Windows Vista Media Center woes

[bootdisk]

Hey all, first time caller, etc. To the problem...

I built a machine to use as an HTPC. Here's the hardware:

ECS N2U400A motherboard
Athlon 2200 2.0ghz cpu (32 bit)
1.5 gigabytes of DDR 1 266mhz RAM (generic)
PNY Geforce 7600 GS 512mb AGP 8x video
Seagate 80gb ATA133 HD (ma)
Generic DVD R/RW (sl)
AverMedia Go 007 Plus (TV Card)

Plenty of cooling, 420watt p/s, no overclocking, plenty of space (tower case, in fact).

All drivers are updated and latest, the tuner card is confirmed working under Vista (per MS and Avermedia both). Board is flashed to the latest BIOS.

OS is Windows Vista Home Premium, SP2

The issue comes when I try to use MC to view or record TV I get this error:

"Windows Media Center Receiver Service stopped working and was closed.

A problem caused the application to stop working correctly."

(this dialog btw is unviewable unless I alt-tab to it; otherwise I'm staring at either the "blue circle" or a black screen)

If I close that window and go back to the Live TV option, I get a message from Media Center itself that says :

"Viewing or Listening Conflict. The tuner you have selected is in use. Do you wish to take control?" with a yes/no choice. If I select no, it just puts me back at the MC control panel. If I select yes, it does nothing.

Now, I can use the proprietary s/w that came with the card. I can view and record video with it, no problem. The issue lies somewhere with MediaCenter and I'd like to sort it out if possible.

Thanks in advance all.

[leofelix]

Hi bootdisk and welcome aboard,
please have a look here

Error message when you start a Windows Vista-based computer: "Windows Media Center Receiver Service stopped working and was closed"

You will find a fix for the issue you faced

[bootdisk]

hi leofelix,

I believe I've tried to apply that hotfix already, and when I do I get the error message: "The update does not apply to your computer" or something like that, and won't apply itself.

[leofelix]

I'm sorry to hear the fix won't apply.
I never faced such a issue.

Did you scan your system for potential malware infections?

[bootdisk]

I'm sorry to hear the fix won't apply.
I never faced such a issue.

Did you scan your system for potential malware infections?

Yep. It's a clean install at any rate. I just built the system and hit the wall here in the process of setting it up, so it isn't as though it worked before and doesn't now.

[leofelix]

I see,
I think you should wait for some experts interventions.
So I hope some of our experts will help you soon

Thank you for understanding

[bootdisk]

Thanks. It isn't going anywhere at any rate, so hopefully someone will chime in.

Note (for any who do chime in) I've got pretty good IT chops so I'm not afraid of diddling in the registry etc. if it comes to it.

[Cithel]

"Viewing or Listening Conflict. The tuner you have selected is in use. Do you wish to take control?" with a yes/no choice. If I select no, it just puts me back at the MC control panel. If I select yes, it does nothing.

Welcome to the forums.

It sounds like Media Center thinks that the tuner is recording another program. Any chance that the vendors software isn't closing completely? Or a service that makes it appear to be in use is running? I had a similar problem with a tuner by Hauppauge a couple years back. Is the vendors software required? (It was with the Hauppauge card) If you have the option of just using the driver it might be a good test.

[bootdisk]

Welcome to the forums.

It sounds like Media Center thinks that the tuner is recording another program. Any chance that the vendors software isn't closing completely? Or a service that makes it appear to be in use is running? I had a similar problem with a tuner by Hauppauge a couple years back. Is the vendors software required? (It was with the Hauppauge card) If you have the option of just using the driver it might be a good test.

That's entirely possible; I don't see anything in Services when I bring up task manager, but that's not to say there's something not running...I'll try removing it from the startup and see what happens.

[nitinagarwal1988]

open cmd (as adminstrator) and execute the following command sfc /scannow, you may requires the Windows Vista DVD...wait for the execution of the command.

Check if any error produced by it....if so, it will automatically fixes the error.

or use FixWin, it will automatically scans your system for any such type of errors. it can fix lot of media center issues also. try it.