Help. . .suddenly More than 2 HD-PVRs stopped working

[sdsean]

I had trouble with this a while ago. . .
Normally I have 3 HD-PVRs running.

In order to get that to work properly, I had to install a PCIe USB card.
For some reason Windows 7 could never find more than 2 HD-PVRs until I installed this card.

Once I did that, I plugged the HD-PVRs all into that card.
Everything worked great. . .

Today. . I have no idea what happened, but one of the HD-PVRs fails to be recognized. I have not installed any new drivers or anything of the like.

The only thing that has happened recently is a re-boot of STBs, and re-boot of the machine. And a windows update has run.

The windows update that run didn't do any driver stuff, but I went ahead and did a system restore anyway. . .still no luck.

I tried plugging that particular HD-PVR into other USB ports on the mother board. Still no luck.

I tried doing this with the power off on all the other HD-PVRs, and just turn on the one.

When I do this, an "Unknown Device" shows up in windows. . . and the little yellow light that normally flashes, doesn't go blink on/off as it usually does.

I tried uninstalling that device from the task manager, and then re-installing the HD-PVR drivers. . .still same problem.

I am totally baffled, 1.) b/c its been working fine for over 2 years, and 2.) b/c then I went to frys and bought another HD-PVR, thinking maybe the old one had gone bad some how. . .still no luck even with the brand new one.

With all the other ones off, and just the new one turned on, when I try to install the driver, the utility from Hauppauge, says it can't find the device.

Yet the other 2 work fine. . .

It seems like this is some sort of "usb" plug/play or "bandwidth" issue, but I don't understand why it didn't happen until just now. . .

The only solutions I can think of to try are. . .

1.) unplug completely the other 2 HD-PVRs, and then try this one (painful, but simple enough). Of course if it does work. . what do i do then?

2.) re-install everything all over again (really painful).

I have an EVGA motherboard with 10 USB ports. But I do know that its only using essentially 2 hubs. So I'd prefer to keep everything on the PCIe card.

Help. . .

[sdsean]

I should also note, I don't really have that much plugged into this machine via USB.

I have a wireless keyboard, wireless mouse, and gyration remote (all with different wireless dongles (go figure). I have one HDD plugged in for backups, and I have xbox 360 wireless controllers. That's it. . .

All these things have been plugged in (and too the same ports), forever. . .the only thing that gets plugged in other than this every once in a while is a set of headphones. . (which is only plugged into the front ports for power purposes).

[sdsean]

Updating and bumping. . .

I filed a support ticket with hauppauge, we will see where that goes. . .

I also tried plugging in the 3rd HD-PVR into one of the same USB ports as one of the two that worked (unplugging the other obviously). Still, the device doesn't get recognized. . . which is very strange.

I also tried using a different USB cable, and still no love. . .

This makes me think that not only did my old one go bad, but the new one I just bought need to be RMA'd.

The only thing I can think of to do next is that perhaps the new one needs its firmware flashed. . .which would mean I need to plug it into a different computer since I can't get it to be recognized. . .

[sdsean]

Yet another update / bumping. . .

OK so the new HD-PVR that I bought from frys is REV F1.
I tried plugging that into a brand new computer that I just re-built, and using the Hauppauge drivers.

"Device not recognized".

So then I tried again, this time with my device that suddenly failed. . .
This time it worked!! (which is rev D1 for anyone keeping stats).

So. . .1st off, the brand new one I bought from frys definitely needs to be returned / RMAd.

But this still leaves me to the question. . why all the sudden does one of my HD-PVRs fail to be recognized?

The funny thing is that even if all the other HD-PVRs are off, its still not recognized, no matter what port I use etc.

So something is a miss, something must have changed in the way windows identifies USB devices (as I have not plugged in anything new).

I guess i'm gonna have to pull my machine out and re-build it. . .unless someone has a better idea (guessing not with the crickets chirping . . )

[UgaData]

Have you tried deleting the USB ports from withih device manager, then reboot and let the USB portsbe re-detected?

Ok, so the ramifications of doing this could lead to the need to reinstall the HD-PVR(s) and the HD-PVR(s) should be installed before SageTV is installed (see the post by SIC0048). That means uninstalling SageTV, running HCWClear (I think that's the name of Hauppaugges uninstall program (uninstalls ALL Hauppaugge drivers and software)), Reinstall HD-PVR drivers and software, reinstall SageTV, and several reboots during all this.

The thread/post/guide by SIC0048 is worth reading, if you haven't already.

[sdsean]

Well no I haven't gone that far, only b/c at that point its nearly a OS re-install, which I'm probably going to do this weekend anyway since I know that the one HD-PVR that went down does indeed work. . .and it will give me a chance to clean my PC etc.

Although. .. I am curious. . .are you saying to delete the USB ports themselves in DM?
As in. . . unplug all USB devices, then uninstall all USB ports (including the drivers for my expansion card), and then re-boot and setup?

[UgaData]

Originally Posted by sdsean

Although. .. I am curious. . .are you saying to delete the USB ports themselves in DM?
As in. . . unplug all USB devices, then uninstall all USB ports (including the drivers for my expansion card), and then re-boot and setup?

Yeah, that's it. Highlight the the USB port/hub, in Device Manager, and press delete. When the system reboots it will redect the USB ports and re-install the drivers (well at least for the built in and probably for the expansion card as well). I've not done this process for an HD-PVR specifically but, I have done it in the past to cure other USB flakiness issues (USB not recognizing new hardware).

Of course, if the HD-PVR has just gone south then this wouldn't make a difference.

[SteveD]

Connect the offending hdpvr to the system by itself and load the driver. See if works in tmt . Then add each of the other hdpvr. Had a similar issue when I went to 2 hdpvr.

[sdsean]

well, i didnt load up tmt, but i did attach the hdpvr i just got, to a fresh pc, and tried to install the driver. that failed, couldnt fine the device. then i tired attaching the one i thought might be broken/ has stopped working, to this same brand new pc, and sure enough, the driver installed.

as i said i didnt use tmt, but since the brand new one (rev F1) couldnt even install the driver, it must be bad...so i have to rectify that with frys/hauppauge.

but the old one, which suddenly stopped working, (rev D1), did install the drivers just fine...sooo that must mean some sort of USB flakyness on the original machine right?

well ill try the usb thing firsr, since i dont have to quite pull everything apart...

[SteveD]

I run both of my hdpvr from the onboard usbs, I had nothing but issues using an addon usb controller. My mainboard is a MSI and cost about $50, the old one was a Biostar $100, both ran the two hdpvr from onboard usb. I would think your board may be as good or better than the two boards. Just saying try the onboard usb again and see what happens.

I use win xp 32 bit (May be the difference but I doubt it).

[sdsean]

Yeah originally I did this as well, but then when I went to 3, I had a similar problem (except for Sage and everything was not installed b/c it was a clean machine), where I couldn't get the 3rd to be recognized enough even for the driver to get installed. It seems I have been reverted some how to that problem.

Originally, after reading some other posts, I decided to get a USB add-on card since that would always be a separate physical hub, and once I did that everything worked fine. But when I did that, I also put all 3 on the same add-on card.

As I said, earlier, everything has worked great for at least 2 years since then. . .but somehow, very recently, after reboot of OS and STBs, now its a no go.

Of course I assumed it must have been a windows update of some sort, which must have screwed up the plug-n-play in some way to cause this. . .but of course a system restore didn't fix it either. . .which is why i'm so confused. . .i can't see how it just starts doing this. . .doesn't make any sense. . .

I'm probably going to have to do some maintenance anyway. . .so I think I'll just end up re-formatting the OS drive. . .and when I do it this time, I'm just going to put 2 on the main and one on the card (maybe).

[sdsean]

RESOLVED!!

Well I did try to delete USB devices (found a nifty tool for this), and still no love.
Then I went through the pain of re-installing windows, ugh. . . and still no love.

So. . . i returned the one that I knew for sure was bad. . .and picked up yet another HD-PVR. (My cc bill is crazy right now, returns / exchanges of the same thing). Since I had a clean OS, I decide just to plug-in and install that one HD-PVR.

Still no love. . .

Then it dawned on me. . . .the only thing that I hadn't been doing this whole time is swapping out the power cord for the HD-PVR every time I plugged in a new one. .

I didn't do this b/c it's a big pain in the rear-end getting through the mess of cables behind my TV. But this time I did it. . . and sure enough, it worked!. So the power supply for the old one I had must have gone bad. . .

Now something else to note though. . . I had been using the 1.5 drivers from the site (which are now updated to 1.6x).

I couldn't get the new device to install with those drivers. . .not sure why. . so I used the CD from my new HD-PVR, which appears to have drivers somewhere in between these versions according to the dates. . .

Once I did that, all 3 devices got their firmware updated, and drivers worked and device installed fine. . .

So lesson one, make sure to check power supply if you see issues. . .and make sure that you use the one that Hauppauge gives you (not sure if you can order replacements or not, but I'll find that out).

Lesson two, if you are going to have multiple devices on the system. . .they in theory may all be different hardware revs. So. . .start with the newest one first, and use the CD that has drivers that came with that one. . .then power down that guy, and power up the next one, rinse / repeat. Once drivers are installed for each one stand-alone, you can feel free to shut down the system, and power the devices (all three, but do it slowly waiting for yellow light to blink for each).

[shadeblue.com]

Originally Posted by sdsean

RESOLVED!!
So lesson one, make sure to check power supply if you see issues. . .and make sure that you use the one that Hauppauge gives you (not sure if you can order replacements or not, but I'll find that out).

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

I would have never thought of checking the power supply; but sure enough I have a system with 2 HD-PVRs and one of them suddenly failed. Each time I install the USB cable or reset the power on the failing HD-PVR I would get the "USB Device Not Recognized" message in Windows. I tried swapping the power supply from the known working unit and viola the unit I thought was defective is working just fine. So I do have a defective power supply. Were you able to get a replacement from Hauppauge?

[larryf]

Originally Posted by shadeblue.com

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

I would have never thought of checking the power supply; but sure enough I have a system with 2 HD-PVRs and one of them suddenly failed. Each time I install the USB cable or reset the power on the failing HD-PVR I would get the "USB Device Not Recognized" message in Windows. I tried swapping the power supply from the known working unit and viola the unit I thought was defective is working just fine. So I do have a defective power supply. Were you able to get a replacement from Hauppauge?

Capacitor plague, another power supply bites the dust... If you have a D-link router or switch, you can use that power supply as a replacement. Less than $10 on ebay if you want to go that route, part number AF-1805A. More info here:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57322

The HD100 had the same problem with capacitors, and I remember the HDHomerun had a bad batch of power supplies too (they were replacing them for free).

Larry

[shadeblue.com]

Larry, Thanks for the info on the other thread. I also experienced the capacitor failures on the HD-100 units. Those I just fixed myself. For this wall-wart, I suppose ordering new replacements is easier.
Thanks again! SB

[sdsean]

I did send Hauppauge an e-mail and indeed they did send me a replacement power supply. . . just off the cuff. . no money or anything, very nice of them.

[KeithAbbott]

I wonder if Hauppauge has made any engineering or component changes to the replacement power supply? If not, it may just be a matter of time before the new one fails again.

[shadeblue.com]

I also contacted Hauppauge support and they are sending a replacement power supply at no charge. As a customer that speaks volumes about their organization.