UnOfficial MyHD MDP-120/DVI card thread - part 2 - Page 127

Ooooo... It says PIO Mode for current transfer mode on the secondary channel, which is where I have my MyHD WorkArea. Argh! I'll check out that link and see if I can force DMA.

I moved my HDD's to the mainboard IDE channels a week or so ago, removing my IDE card. Since then I've had some serious problems:

1. Lost all data on the primary slave 160 GB drive, evidently because I hadn't made a registry edit that forces Win2000 to support 48-bit LBA, which lets me write more than 137 GB data to large IDE drives.

2. This problem, evidently.

I ran the script and rebooted and now all my IDE devices are set to Ultra DMA Mode! Thanks!!

Muse, We all work these drives pretty hard, don't we? I wanted to note that if your drive reverted to PIO it may actually be a tap on the shoulder that your drive is not as happy as it could be. Let me just say it...mine reverted twice over a period of months, then it was a goner: I lost every byte. I would recommend Spinrite from grc.com. It's the best thing out there at this job, and if you use it right, it will really tell you _before_ it's too late!

--Dale--

Thanks, I'll look into that. I was thinking that the PIO reversion might have been the result of running a little utility named resetdma.vbs, which neatly and painlessly edited my registry to force Ultra DMA for my HD's. Maybe it's something else, though, as you say. As I noted in a post above, I already did lose every byte I had on that 160 GB HD last week! Luckily, I don't think I had anything on it that wasn't already backed up or just plain expendable. I've never lost data like that before, though, so it's scary. One more tap on my shoulder concerning the viability of that HD and I'm on the phone to Seagate support and won't be such a nice guy when I ask if I should have an RMA for the drive!

Things were working fine. I decided to make my second Windows 2000 SP4 partition my default boot partition (the old one is real old, boots super slow, etc.). MyHD had been working perfectly, AFAIK, in both partitions. Good video, good sound once I got the PIO Mode eliminated.

Suddenly (in the new partition), I play a recorded HDTV program and I have stuttering sound. I play the same recording in my previous Windows 2000 partition, no problem. I go back to my new, relatively fresh Windows 2000 install and it seems I have stuttering sound on live TV too. Funny thing is the stuttering isn't always there. It won't be, then it will. Usually, it stutters. MyHD CPU usage varies a lot but is often over 50%. That seems high to me. There's no PIO Mode thing going on now. Video looks OK. Any clue what I can do for this? Of course, I can use my former partition, but I really wanted to make the other one my every day partition. Thanks for any help on this.

Edit: I thought it might have something to do with the fact that I installed MyHD in the second partition right over the same install I'd made in the first partition. Of course, I suspected that this might cause problems but I didn't see any. So, a few minutes ago I installed MyHD again in the second partition (the one giving me problems). I installed it in a new directory. However, the problems persist. It seems that the new installation had the same settings as the old one, and I figure that's because the settings are kept in the registry, not in the install directory or subdirs.

Does the stuttering occur in all audio modes of MyHD?

See if anything in the FAQ entry B.1 helps
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=647837

Maybe. It does occur in Stereo/PC Soundcard and I usually use Dolby Surround/PC Soundcard.

I believe I found out the problem. I installed Total Recorder (Standard Edition 5.3) a few days ago and the installation switched things around a bit. Specifically, in Windows Sounds and Multimedia, it switched the Sound Playback preferred device from my GTXP soundcard to Total Recorder. Switching that back seems to have resolved the problem.

Thanks for this post and the link. That's a terrific idea! What I've done is copy a couple of the really big MyHD threads into a database and I do searches on it. I searched on "stutter" but didn't see anything that gave me the clue I needed. I guess the biggest clue I had was that MyHD was working fine in one of the Win2000 installs on the machine and lousy on the other. I realized it was probably some setting in Windows and I found it finally. I'm going to bookmark that metafaq !

That FAQ is so awesome! Thanks again!

Question:

When I go into Control Panel, File Play Setup and go to Add a file, the file selection window defaults to My Documents instead of the MyHD work area. Is there a way I can make it default to the MyHD work area? Thanks.

There evidently is, but I'm not sure that you really want to go there, Muse. MyHD maintains two Registry keys that store the paths to the last places from which you opened a file (ctrl-O) or added a file to the file list. Unless these folders are inaccessible, they will be the default folder for the next similar operation. (If they are inaccessible, e.g. offline LAN folders, you'll find yourself at your "my documents" location) You could force those keys to have some other value by merging the appropriate .reg file prior to opening MyHD. The two keys are named "File_Open" and "Filelist_Path". Knock yerself out!

Hmm. Well, what's been happening is MyHD reverts to My Documents everytime I open the application. Once I direct it to I:\\MyHD WorkArea, it stays there, which is great. But why is it reverting to My Documents when I close MyHD application. The workarea is certainly not offline and should be perfectly accessible at all times. I:\\ is an NTFS formatted partition on an IDE drive on the mainboard controller. Thanks for the help!

Maybe it has to do with the fact that I've deleted the folder it last added, a subfolder of my workarea that was added by MyHD in a file capture. This is my typical usage. When I go to File Play Setup, it shows the file to play and says (under Size), "Missing". I guess the workaround is to delete the item(s) from the file play list before I delete them from the HDD. However, it would be nice if I didn't have to do that.

TPeterson, I have a software revision request for my 2 MDP-120's. When recording MyHD creates files xxxxxx.tp, then xxxxxx_01.tp.......xxxxxx_05.tp.

The request is that it starts at file xxxxxx_00.tp

Sorry, that's not the MyHD naming convention. If MIT were to change that now, it would break other existing sw. Fortunately, you can just rename the first file as you suggest and MyHD will still play the sequence OK.

Dale, in my case it appears that the failure I experienced (losing all the data on my 160 GB IDE drive) was due to my having removed my Promise IDE controller card and moving the IDE devices in the box to the mainboard IDE controllers. The Promise card evidently supported 48-bit LBA in its driver and the mainboard IDE controller did not without the proper setup in Windows 2000. Windows 2000 SP4 (actually SP3) does support 48-bit LBA but only after having added a registry key! It seems to me a glaring omission on the part of Microsoft. They could have either:

1. Automatically added the key on installation of SP3+

2. Popped up a dialog giving the user the choice of doing so, assuming there's a reason to not do so (the only reason I can think of for not implementing (1.) above.

It seems virtually criminal to me that I had to find out about all this only in the wake of losing all my data on that 160 GB drive. Lucky for me, I'm not aware of having lost important data (I was backed up), but most people who suffered a similar data loss, I'm certain, were not so lucky.

By some miracle, I did not lose the data on my 200 GB IDE drive. I guess its data totalled something under 137 GB, but probably not by much. Had I lost that data, I'd be a LOT more unhappy about all this.

But the question remains: Why did my 160 GB drive revert to PIO Mode in the wake of all this? I suppose it was that fact of the partition tables being overwritten. However, you could be right that it's a possible sign of impending drive failure. I will not be trusting this drive any time soon (not that I trust any HD, but I do trust some more than others ).

I've had this problem off and on since I've had the card and it's been something like 2 years: MyHD 120 with daughterboard

I'm multibooting and have 2 Windows 2000 SP4 installations. Presently, the overlay window in one Windows 2000 installation shows the video (e.g. live TV, timeshifting) and when I boot to the other Windows 2000 installation, I get a black OSD window. The settings in the MyHD Control Panel appear on close inspection to be identical. What could possibly be happening? I believe the installation is the same: MyHD_App_Drv_v1.66E.exe

Thanks for any help.

Edit: I think I may have found the answer. My video driver in the problem OS was set to output for Clone, not single display. Changing that has, for now, solved the problem.

Sometimes video card drivers get strange ideas about where you want overlays to be displayed--and they'll only show them on one display in any case, AFAIK. Sounds to me that you have the O/L displayed on another output device as far as the one OS is concerned. I suggest reinstalling the video driver and choose single display (i.e., disable the secondary display completely) to see if you can find the missing O/L.

I was going to respond, 'cuz I knew exactly what the problemm was, but Muse got to the edit button before I could respond. My ATI driver is a PITA in that the overlay goes to the monitor if the PC is booted with the TV powered off (so the TV's overlay is 'black'). I never use the MyHD overlay, but overlay video for all apps is the same. And of course the button to fix it is buried deep in the ATI custom display settings. The good news is that I rarely boot that machine, it just hybernates itself if nothing's going on.

--Dale--

Hello ,

i run a HTPC with a MyHD 120 over DVI to a Z10000 with no Problems.
Now i bought a 8" Touchscreen LCD Display for controlling the HTPC without to turn on the Sharp.
My Videocard is a Ati Radeon 9600 with DVI and VGA out.
The Projektor is used by DVI ( 1280X720 ) and the Display needs a 800X600 resolution over VGA .
Now i dont get it work so that i have the same picture on both Dispays to control the HTPC over the small lcd Display.
I think the problem is that the MyHD is working in the Overlay Modus and its using its own kables.
Does anybody know a solution for my problem ?
Does anybody run 2 Displays with a my HD ?

Thanks......

Karsten, do you have MyHD set to "use separate monitors" or are you trying to view the PC desktop from both video card outputs? What are you seeing? (You only say that you are not seeing the same thing on both)

Hello,

Been looking for weeks, but finally got a used MyHD MDP-120 for a decent price on Ebay. Threw it in my piecemeal system with a Shuttle AN35N motherboard, AMD 2800+, and win98SE, tried to load the drivers and wham! BSOD! I wrote down the address and error, looked them up online, urgh, common problem to do with Mcaffee virus scan and windows dial-up networking. Only thing is: I don't have Mcaffee or DUN installed. No answer from MIT or Shuttle. Anyone here have similar problem with the MDP-120? Anyone have a solution?

Failing that, anyone near Minneapolis want to buy the card? I'll let you test it in your machine first for free! If it doesn't work, then I'll know the card is bad, and I can harrangue the seller. If it does work, I'll know I need a new motherboard, or to get a different DTV tuner card. Any suggestions which one to get, if I can't get MyHD cards to work with my current board? Any suggestions boards to get that work with MDP-120 and AMD2800+ under 98SE?

Thanks!

Say...that isn't the bum MDP from eBay that rdwalt recently returned to the seller, is it?

Have you tried installing the card in another system? Maybe a system at work or a Friends if you don't own another computer. What version of the drivers are you installing? When was the last time you did a fresh install of Windows?

Seller on this one was "languin" It's been more than 30 days so I'm having trouble looking up other auctions on ebay from that seller. Was that the seller on the bad one?

I tried the regular things, reinstalling windows, removing other cards in case of incompatability. I downloaded the most recent drivers off the MyHD site. I also tried the drivers off the install CD that came with it. It made no difference. I still get a blue screen whenever the drivers try to load or I try to install them. I have to go into safe mode and mark the device as inactive in order to boot windows successfully.

Any other ideas?

Also, at the moment don't know anyone with a machine I could try the card in. Any of you all near Minneapolis?

Thanks!

I don't know who the seller was, nor do I recall for sure that it was a 120. You could PM rdwalt and ask him. San Carlos is 'near' MPLS only in a celestial sense.

This may not help you but I will share my ideas. This is one of the main reasons I have two machines - troubleshooting the occasional head-scratching problem. It's really hard to overestimate the usefulness of having a 2nd machine. I also do backups from one machine to the other over my ethernet LAN. I too run Win98, but only occasionally in a multiboot environment (both machines). My main OS (everyday, on either machine, although I use one machine primarily) is Windows 2000. If you haven't worked with Windows 2000 (developed from the Windows NT core), or its successor Windows XP, you will be amazed at the stability and only use Win98 in the rare instance when you have to.

Other than those comments, I can only suggest wracking your brain for a means to find access to another machine.

I do have a backup machine, but it doesn't have the hardware to run WIN98SE much less 2000, which would be required in order to test this card. Usually I put my old motherboard and processor in it, but last time I upgraded it was because my motherboard died, so my backup's gotten to be a pretty old machine. Personally I've had bad experiences with windows 2000. I tried to set up my dad with a windows 2k machine, for his work. After ordering the parts and building the machine myself, I found that although all the hardware was win2k compaible, only half of it had signed drivers, and my dad was plagued with bluescreens, dying hard drives, and choppy sound for several years. I have ended up with much of that hardware on my machine where it ran under windows 98 and now 98SE with no problems at all. Given that history, frankly, I'm afraid of getting win2K or XP anywhere near this hardware. What good is a MyHD if my SCSI controller and sound card aren't working? I'll try PMing the guy about the MDP-120 he returned. If anyone else around is near Minneapolis, or knows someone near Minneapolis, let me know.

I'm amazed at the report of troubles with Windows 2000. I suggest you give it another try, this time on your machine. Since you are wary, my suggestion is to use backup software to make an image of your OS partition. I use Norton Ghost that comes with Norton System Works. I've always managed to find System Works cheaply online, usually either last year's copy or when the year is well on, so the price has come down. Ghost works great and if you decide that you don't want to continue with Windows 2000, you can Ghost back your Win98 OS right onto the partition. Ghost (and similar backup software) allows you to try things you wouldn't want to chance otherwise if used in this manner.

Myself, I'm not afraid to use unsigned drivers. Many very reputable firms distribute unsigned drivers that work just fine. They just haven't been certified, a process that's evidently prohibitively difficult in many circumstances. I've never gotten burned using unsigned drivers.

Another thing you could do is manage to work up a 2nd machine with the horsepower to be a test machine one way or another. I'd contemplate both scenarios.

It's not so much that I'm afraid. I've just had a bad experience in the past. To tell the truth I really don't know if it was the unsigned drivers that caused the bluescreens, or some bug in windows, or some bad hardware purchases. The bluescreens were sporadic, occurred in a variety of applications, in no predictable fashion. Some even appeared during installation of the operating system, and if those lockups were at bad times, perhaps they caused the later lockups. I was never sure what was going on, or what I should try replacing or re-installing next. The on-board sound was choppy, so we bought a sound card, installed it and the sound didn't improve in the slightest You could make it choppy just by moving the mouse around on the screen, and don't think of doing anything when recording sound, or it would drop samples. That's not going to fly on a machine I regularly use for capturing video and audio.

As for diagnostics, I think I should get a new motherboard first, don't you? They're usually cheaper than buying Windows. And if I'm to try a different operating system, why not go with one that's free before trying one that costs money? I have fedora core 2 around here somewhere. I'll probably try that first. I know the insides of Linux a heckuvalot better than 2000, almost as well as I know '98.

Thanks for the suggestions, though!