Win2k doesn't load driver

[coolfish]

Hi all,

I had win2k's beta video tools working fine... (except for not beingable to capture, ie only thing i could do was watch the tv). all of a sudden, they stopped working. I uninstalled the drivers, uninstalled powerdesk, etc.etc., reinstalled pd 5.10, then vidtools beta, but when i try and load up the pc-vcr,it says that the hardware is in use by another program, which is blatantly false. I go to ctrl panel/sound&videohardware stuff and tryto look at the properties for the driver. But it says it can't load the driver because it's not installed properly.

Any ideas? Any idea when Matrox will get off their butts and release some decent drivers for win2k?

Coolfish

[wkulecz]

I've not tried My G200 Marvel on windows 2000 but the symptom you described sounds like the basic problem I had with my original G200 Marvel back in Jan 1999. Took two RMA's to get one that worked (second worked, but had bad, uncorrectable, color on tape ouput).

Basically it would work great for a while, then some time after an uneventful shutdown it'd give the message like you see on the next cold start. Win98 triggered it more often than win95, but to appease Matrox tech support and get the RMA I had to move it a a win95 box with genuine Intel chipset and CPU.

I don't know if the newer drivers show this, but under matrox properties when it wouldn't work it had two entries for MJPEG and TV tuner with one set labeled RR-G. When it did work only one entry for each were listed and it didn't say RR-G as part of the ID.

"re-installing" windows would appear to fix it but under win95 I was able to demonstrate that it was intermittent and if I left the system alone and kept powering it down and restarting it would eventually work again for a while without any software "re-installs" (the win95 box was a junker I could abuse as necessary with no other software installed)

This initial experience soured me on Matrox, although had I recived the board I have now initially, I'd have nothing but good things to say. At least mine croaked while under warrenty.

I had my first w2k plug and play disaster and it looks like, while PnP mostly works under w2k, when it screws up you are much worse off than with win9x. I've always said NT4's lack of PnP was a feature! I may end up going back to it.

I think Matrox is in competition with ATI to see who can PO the most people with lack of w2k TV/capture drivers, ATI seems to be winning, but not by much :-)

--wally.

PS I'm mentioning this because if you are having this intermittent (obscure?) hardware
problem no amount of software will ever fix it. If you can try it under win9x and if it self destructs like this again I think you are in need of an RMA. Let's hope its something else.

[This message has been edited by wkulecz (edited 01 August 2000).]

[coolfish]

Nope the hardware works fine in win98. This is a win2k thing,i'm thinking it might be some of that dumbass WFP (windows file protection) bs (bullsh?t (?=i)). idon't wanna have toreinstall win2k... arhgh.. i just wantsome decent drivers. Matroxfor the love of come on drivers pulez!! Why is it that 3dfx can release new drivers _every_ week??

Sigh

Coolfish

[wkulecz]

I feel your pain!

I can verify that once windows 2000 screws up
it seems impossible to fix without a reformat and reinstall

The "repair" option seems to accomplish nothing, and re-installing over the existing directory overwrites the registry leaving you worse off than before :-(

Just as I got bold about w2k plug and play actually seeming to work for me, it hosed me bigtime on a simple switch of my old SCSI Ricoh MPS6200S CD-RW for a Yamaha 8824 SCSI CD-RW.

At this point I'd not advise anyone to try w2k beta anything *unless* you are willing to re-format and re-install to get back to where you were.

Does a version of the "Powerquest Drive Image" system cloner support w2k yet?

--wally.

PS one of the take home lessons about my intermittent hardware failing board was you can't say it "works fine in windows9x" until you have about a dozen power-off restarts under your belt. I admit its a low probability, but it was such a bitch to figure out I'd like to make others aware of this bizarre failure that looks like a software problem in the high backgroound of windows screw-ups but is really a hardware defect!