[theeggman]

Hi all

I'm having problems with my TBS 5980 USB DVB S2 tuner, with it freezing when changing channels in WMC (w7 64 bit). All the drivers are up to date, and this is the second one I've had after sending the first one back. Either I'm very unlucky and have received a second faulty one, or my system is causing the problem, or the product is flawed!

I'm running a new Acer revo 3700 (win 7 64 bit, 3gb ram).

On the first tuner I had, it would always freeze after around 30s of constantly changing channels. It did it in WMC and another DVB viewer software (can't recall which). The new one does it less frequently, but is still averaging a daily freeze, which is very annoying

So, given that I'd hope TBS would not just sell flawed products, does anyone have any suggestions for things I could try? I'm about to give mediaportal a try, but I'm not holding out much hope...

Any help greatful received!

[AMc]

Have you got a Sky or Freesat box to check the LNB on the dish?
It could be that at fault.
Have you got another PC you can try the USB tuner in to rule it in/or out as the cause?

[theeggman]

I've been using a freesat box without any problem up to this point, so I can rule out the LNB. I'll give it a try on the laptop and see how it fares. It's a Vista laptop, so not a completely comparable test. Still, if it works on the laptop and not the revo, at least it will narrow the fault down. Will report back later.

[atothej]

I might be wrong, but if your PSU is not powerful enough, maybe that is where your problem lies. With these freesat cards, doesn't the card give power to move the lnb?

[spyder viewer]

The tuner does in deed need to supply power to the LNB which is why you are supplied with a separate mains power adaptor. OP, you are using it aren't you?

[theeggman]

I had been using the PSU supplied with the tuner. I contacted TBS when I had problesm with the first unit, and they also suggested that it may be the PSU, and to try a 12v 2A DC supply (original was 7.5V).

My old freesat box used this supply, so I tried it out and it made little difference. I've carried on using this higher power PSU on the new one I've been sent. Could go higher perhaps, but then again, I don't want to fry the tuner!

[Jimbo22]

I have one of these and also suffer problems.

Mine randomly decides to freeze and blue screen the computer. Only way of fixing it is to turn off the computer, pull the power lead from the tuner and then turn it all back on again. I have found no indication to what causes these crashes, as it really does seem completely random. Have you noticed if your tuner gets hot? as iv noticed mine gets very very hot. which definately cant be right.

As far as i know i am running the most up to date drivers, also on a revo 3700, with 4gb ram.

I also get pixelation problems with this tuner, no such problems with dvb t2 and never had problems with freesat box.

Would be very interested in any solutions here..

Cheers, James.

[theeggman]

I've heard of the heat problem from others, but mine doesn't really get anything more than warm, and no warmer than the old freesat box used to anyway.

Often mine will freeze up just when navigating the guide, not when actually changing channels, so not entirely convinced it's the PSU issue. I was wondering whether there is something to do with the remote - I'm using an old WMC remote on an HP IR receiver. The tuner itself has an IR receiver too, so I don't know whether it receives something at the same time as my seperate IR does and goes loopy. It's very annoying though. I will try play around this weekend, including trying it on my vista laptop, and report back.

General performance is good though, and no problems with signal quality. It changes channels quicker than my freesat box does too, so I am keen to resolve this. It runs fine up until you touch the remote and do something, at which point you run the risk of it freezing up. Often a hibernation will restore it, but on other occaisions WMC just says the tuner is in use, and I need to restart and power off the tunder. VERY annoying.

[neil123456]

Sounds like either it's a remote issue or something is clashing ie another card etc.

I know when I had a dvbt pci card plugged in then I tried using a tbs6980 pci card I'd experience similar problems. Usually freezing up, blue screens and reboots. When I looked into this it turned out to be irq addressing.

I've also heard issues with power supplies causing wierd things to happen. My htpc has been acting weird recently and I've just changed to a 750w decent psu and so far it's been stable!

[theeggman]

Fingers crossed, but I think it's sorted - 2 days now and no freezing at all! I'm using the HP remote with the HP IR receiver now, and also covered the IR receiver on the tuner just to be on the safe side.

So the cause of my problems is either the HP IR receiver not liking the WMC remote I had, or the tuner IR trying to do something at the same time as the USB IR. Either way, it works now so I won't bother trying to find out which is which (but my guess is mixing the makes of IR receiver and remote was the cause)

I hope I haven't tempted fate by claiming it's fixed, but it's never gone two days without a freeze before.