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**Dr Mordrid** · 30 June 2000, 18:57

VIA chipped mainboards can be a finicky lot. This is mainly due to a series of well documented bugs in the cache firmware.

Some of the fallout has been mitigated by driver and MVP3 chip version updates. Other problems persist and require disabling some of the cache firmwares advanced functions.

To start with I have a few questions:

1. what version of the MVP3 chipset does your board have? This is determined by examining the VIA chips on the mainboard. One will be larger and have a series of numbers terminating in CD, CE etc. printed under the VIA logo.

2. are you using the current version of the VIA 4-in-1 drivers?

3. have you disabled "linear burst", "write cache pipeline" and "read around write" in the mainboards BIOS?

4. is the Marvel sharing an IRQ with another device?

5. was the Marvels BIOS 2.7 when you got it? If you updated it how did it behave any differently before the update?

6. how large and how high quality is your power supply? Marginal ones can run afoul of the poor AGP slot voltage regulation often found on Super7 mainboards.

Dr. Mordrid

[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 01 July 2000).]

**Brian Ellis** · 1 July 2000, 01:05

Kevin

In addition to what Doc has said, I had the same problem as your #3, except that it defaulted to NTSC and refused to do anything in PAL. I went so far as removing every ref. to Matrox products (and all other video software) I could find on all disks, including the registry before re-installing, with no better luck. Finally, in desperation, I did a clean re-install of WIN 98SE on a re-formatted C: disk and then re-installed all the other apps, incl. the Matrox and other video stuff. Since then, everything has been working fine and hunky-dory (in fact, better than ever). I guess there is something, somewhere, probably in the registry, which is not documented, whereby Matrox code a default.

BTW, I don't think it's a bad idea to re-install the complete system every so often (say, 6 months), anyway. With all varieties of Windows, the system picks it nose and wipes its Microsnot all over the registry which gradually burgeons, perhaps averaging only a kilobyte or so per day, almost imperceptibly. There is nothing that will wipe this snot away other than a totally clean re-install on a formatted disk. I am always surprised by how much better everything works after doing this! In order to facilitate this, I am now starting a paper notebook for each computer. The first few pages give the exact details of all set-up details for Windows itself. Thereafter, I keep two pages for each application software (source, update files, where they are stored, where data is backed up, set-up, etc.). I haven't yet done a reinstall using this data, but I guess that it will save hours per re-install and tuning up - and save a lot of memory work, trying to remember how I did a set-up. Every time I make an adjustment to a set-up, it is religiously noted (sometimes with a word or two of why). It may seem like unnecessary bureaucracy, but I believe it is worth it, in the long run. Windows and its applications being what they are, ie unstable. FWIW...

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Brian (the terrible)

**KRSESQ** · 1 July 2000, 13:11

Herr Dr:
Answers to your questions:

1. MVP chipset ID on chip one is VT82C598MVP, 9831CE. Chip two is VT82C586B, S7-SB.

2. I downloaded the following drivers from the VIATECH website:
1. AGP Driver v. 4.03
2. IRQ Routing Driver v. 1.3a
3. INF Driver v. 1.02
4. PCI Bridge Driver v. 1.06
I didn't download the 4-in-1 driver package because it contained AGP Driver 4.02 rather than 4.03, and it also contained Bus Master Driver v. 2.1.47, which I already have.

Since the Readme for the AGP Driver required that USB support and memory manager VMM32.VxD be installed, I went ahead and installed Windows 98 (original version) and then installed the following in order:
1. Directx 7.0a
2. Directx Media 6.0
3. AGP Driver
4. IRQ Routing Driver
5. INF Driver
6. PCI Bridge Driver
7. Bus Master Driver
8. Matrox Powerdesk v. 5.41.008

When I tried to install Video Tools v. 1.52 I recieved the error message:
"No Matrox Video Editing Hardware Is Detected."

When I clicked on the Powerdesk Icon in System Tray and selected Display Properties, it showed only the standard Windows Display Properties screen, No Matrox display / output options.

In Control Panel, under Multimedia, there is no mention of Matrox devices or codecs. Under Device Manager, Matrox display adaptor is correctly identified. I updated drivers to v. 6.0, but no change.

Otherwise system is stable and running reasonably well, EXCEPT, as expected, enabling VIA Bus Mastering trashed my hard drive performance. When I would benchmark VIA Bus Mastering in Win 95, I usually got <2.0 MB/sec data transfers and this seems to be holding true now. Using Standard Dual PCI IDE Controller, I usually get 8.5 - 9.5 MB/sec transfer rates. Nobody has been able to offer any explaination, to say nothing of a solution. (Yes, UDMA is enabled in BIOS.)

In answer to your other questions:

3. Write cache pipeline and read around write are both disabled. My current BIOS revision (Award 4.60PGA, ver. 1.15JK35) has no entry for linear burst. Default setting for the old BIOS was Disabled.

4. The Matrox card shared IRQ 10 with IRQ Holder For PCI Steering. Matrox assures me that this is normal in Windows 95, and it does not now appear in Windows 98.

5. I upgraded the Matrox card's BIOS in the hope it might solve some of these problems. I have observed no difference in performance since the upgrade.

6. The Power supply is 300 watts. This case used to belong to a Gateway 2000 network server. I have not had the power supply tested for stability or output.

I hope this is some help.

Thanx

Kevin

P.S. Brian thanx for input. I usually do a reformat and reinstall every six months or so also. I didn't this time because I had way too much data to back up. UR right about Windows. If I could find drivers and good editing tools at a reasonable price for Linux or BE, I'd be gone.

**Dr Mordrid** · 1 July 2000, 13:26

Sounds like you've done all the right steps so far.

If it were in my lab the next step would be to put the Marvel in another system and see if it is properly detected there. If so then it's the mainboard. If not it's the Marvel.

IF it's the Marvel a call to Matrox TS is in order.

Dr. Mordrid

**KRSESQ** · 1 July 2000, 16:41

Dr. Mordrid:
Thanks for your help. Apparently the system is detecting the G200 as a conventional display adapter, NOT as a TV tuner card. Would a defective BOB create this situation?

Anyway, I'll try the card in another machine and observe the results. Watch for a posting on an update.

Meanwhile, I think I'll mosey over to Matrox's site and see if there's a faq I might have missed on my first dozen visits.

Hell of a way to do NLE.

Later

Kevin

**KRSESQ** · 2 July 2000, 22:18

Dr. Mordrid:

FYI I tested the G200 in a different system, (K6-2 400, Ali chipset mobo, 64MB RAM)with the same result.

Anybody want to buy a cheap G200?
Any recommendations for a replacement?

Kevin

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