Problem with skystar 2 card

[fleegle]

I bought my card a few months ago and to be honest I have never really been able to use it consistently without frequent crashes and stability problems.http://www.techwatch.co.uk/forums/im...cons/icon8.gif
Angry

My computer has 256 RAM and a AMD athlon 2200 processor - I have only on board graphics.

I have loaded the software and drivers from the CD but have have found DVB dream the most user friendly to configure. However using this too has resulted in frequent crashes and very high CPU usage- the help section on DVB dreams suggests that this maybe codec related but to be honest I am feeling a bit out of my depth now and I am not sure what this means. I think I am using an old codec which came when I bought the PC.

I have found this forum very useful last year when I set up my satellite system. I hope you guys can be of equal assistance to me with this.

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Smile

[jontydog]

Hi fleegle. Can you tell us which operating system you are using and which version of dvbdream? I had problems with xp and dvbdream in version 1.3 but have found version 1.4 alot better.

[fleegle]

Thanks for your reply Jontydog. I am running Windows xp sp2 and DVB dream 1.4. I have found it was easy to install and to scan a satellite- However when it comes to viewing tv the cpu usage is very high often 100%- When it comes to changing channel the program invariably crashes. Thanks.

[Jimdefruit]

Hi fleegle, I think your problem is memory related. Unfortunately with onboard graphics, the video steals memory from the system ram rather than having its own ram. Your options are to fit a graphics card with its own memory or greatly increase the installed memory. The best option would be to do both if you can.

[fleegle]

Thanks Jimdefruit

I know the motherboard will take more RAM. Hopefully it will support a generic graphics card too. Quite happy to give this a go if it solves the problem.

Thanks again

[fleegle]

Thought I'd update on progress.

My original post was inaccurate in that I actually have always had 512MB of Ram not 256 as stated.

Nevertheless the problem was, as Jimdefriut suggested to do with the on-board graphics. The motherboard of my computer is quite old so it seemed sensible to search for an old 4X agp graphics card on e-bay- the most the board supports anyway. I bought an old card 64MB for next to nothing - this alone seems to have sorted the problem out.

I would like to upgrade to 1GB which is the most the MB will take- but unfortunately this is relatively expensive as it is old sdram that I need- can still get it but at a price.

I have changed viewing program to Prog dvb as it seems to be less demanding on the CPU- though dvb dream seemed to run ok as well. It was easy to set up the disques settings- I have two dishes pointing at Astra1 and 2. Thanks for your advise Jimdefruit I am sure there will be more questions to come.

[BGonaSTICK]

Glad you're sorted. On-board graphics have always given me headaches. Never again.

What memory do you need?

[fleegle]

Hi Stick
I think I have messed up with upgrading the ram on my computer. There are only two slots on the MB and the manual suggests that it will supports 2*512 mb sdram pc133. A scan from crucial upgrades suggests the same. Trouble is this costs £70- alot of money to put into such an old computer. Searching on E-bay I picked up what looked like the same for £25 -bargain. Trouble is it doesn't work. Computer doesn't boot at all. I am now left unsure whether I have bought duff gear or whether it is not compatible in some way. Not sure what to do next- I have contacted the seller who seems quite genuine ..he bought it new and it didn't work in his computer! He assumed it was a compatibility issue and resold. I can't really do the same as I strongly suspect it is indeed dodgy gear.

There you go....bet you are sorry you asked now! Cheers.

[fleegle]

Appreciate this thread has gone way off topic.....but just in case anyone is interested...

The problem with the RAM I bought is that it is ECC- designed mainly for servers. Going to sell that and buy the non ECC sdram I should have bought in the first place! You live and learn I suppose.