I am using an HP Media Center as my Photoshop workstation. It has a major feature that I don't need: The ability to receive television signals. This is from a Hauppage TV tuner card. I suppose it doesn't really hurt anything, but I'd sort of like to pull that card out and remove all supporting software. Is this just a waste of time?
Pete D.
Posted by Buck Ward on February 24, 2011 at 7:13 PM
I've been tinkering with my computers for years, without really knowing what I was doing. Maybe it's not hurting anything just sitting there unused, but If it makes you feel better to get rid of it, I say yank it out. It'll make room for something you'd rather have, and if it's not too out-of-date, maybe you can sell it on eBay
There is no harm in leaving the card and drivers on the machine. You might check to see if anything related to the TV tuner is loading at startup (I suspect not). If something is loading, you can turn it off.
--P
Posted by Lon Overacker on February 24, 2011 at 7:24 PM
Pete,
I would say unless you're really good with PC's then I would probably not mess with the hardware. Unless you properly uninstall the software (and more importantly the associated drivers) then you run the risk of getting repeating errors for "missing hw" or other anomalies because the Registry no longer matches the hw setup.
Unless you really need the slot for something, then I would recommend the following:
1. Disable all the associated "Services" that are running, which includes disabling so they don't restart after a reboot. And if you've never run "msconfig" then I would be even more reluctant to just yank the card.
2. After disabling all the associated Services, go ahead and uninstall all the Software from the "Add/Remove programs utility.
Once all the software is removed or disabled, it won't get loaded in the memory and therefore shouldn't hamper any PS work. The only thing is that it will continue to draw a few mA of power, but probably negligible.
One last thing to consider. If you remove the card, you should replace or cover the "hole" left behind. If you don't, that could change the airflow inside the box and make the fans less efficient.
Just my .02. I've had Pavilions for years if that makes a difference. I know, it doesn't
Lon
Posted by Jon Bach on February 24, 2011 at 9:01 PM
I agree that there isn't a lot of overhead created by that card, so you're better off just leaving it alone. They also don't generate much heat, except when actively tuning a signal. We have seen the Hauppage cards interfere with proper sleep/hibernate functionality at times, so if you have any problems there, that could be a good reason to remove it.
I'm sure if you have any tech friends, they'd be happy to properly remove it for you if they can keep the tuner!
Posted by Luke Ormand on February 24, 2011 at 9:07 PM
Waste of time - but I had an HP and the Hauppage drive did create a few problems like Jon refers to in his post.
Posted by Walt Sterneman on February 25, 2011 at 2:51 PM
I will second what Jon said I had trouble with a Hauppage card and had to remove it. If you follow Lon's process you should be ok.
Discussion
6 repliesPete D.
There is no harm in leaving the card and drivers on the machine. You might check to see if anything related to the TV tuner is loading at startup (I suspect not). If something is loading, you can turn it off.
--P
I would say unless you're really good with PC's then I would probably not mess with the hardware. Unless you properly uninstall the software (and more importantly the associated drivers) then you run the risk of getting repeating errors for "missing hw" or other anomalies because the Registry no longer matches the hw setup.
Unless you really need the slot for something, then I would recommend the following:
1. Disable all the associated "Services" that are running, which includes disabling so they don't restart after a reboot. And if you've never run "msconfig" then I would be even more reluctant to just yank the card.
2. After disabling all the associated Services, go ahead and uninstall all the Software from the "Add/Remove programs utility.
Once all the software is removed or disabled, it won't get loaded in the memory and therefore shouldn't hamper any PS work. The only thing is that it will continue to draw a few mA of power, but probably negligible.
One last thing to consider. If you remove the card, you should replace or cover the "hole" left behind. If you don't, that could change the airflow inside the box and make the fans less efficient.
Just my .02. I've had Pavilions for years if that makes a difference. I know, it doesn't
Lon
I'm sure if you have any tech friends, they'd be happy to properly remove it for you if they can keep the tuner!