I wasn't sure where this fit, so I put in the general discussion. I just got a Leadtek Winfast 2000 XP Expert TV Tuner card for my PC. I have a P4-3.2HT, 2 GB PC3200, 500 Gb SATA, Radeon 9800 XT. Anyway, the strange thing is that immediately after I installed it, it worked just fine for about 3 or 4 days. Then it started locking up periodically, and eventually immediately upon launch. There is a FM radio tuner included as well, and that doesn't cause the problem. I moved the card to a different PCI slot so it isn't sharing any resources anymore (as instructed by Leadtek), but it is still screwed up. I have no clue that to do, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd appreciate it. thanks!
It is probably a hardware related problem. Have you contacted the store that you bought it from? Please specify what you mean by screwing up. Also if possible it would be a good idea to exchange it for a new one. Post back with an update. Cheers.
Well, by screwing up I mean that my PC locks up immediately when I try to launch the Leadtek TV tuner software program (called PVR). The title launch comes up and then the PC locks up about 1 second after that. Since I moved it to a new PCI slot (no longer sharing an IRQ with anything else) I hear the TV sound playing even after it locks up, but the PC is completely dead and I have to do a hard reboot. I bought it from newegg.com and it is warrantied by Leadtek so I have to deal with them. So far they've been very unresponsive, taking about 5 days to reply to my first message, and it was from someone in their marketing department. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since they are based in Taiwan, but it is still frustrating. The only criteria they gave me to troubleshoot was to have DirectX 9.0b installed (which I did before I even got the card), use their latest drivers (which I have been using all along), and the latest software version (that PVR program, which I'm also using). I'm starting to think that my computer has some property that is not compatible with this card for some reason, but I can't figure out what it could be. Hopefully Leadtek will step up and find a work around, or at least refund the purchase price (but I'm not holding my breath). Mike
I had the same problem with the ATI TV Wonder Pro Card I found out that the problem is with Windows XP. The OS has a problem with Hyperthreading in some of the newer P4 chips. MS has a hotfix patch for this but you need to call their support No. in order to get it. Do a search on MS knowledge base (support.microsoft.com)for item 831945 & 817589. I hope it solves your problem. It took me a while to find out this solution.
Looking at those 2 incidents definitely sounds like the situation I'm facing - thanks for the heads up. I doubt if I would have found those anytime soon. Did you have to pay Microsoft for this support? Their support site has all this crap about fees, etc. I will call tomorrow, but it'll suck if they want me to pay them for this patch.
You don't have to pay it is free. They will give you a password to their FTP site so that you can download the Patch.
You totally kick butt, man. I just called microsoft, and they answered the phone!! AND they gave me the hotfix, etc. just as you said. The best part, it worked like a charm. I'm now watching TV without any problems. Microsoft should just put these out there and say "use at your own risk", but at least they had a solution. Now, should I tell LeadTek how to fix this? They just sent me another reply to my help request basically telling me to do the same thing as the first one - move the card to a new slot and reinstall all the software. Sometimes, I wonder how these companies make money.
That's how they make money by using unqualified and cheap tech support that have no clue and send you on a wild goose chase. Anyhow I am glad that i was able to help as I also had my share of frustartion with these techies.
do you think that hotfix may relate to a similar problem I am having with my All In wonder ATI 9700 pro. I have had 3 video cards sent to me and one motherboard the lock ups still persist and I have a 3.06 P4 with HT.
I think it is definitely worth a shot. They didn't even question me about the problem, I just gave them the incident number and the guy sent me an email with the web address and password for the file. I actually had another lock up last night, but after rebooting I was able to run the TV tuner software. I'm not sure, but I think if I close the software and reopen it without rebooting it might have glitches. Before, however, it would lock up every time, so at least I can use the thing now. You should give it a try.
