Identifying a bug/fault with DVBViewer or Skystar Express

[dvbrewer]

OK, so for some time I have had an issue where my PC freezes sometimes allowing to move a mouse intermittently every few seconds, with sound distortion, requiring a reboot. I now think this is due to DVBViewer or the tuner card as when I play back recordings or videos only there is no freezing, how can I detect whether it's a problem with DVBViewer or the card, a Technisat Skystar Express 2 PCI-E?

Edited December 23, 2013 by dvbrewer

[majstang]

Had similar issues prior to my ATI RadeonHD 3870 breakdown about 3 years ago. Could also be motherboard issues or faulty RAM. Less likely DVBViewer or the tuner card would be the culprit IMHO.

[dvbrewer]

Had similar issues prior to my ATI RadeonHD 3870 breakdown about 3 years ago. Could also be motherboard issues or faulty RAM. Less likely DVBViewer or the tuner card would be the culprit IMHO.

I have tested by playing videos with MPC HC for like 5 hours+ and there is no freeze, the freeze only occurs when DVBViewer is running.

[dvbrewer]

Support zip attached, I should add a couple of things, when the freeze occurs I cannot even do Ctrl Alt Del, I have to turn power off, also when opening DVBViewer a few days ago I got a blue screen instantly.

support.zip

Edited December 23, 2013 by dvbrewer

[QBox User]

I have freezes on one machine, while watching recorded video. They last one minute with no response to any sort of command, then jerky operation or frozen video until the graph is restarted. I've gotten used to it. Never happened more than once in any session, but I think it may have happened with another media player, so possibly a filter - I always use the MS Win7 decoder on that machine.

Edited December 23, 2013 by QBox User

[dvbrewer]

OK so I played nearly 8 hours now on MPC HC & no freezes, various .ts recordings & mp4s.

[Derrick]

..have you tried a different driver?

[dvbrewer]

..have you tried a different driver?

I only see one on the Technisat site 4.7 dated 2011

 

https://www.technisat.com/en_XX/Downloads/352-515/?productID=2418

[Griga]

when the freeze occurs I cannot even do Ctrl Alt Del, I have to turn power off, also when opening DVBViewer a few days ago I got a blue screen instantly.

 

Looks like a driver or hardware issue.

 

I only see one on the Technisat site 4.7 dated 2011

 

AFAIK there is no other. If it doesn't work properly in your system, it will be hard to find a solution. The only alternative is the WDM / network driver that is also supported by DVBViewer. However, for the Skystar 2 Express HD it is a mere wrapper around the BDA driver, so maybe it won't change much. Try...

[dvbrewer]

 

Looks like a driver or hardware issue.

 

 

AFAIK there is no other. If it doesn't work properly in your system, it will be hard to find a solution. The only alternative is the WDM / network driver that is also supported by DVBViewer. However, for the Skystar 2 Express HD it is a mere wrapper around the BDA driver, so maybe it won't change much. Try..."

Sorry I am being stupid but where is the WDM driver? I can confirm currently I have no "TechniSat DVB-PC Virtual Network Adapter" in my Device Manager, when I installed the card the Skystar was detected as unknown device and I installed by manually adding the driver from the CD.

 

EDIT: OK I got it "WDM/Network driver that is located in the NDIS subdirectory"

Edited December 23, 2013 by dvbrewer

[dvbrewer]

OK so I uninstalled all the Technisat software, uninstalled the card in Device Manager, then rebooted, selected the Software & Driver option from the Technisat CD, answered "Yes" to the question about IP services, now I have this- see attached image, what should I do....?

 

 

[dvbrewer]

OK, so I installed the driver for the Skystar on the CD via Device Manager, now the Technisat tray icon shows green - signal OK (previously showed yellow ?), and I have two devices in DVBViewer: Technisat BDA Digital Tuner & Skystar Express 2 HD. It also auto installed DVBViewer TE2, I presume I can uninstall that?

Edited December 23, 2013 by dvbrewer

[Griga]

and I have two devices in DVBViewer: Technisat BDA Digital Tuner & Skystar Express 2 HD.

 

The latter is the WDM driver. Set one of them to "Do not use", because you can't use both at the same time (DVBViewer doesn't know...)

 

It also auto installed DVBViewer TE2, I presume I can uninstall that?

 

Yes (except if you want to check for comparison how it works), but don't uninstall the other TechniSat software, because DVBViewer needs some of the components for connecting to the WDM driver. However, you may remove the tray tool from the autostart (Setup4PC or Server4PC). It is only required for internet via satellite.

[dvbrewer]

Thanks it all seems to be working without freezes now, don't quite understand why assuming I am using the same driver but anyways... MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY ....

 

 

Remembering Lars......

[dvbrewer]

OK, it turned out that didn't entirely fix it, and it may be something to do with PCI-E power as I disabled PCI-E power saving and haven't had the freezes again.

[majstang]

Did you update the AMD driver recently? Not the first time AMD messes up the driver...last time was when adapting the driver to Win7. Folks still on XP did experience similar issues.

[dvbrewer]

Did you update the AMD driver recently? Not the first time AMD messes up the driver...last time was when adapting the driver to Win7. Folks still on XP did experience similar issues.

I keep updating everytime a new BETA comes out, it didn't make any difference to the freezing whereas disabling PCI-E power saving seems to have. I am not impressed by AMD though anyway as HD hardware deinterlacing doesn't seem to function with any recent driver, I am thinking of sending the card (7790 2GB) back as non functional for the NVidia equivalent.

Edited January 11, 2014 by dvbrewer

[majstang]

Yes, hopefully disabling PCI-E power saving fixes it for you. However it sounds to be an unlikely culprit because as long as the link is transferring data (which it does when DVBViewer is running) the driver should not enable powersaving mode. It's more likely the Audio part of the driver plays a major role for this issue, hence the sound distortion.

 

Tell me about the AMD deinterlacing issues! I did went through 3 different AMD HD card models after my old ATI card died and saw a bad deinterlacing problem on the secondary display with all of them (no such issue on the primary display) thinking I had got faulty cards on my hands. I kept the third (7970) and was hammering the support about this issue and finally they released Catalyst 12.10 and all deinterlacing problems was gone. When Catalyst 12.11 was released I installed it and the issue was back. Quickly rolled back to 12.10 and haven't updated the driver ever since. These cowboys at AMD can mess up things bad for sure. They seem to only care about gamers and HTPC users gets the shaft. Not worth updating at all if you find a driver that works.

Edited January 12, 2014 by majstang

[dvbrewer]

Well it turns out it was actually instability on the Z87 Pro motherboard that was fixed with a December update, thanks Asus it only took 6 months of crashes , remind me not to get just released products again...

 

Oh, and hardware deinterlacing now seems to be working, with Microsoft DTV-DVD decoder anyway....

[dvbrewer]

Spoke too soon ... blue screen while DVBViewer was running ... . Can anyone recommend any tests I can do to locate the faulty component?

Edited January 19, 2014 by dvbrewer

[dvbrewer]

OK the AMD 7790 has come out, will test DVBViewer with Intel HD gfx.

[majstang]

Spoke too soon ... blue screen while DVBViewer was running ... . Can anyone recommend any tests I can do to locate the faulty component?

Are still on AMD beta driver? I would start rolling back to Catalyst 12.10. Next step using memory dianostic tools on the RAM. This for example:

http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57569731-285/test-your-ram-with-windows-memory-diagnostic-tool/

 

What does the BSOD say...errorcode? RAM failure can produce such problems you are experiencing. I suppose your RAM is brand new, correct? Or if using old RAMs are they compatible with the new motherboard?

[dvbrewer]

Are still on AMD beta driver? I would start rolling back to Catalyst 12.10. Next step using memory dianostic tools on the RAM. This for example:

http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57569731-285/test-your-ram-with-windows-memory-diagnostic-tool/

 

What does the BSOD say...errorcode? RAM failure can produce such problems you are experiencing. I suppose your RAM is brand new, correct? Or if using old RAMs are they compatible with the new motherboard?

Well I've taken the AMD 7790 out for now, running on the Intel HD 4600 integrated graphics, no crashes yet, thanks for the RAM test, I'll try it, the RAM is new with the other components (Corsair).

 

Where would I find the BSOD error code?

Edited January 19, 2014 by dvbrewer

[majstang]

Where would I find the BSOD error code?

 

Check this out:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/74712/how-to-find-bsod-error-messages/

[dvbrewer]

Check this out:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/74712/how-to-find-bsod-error-messages/

OK this is the two error reports from the BlueScreen and LiveKernelEvent at 14:46

 

 

BlueScreen

 

 

Microsoft ® Windows Debugger Version 6.12.0002.633 AMD64

Copyright © Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

 

 

Loading Dump File [C:\Windows\Minidump\101413-7566-01.dmp]

Mini Kernel Dump File: Only registers and stack trace are available

 

Symbol search path is: SRV*c:\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols

Executable search path is:

Windows 7 Kernel Version 7601 (Service Pack 1) MP (4 procs) Free x64

Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS Personal

Built by: 7601.18247.amd64fre.win7sp1_gdr.130828-1532

Machine Name:

Kernel base = 0xfffff800`03065000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0xfffff800`032a86d0

Debug session time: Mon Oct 14 18:21:39.863 2013 (UTC + 0:00)

System Uptime: 0 days 2:00:11.065

Loading Kernel Symbols

...............................................................

................................................................

..........................................

Loading User Symbols

Loading unloaded module list

..........

Unable to load image atikmdag.sys, Win32 error 0n2

*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for atikmdag.sys

*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for atikmdag.sys

*******************************************************************************

* *

* Bugcheck Analysis *

* *

*******************************************************************************

 

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

 

BugCheck A0000001, {5, 0, 0, 0}

 

Probably caused by : atikmdag.sys ( atikmdag+25fee )

 

Followup: MachineOwner

---------

 

0: kd> !analyze -v

*******************************************************************************

* *

* Bugcheck Analysis *

* *

*******************************************************************************

 

Unknown bugcheck code (a0000001)

Unknown bugcheck description

Arguments:

Arg1: 0000000000000005

Arg2: 0000000000000000

Arg3: 0000000000000000

Arg4: 0000000000000000

 

Debugging Details:

------------------

 

 

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 1

 

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

 

BUGCHECK_STR: 0xA0000001

 

PROCESS_NAME: System

 

CURRENT_IRQL: a

 

LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER: from fffff8800fa5afee to fffff800030dabc0

 

STACK_TEXT:

fffff800`00b9c298 fffff880`0fa5afee : 00000000`a0000001 00000000`00000005 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : nt!KeBugCheckEx

fffff800`00b9c2a0 00000000`a0000001 : 00000000`00000005 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : atikmdag+0x25fee

fffff800`00b9c2a8 00000000`00000005 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`ffffffff : 0xa0000001

fffff800`00b9c2b0 00000000`00000000 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`ffffffff 00000000`00000000 : 0x5

 

 

STACK_COMMAND: kb

 

FOLLOWUP_IP:

atikmdag+25fee

fffff880`0fa5afee ?? ???

 

SYMBOL_STACK_INDEX: 1

 

SYMBOL_NAME: atikmdag+25fee

 

FOLLOWUP_NAME: MachineOwner

 

MODULE_NAME: atikmdag

 

IMAGE_NAME: atikmdag.sys

 

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP: 520cc9c2

 

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: X64_0xA0000001_atikmdag+25fee

 

BUCKET_ID: X64_0xA0000001_atikmdag+25fee

 

Followup: MachineOwner

---------

 

 

 

LiveKernelEvent

 

 

Microsoft ® Windows Debugger Version 6.12.0002.633 AMD64

Copyright © Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

 

 

Loading Dump File [C:\Windows\LiveKernelReports\WATCHDOG\WD-20131231-0017.dmp]

Mini Kernel Dump File: Only registers and stack trace are available

 

Symbol search path is: SRV*c:\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols

Executable search path is:

Windows 7 Kernel Version 7601 (Service Pack 1) MP (4 procs) Free x64

Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS Personal

Built by: 7601.18247.amd64fre.win7sp1_gdr.130828-1532

Machine Name:

Kernel base = 0xfffff800`0300b000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0xfffff800`0324e6d0

Debug session time: Tue Dec 31 00:17:42.050 2013 (UTC + 0:00)

System Uptime: 0 days 7:56:02.862

Loading Kernel Symbols

...............................................................

................................................................

............................................

Loading User Symbols

Mini Kernel Dump does not contain unloaded driver list

*******************************************************************************

* *

* Bugcheck Analysis *

* *

*******************************************************************************

 

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

 

BugCheck 117, {fffffa8014e97010, fffff88004e99d7c, 0, 0}

 

Unable to load image atikmpag.sys, Win32 error 0n2

*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for atikmpag.sys

*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for atikmpag.sys

Probably caused by : atikmpag.sys ( atikmpag+bd7c )

 

Followup: MachineOwner

---------

 

1: kd> !analyze -v

*******************************************************************************

* *

* Bugcheck Analysis *

* *

*******************************************************************************

 

VIDEO_TDR_TIMEOUT_DETECTED (117)

The display driver failed to respond in timely fashion.

(This code can never be used for real bugcheck).

Arguments:

Arg1: fffffa8014e97010, Optional pointer to internal TDR recovery context (TDR_RECOVERY_CONTEXT).

Arg2: fffff88004e99d7c, The pointer into responsible device driver module (e.g owner tag).

Arg3: 0000000000000000, The secondary driver specific bucketing key.

Arg4: 0000000000000000, Optional internal context dependent data.

 

Debugging Details:

------------------

 

 

FAULTING_IP:

atikmpag+bd7c

fffff880`04e99d7c ?? ???

 

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: GRAPHICS_DRIVER_TDR_TIMEOUT

 

TAG_NOT_DEFINED_202b: *** Unknown TAG in analysis list 202b

 

 

BUGCHECK_STR: 0x117

 

PROCESS_NAME: System

 

CURRENT_IRQL: 0

 

STACK_TEXT:

fffff880`067f54f0 fffff880`052d3737 : fffffa80`14e97010 fffff880`05320038 fffffa80`14e97010 fffff880`052a1843 : watchdog!WdDbgReportRecreate+0xa3

fffff880`067f5a10 fffff880`052d43fc : fffff8a0`045cd8a0 fffff8a0`045cd8a0 00000000`00000080 fffffa80`14e97010 : dxgkrnl!TdrUpdateDbgReport+0xcb

fffff880`067f5a60 fffff880`052a86b3 : 00000000`00000001 fffffa80`1086f000 00000000`00000000 fffff880`0000001c : dxgkrnl!TdrCollectDbgInfoStage2+0x220

fffff880`067f5a90 fffff880`052d4f4f : fffffa80`1084d658 ffffffff`fffe7960 fffffa80`14e97010 fffff880`053a3f3c : dxgkrnl!DXGADAPTER::Reset+0xef

fffff880`067f5b40 fffff880`053a403d : fffffa80`106e4a40 00000000`00000080 00000000`00000000 fffffa80`1084d010 : dxgkrnl!TdrResetFromTimeout+0x23

fffff880`067f5bc0 fffff800`0331d2ea : 00000000`01aba4a1 fffffa80`093e7b50 fffffa80`06671990 fffffa80`093e7b50 : dxgmms1!VidSchiWorkerThread+0x101

fffff880`067f5c00 fffff800`030718e6 : fffff800`031fbe80 fffffa80`093e7b50 fffff800`03209cc0 00000000`00000000 : nt!PspSystemThreadStartup+0x5a

fffff880`067f5c40 00000000`00000000 : fffff880`067f6000 fffff880`067f0000 fffff880`08131d70 00000000`00000000 : nt!KiStartSystemThread+0x16

 

 

STACK_COMMAND: .bugcheck ; kb

 

FOLLOWUP_IP:

atikmpag+bd7c

fffff880`04e99d7c ?? ???

 

SYMBOL_NAME: atikmpag+bd7c

 

FOLLOWUP_NAME: MachineOwner

 

MODULE_NAME: atikmpag

 

IMAGE_NAME: atikmpag.sys

 

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP: 5298baf8

 

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: X64_0x117_IMAGE_atikmpag.sys

 

BUCKET_ID: X64_0x117_IMAGE_atikmpag.sys

 

Followup: MachineOwner

---------

 

Edited January 25, 2014 by Griga
spoiler tags added

[majstang]

atikmpag.sys belong to the AMD driver, so it looks like a display driver issue or faulty graphics hardware.

[dvbrewer]

OK I can confirm it was the AMD...no crashes with Intel graphics, AMD sent back.....

[Griga]

Please don't inflate topics by posting overlong logs etc. Rather use spoiler tags from the Special BBCode menu (see here, third button from the left in the top row).

[dvbrewer]

Please don't inflate topics by posting overlong logs etc. Rather use spoiler tags from the Special BBCode menu (see here, third button from the left in the top row).

Another crash when DVBViewer was running, analysis of the dmp file below :

 

 

 

[codesyntax]

Microsoft ® Windows Debugger Version 6.12.0002.633 AMD64

Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

 

 

Loading Dump File [C:\Users\IOIOI\Desktop\Tyr\020314-7878-01.dmp]

Mini Kernel Dump File: Only registers and stack trace are available

 

Symbol search path is: SRV*c:\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols

Executable search path is:

Windows 7 Kernel Version 7601 (Service Pack 1) MP (4 procs) Free x64

Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS Personal

Built by: 7601.18247.amd64fre.win7sp1_gdr.130828-1532

Machine Name:

Kernel base = 0xfffff800`03065000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0xfffff800`032a86d0

Debug session time: Mon Feb 3 22:26:02.810 2014 (UTC + 0:00)

System Uptime: 0 days 0:19:24.606

Loading Kernel Symbols

...............................................................

................................................................

.............................................

Loading User Symbols

Loading unloaded module list

......

*******************************************************************************

* *

* Bugcheck Analysis *

* *

*******************************************************************************

 

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

 

BugCheck 1E, {ffffffffc0000005, 0, 8, 0}

 

Probably caused by : ntkrnlmp.exe ( nt! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+487ed )

 

Followup: MachineOwner

---------

 

3: kd> !analyze -v

*******************************************************************************

* *

* Bugcheck Analysis *

* *

*******************************************************************************

 

KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (1e)

This is a very common bugcheck. Usually the exception address pinpoints

the driver/function that caused the problem. Always note this address

as well as the link date of the driver/image that contains this address.

Arguments:

Arg1: ffffffffc0000005, The exception code that was not handled

Arg2: 0000000000000000, The address that the exception occurred at

Arg3: 0000000000000008, Parameter 0 of the exception

Arg4: 0000000000000000, Parameter 1 of the exception

 

Debugging Details:

------------------

 

 

EXCEPTION_CODE: (NTSTATUS) 0xc0000005 - The instruction at 0x%08lx referenced memory at 0x%08lx. The memory could not be %s.

 

FAULTING_IP:

+3566616637383038

00000000`00000000 ?? ???

 

EXCEPTION_PARAMETER1: 0000000000000008

 

EXCEPTION_PARAMETER2: 0000000000000000

 

WRITE_ADDRESS: GetPointerFromAddress: unable to read from fffff80003312100

0000000000000000

 

ERROR_CODE: (NTSTATUS) 0xc0000005 - The instruction at 0x%08lx referenced memory at 0x%08lx. The memory could not be %s.

 

BUGCHECK_STR: 0x1E_c0000005

 

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 1

 

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

 

PROCESS_NAME: svchost.exe

 

CURRENT_IRQL: 0

 

TRAP_FRAME: fffff880079e0290 -- (.trap 0xfffff880079e0290)

NOTE: The trap frame does not contain all registers.

Some register values may be zeroed or incorrect.

rax=0000000000000000 rbx=0000000000000000 rcx=0000000000000002

rdx=000000010002001e rsi=0000000000000000 rdi=0000000000000000

rip=0000000000000000 rsp=fffff880079e0420 rbp=0000000000000000

r8=fffffa8010427c00 r9=fffffa800ac853b0 r10=0094c5f000a58318

r11=0000000000000003 r12=0000000000000000 r13=0000000000000000

r14=0000000000000000 r15=0000000000000000

iopl=0 nv up ei ng nz na pe nc

00000000`00000000 ?? ???

Resetting default scope

 

LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER: from fffff80003125738 to fffff800030dabc0

 

STACK_TEXT:

fffff880`079dfa08 fffff800`03125738 : 00000000`0000001e ffffffff`c0000005 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000008 : nt!KeBugCheckEx

fffff880`079dfa10 fffff800`030da242 : fffff880`079e01e8 00000000`ffffffe2 fffff880`079e0290 00000101`00000003 : nt! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+0x487ed

fffff880`079e00b0 fffff800`030d8dba : 00000000`00000008 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`ffffffe2 : nt!KiExceptionDispatch+0xc2

fffff880`079e0290 00000000`00000000 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 fffffa80`093f3ec0 fffffa80`110ed060 : nt!KiPageFault+0x23a

 

 

STACK_COMMAND: kb

 

FOLLOWUP_IP:

nt! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+487ed

fffff800`03125738 cc int 3

 

SYMBOL_STACK_INDEX: 1

 

SYMBOL_NAME: nt! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+487ed

 

FOLLOWUP_NAME: MachineOwner

 

MODULE_NAME: nt

 

IMAGE_NAME: ntkrnlmp.exe

 

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP: 521ea035

 

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: X64_0x1E_c0000005_nt!_??_::FNODOBFM::_string_+487ed

 

BUCKET_ID: X64_0x1E_c0000005_nt!_??_::FNODOBFM::_string_+487ed

 

Followup: MachineOwner

---------[/codesyntax]

 

Edited February 3, 2014 by dvbrewer