Gateway GM5091E

Post by Annie Woughman
I just updated my Gateway GM5091E desktop from Windows XP to Windows 7.
Everything seems to be working fine except for the TV tuner. I couldn't
find anything on the Gateway site for it. I opened the box and it seems
to be an ATI tuner, but the ATI site didn't seem to have to correct
drivers or software for it. Also on the card was T55E_LF Ver 1.1. Does
anyone know where I can get the software to get this going again? Media
Center says there is no tuner installed. It was working fine until the
Windows 7 install.

If ATI does not have drivers for the TV tuner, nobody does. ATI writes
and tests the drivers, puts the driver CD in the box for sale at retail
and provides drivers to OEM customers like Gateway.

ATI may yet provide a driver. If not, the tuner is a casualty to the
planned obsolescence coalition among Microsoft and all of its
Independent Hardware Vendors (IHVs). Microsoft changes the way hardware
drivers work from release to release, and IHVs have a choice to update
the drivers or not. With mainstream hardware like business-class HP
LaserJets, the choice is a no-brainer. Same with piddly 56K modems,
wifi cards, and some other very common hardware. But TV tuners,
scanners, cheap inkjet printers, some video cards, and some audio cards
fall by the wayside whenever there is a new Windows release. This is
how the computer industry stimulates the economy, getting us to buy
replacement equipment before the older equipment is worn out.

It's interesting that the ATI TV tuner is a not-very-old PCI-Express
model. Because of its relative newness, compared to a PCI TV tuner, the
odds of ATI eventually doing a Vista/Win 7 driver are pretty good.

This leads me to ask whether the ATI web site has a Vista driver for the
tuner, and whether you have tried to install it??? Windows 7 is not
terribly different than Vista inside. In fact, it is what Vista should
have been right at the beginning, instead of Microsoft foisting a lot of
bloated and useless eye candy out on the public.

I am interested in the results you might get, because I have a very
similar (identical?) ATI TV tuner I recently pulled from a failed Dell
system... Ben Myers

Annie Woughman

2009-11-29 16:37:09 UTC

Post by Ben Myers

If ATI does not have drivers for the TV tuner, nobody does. ATI writes
and tests the drivers, puts the driver CD in the box for sale at retail
and provides drivers to OEM customers like Gateway.
ATI may yet provide a driver. If not, the tuner is a casualty to the
planned obsolescence coalition among Microsoft and all of its Independent
Hardware Vendors (IHVs). Microsoft changes the way hardware drivers work
from release to release, and IHVs have a choice to update the drivers or
not. With mainstream hardware like business-class HP LaserJets, the
choice is a no-brainer. Same with piddly 56K modems, wifi cards, and some
other very common hardware. But TV tuners, scanners, cheap inkjet
printers, some video cards, and some audio cards fall by the wayside
whenever there is a new Windows release. This is how the computer
industry stimulates the economy, getting us to buy replacement equipment
before the older equipment is worn out.
It's interesting that the ATI TV tuner is a not-very-old PCI-Express
model. Because of its relative newness, compared to a PCI TV tuner, the
odds of ATI eventually doing a Vista/Win 7 driver are pretty good.
This leads me to ask whether the ATI web site has a Vista driver for the
tuner, and whether you have tried to install it??? Windows 7 is not
terribly different than Vista inside. In fact, it is what Vista should
have been right at the beginning, instead of Microsoft foisting a lot of
bloated and useless eye candy out on the public.

I downloaded two different drivers from the ATI site, and neither seemed to
do the trick. One of them was dated 7/09.

Post by Ben Myers
I am interested in the results you might get, because I have a very
similar (identical?) ATI TV tuner I recently pulled from a failed Dell
system... Ben Myers

What I find weird is that the tuner doesn't even show up in the Hardware
manager as an unknown device. It is like it isn't even in the machine. I
even took it out, restarted the machine, turned off the machine and put the
card back in and there was no indication of "new hardware."

Also, I've noticed that I cannot get a couple of my games to play full
screen now. We are a big fan of Zuma and usually play it full screen and
now it will only show up as a little 4 X 6 box in the middle of the screen.
Do you have any suggestions there? I tried messing with the screen
resolution, but that didn't do anything either. The monitor is also a
Gateway, I believe 21" flatscreen.

SC Tom

2009-11-29 17:53:18 UTC

Post by Ben Myers

If ATI does not have drivers for the TV tuner, nobody does. ATI writes
and tests the drivers, puts the driver CD in the box for sale at retail
and provides drivers to OEM customers like Gateway.
ATI may yet provide a driver. If not, the tuner is a casualty to the
planned obsolescence coalition among Microsoft and all of its Independent
Hardware Vendors (IHVs). Microsoft changes the way hardware drivers work
from release to release, and IHVs have a choice to update the drivers or
not. With mainstream hardware like business-class HP LaserJets, the
choice is a no-brainer. Same with piddly 56K modems, wifi cards, and
some other very common hardware. But TV tuners, scanners, cheap inkjet
printers, some video cards, and some audio cards fall by the wayside
whenever there is a new Windows release. This is how the computer
industry stimulates the economy, getting us to buy replacement equipment
before the older equipment is worn out.
It's interesting that the ATI TV tuner is a not-very-old PCI-Express
model. Because of its relative newness, compared to a PCI TV tuner, the
odds of ATI eventually doing a Vista/Win 7 driver are pretty good.
This leads me to ask whether the ATI web site has a Vista driver for the
tuner, and whether you have tried to install it??? Windows 7 is not
terribly different than Vista inside. In fact, it is what Vista should
have been right at the beginning, instead of Microsoft foisting a lot of
bloated and useless eye candy out on the public.

I downloaded two different drivers from the ATI site, and neither seemed
to do the trick. One of them was dated 7/09.

Post by Ben Myers
I am interested in the results you might get, because I have a very
similar (identical?) ATI TV tuner I recently pulled from a failed Dell
system... Ben Myers

What I find weird is that the tuner doesn't even show up in the Hardware
manager as an unknown device. It is like it isn't even in the machine. I
even took it out, restarted the machine, turned off the machine and put
the card back in and there was no indication of "new hardware."
Also, I've noticed that I cannot get a couple of my games to play full
screen now. We are a big fan of Zuma and usually play it full screen and
now it will only show up as a little 4 X 6 box in the middle of the
screen. Do you have any suggestions there? I tried messing with the
screen resolution, but that didn't do anything either. The monitor is
also a Gateway, I believe 21" flatscreen.

I have that same problem on my M-6850FX laptop. A few games like Tiger Woods
2006 play in a window instead of full screen. It's like watching a re-sized
DVD movie on a wide-screen TV.
I don't have Zuma, but Bejeweled 2 displays like TW2006.

SC Tom

Annie Woughman

2009-11-29 21:13:45 UTC

Post by Annie Woughman
I just updated my Gateway GM5091E desktop from Windows XP to Windows 7.
Everything seems to be working fine except for the TV tuner. I couldn't
find anything on the Gateway site for it. I opened the box and it seems
to be an ATI tuner, but the ATI site didn't seem to have to correct
drivers or software for it. Also on the card was T55E_LF Ver 1.1.
Does
anyone know where I can get the software to get this going again?
Media
Center says there is no tuner installed. It was working fine until the
Windows 7 install.

Also, I've noticed that I cannot get a couple of my games to play full
screen now. We are a big fan of Zuma and usually play it full screen and
now it will only show up as a little 4 X 6 box in the middle of the
screen. Do you have any suggestions there? I tried messing with the
screen resolution, but that didn't do anything either. The monitor is
also a Gateway, I believe 21" flatscreen.

Side note here. I just tried a different monitor with the same PC. The
monitor is a newer HP w2207h and I was able to play the games in full screen
mode. So, that leads me to believe that problem lies within the older
monitor and not the Windows 7 installation. Only problem being--I have to
give the monitor back to hubby :-(

SC Tom

2009-11-29 21:29:23 UTC

Post by Annie Woughman
I just updated my Gateway GM5091E desktop from Windows XP to Windows 7.
Everything seems to be working fine except for the TV tuner. I couldn't
find anything on the Gateway site for it. I opened the box and it seems
to be an ATI tuner, but the ATI site didn't seem to have to correct
drivers or software for it. Also on the card was T55E_LF Ver 1.1.
Does
anyone know where I can get the software to get this going again?
Media
Center says there is no tuner installed. It was working fine until the
Windows 7 install.

Side note here. I just tried a different monitor with the same PC. The
monitor is a newer HP w2207h and I was able to play the games in full
screen mode. So, that leads me to believe that problem lies within the
older monitor and not the Windows 7 installation. Only problem being--I
have to give the monitor back to hubby :-(

Check the monitor manufacturer's web site and see if they have an updated
Win7 inf file for it.
Or tell hubby to get you one (or one for himself) for Christmas :-)

SC Tom

Annie Woughman

2009-11-30 17:54:02 UTC

Post by Annie Woughman
I just updated my Gateway GM5091E desktop from Windows XP to Windows 7.
Everything seems to be working fine except for the TV tuner. I couldn't
find anything on the Gateway site for it. I opened the box and it seems
to be an ATI tuner, but the ATI site didn't seem to have to correct
drivers or software for it. Also on the card was T55E_LF Ver 1.1.
Does
anyone know where I can get the software to get this going again?
Media
Center says there is no tuner installed. It was working fine until the
Windows 7 install.

Side note here. I just tried a different monitor with the same PC. The
monitor is a newer HP w2207h and I was able to play the games in full
screen mode. So, that leads me to believe that problem lies within the
older monitor and not the Windows 7 installation. Only problem being--I
have to give the monitor back to hubby :-(

Check the monitor manufacturer's web site and see if they have an updated
Win7 inf file for it.
Or tell hubby to get you one (or one for himself) for Christmas :-)
SC Tom

Funny thing, after I put the old monitor back on my PC, both games now play
in full screen mode. Yay! I am happy with my new Win 7 install now that I
have my TV tuner working and my games playing in full screen.

SC Tom

2009-11-30 20:19:13 UTC

Post by Annie Woughman
I just updated my Gateway GM5091E desktop from Windows XP to Windows 7.
Everything seems to be working fine except for the TV tuner. I couldn't
find anything on the Gateway site for it. I opened the box and it seems
to be an ATI tuner, but the ATI site didn't seem to have to correct
drivers or software for it. Also on the card was T55E_LF Ver 1.1.
Does
anyone know where I can get the software to get this going again?
Media
Center says there is no tuner installed. It was working fine until the
Windows 7 install.

Side note here. I just tried a different monitor with the same PC. The
monitor is a newer HP w2207h and I was able to play the games in full
screen mode. So, that leads me to believe that problem lies within the
older monitor and not the Windows 7 installation. Only problem being--I
have to give the monitor back to hubby :-(

Check the monitor manufacturer's web site and see if they have an updated
Win7 inf file for it.
Or tell hubby to get you one (or one for himself) for Christmas :-)
SC Tom

Funny thing, after I put the old monitor back on my PC, both games now
play in full screen mode. Yay! I am happy with my new Win 7 install now
that I have my TV tuner working and my games playing in full screen.

Good, I'm glad it's all working for you. I think you'll like Win7; I know I
do.

SC Tom

BillW50

2009-12-03 17:01:31 UTC

Post by SC Tom
Good, I'm glad it's all working for you. I think you'll like Win7; I
know I do.

I guess I fall into the 20% camp that doesn't like Windows 7. Sorry I
preordered two Windows 7 copies now which sits on the shelf unopened. I
am also one of the ones that doesn't like Linux either. Even though I am
using it now. As Avast is flagging false positives on my Windows
machines and I don't have much of a choice until I get them fixed. lol

http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=377

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Xandros Linux (build 2007-10-19 13:03)

SC Tom

2009-12-03 17:38:46 UTC

Post by BillW50

Post by SC Tom
Good, I'm glad it's all working for you. I think you'll like Win7; I know
I do.

I guess I fall into the 20% camp that doesn't like Windows 7. Sorry I
preordered two Windows 7 copies now which sits on the shelf unopened. I am
also one of the ones that doesn't like Linux either. Even though I am
using it now. As Avast is flagging false positives on my Windows machines
and I don't have much of a choice until I get them fixed. lol
http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=377
--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Xandros Linux (build 2007-10-19 13:03)

Well, that sucks (the false positive, that is)! I had that problem with
ZoneAlarm a while back.
Not everyone likes 7, and I wouldn't expect them to. If everyone liked it,
there would be no competition, which would then result in stagnation. I like
it on my notebook, but that's probably because it came with Vista and I
didn't like that at all. After messing with it for a few months, I finally
got all the stuff out of it that I wanted out, and working the way I wanted
it to work. After continuously (it seemed) tweaking it, Vista was OK by the
time I decided to put Win7 on it (I preordered it, also). All of that gave
me a good head start on how 7 was going to be, but I was surprised about the
difference in speed of everything and the stability of it, even though Vista
was stable when I upgraded it.
I still have XPSP3 on my desktop, and will probably leave it until I can no
longer run it. I would have put XP on my notebook if I had been able to get
the drivers for it from Gateway (or anywhere else, for that matter).

SC Tom
P.S. You could probably make a few dollars selling your unopened copies on
eBay :-) Are they upgrades or full installs?

BillW50

2009-12-03 19:34:05 UTC

Post by BillW50

Post by SC Tom
Good, I'm glad it's all working for you. I think you'll like Win7;
I know I do.

I guess I fall into the 20% camp that doesn't like Windows 7. Sorry I
preordered two Windows 7 copies now which sits on the shelf
unopened. I am also one of the ones that doesn't like Linux either.
Even though I am using it now. As Avast is flagging false positives
on my Windows machines and I don't have much of a choice until I get
them fixed. lol
http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=377
--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Xandros Linux (build 2007-10-19 13:03)

Well, that sucks (the false positive, that is)! I had that problem
with ZoneAlarm a while back.
Not everyone likes 7, and I wouldn't expect them to. If everyone
liked it, there would be no competition, which would then result in
stagnation. I like it on my notebook, but that's probably because it
came with Vista and I didn't like that at all. After messing with it
for a few months, I finally got all the stuff out of it that I wanted
out, and working the way I wanted it to work. After continuously (it
seemed) tweaking it, Vista was OK by the time I decided to put Win7
on it (I preordered it, also). All of that gave me a good head start
on how 7 was going to be, but I was surprised about the difference in
speed of everything and the stability of it, even though Vista was
stable when I upgraded it. I still have XPSP3 on my desktop, and will
probably leave it until I
can no longer run it. I would have put XP on my notebook if I had
been able to get the drivers for it from Gateway (or anywhere else,
for that matter).
SC Tom
P.S. You could probably make a few dollars selling your unopened
copies on eBay :-) Are they upgrades or full installs?

Hi Tom! Avast fixed it right away, so that part is all back to normal
again.

I have many Windows XP machines and they all have Celeron M CPUs with
Intel 915 chips. And Windows 7 causes them to heat up more by 10 to 20°,
heavier HDD use, DRM and UAC issues, and problems with 5% of the Windows
software I want to run. Plus being the administrator doesn't mean you
have full access anymore. And all of this bothers me. So Windows XP
might be the last Windows version I will ever run. lol

I never had any Vista machines, so not much from me there. And I only
have a few hours of experience with a few of them. So to me, Windows 7
and Vista looks and feels very much the same. I have Windows 7
Evaluation (build 7100) running on two of my systems since June.
Although I can't wait to reclaim the disk space for something else. They
quit working next May. ;-)

Yes I could sell off those Windows 7 upgrades. But you may never know,
something might come along that needs Windows 7 and won't work with
Windows XP. Then I might need them again. Hopefully it will never come
to that though. ;-)

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) - Windows XP SP2

Ben Myers

2009-12-03 20:35:47 UTC

Post by SC Tom
Good, I'm glad it's all working for you. I think you'll like Win7;
I know I do.

I guess I fall into the 20% camp that doesn't like Windows 7. Sorry I
preordered two Windows 7 copies now which sits on the shelf
unopened. I am also one of the ones that doesn't like Linux either.
Even though I am using it now. As Avast is flagging false positives
on my Windows machines and I don't have much of a choice until I get
them fixed. lol
http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=377
--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Xandros Linux (build 2007-10-19 13:03)

Well, that sucks (the false positive, that is)! I had that problem
with ZoneAlarm a while back.
Not everyone likes 7, and I wouldn't expect them to. If everyone
liked it, there would be no competition, which would then result in
stagnation. I like it on my notebook, but that's probably because it
came with Vista and I didn't like that at all. After messing with it
for a few months, I finally got all the stuff out of it that I wanted
out, and working the way I wanted it to work. After continuously (it
seemed) tweaking it, Vista was OK by the time I decided to put Win7
on it (I preordered it, also). All of that gave me a good head start
on how 7 was going to be, but I was surprised about the difference in
speed of everything and the stability of it, even though Vista was
stable when I upgraded it. I still have XPSP3 on my desktop, and will
probably leave it until I
can no longer run it. I would have put XP on my notebook if I had
been able to get the drivers for it from Gateway (or anywhere else,
for that matter).
SC Tom
P.S. You could probably make a few dollars selling your unopened
copies on eBay :-) Are they upgrades or full installs?

Hi Tom! Avast fixed it right away, so that part is all back to normal
again.
I have many Windows XP machines and they all have Celeron M CPUs with
Intel 915 chips. And Windows 7 causes them to heat up more by 10 to 20°,
heavier HDD use, DRM and UAC issues, and problems with 5% of the Windows
software I want to run. Plus being the administrator doesn't mean you
have full access anymore. And all of this bothers me. So Windows XP
might be the last Windows version I will ever run. lol
I never had any Vista machines, so not much from me there. And I only
have a few hours of experience with a few of them. So to me, Windows 7
and Vista looks and feels very much the same. I have Windows 7
Evaluation (build 7100) running on two of my systems since June.
Although I can't wait to reclaim the disk space for something else. They
quit working next May. ;-)
Yes I could sell off those Windows 7 upgrades. But you may never know,
something might come along that needs Windows 7 and won't work with
Windows XP. Then I might need them again. Hopefully it will never come
to that though. ;-)

My quick summary from the use I've made of both Windows 7 and Vista is
that Windows 7 is Vista Service Pack 3 (or is it 2? or 4?). Windows 7
bears the same relationship to Vista that existed between Windows 98 and 95.

I, too, will stick with XP on my main machine, used for slipstreaming
software, data recovery, and all sorts of non-routine tasks that might
break with Windows 7... Ben Myers

BillW50

2009-12-03 22:40:03 UTC

Post by Ben Myers
My quick summary from the use I've made of both Windows 7 and Vista is
that Windows 7 is Vista Service Pack 3 (or is it 2? or 4?). Windows
7 bears the same relationship to Vista that existed between Windows
98 and 95.
I, too, will stick with XP on my main machine, used for slipstreaming
software, data recovery, and all sorts of non-routine tasks that might
break with Windows 7... Ben Myers

Sounds good to me. I liked Windows 3.1x a lot as well as Windows 95. Of
course, Windows 98SE was even far better. Then Windows 2000 was much
better on newer systems (512MB systems was sweet) followed by Windows XP
(1GB systems was nice here).

Although Microsoft changed direction with Vista and Windows 7. I do like
the Taskbar and the widgets. Although there is nothing else that I can
think of that I actually like.

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) - Windows XP SP2

Ken Whiton

2009-12-04 08:45:52 UTC

*-* On Thu, 3 Dec 2009, at 13:34:05 -0600,
*-* In Article <hf93rk$5e4$***@news.eternal-september.org>,
*-* BillW50 wrote
*-* About Re: Gateway GM5091E

[ ... ]

Post by BillW50
Yes I could sell off those Windows 7 upgrades. But you may never
know, something might come along that needs Windows 7 and won't work
with Windows XP. Then I might need them again. Hopefully it will
never come to that though. ;-)

That would be a good time to have a VM set up, with Windows 7
running inside it. ;-)

Ken Whiton

--
FIDO: 1:132/152
InterNet: ***@surfglobal.net.INVAL (remove the obvious to reply)

Annie Woughman

2009-11-30 17:51:55 UTC