GA X58A-UD3R: Pinnacle Hybrid TV Tuner (PCIe) not recognised

[w_tanoto]

Dear all.... I am new here. I am also new to Gigabyte product, but I chose gigabyte because it is superior compared to Intel's board. My gigabyte experience started off really badly (I won't give the details here since it is no longer a problem), but I am enjoying it now. I will probably buy my next motherboard from Gigabyte again. All went well, except for one thing

So, I'll go ahead and give my specs:
Corsair TX750 Power Supply
Intel Core i7 750 3.06 GHz
10GB DDR3 Memory in total - I can't use slot 2 because of earlier accident
      2GB Memory Team DDR3 in slots 1, 3, 4, 5 (Total 8GB)
      2GB Memory V-Gen DDR3 in slot 6 (Total 2GB)
2.5TB HDD in total
      1TB WD Caviar Black SATAIII in SATA slot 6, 7 (Total 2TB)
      500GB WD Caviar Green SATAII in SATA slot 8 (Total 500GB)
LG Blu-ray Disc/HD DVD reader in SATA slot 0
LG Blu-ray Disc writer in SATA slot 4
Samsung DVD-RW drive in SATA slot 9
ASUS ENGTX465 (nVIDIA) 1GB DDR5 in PCIe x16 Slot 1 (PCIe x8 slot 1 is not accessible)
D-Link N150 Wireless Adaptor in PCI slot
Floppy Disk Drive
Card Reader

Logitech G15 Keyboard
Logitech VX Nano Mouse
Logitech Z506 Speaker
Logitech Webcam
Bluetooth Dongle with no brand
A 2.0 speaker without brand


And here comes the trouble:
Pinnacle Hybrid PCIe TV Tuner Analog/DVB-T in slot 2 PCIe x1

Firstly, there are no indications whatsoever from BIOS that this card is troublesome.
I only became suspicious of something wrong because of repeated failed Windows installation attemps (both Vista and 7). It stuck to the point after which my keyboard was detected (my keyboard has an LCD and lighting which flickers during the installation). I knew I should not install my HDD to SATA ports that are controlled by Intel's chipset - see specs, which according to a source, can cause the installation to hang. So that was not the case. I took off the components one by one, and eventually came up to the TV card. The Windows Installation was successful after I took off the TV card.

After the installation, I installed all the drivers. All working correctly, except the TV card. It's undetectable. I installed the drivers, use Media Player. Nothing....

I still refused to believe my TV card was damaged. I took a proper precaution by grounding myself, and not to touch the components unless necessary.

I also found this. I think in some way the problem is similar to my case:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/255208-30-pcie-tuner-update-video-card

Could anybody possibly tell me how to do that, and the good PCI bus value to start with. (Gigabyte motherboard gives me warning not to increase it to over 100MHz in BIOS setup). I am somewhat scared with modifying the value. Last time it caused a major problem for me until fixed by a Gigabyte technician. All started because I pushed the CMOS clear button.

Thanks in advance

[w_tanoto]

one more thing: I also tried PCIe x8 Slot 2. Same result

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

Well I am suprised that your motherboard is working at all with the way you have got the memory configured. I really wouldn't have expected it to boot. I mean you have no module in DDR3_2 and then you have an entirely different make/model in DDR3_6

Your boot drive should be in SATA2_0 on the IntelICH10R Southbridge controller followed by the rest of your hard drives and then the optical drives I would advise putting on the Marvell 9128 SATA3 controlled ports and set them to IDE mode in the BIOS.

As to why your TV card isn't working I don't know but would suggest trying it in another system if you can to make sure that it isn't faulty.

[w_tanoto]

Hi

Well I am suprised that your motherboard is working at all with the way you have got the memory configured. I really wouldn't have expected it to boot. I mean you have no module in DDR3_2 and then you have an entirely different make/model in DDR3_6

Your boot drive should be in SATA2_0 on the IntelICH10R Southbridge controller followed by the rest of your hard drives and then the optical drives I would advise putting on the Marvell 9128 SATA3 controlled ports and set them to IDE mode in the BIOS.

As to why your TV card isn't working I don't know but would suggest trying it in another system if you can to make sure that it isn't faulty.

Thx for your reply. Yes, unfortunately for the memory, I had to do it that way. Previously I installed it from solt 1-5, with slot 6 empty. After that accident, I have to keep slot 2 blank for the computer to boot or else. Nevertheless, it detected full 10GB memory. I originally intended for my system to have only 8GB memory. The 2GB came from my other computer which will not accept a 2GB memory despite it accepting 1GB memory. So, I plugged it in. It worked.

As for my HDD/ODD config, see:
http://www.thinkcomputers.org/gigabyte-x58a-ud3r-intel-x58-lga-1366-motherboard-review/

Windows 7 installer freezes with the hard disk and optical drive hooked up to the Southbridge-powered SATA ports. Workaround: install Windows 7 with the drives connected to the Gigabyte SATA2 controller. After the successful installation the Southbridge-powered ports work.

I don't want to risk another blown PSU (well, it's a part of the accident) by disassembling the computer in order to reach the SATA port, hence my installation. I disconnected the ODD (BD/HD DVD and BD-RE drives) from the Intel controller when installing windows, so none connected to it during the installation.

I am still doing a research on my TV Tuner. It seems that it started to looks like these bunch of people using ASUS board, despite the brand of the TV tuner:
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&id=20100124194801687&board_id=1&model=P7P55D-E%20PRO&page=1&count=13

I will let you know if there are developments on this issue.
Thx

[Dark Mantis]

What exactly was this accident that you keep referring to?
It sounds a bit drastic and may have damaged your motherboard?

I don't know what this thinkcomputer site you linked to is on about but it is  not the best advice. It just doesn't make sense to put your boot drive on the SATA3 port as they are actually slower than the SATA2 ports controlled by the Intel chip.

As far as I can see your computer must be running in Single Channel mode with the memory configuration that you have at the moment. As I said before I am suprised it boots at all.

[w_tanoto]

What exactly was this accident that you keep referring to?
It sounds a bit drastic and may have damaged your motherboard?

I don't know what this thinkcomputer site you linked to is on about but it is  not the best advice. It just doesn't make sense to put your boot drive on the SATA3 port as they are actually slower than the SATA2 ports controlled by the Intel chip.

As far as I can see your computer must be running in Single Channel mode with the memory configuration that you have at the moment. As I said before I am suprised it boots at all.

Ok, I thought that accident caused damage to my motherboard, but apparently no. All started when I hit the Clear CMOS button. I ended up with a damaged power supply and a useless RAM slot 2. I got my PSU replaced, but still couldn't boot until after I took my motherboard and new PSU to a technician, who boot the MB with 500Watt basic power supply, and changed 2 settings (I forgot what - something about mV), and it work on that new PSU. Then I re-insert my RAM all at once to slot 1-5. The computer won't boot. So I repeat it, but this time installed it to slot 1, 3, 5 first. It was fine. and then to slot 2. That is when my computer failed to boot once again. So I emptied slot 2. I'm not sure if it's single channel or not. In BIOS, it was shown that I have channel A, B, and C.

About my HDD config, it's not only that site that said that. Several other sites said the same thing - don't install HDD and ODD in Intel-controlled SATA ports when installing windows
Actually the boot drive is the 500GB SATA II. I originally installed this into SATA 0 port per my experience to install boot HDD to port 0. This didn't work. The installation hangs (this was before I installed various other things such as that troublesome TV Tuner, etc). It hangs in different ways compared to when the TV Card was installed. (BSOD when TV card was inserted after detecting graphic card, no mouse/keyboard response after detecting my keyboard when TV card was excluded, but with HDD and ODD in Intel controlled SATA). I moved the HDD and ODD to port 8/9, and disconnected the rest of the ODD. SATAIII drives stays in Marvell-controlled SATA ports.

I have sent a support request to gigabyte about PCIe x1 port.

[Dark Mantis]

I have sent a support request to gigabyte about PCIe x1 port.

That is a good idea but I am sure that they will just say the same as me regarding the damaged motherboard as it is hard to faultfind when the base you are working on is not completely 100% in the first place.

The thing about the optical and hard drives is that it is best especially if the controller is set to AHCI mode to put the optical drives on another controller that is IDE mode.

By the way would you mind updating your profile with your location as it can make some things easier to deal with. Thanks.

[w_tanoto]

I have sent a support request to gigabyte about PCIe x1 port.

That is a good idea but I am sure that they will just say the same as me regarding the damaged motherboard as it is hard to faultfind when the base you are working on is not completely 100% in the first place.

The thing about the optical and hard drives is that it is best especially if the controller is set to AHCI mode to put the optical drives on another controller that is IDE mode.

By the way would you mind updating your profile with your location as it can make some things easier to deal with. Thanks.

Just realised about that 100% thing. Yes, I agree with you. Actually, the technician offered me a new motherboard replacement when I told him about slot 2 RAM. I stupidly said to him that I have assembled the system, and I am afraid to bring down another power supply. I will try to go again tomorrow (damn christmas/new year holidays - hopefully they are open full day). I was actually also planning to upgrade to full 12GB.

Unfortunately about my location, it is rather difficult. Sometimes I live in Jakarta, Indonesia (my current location). Sometimes in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK. I will probably just put Indonesia for now.

[Dark Mantis]

If you are planning to fill all the memory slots you will have to configure the settings manually because of the extra load put on the memory controller. You will probably have to increase the memory voltage too.

[w_tanoto]

If you are planning to fill all the memory slots you will have to configure the settings manually because of the extra load put on the memory controller. You will probably have to increase the memory voltage too.

I think i will have no problem on that. I will just simply take all of the RAMs and Processor still attached directly to the distributor. I'll ask him to set it up again for me on the new board. I can't be bothered to have a bricked power supply again. Just finished disassembling the computer.

[Dark Mantis]

If he is happy to do that for you that is ideal. Just make sure he ups the voltage etc a little to compensate and doesn't just try to leave it on Auto.

[w_tanoto]

If he is happy to do that for you that is ideal. Just make sure he ups the voltage etc a little to compensate and doesn't just try to leave it on Auto.

by the way, thanks for all of the advice. apparently today is a holiday here. I got no chance of exchanging it until 03/01/2011. Meanwhile, I will prepare for the installation and transfer of data from my older computer. I will also move one of my HDD for a test of that wretched TV card on other computer (I don't want to jeopardise my activated installation in that computer's HDD)

[Dark Mantis]

Yes that sounds like a sensible idea. It would be good to be able to check that it is not a faulty card before going to too much trouble.

[w_tanoto]

I can confirm that my TV Tuner is indeed dead, probably also from that accident. Unfortunately for me, the (only) shop for this item is currently closed for christmas holiday, opening on 4 January 2011, while on that day, I am going to Australia.

Nevertheless, tomorrow i will still exchange my MB for a new one because of RAM slot 2 not working. It gives me not-so-good feeling when you said that my expensive MB is not 100% okay, and unfortunately, I agree with you.

[Dark Mantis]

Please keep us posted of how you get on with this problem.