New G400 and I am not happy!

[Kruzin]

Glad it's goin now.
Even just seeing an IRQ list can help give clues to where the problem lies

[Zwisch]

From Matrox FAQ's

For the VA-503+, you can try the following :
- Make sure that you have all the VIA drivers (bus master, miniport/IRQ, etc)
- Assign the video card an IRQ in the BIOS if necessary.
- Try the latest driver for the video card and if none of above works, upgrade the video card and the motherboard BIOS.
- In Matrox Properties, DISABLE AGP Bus Master.
- In BIOS Setup, DISABLE a) DRAM Read Around Write and b) DRAM Write Pipeline.

[Jorden]

It feels soooo good to help when asleep

[FirstPerson]

Having read and enjoyed this thoroughly entertaining thread.....Ive found that I may have a "potential" problem in my Irq settings.
I decided to check whats what in My Hardware Manager.....lo and behold, what a load of shit I did find. Suffice to say Ive done a big clean-up (later to find Id been a little to zealous and deleted some rather "useful" read essentual drivers......he he.....).
What I have found that may be of concern, is that Im sharing my Matrox irq with well, let me list them.....[IRQs]

0 System timer
1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
2 Programmable interrupt controller
3 Communications Port (COM2)
4 Communications Port (COM1)
5 Creative AWE64 16-bit Audio (SB16 compatible)
6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7 Printer Port (LPT1)
8 System CMOS/real time clock
10 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
10 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
11 Highpoint Technology Inc. HPT366 Ultra DMA 66 Controller
11 Highpoint Technology Inc. HPT366 Ultra DMA 66 Controller
11 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
12 Matrox Millennium G400 DualHead - English
12 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
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
9 (free)

Now, should I move the Matrox to "9" for instance? Or is it Ok sharing as it does?

Like my compatriot here, Im not to slick on IRQ management. I do know my way around the puter however, so I can move it if I have to by trial and error, preferably no trial and no error!!
The only problem I have is that I can not run at AGP x 2!!.....could this be as a result of the irq sharing?
At any rate everything is working (touch wood), and as they say "if it aint broke dont fix it", but that flies in the face of puter fine tuning!!
Any help would be much appreciated.

[cjolley]

FirstPerson,
"IRQ Holder for PCI Steering" is a driver Win uses to help manage IRQs. Should have one for each occupied IRQ. In fact, if you delete one it will just come right back!
I don't know if the double entry for your UDMA66 controler is OK or not.
AGP 2X is WAY over rated. Worry about it last.
What kind of motherboard and proccessor do you have?
chuck


------------------
ABit BH6 w/ Celery 333@500, 128mb gh@cas2, 10gb IBM@7200, SB Live Value@3.0, noname CDRom@40x, Mitsumi CDRW@2x2x8, Acatel 1000 ADSL@1.5mb/sec, Princeton EO75@1024x768x32x85hz, USB mouse,Matrox G400 MAX!!!!



[This message has been edited by cjolley (edited 18 December 1999).]

[FirstPerson]

I see hmmm.........My system:

Abit BP6 with Two Celery's Clocked at 606Mhz
Matrox Max (of course)
192Meg Apacer ram
Quantum KA9.1 HD
Awe64 S/C.
C.L. 48X CDRom
Banksia 56K Modem
Netgear card
ADI 5G monitor
Misumi F.D.
Logitech USB Wheel mouse
C.L. speakers
Microsoft USB Ergo keyboard
and one Motherf#@ker of a Water Cooling system....

[FirstPerson]

Oh, and those Celery's are 366's incidentally.
I assume the two controllers are for each IDE 3 and 4?

[Sierra]

Hey FirstPerson,


Just curious ....... I assume your using WIN 98, is there an advantage in running a duel processor system with an operating system that supports only a single processor. I would have thought that you would have to use WIN NT or Linux or some other duel processor system to get the benefit ?


Cheers

Alan.

------------------
Celeron 366 @ 413; Abit BH6; 128M PC100; Matrox Millenium G400 MAX; 28G Seagate Barracuda HD; 6.4G IBM HD; SB Live; HP CDR-W; ViewSonic 19" monitor;

[DonKiddik]

Greetz everyone!

Thought I had died? or wished I had!

Firstly, Yes what a piggin job I had. I may now be tempted to steer clear of SS7 Mobo's in favour of Intel (I hate to say it!)

Secondly, Sorry Matrox (and fans of Matrox) for blaming you earlier (and upsetting the fans.) All I had to do was read the threads on this forum, make some notes in preparation, grit my teeth, and GET ON WITH IT! Stubborness is inherited I am afraid.

I HAD to re-install Win98 afer all! As I mentioned, I un-installed Norton Utilities which did NOT un-install cleanly and goosed my system up good style!

I documented every move of the fresh install which reads like a book! The shorter story is as follows:

Re-install Win98 (SE)
Configure Win98 as basic as poss (VGA drivers only!) with Internet access etc.
Download fresh updated FIC 503+ MOBO Bios, Via 4 in 1 drivers, PD 5.41, and ALL Matrox utils from this board! Backup all files to to CD.
Flash new Bios (V1.15JE37)
Check Bios settings were correct
Install Via 4 in 1 drivers, reboot
Disable Read around Write in Bios
Install PD 5.41, reboot
Tried Unreal Tournament, hung, GPF in DDHELP.EXE (Direct X Diagnostic help) reset
Enabled AGP 2x and Read around Write in Bios
Try UT again, 29 Min Bot match & WON! Cool!
Went to bed (Friday 17-12-99 night 01:30 am)
Sat 18-12-99 Afternoon
Disabled Read around Write in Bios, ensured Spread Spectrum was Disabled, USB Enabled!
Tried UT again, 2Hrs+ Bot match got fragged ta death! My son Dominic (4 yrs) even had a go and loved it (I know he's a bit young for UT but he used to play Q2 when he was 3! Boys & toys eh!)
Installed Lava and tried UT again, CTLAUNCHER GPF's when UT launched! Configured Creative launcher not to load on startup (that sorted it!)
Spent a while getting Lava to play with G400 eventually happy at 1152 xc 864 at 16bit, does not like any higher res or colours!
Tried UT again, 2 hour+ Bot match and dominated! COOL game I luv it.

Noticed my IDE Traxdata CDRW kept on going missing on reboots! Went to Traxdata site and download an aspi patch and installed, that fixed it!

Here's my IRQ listing:

0 System timer
1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
2 Programmable interrupt controller
3 Communications Port (COM2)
4 Communications Port (COM1)
5 Creative SB Live! SB16 Emulation
6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7 Printer Port (LPT1)
8 System CMOS/real time clock
9 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
9 Matrox Millennium G400 - English
10 Creative SB Live! Value
10 VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
10 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
10 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
11 REALmagic Hollywood Plus
11 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
12 Genius NetMouse Pro PS/2 Mouse Port
13 Numeric data processor
14 Primary Bus Master IDE controller (dual fifo)
14 VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller (Ultra DMA)
15 Secondary Bus Master IDE controller (dual fifo)
15 VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller (Ultra DMA)

The worst thing I can see is the SB live sharing IRQ 10 with the PCI to USB Host Controller, this should be OK. Well, no probs yet! Lava throw up an error when I exit it, sound familier? I can live with it.

I am happy, that is that episode over.

Thanks to ALL who have posted here and suggested various ways of getting this G400 to work on this MOBO. Much apreciated and "you da guys (and gals)!"

P.S. Oh, know of any great sites for UT deatmatches etc? My thirst for blood is great.

Thanks






------------------
Rgds
Don (Kiddik)Davidson
"Welcome Back my Friends to the Show that Never Ends"

[Jorden]

Don't you just love computers, Don?

Congrats on tackling the problems though.

Jorden, still busy with the FAQ for 'how to change IRQs' on the various mobo's/BIOSes around

[Io]

This may be late, but I got the post from another post.. going to grab a G400 for my P5A SS7.

Well, if I'm not wrong, problems with the Ali V chipsets are the AGP implementation and stuff.. mobo's dont do well with Nvidia cards even and general rule of thumb I gotten was that..the simpler the card (ie less features..), the fewer problems you'll get with this chipset.

Norton utilities..their uninstaller doesnt work cleanly.. Had problems when I first used it. Had to reinstall windows to get it working properly again. Heard that some others have the same situation.. (only thing I wanted from NU was the speeddisk to get my swap file optimised.)

Well, wish me luck on my G400

[FirstPerson]

For Sierras benefit..........I have a dual boot system with NT and Win98 and indeed it does scream in NT with Quake 3. I get a very weird graphic anomoly in Q3 but Im not to concerned as Im a waiting for win2000.