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Win7, Less Reliable Than WinME

-AKIRA--AKIRA- Registered User regular
edited November 2009 in Help / Advice Forum
I want to like Windows 7, I really do. When it works, it works well, and it makes life easy. But when it doesn't, and this is most of the time, it makes me want to burn my apartment down.

So I ordered this computer several months back. At that time, it came with Vista Home Premium. I was using it as a media center PC with a Hauppauge 950Q tv tuner and all was well with world. When Win7 came out, I downloaded the professional version through my university and the horror began. Although the addition of digital channels was nice, it took days to get the tuner working. The magic combo of installing Hauppauge's latest WinTV v7, letting it find the available channels, then asking Media Center to do the same finally did the job. Oh, and prayer, lots and lots of prayer. The main problem with the tuner was that Media Center would hang when searching for channels. This was a sign of things to come.

As of now, there are two or three main problems, and they seem like they might be related. Windows Media Center will hang at the drop of a hat. This means I can no longer use the machine as a DVR, as when I return to watch whatever show it should have recorded, I'm greeted with a still image of whatever was on TV at the time the machine decided to poop itself.

The other problem is with Windows Update. For some reason, when I attempt to install any updates, the computer tries and tries to install them, but never gets anywhere. It can sit for a day or more with the "Please do not power off or unplug your machine. Installing update 1 of x." dialog up. Every now and again, if you wait about an hour or two, it can sometimes get to update 2 of x. It seems if I kill the power to the computer and let it boot back up enough times, the updates will finally install. However, I've currently got an update that is resisting this trend. It may be worth noting that the first handful of updates installed with little trouble.

On occasion, the computer will hang on the shut down dialog even if there are no updates to install.

I've formatted and reinstalled Windows 7 twice (two formats, three installs). I do have my Vista install backed up, and am thinking about reverting to it, but I really don't want to lose the digital channels that 7 lets me access. So are there any ideas as to what may be causing this? Or, does anybody know if/when Vista is going to start to play nice with digital channels? Obviously I'd like to be able to stay with 7 due to future developer support, but as things stand, the machine useless as a media center box.

-AKIRA- on

Posts

  • vonPoonBurGervonPoonBurGer Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Man, that sounds like it really sucks. Stuff like this is why I'm going to hold off until after they've released SP1.

    The only piece of specific advice I can give is to try updating manually via the Windows Update website, rather than trying to do it via automatic updates. Unless Win7 is really different from previous versions of Windows, you should be able to choose and install the updates while Windows is still running and then reboot once the installs are done. If nothing else, maybe it will give you a more specific error as to why the updates are failing to install.

    vonPoonBurGer on
    Xbox Live:vonPoon | PSN: vonPoon | Steam: vonPoonBurGer
  • -AKIRA--AKIRA- Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Yeah, but the only problem there is being a good little OCD geek, I've just got to have every available update installed. That and the remote chance that all these problems could be caused by something deep in the bowels of the OS and some seemingly unrelated updated may alleviate them... yeah, I know, that's horribly unlikely, but a kid can dream.

    -AKIRA- on
  • BeazleBeazle Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    My guess is it is the drivers for your tuner. If you don't have them installed does media center hang up watching DVDs or playing music. Also, does the system hang on updates if the tuner is not installed? Run memtest just to make sure your RAM is groovy.

    Beazle on
  • -AKIRA--AKIRA- Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Well the MCE hanging is really an intermittent problem, so it's hard to conclusively say if the tuner is causing the problem. Having said that, I do think it's probably a weird driver issue as well. I would try to install some updates without the tuner installed, but it would seem letting that last update just sit for about four or five hours worked for some reason or another.

    I don't know what the use of a tuner compatibility list is if that is the underlying problem though. Also, a media center sans tuner just doesn't seem like much of a media center. If there's a resource out there with better drivers, I'd love to hear about it.

    -AKIRA- on
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