TV tuners won't wake up

Help with tuners from ATI, Hauppauge, AverMedia and more.
ael_lel

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TV tuners won't wake up

#1

Post by ael_lel » Wed Mar 28, 2012 1:08 am

I recently had my computer in the shop to recover some deleted files and now the TV tuners won't record after the computer has been inactive for a while. I have set every power saving option I can find to NEVER, OFF, etc. The TV tuner cards are in PCI Express slots. The PCI Express Link State Power Management is already set to OFF, but I don't know what that does.

I have not had this problem since 2 years ago when I first got the computer. I'm pretty sure when it happened before that I only set the hard drive to never go off and that fixed the problem. However, it's not fixing it now.

I don't know why the repair guy would have changed any settings, but he apparently did.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

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newfiend

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#2

Post by newfiend » Wed Mar 28, 2012 2:27 am

What OS are you running and what brand of TV tuners? The PCIe link state power management setting at off would mean that your PCIe slots are not in a power saving mode during sleep I believe.
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ael_lel

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#3

Post by ael_lel » Wed Mar 28, 2012 12:07 pm

Windows 7 64-bit
2 tuner cards, both: Hauppauge 1213 WinTV-HVR-2250 PCI-E x1 Dual TV Tuner

I have all the sleep, hibernate, etc. settings I can find set to off, never, etc. I even changed the display to never go off last night just to see if it would make a difference, but it did not. I scheduled some stuff in the early morning hours and the screensaver was still on when I woke up, but nothing recorded. It also does NOT put anything in the History--it's like it was never scheduled.

As I said before, this happened when I first got the computer, but I think setting the hard drive to NEVER go off fixed it then.

Thanks

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newfiend

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#4

Post by newfiend » Wed Mar 28, 2012 12:54 pm

Well.. Not knowing what the tech did.. I would probably start by removing the drivers for the tuner cards. Download the latest driver packages from the mfg.'s site for them and reinstall them. Then run through tv setup again in MC in Tasks/Settings. Once that's complete try scheduling some recordings and see if it works. It could be a corrupt driver file or that somehow MC has lost the ability to access your tuners. Hopefully doing the steps above puts things back in place.

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#5

Post by newfiend » Wed Mar 28, 2012 1:03 pm

There was a problem pre Win 7 sp1 with HDD over 1tb in size that would come up missing after sleep mode this was fixed in sp1. If your HDD wasn't waking in time to be able to record to you could have gotten errors and no recordings. Basically windows didn't know the drive was there because it wasn't ready to record to. When you set the drive to not use a power saving mode it was available to record to when it woke from sleep and windows didn't have to wait for it to power up. I think your current problem is elsewhere, either in a driver or mc setup issue. You can also open a elevated .cmd prompt and type sfc /scannow to scan for corrupt windows system files and repair them.

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#6

Post by ael_lel » Thu Mar 29, 2012 12:55 am

Just to clarify, my tuners record just fine when I get here. As soon as I come in and get on the computer, the recording starts. Then, any recordings that are scheduled shortly after I get off the computer will record. However, if I schedule something several hours later, it does NOT record and does NOT give any errors or info in the History.

Do you still think it could be a driver issue if the tuners still work under other circumstances?

BTW, I ran the sfc/scannow you suggested and it said Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations. Thanks

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#7

Post by richard1980 » Thu Mar 29, 2012 12:58 am

I think your system is going to sleep and not waking up for the recording (at least part of the system anyway...hard to tell based on your posts). I know you said you have the power settings set to off, but did you check the BIOS for power settings as well? I know my BIOS has its own power settings, but I have disabled them.

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#8

Post by newfiend » Thu Mar 29, 2012 1:09 am

richard1980 wrote:I think your system is going to sleep and not waking up for the recording (at least part of the system anyway...hard to tell based on your posts). I know you said you have the power settings set to off, but did you check the BIOS for power settings as well? I know my BIOS has its own power settings, but I have disabled them.
I didn't know you could disable sleep states in the bios and still have them function properly in windows.. can you do that? My Bios has options for S3 Only and S3+S4.. I set mine to S3 only and did the same using MST.. and it works great..Wakes to record then goes back to sleep..

I wonder If his BIOS needs the S3 sleep state enabled in his BIOS like you said.. I would also have a look at that If I were you ael_lel.. Sounds like your PC isn't waking to record like it should from your description. You should be using Sleep(S3) and not Hibernate (S3+S4 or S4 only)... You said in a previous post that you have all your sleep states set to OFF.. You want to have Sleep mode enabled in S3 mode for it to properly wake and record shows. Shutting the PC Down will not allow it to wake and record anything...
There could be many reasons why it's not waking.. Check the BIOS settings for sleep states and set them to S3 if they are disabled.
Try setting up a recording hours later and sleep the PC, it should wake to record your show. If not then there are other options we can suggest. Post back and let us know what you find out.
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ael_lel

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#9

Post by ael_lel » Thu Mar 29, 2012 3:39 am

I was talking about setting the sleep, hibernate, etc. through the Control Panel's Power Options, then Advanced Power Settings. I don't have it going to sleep at all. When I leave it on all night, the screen saver is still running the next morning. I'm not entirely comfortable changing the BIOS. Are you saying that the changes I make in Control Panel are being ignored because of the BIOS settings?

Specifically in Advanced settings under Hard disk-Turn off hard disk after=Never and under SLEEP I have Sleep After= Never; Allow hybrid sleep=Off; Hibernate after=Never; Allow wake timers=Enable(not sure what this one does). Thanks

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#10

Post by newfiend » Thu Mar 29, 2012 4:19 am

What Power Plan are you currently using? Balanced, Power Saver or High Performance?
If the PC is left on at all times and it isn't recording with the settings you have set that seems a bit strange as it isn't sleeping or hibernating... It's just on all the time and the HDD isn't powering down to save energy.
The BIOS can have a direct effect on how your OS operates.
With Sleep at Never it wont enter a sleep state.. (S3)
With Hibernate at Never It won't try and enter Hibernation (S4)
HDD isn't powering down set to Never..
Allow Wake Timers allows programs to wake the PC from sleep mode for tasks such as virus scans etc. but your not sleeping the PC..I would leave that enabled..
Yet it works for recording while your using the PC and shortly there after but recordings set up for later usually fail... I'm Starting to wonder if it's a hardware issue??
PC running smooth no crashes or blue-screens? Have you checked Event Viewer to see why the recordings (for Later) fail?

Are you up to date on Drivers for your Tuner Cards and Windows updates?
I would still look in the BIOS and see what sleep states are set at even if you don't change any settings. Just confirm their settings for us and exit.
I'll give this some more thought over night and post back in the A.M.
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#11

Post by richard1980 » Thu Mar 29, 2012 4:52 am

When I mentioned BIOS, I wasn't talking about the sleep state. I was talking about the ability of BIOS to control power management for individual components. As an example, my BIOS offers an "HDD Power Down" timer that directly controls the power state of the HDDs, separate from the OS power management settings. From what I can tell, the OS does not have the ability to wake up the HDDs if they power down due to the BIOS timer (it make sense because the OS doesn't know the HDDs are powered down). If the OP's BIOS has a similar setting for HDDs or PCIe slots, that could be the issue.

ael_lel

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#12

Post by ael_lel » Thu Mar 29, 2012 12:07 pm

Okay, here's an update. I haven't checked the BIOS, yet. However, overnight I scheduled a recording for EVERY HOUR and they all recorded and the last one was still going when I got up. Does this give anyone any other ideas? I'm going to shut down now and look at the BIOS. Thanks

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#13

Post by ael_lel » Thu Mar 29, 2012 1:35 pm

What Power Plan are you currently using? Balanced, Power Saver or High Performance?--High Performance

I checked for updates on tuner cards through device manager and the message said they were up to date.

In the BIOS I don't see the settings you mentioned. It says Phoenix – award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility across the top with Main Advanced Power Boot and Exit under that. Thanks

Main: drives listed
Advanced: primary video adapter, mouse, LAN (both enabled) SATA controller enabled

Power:
After AC Power Failure=stay off
Virtualization Technology=disabled
NX (No eXecute)=enabled

Boot:
Boot-time Diagnostic Screen=disabled
Boot Device Priority
1st boot device =cd-rom group
2nd boot device =hdd group
3rd =floppy group
4th network boot group

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newfiend

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#14

Post by newfiend » Thu Mar 29, 2012 1:57 pm

What brand and model # of motherboard do you have? Or is it a prebuilt PC like a Dell, HP..etc? If it is a prebuilt please provide the model # and Manufacturer.

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#15

Post by ael_lel » Thu Mar 29, 2012 3:10 pm

Prebuilt HP I'm not sure what the model # is I got it from the person who tried to fix my old computer when it crashed 2 years ago it has win7 64-bit with 500 gb hard drive.

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#16

Post by newfiend » Thu Mar 29, 2012 5:10 pm

If you can find out the model # I can research your model and find out what motherboard it has to try and help troubleshoot some more. Once I know that I can try and see what other suggestions I can make that may help.
Have you run windows update recently? and are you running Windows 7 SP1?

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#17

Post by ael_lel » Fri Mar 30, 2012 12:34 am

Apparently ctrl+alt+s gives you all this info. Who knew? Can you tell me how to find the S3/S4 BIOS settings you wanted me to check? Thanks

Model #: p6203w
Product #: NY638AAR-ABA
Software Build #: 94NAv6PrA3
Service ID #: 111-209
PCBRAND: Pavilion

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#18

Post by newfiend » Fri Mar 30, 2012 1:03 am

Please provide me some info..
Was Windows 7 64bit installed as the Original OS from HP or was it vista and then upgraded/updated to Windows 7?
click start, type Device Manager into the search box hit enter, in the window that opens are there any symbols on any of the hardware listed?
As an example I will provide a picture below, the yellow mark on the hardware means there is a missing driver.
windows-7-device-manager.jpg
What I am most curious about is a possible missing SM Bus Controller driver with a yellow mark on it. (or any other hardware listed with yellow markings on them.) Please list any that have marks on them (missing drivers)
The SM Bus Controller Function:
Because the SMBus is slow, it is typically used to communicate with devices that don't need to send large amounts of data very quickly. Some of these devices include clocks, fan sensors, temperature sensors and power-regulation devices.

Common Issues:
The most common problem people experience related to the SMBus is lack of drivers. Since the SMBus is used often for power management functions, this may cause problems with a computer hibernating or waking up.

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ael_lel

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#19

Post by ael_lel » Fri Mar 30, 2012 1:28 am

I'm pretty sure the computer came with Win 7 originally. He had purchased it for someone else recently (at the time) and sold it to me when they didn't have the money to pay for it.

I don't see SM Bus at all. I expanded all the items and did not see any yellow markings/missing drivers. I was going to paste a screenshot, but it won't work. Thanks

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#20

Post by newfiend » Sat Mar 31, 2012 12:03 am

Click Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Event Viewer..
Once it opens click on Custom Views, Administrative Events.
On the right you will see some errors (quite a few most likely)
Scroll the list and see if you find any that pertain to your failed Scheduled Recordings (the ones that you had set up that didn't record).
Post the information here From the Generral Tab and Details Tab (below the list of errors).
Let's see if event Viewer will tell us why it's not recording your shows.. It should at least point us in the right Direction before we go digging into your BIOS.
newfiend~

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