G400 Max DOA?

[bcronin]

Well, after a day of hassling with the Max, I've come to a conclusion. The card works just fine when I use the ForceAGP1x registry hack. I used it nearly all day yesterday at that setting with no problems at all. Then last night, I was getting confident, and so I applied the ForceAGPx hack. I did not reboot/restart after doing that. I just shutdown for the night. Well, this morning, the system appears to lock up tight shortly after my Win98 desktop comes up (as my startup folder programs are running). It doesn't always happen then, sometimes it is a minute or so after they've stopped, but it always locks up within 3 or 4 minutes after coming up. The system still responds to C_A_D though, so I am able to get it to reboot without needing to power off (so Windows isn't completely dead). It took me 4 tries to get the system up enough that I could re-apply the ForceAGP1X registry hack. Since I did that, all is well again.

So ... what's the verdict ... do you all think this is a hardware issue or a driver problem? I do have another machine in the house I can try it in (a system with an Abit BM6 mobo, 128MB and a Celeron 433). Think it is worth trying? IMHO it will work fine and swapping it there will not really prove anything. I highly doubt this is a hardware issue. I really think it is a driver issue with AGP2x support, but if you all think it would be worthwhile, I'm willing to ignore my preconceptions and give it ago.

I think the G200 worked fine for me because it was never in AGP2x mode. Before I put the Max in I had VooDoo2 SLI in addition to the G200 and always played games with the VooDoo2's, so it is unlikely I ever pushed the G200 into Agp2x mode (though I don't know that for sure).

Has anyone who has had similar problems to these actually called Matrox about them? If so, what kind of response did you get? I guess I'm going to have to call them Monday. Sigh.

Cheers,
BC

[Scytale]

I really like answering this question. My favorite reply to it is:

It's supposed to be a driver problem. According to Haig it will be fixed in the next or following release of PowerDesk.

I'll help you even further - Your follow up question should be: What do I loose by using AGP1X and when will the next version of PowerDesk be released?

[Brian R.]

Scytale - Assuming it is a driver problem, why would it only affect some systems and not mine? His system sounds very similar to mine. I have the same MB, case, fan setup, processor, video card.

I have had no problem with lockups and mine is significantly oc'd.

BCRONIN - I didn't see that you said you reinstalled the drivers. Did you try that? If you haven't, maybe that's worth a try.

B



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450 PIII @ 581 MHz, abit BX6-2, G400 MAX, Diamond V2 SLI, Diamond MX300, CL Dxr3 Decoder, Adaptec 2940 w/uw SCSI

[Brian R.]

Sorry, wrong case

[This message has been edited by Brian R. (edited 08-28-1999).]

[Sprocket]

Don't worry, just keep your system running in AGP1x reg hack mode, I do and find not much of a degradation (of course I'm no fps junkie), and it will be fixed in future driver revisions, so don't worry about running 1x for long. I have the same setup as you almost and have the same problem, so just sit tight, think about it like this: 66Mhz is still twice as fast as any PCI card, plus you still have access to system memory, a major plus over PCI. Your choice, speed at the cost of unusable stability, or stability with enough speed to satisfy and play all of today's games fine. I would say no. 2 is the best bet.

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Specs: Abit BX6 R2, Celeron 466@525 (Alpha socket370 heatsink/fan), 128Mb PC100 SDRAM, Western Digital Caviar 10.1Gb UDMA/33, WDC 850Mb, 12x CAV CDROM, Matrox G400 32Mb DH, SBLive! value, Altec Lansing ADA305, 3Com NIC, all in an Addtronics case the size of Wisconsin.

[bcronin]

Yep, I have run the pd_uninstal and reinstalled the drivers multiple times. The first time to remove the G200 drivers I was using. The second time to remove the horribly old drivers that came with the 400 Max. The third time when I put the G200 back in. The 4th time when I put the G400 back in to check the AGP1X hack (and this time when I installed the drivers I started with the newest drivers off the Matrox site, not the crummy drivers on the CD). I even upgraded the BIOS to the latest level (the board came flashed with 1.3, I believe; it is now using 1.5). Everything is the newest available and was installed precisely as it should have been. I will continue to run with the 1X hack applied, but I'm going to call Matrox on Monday anyway, if only so they know there is yet another person with this problem. Maybe it will help.

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Cheers,
BC

[Scytale]

Brian, the problem may be related to timing, memory map, G400 components, or just about anything else.

I know nothing I tried solved it for me, and I really tried about everything:

http://forums.gagames.com/forums/For...ML/002734.html

[Brian R.]

Scytale - I am quite co'd on fsb. Maybe I'm running in AGP 1x and don't know it. How can I tell without forcing the card into AGP 1X?

[Scytale]

SiSoft Sandra and/or PCIList ( http://www.entechtaiwan.com/cgi-bin/...es/pcilist.exe ) can show you.

FSB speed doesn't seem to be much of a problem with the G400 cards. When I'm running a 124 FSB, AGP2X is still autoselected by the driver.

[Brian R.]

Scytale - PCIlist shows my MAX is AGP1x, no matter what fsb speed I select. I have my DVD hard card using the same interupt as the MAX. Could this cause the AGP1x condition?

[Scytale]

Possibly. In general you're better off assigning it a dedicated IRQ. Preferably IRQ11 or IRQ10.

Then again, often the fall back to AGP1X is caused by mainboard noise. If this is the (your) case you could try setting 'Spread Spectrum Modulated' to enabled in your BIOS.

[Brian R.]

I couldn't find "Spread Spectrum Modulated" as a parameter in my Bios (ABIT BX6-2). Got another name for it?

[M Ragsdale]

It's there, look under chipset features.

Rags

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Some people call me the Space Cowboy.....

[Scytale]

Nope, sorry. That's the way it's called with the BH6. Abit may have removed this setting from the BX6r2 BIOS.

You could try moving cards away from the G400, and moving DIMMs, but if forcing AGP2X works fine I wouldn't bother.

[M Ragsdale]

No, no they haven't I JUST LOOKED!