This product is broken

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Sorry to report that I've failed to persuade the TBS6982 to work at all. I'm extremely disappointed (not to say fed up) in this product.

I've tried it in several motherboards (Intel S1200BTL, Gigabyte GA-H87TN, AsRock H81TM-ITX, Intel DP67BG) and in only one (the DP67BG) was it recognised at the hardware level. This is not a Windows problem, it's a PCIe problem by the looks of it, as I've tried it under Linux too.

I've also tried two cards (this gets expensive) and sent one back to the retailer when it didn't work. The other I bought second-hand, so I'm stuck with an expensive piece of useless circuitry (make me an offer – any offer). Both showed the same behaviour (although the second had only a 2-pin power socket – undocumented of course).

My hopes were high when I acquired the AsRock motherboard as you can alter the PCIe bus speed in the BIOS, which my research suggests has been a bugbear for many, but even slowing it to Gen 1 made no difference: the motherboard doesn't recognise the card at all.

Conclusion: this is a poorly-documented, poorly designed product and I'm amazed anyone is still buying them. If you have any bright ideas as to what might be the problem, I'd be glad to hear, but please don't try pointing out the obvious stuff – I've done all that.

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Update: What's quite clear is that the support team doesn't even read its trouble tickets properly. I sent the forum entry above as a support problem to TBS, and got this response:

Hi,
This is bug for some motherboard's BIOS, which don't support PCIE1.0a interface well.
Please check the BIOS setting about the PCIE Link speed, if it set to Auto ,you need to change it to Gen1.
Recently we update the our solutions, and make it support most BIOS version, The new Quad tuner card TBS6905.
Please check our website for more information .
Thanks!

The product is broken and so is the company. Not impressed. So I sent this response to the support team:

It's clear that you have not read my trouble ticket properly.

I have already tried changing the PCI link speed to Gen 1 (1.0a was not an option) and it made no difference.

I have checked your website for more information, and all I find is outdated manuals, where the images in the documentation do not represent the product I have, and the instructions are extremely generic and not specific to the product I have at all.

It's not good enough to blame the motherboard: as you will see if you read my original ticket, I have tried FOUR motherboards, including two from Intel. Don't claim that Intel has a bug in its own product - even if that is true, you need to make it work. After all, hundreds of other hardware OEMs manage to make their products work in PCIe slots - why can't you?

Also, why are you telling me about "The new Quad tuner card TBS6905"?

I'm not holding my breath for a coherent response.

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Well, it appears I was wrong about a lack of response, as I have received two emails, one from the support team:

Hi,
Sorry, it's our fault, we will try to upgrade the chips on boards for fit all the motherboard.
We already update Quad tuner card's chip, but haven't update Dual tuner card yet, that' why i can't replace you new Dual card for fit the problems.
Let see if we can find other solution for you.

And another from zhangdongling - who I guess is a manager in the technical support team:

Hi
We are terribly sorry for the inconvenience.There is a mark of the hardware version on the board(V?).please tell me the hardware version,or give me the photos of the cards.let me check the hardware version.
As stunnig developments in the technology industry go,many older electronics products incompatibility inevitable in the hardware.So we are trying to update our products,bring better experience for our consumer. TBS6905 is our latest product.it has a good performance.So we would recommend that you look at it,if you need.

Best Wishes

zhangdongling

So I have responded positively, given zhangdongling the version number of my board (13), and am feeling a little more hopeful about a satisfactory outcome to this saga. I'd be glad to hear of anyone else's experiences...

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TBSDTV has offered to replace my TBS6982 with a new version (v30) and provided me with an address and RMA reference to send back with the product. This is the best outcome I could have expected and sets a good example for other manufacturers. I shall report back here once I have the new card installed and (hopefully) working.

[crazycat]

maybe you have disabled PCI-E 1.0a support in BIOS setup ?

[DVB]

Before You will install new 6982 on mainboard - check if mainboard is OK, because there are hundreds of 6982 users for which this card is actually working fine. It is very weird that two 6982 from different suppilers and with different HW versions were broken in exactly the same way - in fact it is unlikely to happen. Also check LNB coax for short circuit as DVB cards can be easily damaged in such cases.

I'm hoping that new card will help You and You will join to happy 6982 users

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maybe you have disabled PCI-E 1.0a support in BIOS setup ?

No, this is not the case.

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Before You will install new 6982 on mainboard - check if mainboard is OK, because there are hundreds of 6982 users for which this card is actually working fine. It is very weird that two 6982 from different suppilers and with different HW versions were broken in exactly the same way - in fact it is unlikely to happen. Also check LNB coax for short circuit as DVB cards can be easily damaged in such cases.

I'm hoping that new card will help You and You will join to happy 6982 users

It is strange, I agree. But after seeing the same symptoms in two separate examples installed in four different motherboards, I found it hard to draw any other conclusion. I didn't even get as far as connecting a satellite dish: I just tested first whether the card would be recognised by the motherboard.

But thank you for your support and I hope too that I can make good use of the product.

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The replacement board has arrived. I plugged it in, and it just works, the way it should. Well done, TBS!