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Live TV lock-up problems
I have a new Dimension 4700, 3.2ghz, 1 gig of RAM, 250gb SATA HD, Intel graphics card, and the ATI eWonder tuner. Just finally got the cable television hooked up to it, and it behaves rather oddly. Many times when I go to live tv, weird problems occur. At times, it will:
* Play television video, but with no sound
* Play television normally, but then inexplicably lock up and stop, and the 'resume' button doesn't bring it back.
* Lock up when I switch to the guide, or switch back from the guide.
Sometimes I can just go into another Media Center app, then switch back to live tv to fix it. Sometimes I have to exit Media Center and go back in to fix it, and sometimes I have to do a full reboot to fix it. I've tried reseating the cable, adjusting video settings, reinstalling the tv tuner drivers, and setting up my television signal both automatically and manually, to no avail. I have not as of yet attempted to record television, but it could possibly also be affected by this.
Anyone have any ideas?
I talked to Dell support, and the guy couldn't help me. Seriously. "Well, you tried everything I would have." was all I ended up getting. So I just gave up and got a higher-end TV Tuner card. Problem solved. Never had any of the symptoms return.
Dell needs to do some QC on these products, or at least provide decent solutions other than, "well, I dunno what the problem is, but it's not the tuner!" but then have it, very obviously, turn out to be the tuner.
mbalay1
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Posted September 22nd, 2005 18:00
It had the same symptoms.
A microsoft automated problem reporting and tracking mechanism let me to recommended software upgrades for both Media Center and ATI device drivers. You need to do the Microsft soft first then the ATI. It keeps from crashing / locking the OS but Live TV still stutters and freezes requiring Media Center to be reloaded (by you) to pick up again.
This is not resolved yet and Dell has not been helpful.