Just purchased a Media Center from UBID remanufacturered at 650. Hope the freezing problems have been aleived I do nknow with the media center xp software and the 250 hard drive 512 mb and the dvd writer reader dual I got a great deal will update when I see if its as good as it sounds Maybe they fixed the problem

Dear Uncle Dave;

I know my statement has nothing to do with this thread, but I thought that you may have missed my question. So I though I might bring it to your attention. Would you be able to answer my question under the thread "pre-amp your PAS". Its about 20 lines under this thread.

Thank-you
Regards;
BN

I too bought my M1195C a Sams in December of 2004. I put up with the pause/freeze for 2 years, until I found a forum with the fix. The DVD-ROM firware is incorrect. Go to the HP web site for M1195C Media Centers, download and install the firmware for the Philips 6116 DVD-ROM. You will need to burn a CD and reboot to install the firmware. Even if you are not using the DVD-ROM, it causes the system to hang about 10 seconds several times per hour. The fix worked for me. Also, download and install the new firmware for the DVD R/RW Drive. Check your Device Manager and see what type of DVD R/RW you have. Mine was an LG. If the firmware on the web site is for the DVD R/RW drive you have, install that too. When I tried to install that firmware, I got a message that the firmware was up-to-date. However, the firmware for the Philips 6116 DVD-ROM was not up-to-date.
Upon rebooting after the DVD-ROM firmware upgrade, I stopped having any freeze/pause problems. It was as if I bought a new computer. Good luck to all.

IMHO I would not buy a new PC or laptop until February 2007. Microsoft is on the verge of releasing Vista, it's new operating system. In the processor department I would not purchase a P4 processor. I'd lean toward a Interl Core 2 Duo. Benchmark tests on this processor are very impressive. Performace is something like 50% faster than even on the core duo. I don't have the exact numbers but that info is from a very credible source.

Qoute

"IMHO I would not buy a new PC or laptop until February 2007. Microsoft is on the verge of releasing Vista, it's new operating system. In the processor department I would not purchase a P4 processor. I'd lean toward a Interl Core 2 Duo"

Microsoft is going to offer free upgrades on PC's in the comming Xmas season. I did several installs and found it best to do a clean install instead of a upgrade.

I'm running Vista on a P4 3.4 HT and it runs pretty quick. The one place you want to be sure about is a lot of memory and a fast graphics card. I couldn't get the Eforce 6200 card to run with my rig so I put a ATI 1300 pro in and it runs like a champ.

Vista has lots of eye cand and its pretty darn Impressive.

Jerry

Jerry good point on the amount of memory that is an important factor Thanks for the info on a clean install good to know. I'm biased when on the processors, love the latest and greatest, but since I bought a laptop in May with a core duo, just not ready to upgrade to the core 2 duo.

[This message has been edited by Stephenm52 (edited 10-29-2006).]

The P4 HT 2.8 and above is pretty darn quick and still has some life left in it for a while.

Jerry

Last Week I bought this New HP computer and I am super pleased with it and no problems have turned up so far.

HP Pavilion Media Center m7570n
Intel Viiv Technology with an Intel Pentium D dual processor 2mb L2 cache, 2.80 GHz, 800 MHz FSB
CPU - Intel PentiumD 915 (2.8GHz)
Memory - 2GB DDR2-533 (PC2-4200)
Hard Drive - 320GB SATA 3G (3.0Gb/sec), 7200rpm
Optical Drive - 16X DVD (+/-)R/RW RAM (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive
Optical Drive - 16X Max DVD-ROM drive
Modem - 56K bps data/fax modem
Graphics - Integrated Intel 945G graphics
Television - TV tuner card with FM tuner
Sound/Audio - Integrated High Definition audio: Realtek ALC 882 chipset, Supports up to 8 audio channels, Dolby Pro Logic II compatible
Network - Integrated 10/100 Base-T networking interface
Memory card reader - Compact Flash I/II, SmartMedia, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, MultiMediaCard, Secure Digital (SD), Micro Drive, XD Picture Card (xd= extreme digital)
External I/O ports (front) - 9-in-1(4-slot), 1 x 1394, 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x Headphone, 1 x Microphone, 1 x Audio L-R, 1 x S-video in, 1 x Composite video in
External I/O ports (back) - 2 x PS/2, 1 x Parallel, 1 x VGA, 4 x USB 2.0, 1 x 1394a, 1 x LAN, 1 x SPDIF out (coaxial), 1 x SPDIF in, 1 set of Surround Sound Audio Jacks
Expansion slots - 1 x PCI avaiable, 1 x PCI-E x16 available
Chassis Accessories - Camera dock lid
Keyboard and Mouse - HP multimedia keyboard, HP PS/2 optical scroller mouse
Remote Control - USB infrared remote and receiver
Operating System - Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 with Update Rollup 2 and Microsoft Service Pack 2
CD/DVD Software - CyberLink DVD Play, Sonic DigitalMedia Plus 7.04, Sonic MyDVD Plus 6.2, Roxio DigitalMedia Archive 2
Entertainment Software - Rhapsody, Real Player,
Photo Software - HP Photosmart Premier 6.5, HP Photosmart for media center 2.1, Muvee autoProducer 5, Muvee autoProducer unPlugged 2
Utility/Finance Software - Adobe Reader, Microsoft Works 8.0, Microsoft Office 2003 Student Teacher Edition Trial
Security Software - Norton Internet Security 2006 (60-day trial)
Maintenance Software - PC-Doctor 5 for Windows
Recovery Software - Microsoft system restore, HP Recovery Software Suite, Software Repair Wizard
There is a separate hard drive partition for each one of those 4 memory card readers.
Bebop

I will be replacing my PC too, but if I decide to go PC, I will get one that is Vista compatible/ready, just in case, but I am also considering the IMacs, you can also run Windows with certain option, and is not that far price wise, also, a customer that is an PC guru, told me that the dual core processor for PCs is very different in the way is made for the dual core for Macs......seems like they maybe more efficient for the Imacs, and no virus, pop ups, headaches. I will make up my mind later.
I will wait until after the holidays unless is a terrific sale that I can not pass it up.


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mdorantes