media center locking up & wondering if it's because of my video card


  1. dmehling
    Posts : 47
    Windows 7
       New #1

    media center locking up & wondering if it's because of my video card


    Three times yesterday my computer apparently locked up while I was watching recorded high-definition programs in Windows Media Center. Two of these times the screen simply went blank and I got the no signal detected message on my monitor. I have no idea what was going on with my computer at that point since I could not see anything (couldn't hear anything either because the audio was coming out of my HDTV which I was using to watch the programs via a DVI/HDMI connection). The other time this happened, it simply froze the screen and the whole computer was unresponsive. All three times I had to turn off the computer and turn it back on; I couldn't get it to reboot any other way. These lockups occurred after about 30 minutes of TV watching and were accompanied by one of my fans revving up real high. I'm wondering if the cause is from my video card overheating which could explain the loss of the video signal and maybe the reason for the fan spinning so fast. Today I would stop my TV programs after about 30 minutes and wait five minutes before resuming and I had no lockups. Does this sound like the video card or something else?
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  3. dmehling
    Posts : 47
    Windows 7
    Thread Starter
       New #2

    Does anyone have an answer for this yet as?
    Last edited by dmehling; 06 Apr 2011 at 12:05.
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  4. jng
    Posts : 3
    win7 64
       New #3

    I got the same problem. What video card are you using? I'm using a Nvida G210. I updated all windows update and vid card driver and still have the same problem
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  6. Vertex
    Posts : 477
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32 Bit, Windows Developer Preview, Linux Mint 9 Gnome 32 Bit
       New #4

    It seems to be a hardware problem. Can you try to run Media Center's setup again?

    You can also try FixWin:

    Repair & Fix Windows problems with FixWin Utility | The Windows Club

    It has the ability to flush Media Center's database which should reset your TV. Then try watching TV for more than 30 minutes and see if the lockups persist. If the lockups persist, then it may be a problem with video card that's causing these lockups.
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  7. jng
    Posts : 3
    win7 64
       New #5

    I did the flush and re-install and the problem is intermittent. I just got thru 40 min w/o problems, but the next day it froze around 45 mins in. I don't have the fan rev'ing on my computer. I just did a win updates + driver update and no problems yet. Not sure if this will fix it. Want to try watch wtv files other than media center, but can't find another alternate program available....
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  8. Vertex
    Posts : 477
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32 Bit, Windows Developer Preview, Linux Mint 9 Gnome 32 Bit
       New #6

    If you have existing recorded TV shows that are now in the form of .wtv files, you can watch them using Windows Media Player instead of Media Center.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails media center locking up & wondering if it's because of my video card-wtv-wmp.png  
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  10. jng
    Posts : 3
    win7 64
       New #7

    Latest update: I installed the most recent win7 updates and I don't have any problems now. Sounds like a OS/software issue. It's been over a week.
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