Problems with g400 and Athlon

[hominid skull]

I have a Athlon 500 with Asus K7m ver 1.04, bios 1229, mobo without onboard audio. The problem is that when i install windows and install all the other drivers the g400 is kicked into touch Here's what i do:

Install win98... ok.
Install Via registry patch... ok.
Install AMD miniport driver... ok.
Install Via ide drivers... ok.
Install G400 driver... installs ok but when i reboot the screen is corrupted when it's just about to boot into windows, normally the top half of the screen is filled with rubbished pixels through which you can just see the word windows - strangely - and the machine freezes. hard reboot and the machine boots into windows safe mode ok so i reboot and windows says that i have the wrong adapter or settings are incorrect so i have to reboot the machine for the third time. On boot it says that i habve the wrong adapter again and it just goes on and on.

Here's the wierd thing, if that wasn't wierd enough, If i put my old and trusted Matrox Mystique in the box the machine, after the initial set up, runs perfectly... go figure?

I have the G400 32mb single head, Sound Blaster 128 pci, Pci Scsi card, Isa V90 modem. There are no conflicts, i have to move the sound card around a bit


Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

[Zenfe]

Sounds to me like you are experiencing the so called "Plaid Death" that so many other Athlon + K7M users have experienced. Including myself.

The way to fix this is to download the registry hacks off the MatroxUsers site and ForceAGP 2x. This will get rid of your problem.

Hope this helps you.

P.S. You should try searching the forum before posting your topic because this problem has been metioned many times before.



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Athlon 500MHz @ 750MHz 1/3
G400 32 meg Dual-Head Vanilla @ 160.2/200.25 (400.5, 2.5/2.0/2.5)

[Wombat]

Also, do you have the latest BIOS for the G400? How about the K7M?

[hominid skull]

Thanks for the replies, I have downloaded the registry hacks and will try them soon. I have disconnected the scsi drives from my system and that seems to have cured the problem, i can do without my burner for a while. I think that I had a power supply problem, i only have a 250W power supply, but it's on the amd approved list - so i was told. I will get a 300+W power supply as soon as my pocket recovers.

Cheers.
Thanks agian

[Gldm]

I got mine to install but I keep having problems with certain games.

Freespace2 freezes if set to 32bit. 16bit runs but is often choppy.

Quake3 only displays a strobing white screen. I can hear sounds from moving around the menus so I know it runs but there's no display.

I tried forcing both AGP 1x and 2x with no changes. I updated the K7M bios today and I'm running the latest non-beta g400 drivers on a system that was installed yesterday.

[Gasoline]

Gldm

Remove the opengl32.dll file in your quake 3 directory. That should get your quake 3 running. Then start quake 3. Exit quake 3. Reinstall the turbogl driver. It worked for me. You may have to do the 800x600 trick. Also I saw on scary's shugashack that he has the hacked dll's for quake 3. You can probably use those and get a very significant performance increase. Hope this helps.

Skull

If you said removing your scsi card fixed your problem, you might check and see if there is a new bios update for the scsi card itself. I know adaptec has updated bios files.

[hominid skull]

Thanks Zenfe, looks like you were right all along. I have install the forceAGPx2 registry patch and everything has been working fine, i have even iunstalled my scsi drives.... not a power supply after all - although having a 300W power supply can't hurt..

Thanks again..

Adrian.

[Sir Hitech]

Where exactly can I find that ForceAGP2x registry hack?


Thanks

[Thundrchez]

Sir Hitech, you can find the force agp2x registry hack by going to the MURC utility downloads and grabbing the PD 5 registry hacks. Install the one named "forceagp2x.reg" and reboot.

hominid, you're running the K7M bios 1229, eh? I too have a K7M. When I went from the 1209 bios to the 1229 bios, it seems as if I was getting some hesitations in UT. I have since gone back to the 1209 bios and it is running smoother on me. I've also heard that a new bios has just come out a few days ago. I haven't played around with that one.

I had to force agp2x to get my K7M + Athlon + G400 to not experience "plaid death" on cold bootups. Other than that, it is BEAUTIFUL!

[Jochen Gundlach]

I was told by my Motherboard manufacture to invest in a 300Watt Power Supply.

I will try it the Weekend and report back.
For information a 650AMD CPU at 1.6V draws 48Watt, this is more than a 750AMD CPU does.


Regards


Jochen

[Zenfe]

No problem hominid skull :P that is why this message board is here for...to help others.

Hope your system is working great now. BTW Athlons ROCK!!!

------------------
Athlon 500MHz @ 750MHz 1/3
G400 32 meg Dual-Head Vanilla @ 160.2/200.25 (400.5, 2.5/2.0/2.5)

[Jochen Gundlach]

Hi all,
Changed my P/S to a 300Watt, problem is still with me.
Next step is to change M/B.
Will do it today.
Keep you posted when I have installed ne M/B.


Regards


Jochen

[augustovac]

maybe this is the first solution !
It worked for me in my syste with
K7M, AMD500, RAM 128 mb
G400 32mb DH
WIN 98se

1) go in the bios
2) set disabled in SDRAM TIMING BY SPD
3) set PAGE IDLE TIMER = 1 (cycle)

4) save and exit

good luck!

let me know

ciao from Rome - Italy

[High_Jumbllama]

Damnit. I just bought just this configuration. Oh well. At least I know the fixes. Does this affect the Marvel G400 as well?