Vista Media Center setup

[Captain Gadget]

Hi all

I'm having some fun and games setting up Vista (Home Premium) Media Center on my daughter's new PC, and I wonder if any of you ladies and gentlemen could assist.

(I can hear the laughter from here...!)

Basically, the machine is connected to a home wireless network via a Belkin N ADSL modem router. The only other PC permanently connected to the network -via Ethernet - is my own PC which runs Vista Ultimate and on which Media Center works just fine. All network shares are available on the second PC and internet access via IE7 is fine.

That is, up to the point where I run the setup routine for Media Center. The internet connection test reports a working connection, but when I move on to the next step - downloading TV settings - I get a 'download failure' message.

Scanning for Freeview channels then takes an age. On my main PC (which is plugged in to the same aerial) I got 66 channels; on my daughter's PC only 25 (I rescanned this evening and got 6!). None of these channels provides a workable picture - stuttering still frames at best, sometimes none at all.

The TV Guide also fails to download, reporting 'Unknown Media Discovery Error 14'.

Further down the setup menu is an option 'Connect to Wireless Network'. I tried this out of desperation, since I knew that I was already connected to the network: however it reported that it was unable to connect due to my having entered an incorrect passkey. Repeated attempts to connect all produced the same result.

Now I'm beginning to sense a conspiracy here; no TV settings, no guide, no network even, within Media Center, but all fine and dandy on the same machine outside of it. Has anyone out there encountered this problem?

Don't have much hair left these days, but if I did I'd be tearing it out...any ideas/suggestions more than welcome.

Gadget :ok:

[Parapunter]

Phew! Big problems!

First off, you may find that wireless networks are insufficiently chunky to put through tv signals. Whichever is the newer standard; N I think, is the one you need if you persist with a wireless solution. I use powerline through an extender & that ain't brilliant, but just about keeps up.

I think possibly you're tv setup problem may be related to trying to scan via a network. Only a hunch on that, but it is normally done via the direct input from a satellite box or the tv card input. Can you connect an aerial to her pc directly?

As for the rest of it, you will probably find salvation on the green button -

The Green Button - Your Media Center Community (http://thegreenbutton.com/default.aspx)

It started off as a media centre fan site & now MS own it. If you're stuck on media centre, the answer will be on there. Good luck!


Edit to say, oops, I see you're on N already. On tv, do you not just go straight to tv setup, i.e pop in the postcode, download the guide then go to scan? Scan always takes ages btw...

[Captain Gadget]

Thanks for your quick response, Parapunter. Just to clarify, I'm not trying to scan for channels over the network - my daughter's PC is connected directly to the same aerial (and via the same socket) as my own PC in the room immediately below (and the cable lengths are probably about the same).

I am, however, relying on the network for Media Center to get its internet connection, through which (I assume) the TV settings and EPG are supposed to download. My issue seems to be that, although the PC can connect to the network and thereby to the Internet, Media Center itself can't.

I'll certainly have a look at the Green Button site - thanks for the tip.

Gadget :ok:

[Parapunter]

It should really bowl on through. The only other factor I can think of off the top of my head is the possibility of a firewall or avg bunging things up. You could switch off all the security & run setup again - see how it goes then??

[Keef]

Have you tried with your PC connected to daughter's aerial socket? It may not be connected to the aerial (I've known that happen).

Have you checked the ADSL speed that you're getting at daughter's machine?
Give speedtest.net a try. It may be a duff cable.

You're using a Belkin modem. Things may have changed, but I don't allow that brand in the house. I wasted several days of my life trying to sort a network, when the problem all along was a duff Belkin box. Several folks I "sorted out" had the same problem.

[Captain Gadget]

Keef, both PCs are connected to the same aerial socket via a 3-way adapter (only 2 outputs used). Although I have tried switching my daughter's and my own cables (with the effect that mine still works and hers still doesn't) I haven't yet tried connecting her cable directly into the socket - will do that when I get home this evening. That said, it would only affect the TV reception side of things, not the concurrent internet and networking issues.

Speedtest is a good idea - I'll try that too. I have also read elsewhere that the software or router firewall blocking access to https: addresses may be responsible, or even that the system clock may be wrong (time and/or date). Apparently, all these are known possible causes of the 'Unknown Discovery System Error 14' message.

Still can't understand why Media Center can't find the internet or log onto the network when its host PC can, though.

Gadget :ok: