G400 Max Problems

[SirJamesIII]

After reading through almost 6 months worth of posts on this site I decided to post my own problem and see if someone could help with it.

As many other people, I am having problems with my G400 max. At random times the screen fragments and horizontal lines begin to appear across the screen. Most of the responses to this problem dealt with IRQ's and such. I checked my IRQ's and sure enough my G400 is sharing an IRQ with my SoundBlaster AudioPCI 64V. They are sharing IRQ 11. Unfortunately, I have found that my sound card is not in a slot, but rather built into my motherboard. So I can't just move the soundcard to assign a new IRQ.

Does anyone know of any way that I can fix this?? Other than buying a new motherboard. I can't quite afford that yet.

I've contacted Matrox's support via email. But all they told me to do was to switch the slot that the soundcard was in. And haven't answered me since I told them I don't have a soundcard.

I'll post my IRQ's and system information just in case.

[IRQs]

0 System timer
1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
2 Programmable interrupt controller
3 U.S. Robotics 56K Voice Win
4 Communications Port (COM1)
6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7 Printer Port (LPT1)
8 System CMOS/real time clock
9 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
9 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
10 Realtek RTL8029 Ethernet Adapter and Compatibles
10 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
11 Matrox Millennium G400 DualHead - English
11 Creative Sound Blaster AudioPCI 64V
11 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse Port
13 Numeric data processor
14 Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
14 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
15 Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
15 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
5 (free)


350 PII
128 MB Ram
Phoenix Bios - vs. 4.0 release 6.0

Please if anyone could help me I'd greatly appreciate it.

[Frank]

Correct me if I am wrong, but you are using win98 and not win98se? I have the same NIC as you but 98 always installed it as RTL8029 Ethernet Adapter and Compatibles and 98se will install it as RTL8029(AS)PCI Ethernet NIC. No big deal (however 98se 'might' have better resource management).
First of all what motherboard are you using?
Secondly, from all the reading you have done, I will assume you realize that overclocking is a little optimistic at this stage (the graphical anomolies you describe is what I get when I push my G400 too far).
If you have your mobo's manual see if it describes any bios settings to reallocate the IRQ for the on board sound. There should definitely be something there to at least disable it. Most mobo's with onboard doohickeys offer this option for future upgrades, such as installing a new sound card ect. If you can change the IRQ for the onboard sound, then you will have a chance here to solve the problem. (get to bios holding down DEL key apon startup)
If you can at least switch it off and things work then you can confirm the G400 doesn't want to play with the sound.
I would suggest as a safety net to disable your parrallel printer port if you do not use a printer and the USB port if you dont use it. This will free IRQ's and that is a good thing.
The G400 is not stuck where it is however. I had G400 sharing SBLive on IRQ11 because the SBLive was directly below the AGP (AGP and PCI slot1 apparently share the same IRQ). I shuffled cards around PCI slots leaving PCI slot1 free, disabled //lel and unused comm (your modem will use a comm port, check decice manager which one it uses, switch the other off)and USB ports from windows. The G400 went to IRQ5 with IRQ9 free Got the G400 on its own.
Then I went to bios (Abit BX6v2 allows the user to select which IRQ's get allocated to which PCI slots, this might not help you) and selected IRQ9 for PCI slot1. Apon startup G400 (sharing same IRQ as PCI slot1-which was empty) was on its own with IRQ9.
Hope that helps somewhat.

[SirJamesIII]

Thanks so much for all the help so far. I went through each of your ideas and did what I could with them.
First off. I was able to disable my Audio in my bios. Once I did this, my IRQ's looked like this.

0 System timer
1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
2 Programmable interrupt controller
3 U.S. Robotics 56K Voice Win
4 (free)
5 (free)
6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7 (free)
8 System CMOS/real time clock
9 Matrox Millennium G400 DualHead - English
9 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
9 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
9 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
10 (free)
11 Realtek RTL8029 Ethernet Adapter and Compatibles
11 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
13 Numeric data processor
14 Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
14 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
15 Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
15 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller

And I was unable to make the screen mess up. I tried doing all the things that used to make it mess up. Starting a saved game in Thief was a good one. About 1/8 times it would start correctly.

So, I'm pretty sure that the problem lies within the IRQ sharing. So I went into trying to get differing IRQ's with my soundcard and the G400.

I still cannot figure out how to do this. I am using the newest version of PhoenixBios. The only options I have for forcing IRQ's is the Available and Reserved (or something to that effect, can't remember the exact wording) I do have an option to limit IRQ sharing to 3 irqs, 2 irqs, 1 irq, or auto. However, anything but Auto just ends up putting more on the video/sound IRQ.

If anyone has any idea how I could force the IRQ for the AGP slot to differ from the IRQ for the integrated sound card, PLEASE help me, before I find out how far I can punt this card.

Thanks again for all the replies.

[Frank]

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
As a last one from me, try this one.
It was pointed out by a fellow member.
Go to DeviceManager>SystemDevices>PCIBus>Settings.
Thereyou will find DeviceEnumeration.
Try each option (Use Hardware, Use Bios) and let me know if that helps.
Frank.