"Solution" to WinTV Initialization Error. hTV=0

[Petey]

I very often get the "WinTV Initialization Error. hTV=0" in Windows XP. I have tried moving the pvr 350 card to the first, second  and third pci slot but the error still show up. Normally I remove the driver with hcwclear and reinstall. But i just found an easier way to get my pvr 350  to work again. I go to the Control panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device manager -> Sound video and game controllers. Then i deactivate the pvr 350 card and activate it again and the wintv 2000 works again.

Please let me know if it works for you.

[kny3twalker]

there is a way I would do it

download his new "beta" cd from here, they are the official drivers now not beta

first unzip the folder to your desktop

then close everything sage too
maybe even reboot so you are starting with nothing going

then run unregister.bat from the cd folder
then run hcw.clear.exe and put an additional check in the search for conflicting inf's
afterwards uninstall smd intervideo hauppauge decoder if you have it installed

next reboot
and when the hardware wizard comes up hit advanced
then next
then check the circle with browse at the beginning of it thats it
then hit browse
browse to the unzipped folder on your desktop
then hit ok
then hit next
and continue install when it asks
then next
then finish
if you take to long it will give a driver error and you will have to run hcw.clear.exe again
so do it when the wizard comes up
if it is still not updating then check the device manager and make sure it does not have a exclaimation mark beside the card
the only time I have seen this error was after installing a pvr card
WinTV 2000 still worked afterwards and I never saw it again
but here are some instructions on how to install

[Petey]

Do you have any IRQ conflicts or memory adress sharing with your hauppage card ? (You can check it by running msinfo32 from Start -> Run and choose Hardware ressources -> Conflicts / Sharing in the menu)

[kny3twalker]

no and if you want use can use pcilock to correct this issue of sharing IRQs
there is a topic in here but the best info can be found at msdn.com and use there search feature

also you can try putting the 350 in a slot that is not sharing an IRQ

[EnochLight]

I'm also getting the dreaded "WinTV Initialization Error. hTV=0" when trying to launch WinTV2000, and Beyond TV won't let me initialize because of it of course.

My PVR250 is sharing an IRQ, but that's nothing new - there's no conflict.  This only happened after I reformatted.  Same PCI slot as always, and she was working fine prior.  Damn peculiar!

And...I'm missing shows to record!  DAAAAAMN!!!

Any other ideas?

Cheers,

EnochLight

[SHS]

did you even try to use PCILOCK switch boot command EnochLight

[zaphod7501]

Another step might be involved to get Pcilock to work. It might be necessary to force ESCD update in the BIOS.
While I'm not having any problem with every PCI device on IRQ11 , I discovered that the BIOS had rearranged all the IRQs to match Windows 2000 settings as close as it could. I suspect my dual boot Win98 might not work very well now because of it. Formerly unique IRQs are now shared.
Another caution could be that if you update ESCD and use /pcilock , an accidental startup without /pcolock could undo it's effect and rearrange the IRQs again.

[EnochLight]

did you even try to use PCILOCK switch boot command EnochLight

I'm afriad I don't know how to use PCILOCK.  That said, I switched my PVR250 to PCI slot 3 (Audugy 2 is in PCI 5) and now it works.  However, if I reboot for any reason I get the htv=0 error again.  All I do at that point is go to my PVR250 in Device Manager and update driver (to the same one it uses) and it starts working again.

However, I have to do this *everytime I reboot*!  WTF man, this sucks totally.  It only begain when I started using my RAID controlller in RAID on my A7N8X-Deluxe.  I was using it before, but just as a JBOD controller.

There has to be an easier way to fix this nusiance!

Cheers,

EnochLight

[pancapangrawit]

I would like to come back to Petey's initial point. Does his solution - restarting the device in device manager - work for others (I can't try it myself at the moment). If yes, would there be a way to automate those steps?
Petey, do you happen to have an ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe?

[Petey]

I have an ASUS A7N8X GD. At the moment I am trying to find out what windows does when i deactivate and activate the card. Maybe it can be automated.

I will try pcilock soon.

[SHS]

Type in RUN command notepad c:\boot.ini
Then you should see something like

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
Copy the above line and add new line and add switch command to it Change OS to some like what I did.
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Test PCILOCK" /fastdetect /pcilock
Save it and then REBOOT ocen that done you see a menu you can chosse from.

[EnochLight]

I would like to come back to Petey's initial point. Does his solution - restarting the device in device manager - work for others (I can't try it myself at the moment). If yes, would there be a way to automate those steps?
Petey, do you happen to have an ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe?

I have an Asus A7N8X-Deluxe rev 1.04 (BIOS 1007).  Restarting my PVR250 by ''updating the drivers'' fixes my issue.  I do have to do this everytime I reboot however.  Planning to try the PCI lock thing next.

Cheers,

EnochLight

[EnochLight]

Type in RUN command notepad c:\boot.ini
Then you should see something like

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
Copy the above line and add new line and add switch command to it Change OS to some like what I did.
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Test PCILOCK" /fastdetect /pcilock
Save it and then REBOOT ocen that done you see a menu you can chosse from.

Thanks SHS,

I tried it.  The very first time I rebooted using the PCILOCK option, it worked.  However, just for safe measure I rebooted again and...

Guess what?

I got the "htv=0" error again!  I had to update the drivers via Device Manager, reboot, update again, and then it worked.

This is highly peculiar.  I have no idea why this started when it worked fine prior to my reformat.  Damn peculiar!

Cheers,

EnochLight

[kny3twalker]

you ever consider taking out all pci cards doing the reformat then put them back in one at a time starting with the pvr 250 and see if the problem goes away
did you use anything to wipe the drive between formatting the disk

[pancapangrawit]

EnochLight, if I understand Petey correctly, the doesn't mean updating the devicedriver (=reinstall it) but simply deactivate (in the same context-menu another option) first and then activate again. I guess technically it's comparable to reloading a driver or restarting a service without changing/replacing any of the files or the configuration which you can controll manually.  Like switching off and on the card.