Game Theater XP issues

[AStar617]

My Hercules Game Theatre XP is all of a sudden recognized only as a "Multimedia Video Adapter" and won't take a driver, and when you manually force the GTXP driver on it, it has the yellow exclamation point in Device Manager with "Device Cannot Start (Code 10)". Fresh install of Windows did nothing. Is my hardware toast or is this a known issue(crossing fingers)?

Box is a Dell PowerEdge SC420, where it worked happily for over a year prior.

Thx

 

[RaiderJ]

I had one of these back in the day... and I remember part of the installation instructions were to unplug your internet so Windows couldn't update the driver. Afterwards you could reconnect and be fine.

Really an interesting sound card, but had driver issues.

 

[postmortemIA]

try switching PCI slots, I've seen such problems.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
try switching PCI slots, I've seen such problems.

That's an idea. I've been using a GTXP for about 6 years. Love the breakout box, the great versatility in connections. Can you test it in another system? Were you getting the same behavior before doing the fresh install of Windows? I have had a lot of cards and don't recall a single one dying. Worst problem with a card has been the fans dying on my BFG nvidia AGP cards, and BFG sent me replacement cards.

 

[AStar617]

Thanks for the ideas.

Don't know if there's leeway with the slot. The PCI slot I'm using out of the 3 in the SC420 is a result of my original trial-and-error to find one that worked. I believe it's in the middle slot. It was a pain in the ass to get working correctly, lots of hoop jumping and rain-dancing during the proper phase of the moon... that part I definitely remember. 🙂

I have a Dimension 8100 here that I might be able to test with, if I can scare up an IDE disk for it. I'll check back in later today.

 

[AStar617]

Glad to report a happy ending 🙂

I took the time to install a fresh copy of XP on the Dimension 8100, install the latest GTXP driver from a USB key, then physically install the GTXP. If you make sure the network is disconnected throughout the entire process and manually install the Hercules GTXP 7.1 driver on the "unsupported customized Crystal Audio device" under "sound, video and game controllers" in Device Manager (and hop on one foot for good measure 😉), it will work. I repeated the process on the SC420, including freshly reinstalling XP from scratch all over again, and I have my GTXP back. :thumbsup:

Apparently you can *NOT* deviate from this process, or inexplicable weirdness will ensue.

Thx for allowing me to talk this one out. It wouldn't make sense for the card to just die like that.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Loved my GTXP, going to finally start using it again when I throw it into a "new" rig (finally completed out of older parts) sometime in the next few weeks

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: AStar617
Glad to report a happy ending 🙂

I took the time to install a fresh copy of XP on the Dimension 8100, install the latest GTXP driver from a USB key, then physically install the GTXP. If you make sure the network is disconnected throughout the entire process and manually install the Hercules GTXP 7.1 driver on the "unsupported customized Crystal Audio device" under "sound, video and game controllers" in Device Manager (and hop on one foot for good measure 😉), it will work. I repeated the process on the SC420, including freshly reinstalling XP from scratch all over again, and I have my GTXP back. :thumbsup:

Apparently you can *NOT* deviate from this process, or inexplicable weirdness will ensue.

Thx for allowing me to talk this one out. It wouldn't make sense for the card to just die like that.

Good to hear you got it working. I'm still loving mine. It's got a few quirks, for sure. Yesterday I uninstalled it and reinstalled the driver. I had to do this because I'd installed it from my Administrator account, and even though my personal account is currently administrator status (I will change that), my HDTV card's sound was garbled in my personal account. Installing it from my personal account fixed that problem.

In the middle of the installation process I got a very strange message. It said I couldn't properly install it while the machine had an active internet connection! I don't remember ever seeing a message like that with any installation I've ever done, including a GTXP installation. Well, I turned off my DSL modem and wireless router and attempted and succeeded in installing the driver/app. When I bought the card around 2000 or 2001 I thought it was 6.1. I downloaded the driver for the 6.1, not the 7.1, but the card seems to be seen as 7.1 now. 😕

Another strange thing is that SPDIF out from my HDTV card isn't passing through the GTXP's digital output. I'm going to work around this issue by sending SPDIF directly to my receiver from my HDTV card, bypassing the GTXP.

 

[seaport1]

Glad to report a happy ending 🙂

I took the time to install a fresh copy of XP on the Dimension 8100, install the latest GTXP driver from a USB key, then physically install the GTXP. If you make sure the network is disconnected throughout the entire process and manually install the Hercules GTXP 7.1 driver on the "unsupported customized Crystal Audio device" under "sound, video and game controllers" in Device Manager (and hop on one foot for good measure 😉), it will work. I repeated the process on the SC420, including freshly reinstalling XP from scratch all over again, and I have my GTXP back. :thumbsup:

Apparently you can *NOT* deviate from this process, or inexplicable weirdness will ensue.

Thx for allowing me to talk this one out. It wouldn't make sense for the card to just die like that.

 

[mfenn]

'Tis the season for sound card necro threads. Closed.

Welcome to the forums seaport1! If you have a question, you should post a new thread of your own rather than bumping a really old one.

mfenn
General Hardware Moderator