Absolutely, totally, completely utterly stuck. Please help

Soldato
Joined
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Newcastle upon Tyne
Dear all

I'm at my wits end with my HTPC. I had to buy a new mobo, CPU and RAM because the other went **** up.

The mobo has a 760G chipset and onboard Radeon 3000 graphics. If I use these onboard graphics, when I switch my TV on with the HTPC already switched on, I get no display, requiring a reboot or putting the computer to sleep and waking it back up again to regain a picture.

If I use the GeForce 8400GS graphics card that operated perfectly in my old HTPC, the Media Centre menu is very choppy, but there's no issue with the TV display working.

I don't know how to fix either of these 2 problems, and I'm about ready to throw the whole thing out of the window.

Please, please please can anyone tell me what is wrong with my computer and how to fix it? I'm desperately sick of the number of hours this is consuming and I don't know where else to turn as I've tried every driver, option and setting possible. I just don't know what magic setting I'm missing to get this all working as it should :(

Many thanks

Michael
 
are all the drivers correct and up to date?
does the tv work fine with the gfx card just not the OBV when pc is switched on first? if so, check the bios for its default display adaptor, it might be set to pci-e not OBV so it wont swap over if no screen is present maybe, sorry just a few suggestions.
 
are all the drivers correct and up to date?
does the tv work fine with the gfx card just not the OBV when pc is switched on first? if so, check the bios for its default display adaptor, it might be set to pci-e not OBV so it wont swap over if no screen is present maybe, sorry just a few suggestions.

Yes all the drivers are up to date. There is a BIOS setting for graphics card priority. I will try that.

Thanks!
 
ok, so you mean you have downloaded the latest drivers?
were these the drivers you were using when it did work, are all windows updates done?
 
ok, so you mean you have downloaded the latest drivers?
were these the drivers you were using when it did work, are all windows updates done?

The nVidia drivers I'm using are 266.58. They worked perfectly in my old HTPC with Media Centre menu buttery smooth. In this new HTPC, the same drivers give a stuttery Media Centre menu.

I've tried changing the graphics priority options in the BIOS so that the integrated graphics take first priority. No luck, the screen still remains blank when turned on after the computer. I can even hear Windows play the little sound it makes when you unplug a device (which I know it can do for digital displays) but it never plays the little sound to indicate it has been connected again.

Yes all Windows updates are done in all circumstances.

So I'm still at my witts end!
 
the no display thing, can you expand on this? what actually happens when you turn the tv on? nothing at all? does the display flicker at all? is the detected in the ati drivers?
 
Was this a clean windows install with the new parts?

Yes a clean install of Windows 7. Tried both 32 bit and 64 bit (up to about the 5th installation now!).

the no display thing, can you expand on this? what actually happens when you turn the tv on? nothing at all? does the display flicker at all? is the detected in the ati drivers?

No display at all. The TV just sits with 'HDMI1' in the corner to indicate that's the input currently selected.

The TV is the only display attached, and when the HTPC is rebooted or woken with the TV already switched on, it works no problem. The issue is, the HTPC will automatically turn itself on to record TV programs. If you then decide you want to do something with it, you can't because when you turn the TV on there's no picture until you've rebooted (which I obviously don't want to do when a TV program is recording!).

Many thanks


M
 
My dad has this same thing happen with his htpc, but doesnt happen to his normal pc (which is currently attached to the same tv). I think the problem may lie with the fact it uses an old 7600 mobile graphics card (its based on laptop hardware), however from what i read it sounds like you are using desktop hardware.

Is the htpc definately using the discreet card, and is the output resolution native to the tv?
 
My dad has this same thing happen with his htpc, but doesnt happen to his normal pc (which is currently attached to the same tv). I think the problem may lie with the fact it uses an old 7600 mobile graphics card (its based on laptop hardware), however from what i read it sounds like you are using desktop hardware.

Is the htpc definately using the discreet card, and is the output resolution native to the tv?

Hi yeah I'm using desktop class hardware and the 8400GS coped perfectly fine in the old mobo, it's just now it doesn't work well! BTW, if Media Centre is in windowed mode, it's as smooth as butter. It's only when it's full screen that it gets stuttery.

It's definitely using the discreet graphics card now as that's what the TV is connected to! It's a Panasonic Plasma (P42G10) and is 1080p resolution.
 
Now the damn thing has just given me a BSOD! I hope it's the one and only BSOD I get given that was the issue that caused me to buy whole new mobo, CPU and ram to begin with....
 
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