New PVR-150 DOA

rscheller · 2006-11-09, 12:29 AM

Today I received a new PVR-150 (my second). When I plugged it in to my mobo in an empty PCI slot next to my first (already well established) PVR-150, my PC wouldn't even begin to boot. My display wasn't getting a signal either. Sad

Take the new PVR-150 out... PC boots fine. Smile

Put the new PVR-150 back in... no boot. Sad

Take it out... PC boots fine.

I'd suspect a Dead On Arrival PVR-150?

Anyone else have any ideas before I send it back for exchange? :confused:

zed · 2006-11-09, 02:14 AM

Swap it with the old one and see if it works in that slot. And see if the old one works in the other slot. Could be a bad slot.

Is the 'dead' slot next to the video card? I've had systems where the AGP slot and the PCI slot next to it were an either/or thing...you couldn't use both (more modern systems probably don't have that situation).

rscheller · 2006-11-09, 03:35 AM

Thanks zed.

I'm going to try it in a PC at work tomorrow. If it doesn't work there it's going back for exchange. If it works there, I'll try your suggestions.

And, the slot I tried it in is not next to my video card. My video card is in the top PCI slot with an open PCI slot below that then my old 150 in a PCI slot then the open PCI slot where I tried the new 150.

rscheller · 2006-11-10, 02:38 AM

Well, I tried the new PVR-150 at work and that PC booted and recognized it as new hardware. So much for the DOA PVR-150. When I get home, I shuffle PVR-150s and try them each in independantly in both PCI slots. Works good.

Finished by having the old PVR-150 in the orginally empty PCI slot and put the new PVR-150 in the old PVR-150 slot. Again, no boot and no display.

I'd say my PSU can't handle the load of an additional PVR-150. It's a 350W PSU but I guess it's borderline bad or too small.

zed · 2006-11-10, 05:01 PM

I don't know how you can make a blanket statement like that. Bigger is probably better but I ran three 150's, an FX5200, a Creative Modem card, and a 250G WD drive in my HP with a 250W power supply with no problems. It could be his PS is marginal...they're not that expensive...but it could be lots of other things.

rscheller · 2006-11-10, 10:56 PM

Well, I've made no changes other than researching power supplies and checking voltages, so I decided this evening to give it one more shot...

I plugged the new PVR-150 in the open PCI slot, turned my PC on and holy crap if it didn't boot up. :confused: I then configured up my new PVR-150 under GB-PVR, loaded an EPG to it and scheduled simultaneous recordings with no conflicts. Cool Smile

I may still get a new supply but right now it's working and it's good. Big Grin

zed · 2006-11-11, 12:49 AM

Phase of the moon? Alignment of the planets? Big Grin

Cool that it works. Could be a flakey PCI connector or dirt in it or something weird like that. Plugging and un-plugging might have been enough to fix it. I like to blast the connector with canned air before I put a card in it if it's been empty for a while. Lots of dust blowing around in there...

rscheller · 2006-11-11, 03:23 AM

Yea, I did use canned air to blow out the bottom PCI connector as one of the first steps in beginning this little journey.

I can live with it was planet alignment thing as long as it remains stable. Rolleyes

AFter about 6 hours run time, so far so good.

Thanks

rscheller · 2006-11-12, 01:48 AM

Woke up this morning and tried powering off/on. It was back to no boot up.

Took it to PCCLUB where I had it built and they verified it was some weird incompatibility with two PVR-150's intalled. They tried a PVR-150 with a Gigabit tuner and they worked reliably. They even tried two of there own PVR-150's and no joy. Their suspicion is a Gigabit mobo and two PVR-150 combination issue.

All their testing was using an extrnal 550W PSU, which ruled out the PSU as the problem. They tried a different video card too.

I'll be contacting Hauppauge with my vitals and particulars to see if they have a clue. If not I'm gonna insist that PCCLUB make it work with my two PVR-150s even if it means a new mobo. It's still under warranty.

rscheller · 2006-11-14, 01:48 AM

Well, it didn't last. Last Saturday morning I turned it off and back on... no boot. I had already talked to PCCLUB where it was built (it's still under warranty) and they said to bring it in to see if they could do anything.

Long story short, they eliminated the PSU as a problem by running it on an external PSU. They tried two different PVR-150s and had the same issue I had. They did have it to boot once. They chalked it up to an 'incompatability' issue. :confused:

Of course I wasn't satisfied with this, so over Sunday and Monday, I <cringe> updated my BIOS and all my mobo drivers. After several tense periods and false starts and :mad: and :eek:, I had everything to the latest.

This evening I plugged in my new PVR-150 (old one still there too) and viola' it booted right up. Shut down / reboot three times in a row. It's good. I think it's solid now yea! Big Grin