G400 MAX problem?.. please help

[danfoss]

Hi, i received my MAX last week, and after 'some'install probs (had to do a full win98 reinstall) the card is up and running, but my windows explorer crashes after using it for about 15 min. (screen freezes and i need to push the reset)

anybody has any clue?? , i think it might be the IRQ setting of the g400, it's set at IRQ4 (no share) (isn't that number to low), busmastering works.

specs: (very detailed list)

-Abit BX6 (latest bios)
-Celeron 300A@450
-128 MD ram
-G400 MAX, bios 1.5 pd 5.13 (uses IRQ4)
-8.4 Gb Maxtor 2880
-20 Gb Maxtor 6800 (U-66)
-36x Philips CD-rom (attached to secundary IDE,IRQ15), primary IDE is disabled)
-Promise PCI Ultra-66 controller (both hd's attached)(uses IRQ11)
-Teles 16.3 ISDN-card ISA (currently disabled, just sitting there, freed up IRQ 10 in mb-bios for this one)
-3com PCI ethernet controller (uses IRQ5)
-Logitech Mouseman wheel (uses IRQ12)
-Soundblaster PCI128 (latest drivers) (uses IRQ14
-Monitor: Iiyama S701GT /Vision Master 400 (goes up to 1600x1200 75Hz)

i've disabled com1 and primary IDE to free up some IRQ's

AGP-aperture set to 256


Thanks in advance..

D.

oops.. forgot: running w98 dx6.1 1152x864 32bit


[This message has been edited by danfoss (edited 08-16-1999).]

[Scytale]

Hi D, IRQ4 is just fine as long as your COM1 is disabled. Have you checked on heat (ie. running w/o the case cover)?

Some other things to try: force AGP1X, disable busmastering, disable DDC, all the other suggestions

[Ron]

I asked this question of Matrox some time ago with respect to the G200 and was told that I should attempt to use IRQs above 7 for the Matrox AGP cards. My G200 is currently sharing IRQ 11 with about 4 different items including ACPI IRQ holder (X2), USB host controller and my Hollywood + MPEG decoder, none appears to have any problems with this.
Ron

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BH6 450A 128MB CW7502B CDR SR8583 DVD SBlive! Value Hollywood + AL320N USR Sportster etc. Oh, 8MB G200 Mystique too!

[SCompRacer1]

How does it do in games or running the Matrox demo?

If you have no problems with those, I wonder if you have an Explorer problem.

[SteveC]

As you say IRQ 10 is free, enable your COM ports to get the G400 back up to an IRQ above 7. I know the G200 has a problem with IRQs below 7, and I am pretty sure that the G400 will have to due to the way that the IRQs above 7 are triggered differently.

Once you've done that, check that anything else runs, as SCompRacer says. Also, you say after 15 mins? Is the fan running on the card? Generally, what's the temp inside your PC? The G400 is pretty warm and so will increase the ambient temp a little. Check that.

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Cheers,
Steve

My PC? Not that bad, got all sorts of crap in it, and all sorts of crap around it and my desk is also messy. Now what does that say about me? ;¬)

[Scytale]

Steve, I tested the IRQ level thing a while back trying to solve my AGP2X crashing problem, but the G400 seems indifferent about it. And I have been running my MAX at IRQ4 ever since.

Like D, I got explorer crashes using AGP2X (no matter the IRQ, but more often when in 32bpp). According to Haig my problems are supposed to be caused by a driver bug.

Back to D: I think we're reaching a general consensus about heat being a suspect

[Sprocket]

I own a BX6 rev2 mobo and a G400 and now it appears to be running perfect now. In BIOS look for listings under PnP/PCI Configuration and look for PIRQ_1 through PIRQ_4 and assign the IRQ of PIRQ_1 to 11 (or 10 in your case) and then follow this:
PIRQ_1 is for AGP and PCI slot 1 (the one under the AGP slot, make sure that one is empty) PIRQ_2 is for PCI slot 2 and PIRQ_3 is for PCI slot 3 and PIRQ_4 is shared for PCI slot 4 and 5. I have my 3Com PCI etherlink in PCI slot 2 and assign its IRQ to 9, my SBLive is in PCI slot 4 and assigned to IRQ 5. Also, this may help as I had some similar odd crashes that I thought it was from using the cd drivers - goto the 3Com website and find your make and model netwrok card and get the light version driver, the one without the diagnostic utility or other software and update the driver in Device Manager, reboot and everything should work fine, mine machine runs smooth as far as I can tell for two days now since I did the same thing, no more network game crashes or random lockups.

[armyworm]

Hi,

i personally think that IRQ 4 is a terrible IRQ for a video card... this is one of the last IRQ to get priority over the other. Always aim for 9, 10 or 11.

Ciao

Ben

[ALBPM]

I just moved mine from IRQ5 to IRQ10 and it appears to be running better. I'm not getting the errors and being booted out to the desktop as when it was on IRQ5.

Paul

[rickn]

i always assign irq 11 to my videocards

[Guyver]

On the IRQ front. I seem to recall reading somewhere (my memory fails me), that IRQs 9 and above get a higher priority than the 8 and lower IRQ's. That may account for better reliability when using the cards on the higher IRQ's.

LB

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Running an ABIT BE6, PIII-450 @ 600Mhz, 128MB (128x1) PC133HSDRAM (running @ 133), Matrox Mystique G200 8MB, SBLive! Full Retail, Adaptec AHA-2940UW (Dual Channel)
All kinds of other SCSI and ATAPI goodies....
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Waiting for my G400Max Very Impatiently, Having already maxed system performance to give it a good home.....

[danfoss]

ok.. thanks for the reply's..

heat isn't a issue, it also happens when the temp is 27 degrees Celcius.
I'm going to try setting it at IRQ10, but then my ISDN card (ISA non PnP) won't work, it NEEDS to be set at 10, however since i have now a cable modem i only use the isdn to check my old email account...

i'll give it a try...

i've had no problems in games... only in explorer


[This message has been edited by danfoss (edited 08-17-1999).]

[danfoss]

I tried changing the irq, but when i enabled the serial port , the G400 jumped to IRQ 5 and my 3com card went from 5 to 14, and the sb pci128 went from 14 to 10....

i tried changing that in windows, but it won't work.... how on earth do FORCE an irq to a card????????? (without removing them)

[danfoss]

me again :-)

i started playing with irq settings in bios, and then i discovered i had an IRQ 9, even in my first setup.. (the one posted on top) IRQ 9 wasn't used!!!!!!!!
how it that possible??? (could it be i had to many irq's free????)

The G400 is now running at IRQ 9 and i will check if the problems are solved....

Thanks Again...

[Scytale]

Well... Are they solved?