Nova T-500 cuts out completely

tomholl · **6th July 2008, 05:33 PM**

I’m having a problem with my Media Center tuner which I’m hoping one of you fine people can explain, or better yet, resolve.

Everything was running perfectly until about a week ago, when the tuner (Nova T-500) abruptly stopped receiving any channels. After a bit of experimentation I found out that the problem could be fixed by unplugging the antenna and plugging it back in. It then works for something between 5 seconds and 5 minutes, before cutting out again.

A few other observations:

When the signal is not dead, it’s essentially perfect.
I ran a command line diagnostics tool and it behaves the same way as the Media Center app – it either picks up all channels or none.
I happen to have a spare identical tuner card, so I swapped them but the result is the same – so it isn’t a hardware fault in the card itself.
I hadn’t changed anything on the box around the time this started. About a week earlier I set up a Linksys Extender, but that was running fine for a number of days.
I have a Set Top Box plugged into the same roof antenna (but in a different room using a different outlet) which is working as good as ever.

I’m basically stumped. Any ideas?

AbeFroman · **6th July 2008, 07:24 PM**

Have you tried another PCI slot on the MB ?

tomholl · **6th July 2008, 07:43 PM**

No - why do you think it may help? I'm happy to try almost anything but I'm curious of what's behind your theory.

Jaiidan · **6th July 2008, 08:43 PM**

Hey there

I think AbeFroman was suggesting that you may have a faulty/failing pci slot - not unheard of.

If nothing else has changed like:

no other cables recently laid etc next to the aerial cable that might cause interference ( have you tried a different cable? - quad shielded is the best )

No new motherboard drivers etc installed

No new hardware installed that may have altered airflow etc inside the case causing overheating

Then sounds like may be a faulty card - can you try it in another pc to test?

J

tomholl · **6th July 2008, 09:03 PM**

Thanks Jaiidan - I'll give it a try, but the reason I was sceptical / curious about the explanation is because the problem can be temporarily resolved by unplugging the antenna - and I couldn't see how this could point to a problem in the PCI slot. But it's a simple thing to try, so I'll give it a go.

As for your other suggestions, I have tried a different cable and it didn't help. I haven't tried the card in another computer, but I did try a different (but same model) card in the same computer so I think that discounts the possibility of a faulty card.

The only other thing I noticed while fiddling with the cable was that there was enough charge coming out of the coax cable to deliver a very mild electric shock. I've never noticed this with TV cables before, so I'm not sure if it's normal or could be related to this problem. I only moved into the house a couple of months ago so I'm not sure if there is anything unusual about the antenna or wiring.

thanks for your help so far!
Tom

AbeFroman · **6th July 2008, 10:50 PM**

Is it possible that the TV signal going into the tuner is too strong ? Might want to try an attenuator to weaken the signal.

vbap · **7th July 2008, 10:31 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomholl

I have a Set Top Box plugged into the same roof antenna (but in a different room using a different outlet) which is working as good as ever.

But there would be a split of the cable somewhere (in the roof or at the mast) to supply the set top box. So could still be a wiring fault (internal wiring rather than just the fly-lead coming from the wall). Have you tried plugging your set top box into the outlet your media centre PC is using? Or maybe you can put a spare TV in there and connect it to see if same problem occurs?

dgaust · **7th July 2008, 11:00 AM**

*double post* - see below.

dgaust · **7th July 2008, 11:00 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomholl

As for your other suggestions, I have tried a different cable and it didn't help. I haven't tried the card in another computer, but I did try a different (but same model) card in the same computer so I think that discounts the possibility of a faulty card.

I'm assuming from this that the different card exhibited the same problems?

tomholl · **8th July 2008, 10:24 AM**

OK I've made some progress. I tried switching the card to a different PCI slot, but that didn't help. However I then tried moving the PC into a different room and plugged it into the other antenna outlet, and everything worked perfectly. So it looks like something has gone wrong in the wiring for the original outlet.

Thanks to everyone for their advice.
Tom