TV Wonder Pro install issues

[Checky Pantz]

Just bought a new off-the-shelf TV Wonder Pro (PCI) for my Dell
Dimension 2400 (Intel 82845 G/GL "Extreme Graphics" chipset onboard) -
New Hardware Wizard reports that it cannot find the correct drivers for
the software, despite the install CD being in the drive. I've read that
ATi stuff isn't the best for installation in general, but I was
wondering if it's a manufacturer issue or a problem with my video
drivers. FWIW, the Device Manager reports that there are now four
unknown Multimedia Controllers in my system and one unknown Multimedia
Video Controller. Thanks for any help offered...

 

[Paul Murphy]

Just bought a new off-the-shelf TV Wonder Pro (PCI) for my Dell
Dimension 2400 (Intel 82845 G/GL "Extreme Graphics" chipset onboard) -
New Hardware Wizard reports that it cannot find the correct drivers for
the software, despite the install CD being in the drive. I've read that
ATi stuff isn't the best for installation in general, but I was
wondering if it's a manufacturer issue or a problem with my video
drivers. FWIW, the Device Manager reports that there are now four
unknown Multimedia Controllers in my system and one unknown Multimedia
Video Controller. Thanks for any help offered...

Just having the cdrom in the drive isn't enough - you need to run the
installation program (if it doesn't autorun) and that will install the
required drivers. The simplest way to do this is to right click on the cdrom
in windows explorer and select it there. Once you've completed the
installation and rebooted the PC then there should be no more exclamation
marks in device manager.

Additionally, if you dont have a paper setup guide with the hardware, there
will likely be instructions on the cd, perhaps in a pdf format.

Paul

 

[Checky Pantz]

I went through the installation process via the CD's installer, and it
went through the following actions:

1) Attempted to install DirectX - I have 9.0c installed, so I don't
believe it made any changes.
2) Unified Component Install, which went into the UCI Setup program.
The UCI Setup installed:
a) MDAC
b) Windows Media Encoder
c) Data Access Object
It then completed that part of the installation.
3) Then attempted to install Multimedia Center 8.x (which it referred
to as MMC82 in a later screen). It appeared to finish this
installation. However, there was no confirmation of such on the screen,
and no prompt to reboot.

I restarted the machine, and there have been no changes in the status
of the question-marked items in Device Manager, and the only new item
in Start > Programs is a group called "Windows Media," which opens into
a subgroup named "Utilities" and an alias to "Windows Media Encoder".
"Utilities" subgroup opens into "Windows Media File Editor", "Windows
Media Profile Editor," and "Windows Media Stream Editor," as well as
"Windows Media Encoding Script". Nothing in the folders these aliases
point to suggests any way to access the features of the TV Wonder Pro.

Still hoping to get unstuck...

 

[Paul Murphy]

I went through the installation process via the CD's installer, and it
went through the following actions:

1) Attempted to install DirectX - I have 9.0c installed, so I don't
believe it made any changes.
2) Unified Component Install, which went into the UCI Setup program.
The UCI Setup installed:
a) MDAC
b) Windows Media Encoder
c) Data Access Object
It then completed that part of the installation.
3) Then attempted to install Multimedia Center 8.x (which it referred
to as MMC82 in a later screen). It appeared to finish this
installation. However, there was no confirmation of such on the screen,
and no prompt to reboot.

I restarted the machine, and there have been no changes in the status
of the question-marked items in Device Manager, and the only new item
in Start > Programs is a group called "Windows Media," which opens into
a subgroup named "Utilities" and an alias to "Windows Media Encoder".
"Utilities" subgroup opens into "Windows Media File Editor", "Windows
Media Profile Editor," and "Windows Media Stream Editor," as well as
"Windows Media Encoding Script". Nothing in the folders these aliases
point to suggests any way to access the features of the TV Wonder Pro.

Still hoping to get unstuck...

As I mentioned earlier if you have a paper installation guide that would
help, additionally there may be a pdf on the CD somewhere (look at the
folder names on the CD). Additionally, the drivers may be under a subfolder
on the CD - either have a search for then either in a drivers then win xp
subfolder or else you can download them from ATIs website.

You'll find since there isn't an auto installation program for drivers on
the CD, if the web download ones don't automatically install after a reboot
(still have questionmarks) then you'll need to delete those questionmarked
items, reboot and then when it asks for the drivers browse to either the
right folder on the CD or to where you saved the driver files downoaded from
the web (and extracted/run - ie not the single download file).

After correctly installing the drivers (and getting no questionmarks in
device manager after a reboot and time to settle down and load all the
drivers (give it a minute or two to search for and instal them), you'll then
need to reinstall MMC if you dont have a TV icon in your menu.

Are you unstuck yet?

Paul

 

[Checky Pantz]

Got mostly unstuck. The problem, as near as I can tell, is with MMC. I
tried installing using the 9.08 driver from the ATI website, and as it
was going through its script, I got the following error from the
InstallShield Wizard: "RegDBGetKeyValueEx failed." The same problem
occurred using the old 8.x installer from the CD.

ATI has been less than helpful in getting this solved (they really do
enjoy calling tickets "resolved" when they are anything but), and
InstallShield's only recommendation was to contact the hardware's
creator for assistance (after a thorough search through their error
database).

My window on returning this thing is drawing to a close in about a
week, and I'm very close to giving it up and buying something useful,
like groceries.

Any further ideas? Thanks for all the help so far.

-jason

 

[Rob G]

Go to www.rage3d.com and see if you can find your answer in the forums
there.

Do not count on ATI tech support helping you. I had to deal with one of
their
tier 2 support people with an X850 card and the guy just wanted to argue
with me
during the troubleshooting process. The DVI on the card did not work and
the
guy just would not believe it was the card because the DVI->VGA adapter
still worked.
Of course it worked because the vga (analogue) signal is on different pins
than the
digital. Hence it is called a DVI-I connector whereas I = Integrated
analogue and digital.
I was able to exchange the card where I bought it and that one had working
DVI.

Now having said that, my TV Wonder Pro has never worked %100 since I got
it. The
picture randomly freezes and I need to exit MMC. Some days it will never do
this and
other days it might happen a few times. It's really a hit and miss problem
and I've gone
through 3 systems with the same card and the problem always persists. When
I tried
to get support I was either ignored or hey sent me some canned
troubleshooting info
which was no help at all and promptly called the case resolved. This is
about as good
as tech support gets these days. IBM is now charging $350/hour to even just
answer
basic support questions on their servers even if they are in warranty. They
even charge
$300 for 3 months(?) of email notifications if they release new versions of
their support
software.

Rob