Hewlett Packard Support Says No Drivers Exist, Windows Vista Disagrees

23 May 2008

I decided that it was time to make a concerted effort to get my TV-Tuner card working in Windows Vista 64-bit edition so I could watch TV in my downstairs office without having to have a dedicated TV for the purpose. This meant breaking down and trying to figure out how to get the unrecognized TV-Tuner to work.

As it would turn out, the Tuner card has no discernable markings that could tell you what brand and model it may be. I took a simplistic approach, and went to HP’s web site to try and find the drivers. I had done this before, but a month or so had gone by so why not. I was, of course, out of luck so I moved on. I decided to try the online chat support next and received an incredibly helpful response:

HP Rep: Hello Jason, how can I help you?

Jason: I have an HP Media Center PC m8227, and I upgraded it to Windows Vista 64-bit edition. I need the driver for the TV-Tuner card for 64-bit Vista.

HP Rep: How did you upgrade your operating system?

Jason: I went to the store, bought a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate and did a clean install.

HP Rep: We recommend you do not upgrade the operating system that comes with the computer as we can not guarantee drivers will be available for your system.

Jason: Fair enough, but I have upgraded and intend to keep it that way with or without the TV- Tuner card, so you are saying you do not have the driver?

HP Rep: Please wait while I look.

Jason: Sure…

HP Rep: It appears as that driver is not available for 64-bit Windows.

Jason: Could you at least tell me the model and brand of the card so I can try to locate it from the manufacturer?

HP Rep: Yes, it is an ASUS NTSC & ATSC PCI Express x1 TV-tuner card.

Jason: Thank you.

So I got a little help, but not much. Further discovery led to zero help at the Asus website either. The model wasn’t even listed and as far as I could tell checking other cards there were no Vista drivers at all, much less 64-bit.

Finally I decided to try something funny. I went to the device manager, right clicked on the offending card, and clicked "upgrade driver."

I got the standard no driver located, but saw "Would you like Windows Vista to try and find the correct driver for you?" I chose yes and within a minute I got a dialog telling me the driver had successfully been installed and I set up media center and was on my way. It works like a charm.

I thought it was a great time to share a positive Windows Vista driver story, and a 64-bit one no less. Go Vista.

Photo: This is the new setup with the 64-bit machine, 24" main display, with a 15" LCD dedicated to the Media Center. It’s working well.

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