colossus 2 card. Make sure none of them are loose. All it takes is one intermittent pin on an HDMI to cause an issue.

2# Use a different set of "new" HDMI cables. I know you said they worked on other devices, but just in case, do a quick swap and see if that changes anything.

3# Test the Colossus 2 using the "Component" analog input. Use the hauppauge recording software for this. The point is to see if any part of the colossus is working and passing some kind of video. Also, test at different resolutions. Start with 480. Then go to 720. Then go to 1080. What do you experienced?

4# Connect the Colossus 2 directly to a non-HDCP source device. Remove the splitter entirely. An older DVD player, a game system like PS3 or even a computer with HDMI output. I'd use a computer as a last resort. Sometimes, the handshake can be a little tricky to the colossus.

** If none of this provides a positive result, thencontact Hauppauge technical support. They've been pretty good in the past with me. Do that before you rule out your card dead.

[steve232]

I'm having a bad week. I have a WinTV Quad and Colossus 2 that seemed to have died. Both appear fine, you can see them tune, buffer, then display a black screen in both NPVR and Wintv8. I swapped the quad with a new card, and it works fine. Corrupted firmware in both seems real strange. But I'll try the HCWclear. We did have a power failure during a bad storm, but the system is on a UPS. The cable box and OTA antenna/amp are not on a UPS.

Steve

[steve232]

Colossus 2 is half working. No live tv, but it records. I can live with that until I figure of the issue.
I did a full driver removal with hcwclear.

Steve