Asus A8V & PVR500 revisited

[Crashless]

So my server has crashed, and I'm trying to fix it for as little money as possible. I think the Athlon XP died, but my local Fry's doesn't carry those processors anymore - so I've gotten a Sempron.

As a backup, I've also gotten an Asus A8V deluxe motherboard, and AMD64 3000+ cpu. I would prefer to upgrade to this because I can still use my vid card, memory, drives - but give myself an upgrade path to X2 processors when they come down, then make the jump to PCI-E next year.

Problem is I know the A8V has issues working with my PVR500. Has anyone gotten that hauppauge card to work with this motherboard? I remember about 5 months ago, no one could get them to play nice.

I would of course prefer to go with an Nforce4 MB, but I can't afford to replace my fanless 6800 gfx card right now, in addition to all the other components.

Please keep in mind that I'm without television right now when suggesting solutions (the wife is getting restless) - and the fact that I'm limited to Fry's and Comp USA unfortunately.

Thanks so much in advance.

[m1abrams]

I use the ASUS A8V board for my HTPC.

Currently have a PVR-150MCE and a PVR-250MCE.

Now they work. However I have in the past battled stability issues.

What problems have people had with the A8V.

[blade]

The PVR-500's and certain VIA, ALI, and SIS chipsets don't play well together. Last I heard there were still problems, but that's been awhile.

You might check here:

http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/board/index.php

[Crashless]

I see that they have released a new BIOS but people haven't given positive reports. I guess I'll see tonight. Wish are luck!

[pjaffray]

I tried the new bios for the A8V Deluxe (1014) that was supposed to fix the PVR500 problem with no luck. I spent many an hour doing clean installs, updating drivers, etc... all to no avail. I finally pulled the card out and stuck it in a old 866 PIII machine and now it works. Oh well, I needed an excuse to build a new machine just for Sage anyway.

I would be curious to know if anyone does ever get the PVR500 to work with the A8V Deluxe. Other than this issue, the MB is great with a lot of nice options.

pdj

[Crashless]

The A8V definitly seems like a nice board, but unfortunately for HTPCers with a PVR500, it's junk.

Luckily, it turns out my CPU died, and a new Sempron is working right now. I think I'm going find a good etailer and order a better processor.

What's the best Socket A processor these days?

[blade]

I have heard of people getting the 500 to work with the VIA chipset. I'm not sure which boards or chips, but they had to run PCI video cards instead of AGP. That's fine for a server I guess but pretty worthless for a client.

I purchased a XP2500 Mobile CPU for my nforce2 board and it's great. If your board supports mobile cpu's IMO that would be the way to go with. They run cooler and at lower voltage, which helps if you're wanting to keep things cool and quiet. They also have huge overclocking potential if you're more into speed. Also the multipliers are unlocked on the mobiles. Here are a couple of reviews.

http://www.techtastic.ca/reviews3/mo...rton-2500.html

http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews...JsX3BhZ2U9MQ==

[m1abrams]

Well good to know that the PVR500 does not work in the Asus A8V. I almost got one to add another 2 tuners to my box, good thing I did not.

Odd that the PVR150MCE and PVR250MCE work fine but the PVR500 is a no go.