Dell Angel USB TV tuner kept losing signal, then never working at all, TV Tuner Not Installed, Loss of Signal Error, Windows XP Media Center Edition

[concentric]

Dell Inspiron E1705
Laptop
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition Version 2002 Service Pack 3
1.85 gigahertz Intel Core Due
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
2048 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Dell
Model: Angel USB TV tuner
Dell Label P/N: X9844

When I first got my laptop, I never used the Angel tuner that I ordered with it from Dell.
I started using it a couple of years ago and, at first, it worked fine.
The clarity was disappointing compared to the clarity of large sized image files viewed on the same screen.
I got used to that.

About a year or so ago, I started having problems.
I was always having the video get stalled on a frame and stay there for anywhere from a second to minutes, while the audio seemed to go on uninterrupted.

It initially seemed like a bad tuner because, after a while I notice that I could lose my TV signal if I bumped the tuner, and later on, from the vibration of me putting a mug down on the same table it sat on.

Eventually, or right away, the picture would go away and I would lose sound and get a dark blue screen (instead of TV) with, I think, “Loss of Signal Error” or “TV Tuner Not Installed”.

Things degraded to the point that it just never worked.
I wonder if it would have started giving me problems earlier if I had been doing my updates, as I was receiving the messages.

I had already read on some message boards from people whose identical problems started before mine: that it looks like a hardware problem, but it's really software (incompatibility).
Some postings blame updates of software, maybe Windows XP.
I cannot restore my system back that far. I've tried.

To see if it was just a bad piece of equipment, I purchased a brand new tuner: WinTV-HVR
HYBRID TV STICK
950Q
Hauppauge
Designed for Microsoft Windows XP
I took it back to the store because I was still getting all the same old messages as with the Dell Angel.

Anyway, I tested it a few days ago to see what the latest messages were.

I go to my Media Center
When I select the feature “My TV”

Component Registration Failure
Some of the files needed to play radio or video are missing or corrupt.
Media Center component registration may have failed.
OK

I can hit OK and get back to the “menu” of the MediaCenter window.

If I try “My TV” again, I get

ehshell.exe – Common Language Runtime Debugging….

Application has generated an exception that could not be handled.
Process id=0x1edc (7900), Thread id=0x114c (4428).
Click OK to terminate the application.
Click CANCEL to debug the application.

(I think the exact numbers change each time)

I selected “Cancel”:

Shell.exe – No debugger found.
Registered JIT debugger is not available. An attempt to launch a JIT debugger with the following command resulted in an error code of 0x2 (2).
Please check computer settings.

cordbg.exe !a 0x1edc

Click on Retry to have the process wait while attaching a debugger manually.
Click on Cancel to abort the JIT debug request.
Retry
Cancel


I clicked Retry, and the “working on it” twirling “clock” (I don’t know what it's called) kept rotating without ever stopping.

While a mini window of what the TV/video screen would be opened up in the lower left hand corner of the MediaCenter window. It had a navy blue background and “Video Error”

None of the clickable/selectable options were responding to the arrow cursor when it was hovered over them.

I tried to “X” out of the window, but unresponsive.
Used task manager and “end now” to end the hung up window.

Then I get the “Media Center crash r….” “Generating crash report. Please wait…..”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One suggestion that I got from a board/forum that worked EXTREMELY well for a short period of time was to power down, unplug your power cord, and I think also unhook your internet.
Because I have a laptop, at the same time I also removed my batter.
Then put everything back.
Over the course of a couple of weeks or months this started working less and less well, and then not at all.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Messages I've also gotten........

Critical Process Failure
A critical media center process has unexpectedly failed. If problems persist, please restart your machine and try again, or contact technical support.
Code: 3
OK
- - - - - -
Cannot Load Files
Some of the files needed to play radio or video are missing or corrupt. Try restarting the computer.
- - - - - -
Application Failure.
A critical media center process has failed.
Please restart the computer and try again.
If the problem persists, contact your hardware manufacturer for assistance.
- - - - - -
Tuner Not Found
The tuner hardware is either malfunctioning or not installed. Please ensure that both the tuner hardware and a valid tuner hardware driver are installed.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

To get the specs, I found a tuner for sale on ebay.......

System Requirements:
5400 RPM or faster Disk Drive (Note: Disk DMA must be enabled for proper operation.)
Minimum 256MB RAM, 512MB Recommended
1.8GHz Processor, 400 MHz Front Side Bus
DirectX 9.1 or higher
One USB type A port for the Angel USB TV Tuner (must be USB 2.0)

This tuner is compatible with: Windows Media Center 2005 Edition, Windows Vista (32 and 64-bit), and Windows 7.

*The following applications may be used to gain functionality with Windows XP:
Monsoon Multimedia SnappySoft
Sonic MyDVD Studio v6.2
MediaPortal (free)
GB-PVR (free)

Latest Vendor Drivers and Programs (XP, Vista)
View Dell's User Guide.
Download Dell's Drivers.

Dell Part#: X9844, MJ438, HJ649
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drm?

Delete or remove codecs?
MP3, WMA, RealVideo, RealAudio, DivX, XviD, .AVI ?

[concentric]

In the other thread Barb Bowman wrote:
"you could try a system restore to a time before this started.
or, it is possible that the decoder changed because you updated/installed some other program.
Try
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en"

If you are running SP3 for XP 2002 then I suspect that you are also running
MCE2005, check the MCE version number in MC itself and not just under the
system OS description.
The 950 is a hybrid tuner and can be figured in MC for analog Tv from your
cable company or for OTA digital using an antenna. Also you will not be
able to configure the OTA digital tuenr in MCE2005 unless you already have a
separately installed analog tuner.
Check the Hauppauge Webside and be sure you have the latest XP drivers for
the 950 and download the latest version of the Hauppauge WinTV application.
You should be able to run the WinTV application even if you cannot run the
MC application. Also the WinTV application will support the use of both the
analog and digital tuners but not concurrently
The label "Designed for Windows XP" just mean that the tuner can be
installed on XP and that the applications supplied with the tuner such as
WinTV will run on XP. It does not mean that the product will run on any or
all features of any application that MS may supply that works on XP such as
MC..

[concentric]

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en
Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility

The Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility helps you determine if an MPEG-2 video decoder (also called a DVD decoder) is installed on your Windows XP computer and whether or not the decoder is compatible with Windows Media Player 10 and Windows XP Media Center Edition.


To start the utility: Double-click the DecCheck.exe file that you downloaded to your computer.

To determine if a decoder is compatible:
1. Start the utility.
2. In the list of installed decoders, click a decoder.
3. Read the details that appear beneath the list.


So I select Download

"Your download has started
Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility

If your download does not start after 30 seconds, click here: Start download"

My download did not start after 30 seconds.

I clicked "Start download"

"You have chosen to open
DECCHECKSetup.EXE
which is a: Application
from: http://download.microsoft.com
Would you like to save this file?"

I want to watch cable TV from my cable TV company who I send a check to every month for cable and internet.

The coaxial comes in to my place, it is split between 2 coaxials. One that goes into a modem for my internet. One goes into the Dell Angel TV tuner. Another cord comes out of the tuner and goes into a mini USB on my laptop.

There are also 3 outputs or inputs on the TV tuner. That is for analog data I guess. I have tried, with some success, to use a separate cable on those connections to move video from VHS to my computer.


Most of what you say here, except for MC2005, is going over my head:

“If you were receiving content from your cable company with a Hybrid tuner
you were only receiving analog content since the digital tuner could not be
installed MC with a previously installed analog tuner and MCE 2005 is not
capable of receiving clear QAM SD or HD digital content even with a
previously installed analog tuner. In addition since it is a hybrid tuner
MC 2005 even tben would not allow you to confiugre both tuners since they
can not be used concurrently.
The cable connection from your wall outlet contains all of the analog and
digital channels that your cable company offers. There are not filters to
filter out either analog or digital programming. It is the tuner then
determines what channels you can receive.”

The following site may have an uptodate driver for your card.
The MC that I related for hybrid tuners on MCE 2005 are the same for either
an Angel or a Hauppauge hybrid tuner card.
I suspect that when your Angel tuner worked in the past that it may have
been receiving NTSC analog OTA channels which are no longer available now
that the digital cutover has occurred.

[concentric]

Please do not include or paste my entire previous comments every time you reply. It makes the thread unwieldy (?) to move around in. Viewers know how to scroll around.

I have never used the Dell Angel USB TV tuner Label P/N: X9844 for OTA or over the air.
When I started using it I had basic cable. Actually I had more than that because the cable company never came back and put the filter on.

It wasn't crystal clear hi-def resolution, but very good.

It started gaining problems over time, not all at once when the conversion happened.

The problems I have have been documented by others on different sites. But I can't try their solutions because they are for different OS or brands. I've tried to convert them, but the instructions just start to diverge too much.

Ex: first the picture stalls on a frame for a few seconds while the sound continues, then it will stall for longer and longer times, then the picture and sound will completely go out and get replaced by a blue Media Center screen, or a blue screen with an error message - the same messages that other people are getting who trouble shoot their problems back to software issues.

My whole screen does not go blue. Just the "picture in picture" or "window in window" where the MC is.

Yes, yes, yes I have downloaded the latest Angel drivers, as has everyone else on the internet who's had this problem.

One solution that I read involved going to
Administrative Tools
Services
and then, I think, disabling 1 or 2 or 3
services in this section
Media Center Extender Service
Media Center Receiver Service
Media Center Scheduler Service.

I think that's what I did.

I disabled 1 or 2 of them and all of a sudden I could get TV for a minute or 5.

If it was the conversion, I don't think the tuner would work for a while and then go out. If it was the driver, I don't think it would work for a while and then go out.

Please stop pasting my entire previous comments every time you reply.

First off, clipping the previous comments (as you requested) is considered
bad form on a newsgroup. If someone searching in the future were to find a
post and all that was in it was one side of the conversion or one step in a
long process of a fix for a problem, they would gain nothing from the post.
If the post has the entire thread intact, it is in fact, easier to follow
the problem.

This problem come from the fact that you are not using the newsgroup
directly on the MS server, you are using a web-based site that steals (I
mean copies) the posts from the original news-server to get activity at
their site without actually really providing any service. There are many web
sites that do this, some keep all the posts in an organized thread (making
it somewhat easy to follow), others just present the various posts
chronologically with no connection to previous post. You will find that many
of experts that answer questions on the boards, don't use these leeching web
sites, they post/reply directly to the server using a newsreader program.
Depending on the preferences that the user sets, they may or may not be
storing old posts. So if someone (like me) happens upon this post, all I see
is exactly what is in this one message.

Now to your problem, in searching the web for solutions, have you checked
the DVD decoder you are running? The decoder you are using can greatly
affect the quality of the playback. If you have not already tried this,
download the decoder checker:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Install and run to see what decoder you are using and whether or not it is
MCE compliant and preferred.

You can download the nVidia Pure Platinum decoder for free from the nVidia
site and run it for 30 days for free to see it that helps, if it does, if
only cost $20 for the basic version.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/dvd_dec...150-trial.html

You Say>>>It initially seemed like a bad tuner because, after a while I
notice
that I could lose my TV signal if I bumped the tuner, and later on, from
the vibration of me putting a mug down on the same table it sat on.

If you were receiving content from your cable company with a Hybrid tuner
you were only receiving analog content since the digital tuner could not be
installed MC with a previously installed analog tuner and MCE 2005 is not
capable of receiving clear QAM SD or HD digital content even with a
previously installed analog tuner. In addition since it is a hybrid tuner
MC 2005 even tben would not allow you to confiugre both tuners since they
can not be used concurrently.
The cable connection from your wall outlet contains all of the analog and
digital channels that your cable company offers. There are not filters to
filter out either analog or digital programming. It is the tuner then
determines what channels you can receive.

I agree with Jaime and totally disagree with you. You apparently make the
very naďve assumption that those of us who have made thousands of post
while supporting multiple forums never delete any threads from our systems
in order to conserve space and reviewing time. Very often I see a response
to a thread that I have previously deleted with the history snipped in the
posted response so I have absolutely no choice but to ignore it since there
is no way I can help.

If you check the version of MCE running from within MC itsself instead of
from the OS level you will find that you are running MCE2005 and not
MCE2002. The confusion comes from the fact that MCE2005 is acually based on
a modified version of XP Pro 2002.
The hybrid tuner you have could not be installed unitl MCE2005 was released.
Was the cyber link decoder in addition to being checked as MCE compatible
also selected as the preferred decoder in the utility? If not it needs to
be.
If you can play a DVD in Media Center then there is nothing wrong with your
decoder. If you can't playh a DVD in MC then the decoder is part of the
problem.
You can add the Nvidia XP decoder and switch to it and then switch back if
you don't buy it after the free trial.

When someone comes along 6 month or a year after the last post in a thread
and clips everything out and posts a message to the effect of:

"Yeah, my system is doing the same thing and I tried that, does anyone else
have a suggestion?"

With no clue as to the original posting/problem, I am not going to recover
the last several years of posts in my newsreader, then do a search on the
title of the thread (and hope the new poster didn't change that too), just
to find what problem they are talking about to try to offer help. I am more
likely to just ignore the post.

I have no problem with poster editing a particularly long thread in the
interest of clarity, but to remove all but their new comment simply creates
a worthless post. Even that poses some issues as the new poster may
incorrectly edit the other author's information and change the gist in the
process, but there are times when a thread can get particularly long and it
is necessary. This is shown by what you did to my previous post, merely left
in the comment about not clipping, but chose to remove my arguments and
justifications; you have, in effect, changed my words.

[concentric]

Was that for me?
Help.
I don't understand.
Anyway, so that I don't confuse people, the reason I may have to reinstall my Windows is because a recent virus that attempted to sell me, I think, Internet Security 2010, seems to have changed some stuff on my computer. Now I have no sound whatsoever, no bootup themes, no sound on what little TV tuner I get here and there, no sound when watching DVDs in Media Center. I got a copy of sndvol32.exe from a tech forum, but still no sound. Anyway, I am following up on that separately.

How do I run the trial?
When I click on the file I get “Unlock/Buy NVIDIA DVD Decoder”

Do I first have to remove:
Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility ?


Zoom and Setting, and THEN I can hit Esc and it will go away.
Also, the last time I used “Stop” I think I got:
Cannot Load Files
Some of the files needed to play radio or video are missing or corrupt. Try restarting the computer.



“Was the cyber link decoder in addition to being checked as MCE compatible also selected as the preferred decoder in the utility? If not it needs to be.” :
The column for “preferred decoder” is completely empty.

You can download the nVidia Pure Platinum decoder for free from the nVidia site and run it for 30 days for free to see it that helps, if it does, if only cost $20 for the basic version.

When follow all their instructions, using their dummy information, and I click on the file I get “Unlock/Buy NVIDIA DVD Decoder”
How do I run it?

"If you check the version of MCE running from within MC itsself instead of from the OS level you will find that you are running MCE2005 and not MCE2002.
The confusion comes from the fact that MCE2005 is acually based on a modified version of XP Pro 2002.

The hybrid tuner you have could not be installed unitl MCE2005 was released.
Was the cyber link decoder in addition to being checked as MCE compatible also selected as the preferred decoder in the utility?
If not it needs to be.
If you can play a DVD in Media Center then there is nothing wrong with your decoder.
If you can't playh a DVD in MC then the decoder is part of the problem.
You can add the Nvidia XP decoder and switch to it and then switch back if you don't buy it after the free trial."

How do I check the version of MCE running from within MC itsself instead of from the OS level?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“if you'd use a decent newsreader…”
What’s a decent newsreader?
Maybe I’d like one.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In my last post I meant to write:
"But I was able to get the DVD to continue withOUT restarting Media Center."

The bottom of the laptop shows:
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

I make NO assumption, if you'd use a decent newsreader you could
recover the parent to any post or an entire thread with a single click.

On the page from which you downloaded the trial version, there are the
following instructions:

-----------------------------
This is a trial version of the NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder software that
enables all audio features. It will run for 30 days. To activate the trial
version, please use the activation information below when prompted during
the installation process.

First and Last Name: NVIDIA Trial
Email Address: dvdtrial@nvidia.com
Last 4 Digits of Credit Card: 2004
Activation Key: 7152-9346-DD6E-2CB0-79A3-5F08-AC23

After 30 days, you can buy and unlock the software by launching the shortcut
"Unlock/Buy NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder" on your desktop.
-----------------------------

[concentric]

I googled
purevideo nvidia trial

The first page that comes up is titled:
PureVideo Decoder

In the left margin, one of the "Relevant Links" is

"NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder Platinum 30 day Trial"

I selected that.

That page is called:
"NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder Platinum 30 day Trial"

"Version: 1.02-223
Release Date: June 28, 2006
30 Day Trial"


Anyway, when I try to run it from
Start, All Programs
I select NVIDIA Corporation
The only subcategory is
ForceWare, whose only subcategory is
NStant Media, whose only subcategory is
"Unlock or Buy NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder"
which gives me the page titled
"Unlock/Buy NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder"

"Congratulations on installing and using the NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder trial version. The NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder provides the PC industry’s highest quality DVD and MPEG-2 playback with Microsoft® Windows® Media Player and Windows Media Center Edition, and it's the best way to experience NVIDIA PureVideo technology.

The trial version will work for 30 days and give you complete access to all audio and video features, including Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Headphone, and DTS decoding. After the 30 day trial period, the NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder will stop working with all applications.

To learn how to purchase the NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder and find the right version for you, please visit this website: "

I will say that the page has one of those yellow bands across the top:
"Internet Explorer is currently running with add-ons disabled. Click here to manage, disable, or remove."

I wonder if that has anything to do with it.