Announcement

**Haig** · 23 July 2000, 18:30

Hi Colin,

goto our utilities section of our web site and download MSTSUtil.exe. Use this to force our card to agp 1x and see if this will help you. You can get to our utilities section right off of the "latest driver" page.

Let me know,

Haig

**CMB** · 24 July 2000, 08:12

Hi Haig,

its good to hear form you, nice to know you still out there helping people :OP

I downloaded the program, and ran it.
I rebooted and tried capturing some fresh footage.

I played it back and it was fine YAY!!!

I then tried to play a file that i had from before my HD crash and that played ok, the all od a sudden there was the odd bad frame here and there, and it got progressivly worse.
so i re-played the new footage i just captured and that began to play with errors which wernt there earlier?? green frames

So now im gonna reformat and reseat my cards

ill install the latest powertools set it to agp 1 then install vidtools and
and ill see what happens then...

**CMB** · 24 July 2000, 12:19

Well no luck there..
I have 4 hard drives.. and being as i just added one.. i feared some sort of power drain on my 250W power supply

So i unplugged all but 2
one on each channel..
Reinstalled PD 555, switched to agp x1 and then put on vidtools 154

I captured some footage and played back fine great.. then i captured a few more bits.. and then on playback i noticed one or 2 glitches.. on replaying that bit i noticed more.. Its as if its fine.. then after so long it decides to crap out!!! (techical term there)

I went through all this before... for weeks before finding a solution. I would say maybe the RRG has broken?? but due to the problems i had when i first got it, i know it works.. cos i had it working for months.

What do you think..?

The thing is.. ive got assignments i need to do over the summer, as well as working semi professionally for a local company now.. And i need everything back in action as soon as i can.

I have noticed browsing through the forums that there seems to be problems with Abit boards in general? though they can be solved..

Would all of this be solved if i were to buy a new motherboard?? Id rather buy something new and know that it will all work then fiddle around for the next week or so?

If so which board would you reccomend?

anyway i am now at your merciful hands again.. i hope you can help..
thanks...
Colin

ps.. i thought it may be an IRQ problem but when i checked, all the IRQ settings are the same as before?

[This message has been edited by CMB (edited 24 July 2000).]

**CMB** · 24 July 2000, 17:27

Hi again.. another update
ive reseaed both cards again
made sure the RRG to MAX connections are secure
reseated my P3-500 (never been overclocked)
and ive been capturing files again..

some work fine.. but after a few mins
green, corrupt frames keep happening on playback.. its in the same place each time, but the more i play the files back the more they become corrupt?
then on a reboot if i play them, often there files, and other times there not.. whats going on?

**Dr Mordrid** · 24 July 2000, 17:38

Have you disabled the ISA emulation mode of the SBLive? That could be adding to a bus contention. You do this in the Device manager.

Dr. Mordrid

**Haig** · 24 July 2000, 20:50

Hi Colin,

anything special happening in those frames like fast action/panning, etc?

Fact that it's getting worse on each playback, might mean that something is either breaking our codec port or the card is defective.

Does Doc's suggestion help any?

Is your system properly cooled?

Haig

**CMB** · 25 July 2000, 03:19

Hi again
thanks for joinging in Doc.

I remember having trouble with the isa emulation long ago (i am presuming you mean the ab16 emulation part... i had it set to share with the printer port.
i disabled it and loaded up footage id captured og MGS2 on PS2.. Its simply stunning..
anyway... Konamis brilliance was sullied by green frames and corruptness.. but there is lots of fast moving action in that. so i captured some relatively still action on a games show even as the contestents sat there
it still gave out corrupt frames..

Is my sytem properly cooled.
I have a fan in there.. and the top and right hand side of the case is off.
And during summer.. the heat is couse for concern but its been quite cool lately and the bios says its between 40-50 in there.. whether that is overly hot or not i dont know. but it has allways been around that temperature.. in there

sometimes hotter at 55

i gonna reinstall windows now putting vidtools 152 and powerdesk 552 back on as they where the ones that worked before.. put it in agpx1 mode and then install my sblive drivers WITHOUT the sb16 emulation to get rid of it entirely
if this doenst work i just dont know what to do. I can see where your coming from haig.. It seems the longer my pc is on the worse the codev gets.. = heat build up

but its no hotter then usual unless somethings gone on the card?
ah well post again later..
thanks for your help

Colin

**CMB** · 25 July 2000, 05:00

well ive reinstalled and no joy

The power supply theory sounds interesting
Im begging to suspect my RRG but like i said, it was like this before then worked for ages..
anyhow i will search for the thread you mentioned.
do you happen to know of an online store in the uk where i can purchase one such power supply?

**CMB** · 25 July 2000, 05:03

Axatx... Did you solve your problems by buying a powersupply..
did you have the corrupted frames im having now?

ive had my pc over 2 years now and its still the same powersupply i originally had, i think its the only thing ive not upgraded
its a 250w i think

**CMB** · 25 July 2000, 05:54

ok these are the importand facts ive glemamed from the thread

"When I was experiencing the same problems as yourself, I lent the card to another G400/BP6 user to test the RRG in his box. While the card was lent out, the latest BIOS appeared from Matrox and I upgraded to the new BIOS (on my G400). The card was returned a week or so later (it did NOT function in his BP6 system either, same symptoms). When the card was returned, I thought I would give it one last shot before I send it for RMA (already had the RMA #). Low-and-behold, it has worked ever since."

and here are the specs for the power supply

300watt (2.01)

Here is the website for Sparkle and the specs for the ps. http://www.sparklepower.com/Products.htm

Output Voltage/min load / max load

+3.3v / 0.2a /14.0a
+5v / 2.0a /30.0a
+12v / 0.0a /12.0a
-5v / 0.0a / .03a
-12 / 0.0a / 1.0a
+5vsb / 0.0a / 0.8a

This is a sparkle FSP300-60GT Power Supply

Now ive looked at simply and insight online stores for sparkle power supplies and they dont have this exact one, they have athlon ones they can order... so Im off to my Local PC world later on.. I figure if i cant get this exact power supply then one with the same specs will do??

**CMB** · 25 July 2000, 06:02

The other thing is Matrox bios..
the only time i ever tried to upgrade a grpahics bios was with my Millenium 2 way back.. (see ive allways had a matrox card- im loyal :OP)
anyway i tried to do it through windows and screwed my bios.. and ended up buying a new card

so ive been kinda put of flashing it, but since then ive flashed my motherboard bios (i did that months ago and it was all still working fine) so i might try again

Haig, my graphics bios is 1.5 - 22
is there a later bios? for my MAX?
do you think this could be it?

**CMB** · 25 July 2000, 07:18

Ok, having bit the bullet
my bios is now updated to 1.6-25
and may i say how different things are these days, a few clicks and it was over, easy and painless- yay matrox

so now to the power supply theory,
is it the general concensus that this could be it? Last time i had all these problems i bought a new processor. a p3-500 for a feared my p3-450 to be faulty.
but the friend that i lent my p-450 to to 'mess around with' and later sold to him had no problems with it at all.

could this indicate a weakness in my power supply?
well im off to have a look at the power supplys on sale locally. wish me luck

**Axatax** · 25 July 2000, 16:47

Yes, there has been _alot_ of trouble with ABIT boards and some kind of RRG combo. The problems were solved by replacing the power supplies with high quality ATX 2.01 compliant units.

DaveD and myself went through weeks of troubleshooting our setups before he found that the power supply was the culprit. He purchased a "Sparkle" ATX 2.01 compliant power supply and all is well now. Search for his thread and you'll find the exact power supply that is known to work with this combo.

**Haig** · 25 July 2000, 21:50

Hi Colin,

It may be your power supply but I can't garantee that.

If you like, I can get your board replaced before getting a new power supply.

Let me know.

Haig

Announcement

Haig, you once helped me with green flashes and bad frames.. can you help again...

Haig, you once helped me with green flashes and bad frames.. can you help again...

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