Hp Media Center M7560n + Ati Video Card = Crash, Looking for some diagnosic help.

[vtnwesley]

Hi,

I recent purchased an HP Media Center

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Specifications-of-HP-Pavilion-Media-Center-TV-PC-M7560N/sem/rpsm/oid/154139/rpem/ccd/productDetailSpecification.do#tabs

When I first got it, I did extensive hardware testing to make sure it all worked. It all seemed to check out. I reinstalled the Windows XP Media Center 2005 OEM OS (as many know, these things usually come loaded with adware and spyware, enough to make even an Athlon 64 x2 or Core 2 Duo slow to a crawl). After all was done and installed and working, I installed a Radeon x700 Pro which is very tested and working. The video card driver crashes all over itself. It usually can't produce a login screen. I blindly type in my password, and it logs in, then the VPU recovery tool featured as a part of the ATI control center tells me it crashed, and had to reinitialize. It jumps between doing that and a blue screen.

It seems to be running fine on integrated video, and the video card does in fact work. I've been using it for a long time now on another system. All of my drivers are up to date. I've tried several different ATI drivers.

My working theories are:

1. AMD integrated northbridge needing drivers that are not available to me
2. The nForce (410/430, forget which) simply not liking ATI video cards
3. The ATI driver not being media center compatible.

If anyone knows anything about this, let me know whats up. This is the first AMD system I've worked with post-64, so maybe I am missing something obvious.

Thanks in advance.

[jonnyGURU]

You should have tested the PC with the installed OS before installing the video card.

I'd reinstall the OS using the recovery disc and then pop in the video card and see what happens.

If it still crashes, I'd consider a PSU upgrade.

[vtnwesley]

Currently re-imaging it with the restore discs (i.e. putting it all back the way it came, spyware and all) to retest. I'll let you know how it goes.

I've already ruled out the power supply theory to the best of my knowledge. Everything still happens the same with a high rated Silverstone PSU. Forget the model specifically, but it's one of the more highly regarded ones on this very site.

[jonnyGURU]

Hmm... Well, with a known good system w/ on board video and a known good video card, your only variables are:

OS/drivers
Power supply (not enough power)
Bad motherboard (faulty slot)

You've already ruled out the power supply. Hopefully it's just the OS. ;)

Even though it's an nForce board, the ATI card should still work.

Before you install the ATI card, do this: Go to nVidia's website and download the newest nForce platform chipset drivers. Do all of your Windows Updates. Then install the ATI card. Use the CD that came with the video card. Then download the newest Catalyst driver.

[vtnwesley]

Based on what I've seen, this was a (basically self-induced) problem involving some CPU/motherboard driver confusion. This system seems to be working right after re-imaging it with the restore discs.

Anyhow, the problem is fixed. I just need to find the drivers for when/if I should need to reinstall windows without an image. I thought I did install the Nvidia platform driver set before. Maybe it was missing something...

[vtnwesley]

Apparently, Kaspersky anti-virus doesn't work on this system (either because it's an Athlon 64 or because of the Media Center OS I assume). It is mostly responsible for the problems. I installed it after confirming everything worked, and most of my problems came back almost immediately.

Strangely, Sonic Riders (demo) seems to be having trouble too, which is weird because it seems to run on almost anything. Other similar games seem to run fine, but I still can't help getting the feeling this has something to do with the setup rather than the game itself.