WMC/Ceton tuner stops working

[Chroner]

I recently setup a new machine with WMC and a ceton infiniTV 4 and I’m having some issues.  Initially, everything seems to be working fine.  WMC says all 4 tuners are available and I am able to record/watch 4 programs at once. However, after awhile I will get an error in WMC that no tuners are available and from that point on, nothing will work no matter how long I wait.  It is not that all the tuners are in use and one is not available.  The tuners are no longer detected.  The ceton diagnostic tool will not find the device and WMC will not have any tuners.  If I restart the machine, everything works fine…at least for awhile and then I have the same issue. 

Has anyone had a similar problem or suggestions for me to try?  I have sent in a support ticket to ceton but they haven’t been very helpful up to this point.  I am running all new hardware on a fresh install of win 7 pro.  The cablecard is a motorola m-card and my isp Cox is using a motorola tuning adapter.

[mikinho]

Please PM me your ticket number when possible.

And do you have a USB or PCIe?  Either way please make sure you have the below hotfixes:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2601456

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2679255

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2621491  -> (For InfiniTV USB and TAs)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2645594 -> (AMD CPU)

[mikinho]

Btw….I realize the hotfix descriptions do not look relevant…they are.

[phoneguyinpgh]

Michael,

I have this issue on occasion too.  My tuners are networked from WHS2011 using an AMD Phenom II X4 and my HTPCs are using AMD A4-3400 APUs.  Which hot fixes would be applicable?

[Nmarconi]

Also make sure you have the latest firmware (you can use the diagnostic tool ceton provides), the 1.1.2.4 was terrible for me.  1.1.7.2 seems to have fixed a lot of issues.

[Chroner]

I was having problems with the updated firmware.  Ceton decided to RMA my tuner and I received the new hardware yesterday.  I plan on installing tonight so hopefully, that will fix my issue.

[Chroner]

Installed the new tuner I got from the RMA, still having the same problems. I’m not sure what to try next.

[Dkeyguy1]

I too had similar problem for a while, though I don’t have a tuning adapter or the need yet. I found that verifying all system drivers were up to date as well as Windows updates was a good start. Then verify that Ceton temps were at or below 60c. (I didn’t have the problem when temp was below that, but it wasn’t the cause.) Then I ran Ccleaner, including the registry portion, followed by free registry defrag (registry clean expert). After the reboot (with the ceton already set up and driver package installed) I re-ran the installation package, choosing repair. (if you have uac enabled make sure to run as administrator)

On one installation I had to run the ceton diagnostic tool, clear tuner configuration, un-install ceton software, reboot, re-install ceton software, and go through set up in media center.

Also I found instances where if you had more than one ceton tuner of the same type on your network (windows 7) using homegroup, starting one immediately caused the other to drop all of it’s tuners from mc. I reset my firewall on all machines concerned and didn’t experience that again.

The latest firmware 1.1.7.2 (i believe) is working fine for me now, but all previous except 1.0.9.5 were a problem. Through ceton support you can obtain a link to download prior firmware if they deem it necessary. But I am wary of ending up with expesive paperweights and so avoid it at when possible.

One thing I will tell you is that with this firmware I’ve found it common to have signal unavailable displayed quite often, after a reboot. But when I wait a few seconds the audio starts streaming and the display changes to weak signal and then the picture comes up. Once the machine has been up and the tuners in use for a while that ceases to happen. Scheduled recordings are not affected.

Also, I had one mainboard that no matter what I tried, the ceton tuner would not remain working on one particular slot. But that ALWAYS caused the tuner to disapear from the list of installed devices.(probably a hardware issue) If your ceton is always there when you check your device manager you can probably rule out this type of issue.

newest firmware, drivers, registry, tuner temp. Adding additional plug-ins to media center when things were working perfectly have triggered this problem after weeks of seamless operation.

[nickwaj]

I realize this thread is pretty old, but just wanted to post up, in case later on anyone else had the same issue.  I’m still working on it with Ceton, but I had the same issue.  Ceton had me uninstall all the Ceton drivers and software, as it appeared that some file was not updated when I installed new beta drivers for Windows 8.  I was having problems dating back to Windows 7, but it didn’t happen too often.  Lately I’ve been having issues at least once a week, and a lot more since I moved a year ago. 

After the update it seems to be working better, but I still am getting a signal lost error, and even though the tuners are still available, I wasn’t able to record or watch live TV. Upon reboot everything was working fine.  Ceton has requested I manually tune each of the 4 tuners to a channel, log the signal level and run another diagnostic.  I’m thinking it is a signal issue with my Comcast.  I’m not sure why it is so intermittant, but I do have my signal split 3 ways, Modem, Ceton Card/Tuner Card, and another Comcast box.  I think the signal might be the problem, if anyone else has signal loss, maybe they can report if they get the same problem.

 

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