TV tuner card 'disappeared'

Yesterday, for no visible reason, the tv tuner card that came installed with my 2-year-old computer stopped working. When I launch the software that I use to watch tv, I get the message that there is "No TV Tuner Device." My amateurish attempts at troubleshooting, and internet searches, have gotten me nowhere.

Here's what I am working with: Sapphire Radeon Theatrix 650 TV Tuner, Cyberlink Power Cinema (came bundled with pc), XP SP3

Here's what troubleshooting I've tried so far:

1. I've unseated and reseated the card and checked the tv cable and connection.

2. Since I haven't installed any software or hardware recently, no leads there.

3. I think I updated the driver. (I downloaded from this location: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownloa...3&lang=English .)

4. I've looked at the manufacturer's website, and located the following pages, don't see anything particularly helpful: http://www1.sapphiretech.com/us/prod...gpid=189&grp=9 and http://www.sapphiretech.com/presenta....aspx?psn=0006

5. When I try to reinstall the card from the manufacturer's CD, I get a message that there's no hardware there.

I'm not sure what to try next, short of shopping for a new card.

Any and all advice appreciated!

 

If you have another open PCI slot, try it in that. If it works in another PCI slot, then the slot it was in went bad. If it still isn't showing up then the odds are the card may have died.

Sam

 

First thing I would do is uninstall the card, and bootup the pc.

Then uninstall the programs, drivers, etc, and delete the program folder.

Then shut the pc off, reinstall the card and see if windows will give you the found new hardware wizard.
If it does, just reinstall the software/drivers and you should be good to go.

If it doesn't then the card may have died on you.

 

Thanks for the advice, both of you!

Before I saw your suggestions, I thought to remove the card, reboot without it, and then put it back in and reboot. Magically, the card came back. I'm not sure what that means, but I'm glad to have it back.

STILL, I'm going to make note of the advice just given. I understand Murphy's Law well enough to know when I might be getting head-faked.

Thanks again!