W7MC stopped recording TV

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samnorr

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#59121 27-Mar-2010 12:18

I have Freeview Satellite set up with Windows 7 Media Center and it's worked great for a long time until now.

A few days ago it suddenly stopped recording my scheduled shows, and hasn't been able to since. Live TV still works normally, and I don't get any error message - it simply keeps saying "This program will be recorded" but the recording never starts.

I have tried clearing the recording schedule and setting the recordings again, with no luck. My external storage drive has plenty of space left, and MC is still set to use it for recording.

I have not yet tried setting up the TV signal again, and am hesitant to do so, since it took me a long time to properly arrange the channels and set up logos in the Guide. And I doubt that would help anyway as live TV still works fine.

I have also noticed that MC has stopped showing the thumbnails for my previously recorded shows, although I can still play them fine. This seems to be related somehow as it happened about the same time as the recording problem.

Please help someone!!! There's many things I want to record over the weekend!!!

CYaBro

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#311840 27-Mar-2010 12:20

Date and time are correct in Windows?

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

samnorr

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#311843 27-Mar-2010 12:23

Yes date and time are correct.

Nety

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#311923 27-Mar-2010 19:15

If you go into Recorded TV -> View Scheduled -> History and see what it is saying in there about the recordings.

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

samnorr

34 posts

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#311931 27-Mar-2010 20:11

Nety: If you go into Recorded TV -> View Scheduled -> History and see what it is saying in there about the recordings.

Tried doing that, but for god knows what reason, MC crashes as soon as I click on History. It then gives a "Windows Media Center has stopped working" error message.

samnorr

34 posts

Geek

#311932 27-Mar-2010 20:25

It's almost as if it's been intentionally mucked with by a virus or something, although I don't think I installed anything new around that time besides iTunes. Is there any way to reinstall or repair MC without reinstalling Windows?

Nety

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#311949 27-Mar-2010 22:39

Windows 7 32 or 64 bit? There is a way to reset media center back to untouched but last I tried it the 64 bit version would kill media center all together where as it works fine in the 32 bit.

If you are running 32 bit below are the instructions for resetting MC

Go to the task scheduler (Windows Start button, type task) and then drill into microsoft->windows -> media center and then in the middle pane, right click on MediaCenterRecoveryTask and click on Run.

samnorr

34 posts

Geek

#311965 28-Mar-2010 00:27

Nety: Windows 7 32 or 64 bit? There is a way to reset media center back to untouched but last I tried it the 64 bit version would kill media center all together where as it works fine in the 32 bit.

If you are running 32 bit below are the instructions for resetting MC

Go to the task scheduler (Windows Start button, type task) and then drill into microsoft->windows -> media center and then in the middle pane, right click on MediaCenterRecoveryTask and click on Run.

I am running 32 bit, but would doing that cause me to lose all the settings? If so, do you think there is no other way to fix the problem?

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samnorr

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#312128 28-Mar-2010 18:30

Just tried resetting Media Center like Nety suggested, but still got the same problem, so I used system restore to go back to before.

I have no idea what to try next, anymore suggestions?

Nety

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#312319 29-Mar-2010 10:31

It certainly sounds like something has become corrupt in Windows. I am surprised that the reset did not work as I would have considered that to cover almost all areas that could cause that problem.

Have you had a look at the windows event viewer? There is a area for Media center which may give you some clues.

Failing that you could try running a repair on Windows but beyond that and providing your install is not too complex it might be easier to just rebuild the MC. I know it is a pain to setup but just how much time have you got to try and work out what is wrong.

tr3v

234 posts

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#312324 29-Mar-2010 10:48

Is the TV guide all OK?

samnorr

34 posts

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#312661 29-Mar-2010 22:49

Nety: It certainly sounds like something has become corrupt in Windows. I am surprised that the reset did not work as I would have considered that to cover almost all areas that could cause that problem.

Have you had a look at the windows event viewer? There is a area for Media center which may give you some clues.

Failing that you could try running a repair on Windows but beyond that and providing your install is not too complex it might be easier to just rebuild the MC. I know it is a pain to setup but just how much time have you got to try and work out what is wrong.

The windows event viewer just gives me the message "Event Log service is unavailable. Verify that the service is running."

By now I don't really care about losing my MC settings, I just want to get the recording working again. What exactly do you mean by "running a repair on Windows"? Do you mean reinstalling?

tr3v: Is the TV guide all OK?

Yes, the guide still displays fine and says "This program will be recorded" when I select record, but the recording never starts.

RustyGonad

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#312671 29-Mar-2010 23:06

If you want to clean out Media Center without doing a complete reinstall you can do the following:

Control Panel --> Program and Features --> Turn Windows features on or off (Left Hand Side of the Box)

When the next box opens up select the "+" on Media Features:

Unselect Windows Media Center

Press OK.

This will uninstall Media Center completely.

Give it a reboot for good luck, and then repeat the process, but add Media Center back in. You should end up with a completely clean MCE database, along with all other settings. It should also clean out the registry just in case anything dodgy is hanging around.

Cheers,

Nety

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#312772 30-Mar-2010 10:55

OK I would say that your issues are quite a bit deeper then just not recording. If the event log is not running then I would say that rebuild is looking pretty good right now.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/itprovistasecurity/thread/f4ce24aa-ae9d-4927-8b0f-52f3ddc4fbd9

samnorr

34 posts

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#314451 3-Apr-2010 18:26

Hi guys, just letting you know that I have now reinstalled windows (upgrade install), and the recording is finally working normally again. The thumbnails, history view, and windows event log are all fine now also. I just wish I knew what had caused all the problems in the first place.

Thanks for the help.