Rainbow Runner G PROBLEMS!

[JustinB]

I'm having serious problems with my RRG. Worked fine to begin with, then one day none of the TV channels were available and autoscan wouldn't pick any up. Mediastudio reckoned it was unable to access the capture device, too. Sent it back to Matrox, another one came through on Friday. Installed it Saturday, worked fine. Turned on the PC today, no channels available, unable to access video capture device, etc.

Another duff board? Or could there be a problem with my system?

AMD K6-III/450
Gigabyte GA-5AX (BIOS F1, Ali V chipset)
Millennium G200 (AGP, 5.30 driver)
Rainbow Runner G (GS/RRUPG/I, 1.51 VT)

The Rainbow Runner is the International rather than the UK model. Could this be a problem?

Thanks for any response.


Justin B.

[motub]

Hey, JustinB... just letting you know that I'm transferring this question to the Desktop Video forum...

That's where the people who know most about the RR-G hang out, anyway...

[Technoid]

Check the backplate of the RRG!
If the composit, SVHS or Coaxial conectors make contact with it is not good!
Hawe had the exact same prob!

------------------
INTEL PIII450 MSI 6163
G200Mill 16MB SDRAM
SBlive
128 MB RAM
19GB HDD Space!

[David]

Hi,

I have the exact same symptoms from time to time. The cause seems to be, believe it or not, the power supply.

Try changing your power supply. I bet it works.

This is quite a common problem with the RR-G. It seems to be very picky about power supplies. I have never had this problem with any other type of card. There have been many long posts about RR-G's with similar problems as you have described over the last year or so. Most people get results when they change their power supply.

Of course you could always get unlucky and change your power supply to another one that the RR-G does not like. The ideal situation is to have a few friends with ATX computers, steal all their power supplies for a night and test them all.

Good luck.

...David <optic@iname.com>

PS: The best thread about this problem was 6+ months ago and was called something like "Rainbow Runner G-Series TV Tuner and audio problems" or something like that. I don't know if this site keeps archives from that long ago (I have not checked), but it is definately worth your while having a look for it.

[David]

Hi,

I have the exact same symptoms from time to time. The cause seems to be, believe it or not, the power supply.

Try changing your power supply. I bet it works.

This is quite a common problem with the RR-G. It seems to be very picky about power supplies. I have never had this problem with any other type of card. There have been many long posts about RR-G's with similar problems as you have described over the last year or so. Most people get results when they change their power supply.

Of course you could always get unlucky and change your power supply to another one that the RR-G does not like. The ideal situation is to have a few friends with ATX computers, steal all their power supplies for a night and test them all.

Good luck.

...David <optic@iname.com>

PS: The best thread about this problem was 6+ months ago and was called something like "Rainbow Runner G-Series TV Tuner and audio problems" or something like that. I don't know if this site keeps archives from that long ago (I have not checked), but it is definately worth your while having a look for it.

[David]

Hey,

Here is a link to the thread that I mentioned. It is long, but try and read the whole thing. It's not until towards the end that power supplies come to the fore.
http://forums.murc.ws/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000551.html

Good luck.

...David <optic@iname.com>

[TSP]

had the exact same problem until today when I bought a new powersupply. The old one could deliver 0.3 A at -5 V and 1.0 A at -12.0V and the new one 0.5 A at -5 V and -12 V plus it's on AMD's powersupply list. Only drawback was the price 700 dkr.~100$ but I can use it in a athlon system + my system is more stabel(now i can use busmaster, before my computer would freeze after a while.)

--------
2x400MHz celeron@558MHz
abit bp6
128 mb ram
g400 max
sb live value
RR G

[David]

TSP,

What made you decide to change power supply? Why did you think that might be the cause?

Seeya,

...David <optic@iname.com>

[DrMordrid]

YES, the power supply can cause a ton of problems!

A year ago the one that came with my previous case was low and unstable on the +5 and -12 lines and high and unstable on the others. Once it was replaced with a QUALITY 300 watt supply things got much better.

Dr. Mordrid

[TSP]

well after I tried reinstalling win98 twice and tried my old G200 in NT4 without any luck I was kind of desperate and Haig from Matrox mentioned the powersupply problem in the thread and so did you. I then brought a new powersupply with the recommended 0.5 A in -5/-12V and amazing enough it worked (it's strange to belive it's the powersupply because the RR worked the first couple of times, but I have a rather powerdemanding system: 2. hd, 2 cdrom-drives, 2 processor, 3 pci and 1 agp card).

[Design238]

Hello,

I've got many audio problems et TV tuner problem on my system (g200 + RRG).
My power supply normally delivers -5V; 0.5Amp and -12V; 0.5A. In fact, I have -5.5V on the -5V, could it be the reason of all my problems ??

Thanks

[samba]

I'm having same kinda problems with JustinB.
I installed PowerDesk 5.30 and VideoTools 1.51e and everything seems to be ok. But when i'm trying to watch TV, tuner doesn't show me any channel.
When i try Matrox Quick Connect, i got an error message:

The Country setting isn't supported by your Matrox TV tuner.
If the country selected is incorrect, select a new country. If it's correct, you may need a Matrox TV tuner specific to your country. For more information, contact Matrox dealer or distributor.

I gave up. If someone could tell me how to setup tuner correctly, please let me know!

My system hardware:

ABIT BE6
Intel Celeron 466MHz
Millennium G400 DualHead
Rainbow Runner G-series (GS/RRUPG/I)
128Mt Original SDRAM

-- following ones are now disconnected --
Intel EtherExpress Pro 10/100
Adaptec AIC-7856 (scanner controller)
Sound Blaster Live!
Creative Dxr2 MPEG-2 decoder

Software:

Windows 98 Second Edition FIN
Matrox PowerDesk 5.30.007
Matrox VideoTools 1.51e

[Pertti]

Hi Samba,

When you open "PC-VCR Remote Properties", click "Advanced" and go to the "TV" tab, do you have Finland set as the Country ?

Are you using Aerial or Cable, and is your setting on "TV Setup" tab chosen accordingly ?

Pertti

[TSP]

hi samba


what is the spec on your powersupply?

[r_cap]

Had the same problem after moving RRG from PCI slot 1 to 5. Since moving back / up its again OK.
RC