Intermittent no signal error

Discussion of getting WMC to work on Windows 10 (unsupported)
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technodevotee

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Intermittent no signal error

#1

Post by technodevotee » Thu Jan 05, 2017 12:57 pm

Hi everyone. I wonder if any one can help me.

I have two Hauppauge Nova HD S2 cards in a Sony Vaio VGX-XL201 (upgraded) which is now happily running 64 bit Windows 10 version 1607 (14393.576).
Each card is connected to one of three dual output LNBs via a DiSEqC switch on the back of the satellite dish which has been like this on various PCs with various OSs and was always reliable until I switched to Windows 10.
The problem I have is that every now and then, I get a no signal error and the programme doesn't record.
I sometimes get the no signal message when going into live TV, changing channels while watching a channel or selecting a channel in the guide.
It is totally random which tuner it tried to record on.
It doesn't matter whether there is already a recording in progress or whether it tries to record one program or two programmes on different channels/satellites.
It doesn't matter whether the PC wakes up to start recording or is already on (even if I am already watching the channel to be recorded).
It doesn't seem to matter whether the programme(s) are SD or HD.
It doesn't seem to matter whether the PC is being used for anything or is sat idle.
I have disabled in-band guide updates.
I have swapped the tuners in their slots and swapped the satellite cables between the cards.
I have configured the time hole and weak signal registry settings the same as they were on previous OSs.
I reverted back to Windows 7 for a while and it seemed to work perfectly as before.
I have reinstalled Windows 10 on a different HDD and it is just the same.
I have tried the cards in different PCs but because they are too noisy to use in the living room for any length of time, I've never been able to prove the problem isn't that the Sony (although it works perfectly in all other respects) has an issue with running Windows 10.
TIA

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Crash2009

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#2

Post by Crash2009 » Sat Mar 11, 2017 1:55 pm

Were you running a previous version of Win10 with WMC installed, and then Win10 upgraded and you had to install WMC again?
WMC Version 8.8.1 has the best uninstaller.
Sometimes previous versions don't clean 100%
Which WMC version are you using? v6, v7, v8, v10, v11, v12, v8.8.1

Have you asked this question in the place where WMC for Win10 was created?

https://forums.mydigitallife.info/threa ... ost1026727

technodevotee

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#3

Post by technodevotee » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:48 am

Hi Crash. Thanks for your response.

I did a clean install of Windows 10 on a new hard disk and started out with WMC V10 but I have since upgraded to V12 and it hasn't made any difference.

The problem was there from the start but I don't remember ever having the issue when I was running Windows 7 although I haven't proven it by going back to running Windows 7 due to it being so intermittent - it can work fine for 2 weeks, then fail on virtually every attempt to view or record something for a few days, then work fine again for another two weeks.

But I switched over to another PC with Windows 10 which had never had the satellite card in before and after a couple of days it started doing it on that one as well so I can rule out the Sony Vaio as the problem.

That means it is either the dish alignment, the cards, something common to the O/S or something in WMC.

It is unlikely that both cards would have the same problem and equally unlikely that no-one else in the community is having the same problem without it being all over the web. So I started to think it must be the dish alignment and got hold of a cheap HD terrestrial/satellite receiver to test it independently. The results on that seem to indicate the problem is actually that the dish alignment is marginal so I am going to climb up and check it over when the weather warms up a bit.

I did post on MDL back in January but, unsurprisingly, it got lost in the melee of activity and didn't garner any responses.

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Crash2009

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#4

Post by Crash2009 » Wed Mar 15, 2017 5:38 am

Re-Win10...I usually install Lav. Lav is available in my signature over in the MDL thread. https://forums.mydigitallife.info/threa ... ost1317943

Re-WMC...you can use the MediaCenterRecoveryTask for a Factory Reset, then use SetupCustom http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... 51#p106151

technodevotee

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#5

Post by technodevotee » Sun Apr 16, 2017 9:19 am

In case anyone is interested, I have replaced my LNBs and diseqc switches and realigned the dish and it is still doing it so I have put my old hard disk in and restored my Windows 7 setup.

I'll run it like that for a while and see what happens.

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#6

Post by technodevotee » Tue Apr 18, 2017 7:34 am

Well, it is still happening on my restored Windows 7 setup.

But my memory must be very bad because I've just gone through the history and the damned thing has always done it - right from February 2013 when it only had the original Avermedia DVB-T tuners.

What's next?

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Crash2009

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#7

Post by Crash2009 » Thu Apr 20, 2017 3:50 am

Test Power Supply

technodevotee

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#8

Post by technodevotee » Thu Apr 20, 2017 6:15 am

Thanks for your helpful PM. You made some valid points but:

I ran some software to monitor the voltages in the system for ten days and it didn't show any problem. I also tried the cards in another PC with a 500 Watt PSU and it did the same thing within a few days. So, if it isn't the PC or the O/S I am starting to think that it must be the cards themselves or maybe the drivers.

But given that MS could do something that completely breaks Media Center and I'm not keen on the idea of turning off Windows Update and using it just for Media Center because the PC sits in the Living Room and forms the centre of our entertainment world, I can't justify the cost of new ones even if I could buy PCI cards somewhere.

The way I see it is; I buy another satellite / terrestrial PVR (already had a couple of those and wasn't impressed), try one of the alternatives to Media Center (already been down that route with Linux and wasn't impressed) or just put up with it until the PC dies and forces my hand.

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#9

Post by technodevotee » Fri May 12, 2017 6:24 am

update

I remembered that 'people' said ATI/AMDs CCC could cause issues with WMC so I uninstalled it and the situation seems to have improved somewhat.

It is early days yet but, so far, it has one missed programmes when the PC has been busy doing something else when a scheduled recording starts.

Reaches for nearest wooded object...

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Crash2009

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#10

Post by Crash2009 » Sun May 14, 2017 4:58 am

10 has a problem sometimes, with some wmc tasks. I forget what the fix is, but i did get lucky twice....export the task from w7, import the task to w10

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