G400 rushed to market?

[paulcs]

Why would you both have this problem? I haven't seen this problem before, and I can't understand how it could happen, but for is to happen *twice* amongst friends is bizzare.

Have you considered a virus?

What do your systems have in common?

It sounds like an overclocking problem, although, from what you've written, this isn't the case.

Have you run Scandisk (on the "thorough" setting) on your boot drive and the drive where you keep your data?

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Rags]

Hey, Paul I hate to break it to ya, but the G400 is not the only card that has problems. You can sit there and say that there are more than with other cards, but you and I both know very well that you are pulling this shit out of your ass (makes sense to me).

Anyhow, let's look at yer problem: #1 cause of Corrupted data--Bad hard drives
#2 cause--Bad Drive controller
#3 cause--Bad memory
#4 cause--POOR system configuration
#5 cause--Poor power supply
(not including virus)
Let's see, can you see any similarities between you and your friend's system besides the G400??? And don't tell me that the G400 is corrupting your hard drive. I WILL believe that once you find the cause of data corruption, that you will also find the cause of your display problems.

Rags

By the way, I like how you deleted your post, then decided to edit what you said and repost it after this one.




[This message has been edited by Rags (edited 14 October 1999).]

[Paul Taylor]

Off my rocker? No, not yet (Matrox are making sure I'm going in that direction though!!)

Confused? Why do you say that?



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"Sleep, Oh how I loathe those little slices of death..."

[The Rock]

Cmag:

I wasn't trying to force my opinions down anyone's throat. And this whole SB Live thing has nothing to do with my PC experience. Most of the bad things I've heard about the SB Live were well documented driver problems from loads of users. I'm not saying the card stank outright, because Creative Labs DOES own the sound card market, but that particular one had driver issues. Not my opinion, just fact. And I have NEVER tried to treat ANYONE in ANY forum like a child. I'm 29 years old and I'm wayyy past that shit. I'm sorry if you interpreted my post that way, but that is NOT how it was intended. Paul is obviously having lots of problems with his machine, and I just thought they *could* be SB Live related. But obviously, since he removed the card (like a smart tech would ), and tested it without it, this is not the case.

Apologies to Paul too if my post seemed to just be SB bashing; I was just sharing something I've heard a LOT about over the past 12 months in several forums. I hope you get the problem fixed. I have almost the same specs as you, and it's a shame for you NOT to be able to enjoy this card. It's a wonderful piece of hardware. I still can't see how a video card could cause data corruption (either directly or indirectly) considering it's not sharing an IRQ with anything else. If you do figure this out, I'd love to know what the problem was.

Motub: you are THE woman. Ya gotta love a woman who knows how to back up an argument.

------------------
The Rock
"Discourage incest - ban country music NOW!"

System:
P2 350 /w Asus P2B /w 128 Meg PC100 SDRAM
17.2Gig Maxtor DiamondMax HD + 6.4Gig Fujitsu HD
Matrox G400 32Meg + SB PCI 128 Sound
Modem Blaster 56K Modem + Panasonic 2x/4x SCSI Toaster + 32X CD-ROM

[Haig]

Hi Paul,

The only thing I heard about corrupted file problems is if you have a Caviar 6.8G, WD just made a recall on them.

Haig

[motub]

But I am still getting evidence (corrupted files) of HD transfers being corrupted (read are ok but writes are sometimes getting corrupted). It is not a problem with my HD controller as when the card is removed and replace with my old G200 the corruption does not occur.

Am I understanding this correctly? You are saying that when you use the G400 and try to save, oh let's say a Notepad file, you sometimes get garbage back, but if you put in the G200 this doesn't happen??

Now I have only been assembling systems for 3 or 4 years, and will be doing my 1st BX over the weekend, so maybe I'm just inexperienced, but this makes no sense to me whatsoever.. unless...
[list=1][*]The G400 uses resources on the mobo that the G200 doesn't, which are involved somehow in the IDE pipeline (this sounds pretty far-fetched, but what do I know?), or[*]the corruption is visual, but not actual (i.e., the file as displayed on the screen <u>appears</u> corrupted, but is actually fine... which I would test by transferring one of these 'corrupted' files to a disk and opening it on another machine... have you tried anything like that?[/list=a]

Have we discussed BIOS settings, yet?? Maybe we should... if any of you remember my problem with crashing in a specific memory register, the information I got was that it was a fault in my Plug and Play BIOS... maybe we should be talking about the model numbers on these mobo chips, as well...

I don't think that the problem is the G400... I think the problem is in the fundamental hardware that both the G400 and the HDD are using to do their jobs... call it 'metal thumb woman's' intuition... but nothing else makes sense, and when you eliminate (as you have) all other possibilities, we've got to start looking at the improbable and unlikely options..

The Rock: Thx

-----------------
Holly

[Paul Taylor]

SO IM TALKING CRAP AM I RAGS?? JUST TO CLEAR A FEW QUESTIONS UP!!


No I havent got any virus (I've run 2 virus checkers on the system bith using latest updates)).

The only thing in common is a G400MAX and a Pentium 2.

Hard disks have been reformatted completely and a fresh install of windows 98 + latest drivers, directX, etc.
No errors detected by a number of disk tools including Norton.
Cables have been checked AND replaced.
Corruption is occuring on both drives, and I have also tested an old one too same problem!


The card is NOT overclocked at all!! My P2-350 is usually clocked at 392, but it makes no difference (friend P2-450 has never been overclocked).

Memory has been checked using a hardware testing rig and I have borrowed other memory but it make no difference.

Bad drive controller? Then why dont I get corruption with the G200??
I can copy a file (with the G400 in) and about 1 in 10 times (more with big files) the file is corrupted (when tested on another machine or with the G200 in mine).


Bios setting have been tested at SETUP DEFAULTS and every other usefull combination.
I have tried the DEFAULT settings as well as sensible combinations I know of.

Power supplies? Lack of power, no. Mines a 420W and so is my friends, output has been checked for fluctuations (prblem is not there).

As stated in a previous post I HAVE FIXED THE SCREEN CORRUPTION PROBLEMS, RAGS!!!

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"Sleep, Oh how I loathe those little slices of death..."

[This message has been edited by Paul Taylor (edited 14 October 1999).]

[Rags]

LISTEN UP PAUL, YOU HAVE NOT POSTED THAT YOU FIXED THE CORRUPTION PROBLEMS. I have yet to see that you figured out what it is that YOU have done wrong in setting your system up that has caused this. I just re read through the post again, and I have not seen it, maybe you can tell me what you did to fix it. And don't tell me you put another video card in, because that is not fixing your problem. Have you checked what Holly has suggested???

The only thing in common is a G400MAX and a Pentium 2.....Power supplies? Lack of power, no. Mines a 420W and so is my friends, output has been checked for fluctuations (prblem is not there).

Kind of contradicting aint it??? It looks like you both are using the same power supply, I guess that wouldn't be in common would it??? What is the make and model??? What have you used to measure the outputs??? Also, What did you use to test your memory (make and model)????

Rags

[Mark F]

Holly,
'metal thumb' = technicly inclined
I like that

Mark F.

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OH NO, my retractable cup holder swallowed a CD

[Paul Taylor]

Not stated I've fixed the screen corruption problem?
4th post down RAGS with my system specs.

As for the testing it was done by a local computer supplier/builder, someone with more than 15 years experience of building/repairing PCs.

He said there was NO problem with the power supply AT ALL and that the memory check (tested for over 24 hours) revealed NO DEFECTS!!

His best guess was some obscure fault/incompatability on the G400.

I posted here asking for answers, not to be insulted! I can only state what is occuring and it is no good saying something cant be happening BECAUSE IT IS!!
Useful suggestions are welcomed!


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"Sleep, Oh how I loathe those little slices of death..."

[This message has been edited by Paul Taylor (edited 14 October 1999).]

[Rags]

Uhhhh, Paul, WHERE have I said ANYTHING about corrupt displays......NOWHERE!!!!! Read my posts instead of just glancing, then you can jump my shit, you twit.

Well I've solved the problem of the corrupted DVDMax (and maybe the lockups), something had turned off the "Allocate IRQ for VGA" in the BIOS.
But I am still getting evidence (corrupted files) of HD transfers being corrupted (read are ok but writes are sometimes getting corrupted). It is not a problem with my HD controller as when the card is removed and replace with my old G200 the corruption does not occur.

UMMM...Lets see, George...eerrr...duhhh, looks like you are saying that there is still data corruption.

What are your settings in your BIOS??? List ALL of your settings starting from CPU plug and Play.


Rags

[Rags]

Uhhh, and now that you have edited a few of your posts, let me answer some of your editing. First, you have yet to ask for help, especially in your first post. Read it, where does it ask for help. Your topic is "G400 rushed to market?", then your beginning post goes on tell us how your bad experience with the G400 has caused you to hesitate to recommend it.....It corrupted my hard drive.....there are tons of people having probs with it...blah blah blah. This is asking for help????

Rags

[cjolley]

PAUL T
I know this will sound silly, but did you get a new keyboard recently?
I did an upgrade to a friends computer a couple of months ago. New mb, graphics card etc, etc. It took Win98 just fine, but then began to get lost vxds on boot-up or crashes or corrupted files. We replaced every thing in that computer one by one (after 3 reinstall of win98). He had picked up a keyboard for $10 so he would not have to use a ps/2 converter. When we replaced the keyboard it fixed everything! Amazing!
If that is the case you may thank the happless IBM enginer that put way too much responsibility on the keyboard controller chip of the first PC.
chuck


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ABit BH6 w/ Celery 333@500, 128mb gh@cas2, 10gb IBM@7200, SB Live Value@44kh, noname CDRom@40x, Mitsumi CDRW@2x2x8, Zoom@56k, Princeton EO75@1024x768x32x85hz, USB mouse,Matrox G400 MAX!!!!



[This message has been edited by cjolley (edited 14 October 1999).]

[motub]

I can't believe I'm the 1st one to suggest this, but I am, so I'm going to milk it...

Let's assume the following...

• the HW tests are accurate and the PS & memory are fully functional.
• the HDDs are fully functional.
• the BIOS are configured and working properly
• the Abit and Gigabyte motherboards are completely independent of each other and share no chips (use different north & south bridge chips, etc.)
• the G400 works correctly (though it does not appear to)
• files are actually being corrupted on a sporadic basis, but only when the G400 is in use.

If all this was true, then the "problem" and it's solution would have to lie in some fundamental hardware difference (I can only assume it's in the HW, I still can't see how a video card driver could disrupt the transfer of data along the IDE channel) between the G200 and the G400... you all know more about all that assembler-level stuff than I do, so if that's a possibility sing on out...

But the 1st thing that leaped to my mind as the main difference between the G200 and the G400 was...
<h1><font color="#FF0000"><p align="center">HEAT!!</H1></Font></p>

I can't believe that we've had a whole conversation about intermittent, unexplainable errors, and this is the 1st time the question of cooling has entered... what have we been thinking??

Paul Taylor, please to inform us as to the cooling situation on these PCs... are the cases closed? adequate cooling fans inside? a fan on the G400? on the HDDs?

I think I might be on to something....

-----------------
Holly



[This message has been edited by motub (edited 14 October 1999).]

[X-Kenny-X]

The heating in the G400 is not the problem, it is most likely that they are running 7200 rpm hdd's. If so and you are in a climate that is naturally hot, then you need more cooling in your system, your motherboard chipset might be getting hot due to increased voltage required by the G400, your agp slot could be getting hot and heating up your hdd and it is goin jiggy. It sounds like it is a heat problem with your hard drive. Invest in some sunon case fans and clean out the dust in your case and check all the ide connections. After you have done that then come back and complain.