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**deprived** · 2 September 1999, 23:04

It is really a shame how matrox turns out to be a company that simply can´t get the 3d thing right . As long as the gaming world only consisted of 2d all was fine and they were the speed kings ...
I had an Abit bx6 rev 2 too AND THAT WAS THE REASON I SOLD IT to get an asus p3b-f !

Listen Kruzin , THAT was just ONE reason why i had probs with my g400max , and NOT that i was too stupid to setup my machine right !

I estimate that in 1 month the drivers of g400(max) will be in a state in which they can call them drivers ..but by then geforce256 is coming

**Kruzin** · 2 September 1999, 23:13

Deprived-
What is this infatuation you have with me?
I haven't posted anything to/about/against you since your pre-ban tombdork days.

In fact, I've participated quite neihborly in several threads with you.

Yet you continue to try to prod me into a flame war, with your comments towards me.

Let it go, and grow up.

**mj12** · 2 September 1999, 23:25

My system: Abit bx6r2, PII450, 128mbRam, Matrox G400 Max, IBM U2W 10,000RPM HDD, Adaptec 2940U2W, Diamond MX300, 3com905b-tx, Plextor 8x20, win98se. I have had absolutely NO problems with this combo. Are you running 98 or 98se? If you are running 98 you might want to try the upgrade. If you want any additional info just shout.

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**Sprocket** · 2 September 1999, 23:27

I have a Abit BX6 R2 with a regular 32Mb G400 running fine, just had to force AGP1x, not a single problem ever since, not even much of a performance degredation (not noticable)- damn fine card.

**Shaidar** · 3 September 1999, 00:16

I just got an Abit bh6 rev2 today and my max yesterday, installed both with out any problems. Working fine at 2x agp, on a 129fsb, agp clock at 86mhz

**ALBPM** · 3 September 1999, 03:29

I'm using the BX6 rev 2 and not having any problems running the G400 or the G400 Max at 2X AGP with WN98. The only lockups I get are when I'm trying to run at a higher FSB speed than the L2 cache on my P3 can handle. It could be you need to adjust the L2 cache Latency setting.

Paul

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P3-560(112x5.0), ABIT BX6 r2, 256MB PC100, MILL G400 MAX-32MB on BNC, Quantum3D Obsidian2 X-24 on D-sub, ABIT Hot Rod Controller, IBM Deskstar 18GB ATA/66, 21"Trinitron, SCSI CDR/RW, SCSI ZIP,SB Live!Value,USR Voice Faxmodem Pro(USB Ext) WN98
and a (Very Messy Desk) ;-P

[This message has been edited by ALBPM (edited 09-03-1999).]

**UserReview** · 3 September 1999, 06:29

Interesting to hear, some find the Max works with a BX6r2, and some have lock ups.

My max was assembled in Ireland and locks up, if you have a BX6r2 where was yours assembled?

Those who have not locked up, have you tried all the Dual head modes. It is when I run in clone mode the problems start.

Maybe I just have a bad card, but it seems by the number of users with problems a lot of bad cards exist. Deja news reveals users having lock ups with the P3Bf and BH6 as well.

Could it be Matrox is trying to hard to meet the Max demand and pushing borderline max chips out the door?

To answer some of the questions...

I have Win98 not Win98se, on a Bx6r2.2.
I have tried a number of video cards in the machine all without lock ups. The only time a card locked before was if it was o/c.
The Max has not been o/c.

Thanks for your responses. If I can't resolve the lock ups tonight, it's good bye Max.

TO : Haig or Matrox
Could you respond to this, the lock up problem seems real for many users?
Should I ask for an exchange? Will you extend the warranty until the next driver release?

[This message has been edited by UserReview (edited 09-03-1999).]

**SteveC** · 3 September 1999, 06:41

Yep, I've used dual head modes. No problems. I do use win98se though, so who knows? That may be the problem?
Thing is, I should say that I don't actually have a MAX. I have a normal, clocked to MAX speeds.

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Cheers,
Steve

**bcronin** · 3 September 1999, 10:49

I have a BX6 R2.02 with PIII 500 and Win98SE. Prior to 5.21 drivers I had almost immediate lockups (within minutes of boot). Forcing AGP1X fixed it. After 5.21 drivers it survives a lot longer, but I still had a lockup (which happened in the middle of the night when my PC powered itself on for my daily differential backup job to run). It is supposed to come up, run the backup and then shutdown and power off. When I came down in the morning it was still on, locked up tight with a totally scrambled screen (and the backup job had not kicked off). So, it has to have locked up within minutes of boot (I poser it on at 1:55 AM and have the Win98 scheduler kick off the backup job at 2:00 AM). I've forced AGP1X again and have not had any problems since.

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Cheers,
BC

**SteveC** · 3 September 1999, 16:54

G400 32mb DH here at AGP 2X running fine in an Abit BX6r2. Which rev of mobo do you have? If it's not the BX6r2.2 then that maybe your problem. There were known probs with the original bx6r2.

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Cheers,
Steve

**bcronin** · 10 September 1999, 12:04

Well, I have absolutely no explanation for this, but I've solved my lockup problems at AGP2X with my Abit BX6R2.0. The following is extracted from an email I just sent to the tech I've been working with offline at Matrox. Take it for what its worth.

----- Begin extract -----
Well, I played with it some more. I decided to do a "Step by step with confirmation" boot of Win98 and look for what drivers were being loaded. My plan was to look for any that seemed somehow "suspicious" and tell Windows not to load them. My first try was to tell it to not load HIMEM.SYS and DBLBUFF.SYS. That didn't work at all. Windows wouldn't even start. Complained about HIMEM.SYS being missing. I don't have a config.sys file at all and never knew that Windows was loading (and needed) HIMEM.SYS under the covers. Oh well, live and learn.

Next I noticed that amongst all the VXD's that were being loaded, there were several that did not seem to be part of Windows itself (e.g. SYMEVENT.386 and CSHOOK.VXD, which I recognized as part of Norton SystemWorks). CSHOOK.VXD in particular caught my eye. I used to own Quarterdeck's CleanSweep (years before Norton bought them out) and vividly recall having all sorts of odd problems with Windows when CleanSweep was installed. Indeed, even though I have Norton SystemWorks 2000 and did install the CleanSweep component, I had removed it from my startup files because I do not use the features of it that "watch" what you install and what files you use. However, I apparently forgot that the CSHOOK.VXD was still lurking around.

Well, the next time I did a selective boot, I told Windows not to load both SYMEVENT.386 and CSHOOK.VXD. I did not know what SYMEVENT.386 does, but I figured that I'd tell Windows to not load any driver that was in any way associated with Norton SystemWorks.

Well guess what?

That fixed my problem!

So, I rebooted and this time tried letting Windows load SYMEVENT.386, but not CSHOOK.VXD (to see if it was perhaps only one of them causing the problem). When Windows came up I still could not get the failure. So, I concluded that it myst be CSHOOK.VXD and was going to remove it ...

But thats whe the *really* strange thing happend (for which I have no explanation). I rebooted once again, this time with a normal boot (just to confirm that when CSHOOK.VXD was loaded, that the problem came back). Well ... it didn't ...

So now, whenever I do a normal boot, which I could swear is the same boot as I had been doing all along (while I was having the failure), I can no longer cause the problem. I have no lockups at all. It all works perfectly. And it is in 2X mode for sure (according to Sandra).

So, I guess you can forget about this problem. It is all working for me now (though I *really* wish I knew why, i.e. what changed when I did what I did to make it start working). I'm half afraid that sometime later the problem will mysteriously come back (just as mysteriously as it disappeared) and that I'll need to contact you again, but for the time being, nevermind!
----- End extract -----

**bcronin** · 18 September 1999, 20:29

Sad tp say that the success reported above was short lived. The problem came back. Matrox tech suggested I do a clean Win98SE install. I did. Installed the OS and the 5.25 drivers (only, nothing else). Same problem. So, it is definitely a hardware issue of some sort. Forcing AGP1X cures it. I give up. I'm going to try to get my Max replaced to see if maybe I got a bad one. Sent mail to the online store several days ago to try to arrange a swap. No response yet. Guess I'll have to call them on Monday. Sigh ...

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Cheers,
BC

**Speedy** · 18 September 1999, 21:37

I had a similar problem with MSI MS-6167
I did max agp aperture (in bios, what ever that thing is called)
and I reinstalled all the system drivers like, PCI to AGP brige, all bus mastering things, etc etc etc, try doing it!!!

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Matrox Millennium G400 Dual Head - English
Resolution 800*600
Color Depth 16-bit Color
Frame Buffer Triple buffering
Refresh Rate VSync Off
CPU Optimization AMD 3DNow!(tm)
3DMark Result 5420.49 3DMarks
Synthetic CPU 3D Speed 9142.76 CPU 3DMarks
Rasterizer Score 2206.33 3DRasterMarks
Game 1 - Race 63.58 FPS
Game 2 - First Person 47.24 FPS
Processor Type AMD-K7(tm) Processor
Processor Speed 500 MHz
Physical Memory 128 MB

[This message has been edited by Speedy (edited 09-19-1999).]

MM · 18 September 1999, 22:40

Just to let you know that there are no problems with G400MAX and Abit BX6-rev2.0 over here. Runs rock stable.

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P2c-300a/450, 192MB PC125 SDRAM, Quantum Fireball Plus KA 18.2GB 7200rpm, Panasonic 7502B x4/x8 Ultra SCSI CD-R, Tekram DC-390U2W Ultra2Wide SCSI controller, Diamond MX300 (Vortex2), Creative Labs AWE64 Gold Sound Blaster, A-Trend Voodoo II 12MB, Matrox Millennium G400Max, 19" Hitachi SuperScan 752, Logitech Cordless MouseMan Wheel and some other fancy stuff

Announcement

G400MAX + Abit Bx6r2 = LOCK UPS

G400MAX + Abit Bx6r2 = LOCK UPS

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