Thinkpads Forum

Hi there, I recently bought a usb tv tuner(Adaptec AVC-3610, HP OEM), however I can’t get it to work. So I am posting here to see if you guys have any idea.

PLEASE take a minute to read on so you know what I’ve tried so far. It’s possible that the method/driver you may suggest has been tried.

Thanks a lot.

Model: HP Dual TV Tuner USB AVC-3610 (made by Adaptec):

This tuner is officially supported by MCE2005 (check Adaptec Link below). And it’s been reported to work under Win XP Pro and Vista Ultimate.

(http://www.amazon.com/Adaptec-DUAL-TUNE ... B000BAT4QA)

HP Drivers Link:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/soft ... 817&dlc=tr

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/soft ... 817&dlc=tr

HP Manual Link:

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00304392.pdf

Adaptec Link:

http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/support/Vi ... d/AVC-3610

(please note that the driver is already built in MCE2005).

Adaptec Manual Link:

http://download.adaptec.com/pdfs/quick_ ... g_v1.0.pdf


What I have tried so far:

1) I tried with my T60 running XP PRO. I loaded the latest driver from HP website. An unknown device showed up.
I figured out that this is a HP OEM unit and may only work with HP laptops.

2) So I installed WIN MCE 2005 on my wife's HP laptop which had XP PRO on it. Still no go. I applied the latest Rollup 2 update btw.

The media center couldn't find any tuner hardware.
An unknown device still showed up.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii83/renhui04/1.jpg

Strange thing is that when i check the hardware info in Device Manager, the device has no hardware ID. I thought that maybe I loaded the wrong driver, so if I can get the hardware ID, I should be able to load the correct driver.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii83/renhui04/2.jpg

I even tried to forcefully load the driver from HP on the device, however windows wouldn't let me, saying something "The specific location doesn't contain information about your hardware".

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii83/renhui04/3.jpg

I even went far to modify the driver inf file to include the 0000 hardware ID, still no go!

From:

[Adaptec]
%USB\VID_03F3&PID_0089.DeviceDesc%=AVC3310F, USB\VID_03F3&PID_0089
%USB\VID_03F3&PID_008D.DeviceDesc%=AVC3310F, USB\VID_03F3&PID_008D
%USB\VID_03F3&PID_0090.DeviceDesc%=AVC3310F, USB\VID_03F3&PID_0090
%USB\VID_03F3&PID_0092.DeviceDesc%=AVC3310F, USB\VID_03F3&PID_0092

To:
[Adaptec]
%USB\VID_0000&PID_0000.DeviceDesc%=UNKNOWN, USB\VID_0000&PID_0000
%USB\VID_03F3&PID_008D.DeviceDesc%=AVC3310F, USB\VID_03F3&PID_008D
%USB\VID_03F3&PID_0090.DeviceDesc%=AVC3310F, USB\VID_03F3&PID_0090
%USB\VID_03F3&PID_0092.DeviceDesc%=AVC3310F, USB\VID_03F3&PID_0092


At this point I started to suspect a faulty hardware.

3) To make sure, I installed Windows Vista Ultimate on the HP laptop and got the same result.

4) I tried the tuner on a dell laptop running WinXP Home. No GO!

5) I restored my T60 to factory settings. I tried the USB Tuner and still the same thing. “Unknown device” with no hardware ID. Forcefully loading the driver doesn’t work.

6) I tried unknown device identifier (http://www.zhangduo.com/udi.html)
The USB Hub (PID 0044) and Infrared receiver(PID 0094) of the unit can be correctly identified under Adaptec, however nothing for the tuner itself.
FYI, according to the driver file, the PID for the tuner should be 0092.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii83/renhui04/4.jpg


7) I tried Belarc Advisor, showing “unknown device”.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii83/renhui04/5.jpg

I tried Linux Live CD, the USB Device program doesn't show any tuner hardware either, the first picture shows the USB hub based on the PID (see No.6) and the second one shows the infrared receiver.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii83 ... pshot1.jpg
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii83 ... pshot2.jpg



To summarize:

I’ve tried both versions of drivers from Hp website

I’ve tried three laptops. IBM, HP and Dell

I’ve tried five OS: XP Pro, XP Home, XP MCE2005, Vista Ultimate and Linux Live CD.

I’ve tried 12 USB Ports(3 on IBM, 3 on HP, 2 on Dell and 4 on USB Hub).

I've tried a second USB cable.



Conclusion:

It simplyl doesn’t work.

What is the exact manufacturer/model of this device?

i seem to recall a post here referring to a tool called "unknowndeviceidentifier.exe", or close to that. don't know if it'll help, though without a hardware id being returned.

It's HP-branded AVC-3610 Dual USB Tuner made by Adaptec.

I believe I tried the unknowndeviceidenfitifer tool, not very helpful though.

Thanks.

Try this -
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/gene ... ob-26989-1

Thanks, HarryC,
I've tried both versions available on HP website.
The problem is Windows wouldn't let me load the driver because the hardware ID is none.

Are you sure that MCE supports this TV tuner at all in the first place? The following link lists some cards that are supported but this particular one is not listed:
http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/11463.aspx

Also, I found a msdn blog post about a windows MCE update that messes up tv tuners ... what fixes/patches have you applied to the MCE?

http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/ ... 07654.aspx

To Gator
It's indeed supported by MCE 2005.
I just updated the original post with a bunch of photos and links.
.

so... you hijacked the wife's laptop, formatted it with mce2005, and then formatted it again with vista... just to see if this device works?

you must be a very a lucky man to be married to such a patient woman!

you could always burn a linux live cd and see if the device id comes up in the usb stack on linux. then you won't have to subject your wife to more computer downtime.

gongo2k1 wrote: you could always burn a linux live cd and see if the device id comes up in the usb stack on linux.

That is a great tip.

Thanks for the input!

I can try the Linux LiveCD thing, but I am not holding my breath.

There are always things that I can try, but with all the information I've provided so far, I think it's quite safe to get to the conclusion that the tuner is faulty.

you've got more determination than i do.
i'm pretty sure i'd have thrown in the towel long ago.

good luck.

I tried Linux Live CD, the USB Device program doesn't show any tuner hardware either, the first picture shows the USB hub based on the PID (see No.6) and the second one shows the infrared receiver.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii83 ... pshot1.jpg
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii83 ... pshot2.jpg



I think I've done enough tests and I won't waste my time on it anymore-- if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.

Now it's the time to get my money back from the seller (someone over here).

Thanks for all your attention.

northcarolinagal you need to refund the $$ and get the item back..
if it is not recognized it probably is defective..
at least thats my opinion after scanning all that has gone on regarding this matter..

also, please don't strain my credulity by saying that anything not in a factory sealed box is "new"..
its not..
period, end of that argument..

please be so kind as to contact renhui and work out the refund..

thanks..