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G400/SBLive serious problem
Hi guys.
I've a serious (REALLY serious) problem with my plain G400 and SBLive Value. My system freezes a few minutes after I start a 3D app such as a game. For instance, when I start System Shock 2, the game will freeze usually a few seconds after starting the actual game. The mouse pointer will not move, neither will the system respond to keyboard commands, except Ctrl-Alt-Del (after a few presses). The sound loops indefinitely. I can only restart the computer.
I'm absolutely sure it is the G400 and the SBLive combo that's causing this problem. If I replace my SBLive with an SB AWE64, then I experience no freezes. I've tried clean installs of all available drivers for both cards. G400: PD 5.13, 5.20, 5.25, 5.30; SBLive: original install, Live!Ware 2.0, 2.1 and 3.0 (Live!Ware web downloads), unfortunately in vain. Once, I formatted my hard disk, installed no hardware but my G400 and SBLive, no software but Win 98, DirectX 7.0, PD 5.20 (which is WHQL certified), LiveWare 2.1 and the G400 TechDemo. The TechDemo froze (with the above symptoms) after 5 minutes.
This problem surfaced one month after I bought the two cards (at the same time). During that one month, I used PD 5.20 and the original SBLive CD install. However, I didn't add any new hardware since I had bought the two cards, so it's either a software problem or a hardware misalignment.
I've ensured that both cards are seated correctly. The G400 hole is misaligned with my chassis, so I've left it unscrewed into the chassis, but I'm very sure that the card is well-connected to the AGP slot.
Neither my PII-300 MHz processor nor my 32 MB SingleHead G400 is overclocked.
I admit that the ambient temperature is really high all year round. It's usually about 30 deg C / 86 deg F here in Singapore. Furthermore, my CPU is placed on the floor under a table, which is quite bad, I know, but I'll need time to figure out how to move it to a cooler location. Meanwhile, I've tried to solve any overheating problems by opening the tower chassis side cover and setting a table fan to blow at full speed into the CPU. It cools the G400 down quite a lot. My G400 overclocked to 282 MHz with MGATweak is cooler with the crude fan setup than my G400 at the original clock speed of 252 MHz without the fan. But I've stopped overclocking it anymore to try to solve this problem.
I'ved tried forcing AGP 1x with the PD registry hacks, but this doesn't solve the problem. In addition, I have tried enabling and disabling the following settings in all possible combinations: anisotropic filtering, bump mapping, palettized textures, subpixel accuracy, triple buffer, vsync. Still no positive results.
I know that a lot of problems are caused by IRQ conflicts. Initially, my G400 and SBLive shared IRQ 9, then I figured that out and changed it, to no avail.
0 System timer
1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
2 Programmable interrupt controller
3 (free)
4 (free)
5 (free)
6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7 Printer Port (LPT1)
8 System CMOS/real time clock
9 Creative SB Live! Value
9 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
10 Lucent Win Modem
10 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
11 Matrox Millennium G400 - English
11 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse Port
13 Numeric data processor
14 Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
14 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
15 Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
15 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
I've disabled the SB 16 Emulation. The G400 and SBLive share different IRQs (11 and 9) respectively. The G400 is set at an IRQ above 9.
I've tried changing the AGP Aperture size in BIOS. My PhoenixBIOS can only set the size to either 64 MB or 256 MB. Both options don't help.
I know that the ABIT motherboard causes problems, but mine is a GenuineIntel motherboard from Dell (which can't be overclocked, incidentally) with the latest A09 BIOS release from Dell. This board appears to be an OEM-manufactured board specifically for Dell computers, so I can't update it with Intel drivers.
Frustrated, I've sent three mails to Matrox tech support, with no reply until today. I've called Creative tech support, but I was told that they don't know how to solve it. The tech support problem hasn't even heard of the G400 at all! She suggested that I add the line busthrottle=1 into the [display] section of system.ini, but she warned that this is only a fix for the SBLive echo problems present with the Millennium II card. Well, no hard trying, right? But, it didn't work, except cause some funny echoes in Rogue Spear.
My system specs:
Dell Dimension XPS D300
Pentium II 300 MHz
96 MB SDRAM
IBM DeskStar 6 GB UltraDMA-33 (with 512 KB L2 cache)
NEC IDE 24x CD-ROM drive
Matrox Millennium G400 AGP 32 MB SingleHead
Creative Sound Blaster Live! Value
CommWave Lucent 56K WinModem (PCI)
HP ScanJet 5p (disabled)
Adaptec SCSI Interface card for HP ScanJets (disabled)
HP DeskJet 720C
Microsoft IntelliMouse
Dell QuietKey 104-key keyboard
Dell 1226H 19" RGB monitor
Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro
Bose Acoustimass-Powered Cube Speaker System
Altec Lansing ACS 490 4-speaker Speaker System
Mirosoft Windows 98 (Original Edition)
DirectX 7.0
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0
Some people have complained that the LiveWare 2.0 web download causes some problems while using the LiveWare 2.0 CD eliminates the problem. Is this possibly true for LiveWare 3.0? Should I pay S$35 for the CD?
It may be possible that my G400 is defective. Should I replace it?
I'm really near my wits' end now, after two whole months of frustrating failure. My sincerest hope is that someone can help me solve this terrible problem of mine. Thanks.
I've a serious (REALLY serious) problem with my plain G400 and SBLive Value. My system freezes a few minutes after I start a 3D app such as a game. For instance, when I start System Shock 2, the game will freeze usually a few seconds after starting the actual game. The mouse pointer will not move, neither will the system respond to keyboard commands, except Ctrl-Alt-Del (after a few presses). The sound loops indefinitely. I can only restart the computer.
I'm absolutely sure it is the G400 and the SBLive combo that's causing this problem. If I replace my SBLive with an SB AWE64, then I experience no freezes. I've tried clean installs of all available drivers for both cards. G400: PD 5.13, 5.20, 5.25, 5.30; SBLive: original install, Live!Ware 2.0, 2.1 and 3.0 (Live!Ware web downloads), unfortunately in vain. Once, I formatted my hard disk, installed no hardware but my G400 and SBLive, no software but Win 98, DirectX 7.0, PD 5.20 (which is WHQL certified), LiveWare 2.1 and the G400 TechDemo. The TechDemo froze (with the above symptoms) after 5 minutes.
This problem surfaced one month after I bought the two cards (at the same time). During that one month, I used PD 5.20 and the original SBLive CD install. However, I didn't add any new hardware since I had bought the two cards, so it's either a software problem or a hardware misalignment.
I've ensured that both cards are seated correctly. The G400 hole is misaligned with my chassis, so I've left it unscrewed into the chassis, but I'm very sure that the card is well-connected to the AGP slot.
Neither my PII-300 MHz processor nor my 32 MB SingleHead G400 is overclocked.
I admit that the ambient temperature is really high all year round. It's usually about 30 deg C / 86 deg F here in Singapore. Furthermore, my CPU is placed on the floor under a table, which is quite bad, I know, but I'll need time to figure out how to move it to a cooler location. Meanwhile, I've tried to solve any overheating problems by opening the tower chassis side cover and setting a table fan to blow at full speed into the CPU. It cools the G400 down quite a lot. My G400 overclocked to 282 MHz with MGATweak is cooler with the crude fan setup than my G400 at the original clock speed of 252 MHz without the fan. But I've stopped overclocking it anymore to try to solve this problem.
I'ved tried forcing AGP 1x with the PD registry hacks, but this doesn't solve the problem. In addition, I have tried enabling and disabling the following settings in all possible combinations: anisotropic filtering, bump mapping, palettized textures, subpixel accuracy, triple buffer, vsync. Still no positive results.
I know that a lot of problems are caused by IRQ conflicts. Initially, my G400 and SBLive shared IRQ 9, then I figured that out and changed it, to no avail.
0 System timer
1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
2 Programmable interrupt controller
3 (free)
4 (free)
5 (free)
6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7 Printer Port (LPT1)
8 System CMOS/real time clock
9 Creative SB Live! Value
9 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
10 Lucent Win Modem
10 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
11 Matrox Millennium G400 - English
11 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse Port
13 Numeric data processor
14 Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
14 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
15 Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
15 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
I've disabled the SB 16 Emulation. The G400 and SBLive share different IRQs (11 and 9) respectively. The G400 is set at an IRQ above 9.
I've tried changing the AGP Aperture size in BIOS. My PhoenixBIOS can only set the size to either 64 MB or 256 MB. Both options don't help.
I know that the ABIT motherboard causes problems, but mine is a GenuineIntel motherboard from Dell (which can't be overclocked, incidentally) with the latest A09 BIOS release from Dell. This board appears to be an OEM-manufactured board specifically for Dell computers, so I can't update it with Intel drivers.
Frustrated, I've sent three mails to Matrox tech support, with no reply until today. I've called Creative tech support, but I was told that they don't know how to solve it. The tech support problem hasn't even heard of the G400 at all! She suggested that I add the line busthrottle=1 into the [display] section of system.ini, but she warned that this is only a fix for the SBLive echo problems present with the Millennium II card. Well, no hard trying, right? But, it didn't work, except cause some funny echoes in Rogue Spear.
My system specs:
Dell Dimension XPS D300
Pentium II 300 MHz
96 MB SDRAM
IBM DeskStar 6 GB UltraDMA-33 (with 512 KB L2 cache)
NEC IDE 24x CD-ROM drive
Matrox Millennium G400 AGP 32 MB SingleHead
Creative Sound Blaster Live! Value
CommWave Lucent 56K WinModem (PCI)
HP ScanJet 5p (disabled)
Adaptec SCSI Interface card for HP ScanJets (disabled)
HP DeskJet 720C
Microsoft IntelliMouse
Dell QuietKey 104-key keyboard
Dell 1226H 19" RGB monitor
Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro
Bose Acoustimass-Powered Cube Speaker System
Altec Lansing ACS 490 4-speaker Speaker System
Mirosoft Windows 98 (Original Edition)
DirectX 7.0
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0
Some people have complained that the LiveWare 2.0 web download causes some problems while using the LiveWare 2.0 CD eliminates the problem. Is this possibly true for LiveWare 3.0? Should I pay S$35 for the CD?
It may be possible that my G400 is defective. Should I replace it?
I'm really near my wits' end now, after two whole months of frustrating failure. My sincerest hope is that someone can help me solve this terrible problem of mine. Thanks.
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