Member Avatar for dkelly

I have just installed a Hauppauge WinTV- PVR 150 in an HP Pavilion a824n desktop running XP Home (no Media Center) that's coming up on 3 years old. I have a 82915G/GV/910GL integrated graphics chipset in the computer. I have this strange problem where at first when finished with the installation, I had a jittery, off-color picture, contacted Hauppauge tech support and downloaded updated drivers, etc. and got a good picture for a minute or 2 and then it blipped back to the original messed up picture without touching anything. Why would it work, and then not? I have a suspicion that when I first start up the computer and the TV App and get a good picture, and then lose it shortly after is that maybe the card is defective where it works for a short time and then heats up to a point that causes the picture to go bad. Am I off base on this educated guess?.....sometimes the picture will be bad at the start as well. Should I look at updating graphics drivers for the desktop? I had downloaded a Graphics Media Accelerator file, but still get same results.

THANKS FOR ANY HELP ON THIS!!

Dave

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— intermittent, short-lived good video plus jittery/off-color output can come from either the tuner card itself or from interactions with the PC (power, slot, drivers, BIOS, or cabling). was right to flag cooling as one plausible hardware cause; below is a practical, non-redundant checklist to narrow the fault quickly and safely.

  • Verify inputs and source: try both composite and S-video (and a different source device or cable). Cheap/bad cables or wrong input selection/TV standard can produce color/jitter problems.
  • Rule out the PC: move the tuner to another PCI slot, or test it in a different, known-good PC. If the fault follows the card, hardware is likely.
  • Eliminate software/driver interaction without repeating steps you already tried: boot to a clean environment (safe mode or a Live USB) or use a different capture app to see if the artifact appears outside the installed TV application.
  • Check power and airflow: ensure the PSU is healthy and the card has clearance/airflow. Run the card for 10--15 minutes while observing. If it degrades only after warming, try temporary fan cooling to confirm a heat-related failure.
  • Inspect Device Manager and BIOS: look for resource conflicts, disable unused onboard video in BIOS if using a capture card, and turn off Windows power-management options for PCI root hubs.
  • Final step before RMA: if you do return/exchange, test the replacement for longer than a minute using the same inputs and capture settings that caused the problem. Record a short clip as proof if possible.

Take ESD precautions when reseating hardware. If all isolation steps still point to the card, a replacement or RMA is appropriate.

Member Avatar for mechbas

This is hardware issue. Given the age of the machine I'd check for a contaminated set of cooling fins. Short of that I'd take the card back to the retailer for a refund/replacement.

Member Avatar for dkelly

You have impecable timing.....I was on the phone to Hauppauge tech support last week where they are only open Mon-Fri. I posted my question Friday night in hopes of getting the damn thing squared away by Sunday to record the playoffs (worked my job all day). Just got off the phone with their support today, Monday, and the tech said it was prob a hardware issue, so I'm off to exchange it,,,but on the other side of town....none left at the Circuit City near me...wish they would have said that Friday!!!...Oh, well, thanks for the reply, mechbas!

Dave

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