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We have been
investigating this matter for some time and unfortunately
it's not a simple issue. The vast majority of systems do
not have a problem with this, however there are a few 'known'
issues with some hardware and video capture systems.
PLEASE NOTE -
Some of the suggestions below may require fundamental changes
to the system. We strongly advise that if you are not comfortable
with performing any of these tasks you do not do so. These
are recommendations only and AEI cannot be held responsible
for any adverse effects or loss of data.
Our first suggestion
is to grab the latest update above. There are a few minor
changes to this to eliminate any possibility of the problem
being on the software side.
If the problem
persists we now have to look to the hardware. After talking
to various manufacturers and our hardware designers we have
found that some (mainly) non-intel based Motherboards have
freezing problems with video capture. In the worst case
scenarios this can manifest itself as either instant freezing
or freezing within a few minutes. On other machines the
freezing may happen from 20 mins to 20 hours. Suggestions
from both Microsoft sites and hardware manufacturers to
cure this follow:
The first and
most important step is to get the latest driver for your
Motherboard from the manufacturer. Some VIA boards in particular
will not work with the original drivers. This will fix about
50% of freezing problems.
If the problem persists it is also worth changing the video
acceleration setting. This can be found by right clicking
on the desktop (not on an icon) and choosing 'properties'.
Once there select 'settings' and click on 'advanced'. In
the menu that now appears select 'Performance' and you will
see a slide bar to adjust the setting. It's a little bit
trial and error on this setting to see which works best
for you.
If you have a
board based on the VIA chipset (this mainly applies to slightly
older VIA boards) there's a setting in the BIOS that can
help. On most PC systems this will require pressing delete
when you first boot the computer up. However, this may vary
so check your screen on booting up if uncertain. Once in
BIOS you need to locate the setting that says 'CPU to PCI
write buffer' and disable it. IMPORTANT - unless you are
comfortable with changing BIOS settings DO NOT alter anything
else. Remember to select save when you quit.
For SIS based
boards follow the step above. Also, disable 'Peer Concurency'
if this setting is in the BIOS. As with all suggestions
only take these steps AFTER you have downloaded and installed
the latest manufacturers drivers and tested first to see
if these resolve the problem.
If the above
fails also try moving the video capture card to a different
PCI slot.
Finally check
to see if there is any other hardware sharing the IRQ. If
this sounds in any way confusing it is fairly easily checked.
Under start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools select 'System
Information'. Once the window comes up click on 'Hardware
Resources' and select IRQs. After a brief pause this will
list all hardware using an IRQ and it's number. 2 brooktree
listings should appear sharing one IRQ i.e.
11 IRQ Holder
for PCI Steering
12 Brooktree Fusion/Audio Capture Device
12 Brooktree Fusion/Video Capture Device
13 Numeric data processor
Where there are
possible conflicts other devices may also be listed under
that IRQ number. On the case above this may appear as:
11 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
12 Brooktree Fusion/Audio Capture Device
12 Brooktree Fusion/Video Capture Device
12 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
13 Numeric data processor
If
there is more than the 2 Brooktree devices on one IRQ number
try changing the settings for either the capture card or
the other device sharing the settings to leave the capture
card only on that particular IRQ. This may not be possible
to do on all setups though. The process should be fairly
straightforward however we cannot go into detail as it will
vary with different machines/hardware setups.
If
All Else Fails.....
Upgrade to 2000 or XP which does not experience any of the
above problems. Latest version shipping as at Sept 2002 is
the Stealth Big Brother: au (XP GOLD).
On
CDROMs shipped from, March 2002 two separate builds of XP
and included. check your CDROM for the setupXP.exe designed
to run on 2000 and XP operating systems. Then follow the
help files at http://stealthbigbrother.com/help
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