G400 - Windows Protection Error ( long )

[Ian @ work]

Hi,

My problem seems related to the PnP monitor issue & AGP aperture settings, but is slightly different:

The card works very well provided the AGP aperture is set to 32MB or less, _except_ I have to run the techdemo with the textures scaled to 0.25, and the DirectX control panel shows only 16 MB of memory available to DirectDraw. ( And I want to set the AGP higher )

So: the AGP aperture setting is causing a problem. When set to larger than 32MB, I get the "Windows Protection Error" problem when Windows is about to initialise the display; however this happens even with PnP detection off and/or the monitor disconnected...( for a while there I thought that was the answer...<sigh> )

I'm running '95 B, and previously had a G100 working fine. I have the latest BIOS & drivers, I've tried re-installing several times... I _really_ don't want to have to re-install/format & start again, especially since this hasn't seemed to help many other people. ( Although I guess if someone can give me a bullet-proof guide, including setting up for USB & AGP... ) - and I can't afford '98 !

So, any ideas ? Or, should I just stop worrying ? How much will the AGP aperture affect the performance ? I'm aware the G400 outclasses the processor by a alrge margin, but I'm delighted to work at 1024x768 in 16-bit, and in (eg) Half-Life typically get a timerefresh of at least 35 up to 60.

Thanks for ploughing through all that - I'm counting on you guys !

Cheers

Ian

[ianshepherd]

up

[Kruzin]

Have you updated 95B with the USBSUP package? If not, you need to do that. G100 may have been able to get away without the AGP support of that package, but the G400 won't...

Gonna be hard to give any other advice without knowing anything about your system. Give us something to work with...hardware list, IRQ assignments, anything that might be helpful...

[ianshepherd]

Sorry,

I put all the system details in the signature, but it ain't there, so:

G400 16MB S/H OEM, EPoX EP-61LXA-M w/ P2 266, 128MB, SB AWE64, Adaptec 2940 w/ IBM 2GIG, Philips 2600 CDR, IDE 6GIG HD ( Seagate ? ), Matsushita CD-ROM, Taxan 760TCO95

The machine came with Windows installed, and so far I've got away without starting afresh, so I can't be certain that USBSUPP was run, but since I have a USB device in Device manager, I assume it must be ? Also there's stuff like the AGP controller, which I understood won't work without USBSUPP ?

Looking forward to your reply,

Cheers

Ian

PS. Any ways of verifying or refreshing the USB & AGP drivers ?

[ianshepherd]

PPS. IRQs:

00 System Timer
01 Keyboard
02 Programmable interrupt controller
03 COM2
04 COM1
05 IRQ for PCI steering / Adaptec 2940
06 Floppy Controller
07 LPT1
08 CMOS/Clock
09 AWE64 Audio
10 PCI Steering / Intel USB device
11 Steering / G400
12 Mouse
13 Numeric Data processor
14 Primary Bus-Master IDE
15 PCI Busmaster / Secondary IDE

From what I've read, this seems OK, right ?
One thing - the Busmastering is Listed as Intel 82371AB - is this correct for an LX board ?

[ianshepherd]

PPPS:

AGP is forced to 1x

In device manager,under PCI Bus>IRQ Steering, there is a message saying that the Miniport data in the registry is invalid...?

Device enumeration is set to Hardware, IRQ steering is set to use the PCIBIOS 2.1 table ( it wasn't, I tried changing it... )

And finally <g> PCIList shows ticks for the PCI to PCI/AGP bridge I/O & 66MHz, but not for the AGP VGA Adapter...?

Ho hum.

Cheers

Ian

[Ali]

Well, you could try turning off video shadowing in your Bios. also, try updating your bios on the LX board to whatever the latest one is.

My personal opinion is that you need to re-install windose. If you are in the habit of installing and uninstalling programs then your regestry and .ini files are probably getting full of crap and bogged down.

sorry Im not much help, but thats all I can think of off the top of my head.

[ianshepherd]

SOLVED -

Yep, USBSUPP.EXE was the one...the reasoning I gave above was completely duff - a quick check at http://support.microsoft.com/support told me that if the USB supplement is installed, it appears in the Add/Remove Programs list.

I didn't have it. Installed it, and bingo.

Shame, really - I spotted that suggestion a week ago & never followed it up...<sigh>

Cheers anyhow - Kruzin, even though I didn't give you a chance to really help, reading all the stuff you've contributed to these forums recently has been an inspiration - you deserve medals, you & Haig especially.

See my new thread...

Cheers

Ian