Athlon & G400

[flobox]

My system is a K7M mobo with an Athlon 600Mhz, 128Mb PC100 memory, a 250W ps and Win98se running on it. I checked all possibilities for running the G400 32Mb properly, but it still runs very unstable (bluescreen's or the complete lost of the monitor signal, no sync. signal). I checked the IRQ's, set the vio to 3.31Volts, I updated mobo and video bios, forced the AGP bus to 2x and/or 1x, manipulated the mobo bios settings and installed all the newest drivers (AMD750 stuff, G400)... But every time I enabled the "bus mastering" option in the settings, the system runs very unstable. Now I took the processor's speed back to 90% (530Mhz) and it worked good. shit. Now I will change my power-suppliy into a 300W and if it's not better I will change my PC100 ram into faster one's. Could you tell me what YOU would do in this situation??

[paulcs]

I think the power supply upgrade is a good idea. I would certainly check AMD's list as well.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 27 December 1999).]

[smokva]

Try installing original Win98, SE shit is known for it's many problems.
My system is working about 10-15 % slower on SE than itworks on first edition of Win98, with many crashes like yours.

[Rohde]

Sorry, no solution from me, just a comment.
You say that you'll upgrade your RAM to something faster than PC100. Why would you do that ???? As long as you don't clock your RAM higher than 100 % (100 MHz), why would upgrading your RAM to 133 MHz do ANY good ?

That's all

Torben Rohde

[paulcs]

I think he's just looking for a solution, and is at his wits' end. I'm not an expert on AMD processors, but the fact that when he decreases the processor's speed, things start working suggests to me that it's not getting enough power at spec.

I know some people have their Athlon systems running with 250 Watt power supplies, but we've seen problems with this tactic as well. When you opt to ignore a manufacturer's instructions, and things start going very wrong, you might want to reconsider and do what they suggest.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 27 December 1999).]

[Greebe]

Change the power supply. Even with a 300w Powerman pws, 850-900mHz can be hard to achieve.

------------------
Designer of the first commercial Athlon mod. Currently marketing the "Eclipse" through AZZO Computers.
Anyone up for an Eclipse'd Athlon? Email me (epc@netdirect.net) for more information

3000 mips, 1.172 gflops @ 900 mHz 1:3 latency
CPUmark99 75
FPU Winmark 4890

3Dmark 99 Max (8x6 16, 16, triple) PD5.41
8000
15181

[flobox]

Thanx for answering and a happy new Year to everyone...
I now changed the power supply into a 300W but it doesen't solved the problem. I will now change my ram, because I have some kind of "no name" ram in my system. Eventually it'll help to put some high quality rams into...

[jasonk]

This may be a DMA problem also. I've had quite a few problems with the VIA chipset on the K7M - built about two dozen systems with it. I have used brand name memory, but mostly generic stuff. I have used 250W PS also with no problems. There are 250W, and even 235W PS on the AMD recommended list. Of course, the Antec 303ps and the Sparkle 300W are my favorites. What I can tell you is that if I install the VIA busmaster drivers WITH UDMA ENABLED, the whole system acts funny, crashing for no good reason. This happens every time I do it. Odd thing is, if I install the 4 in 1 without enabling UDMA, reboot, then enable UDMA, then reboot (sigh), everything works fine. And you know, the Windows 98 drivers work pretty good, too. Good Luck!

[fabrice]

hi flobox,

I have similar config. and quite same problems.
My system:
-Aopen HX08 case (300W PSU - seems to be in approved AMD list)
-K7M, rev 1.04 w/o sound, upgraded to bios 1007
-Athlon 600 Mhz
-1 stick 128MB PC133cas3 ram (seems to be Win Technologies ram, chip refs:WTC8M8S4T-7)
-G400 Max
-SCSI Adaptec 2940U
-Ethernet PCI 10/100Mb
-SB live value
-Primary ide (master): WD307AA
-Primary ide (slave): AC418000
-Pioneer DVD U103 (scsi)
-Panasonic CW7502 Writer (scsi)
-Iiyama Monitor A901HT
-Logitech usb wheel mouse

I've started building my system for 3 weeks, and it is still not stable (but i've found a clue, see end).
I've got a lot of problems, starting with the "siren" sound (corrected now), and ending with vertical lines on screen on cold boot(and frozen system)
In that last case, the only thing to do is uninstall matrox drivers with matrox uninstaller, then reinstall drivers. The problem has occurred with 5.20, 5.30 and 5.41 drivers (don't remember with 5.11).
I've set VIO jumper to 3.31v: no change (still problem)
I've NOT tried VIO to 3.56v
I've tried to use Registry Hacks to force AGP*1 mode: no luck
An other strange thing: using Wcpuid 2.7, my L2 cache is said to 1/3 speed ??? (and not 1/2 as it should be).

My current software config is:
-W98 (NO SE; i've removed it)
-AGP miniport 4.45
-Via "4 in 1" 4.16 (except AGP)
-no irq conflicts and all seems ok.
-5.41 drivers for matrox

What I have noticed (after many testing) is:
1) when I use 100Mhz FSB problem occur (vertical lines and freezing) on cold boot, but not every time !
2) when I use 105Mhz FSB (in bios setup)problem doesn't occur !!!

In test case 1) I've also noticed using Wcpuid that AGP mode is sometimes * 1 and sometimes * 2

In test case 2) I've also noticed using Wcpuid that AGP mode is always * 1.

So, I'm thinking there is something wrong with AGP*2 mode on this system, but i'm not able to describe what it is.

The only thing i've found is to set FSB to 105Mhz, but i've started it only for 3 days, so there's not enough time to say it's rock solid.

Try that tip. I don't if it will work on your system (maybe it's ok on mine because of that strange L2 cache speed).

Hope that helps

Fabrice

[Maggi]

Hi Fabrice,

interesting what you found out ...

could you cross check that by forcing AGP1x and using 100MHz FSB ?

the apropriate reg-patch is available at www.murc.ws ...

------------------
Cheers,
Maggi
________________________

Working Rig:
Asus P2B-DS @ 100MHz FSB
Double Pentium III-450
4 x 128MB CAS2 SDRAM
Matrox Millennium G400 32MB DualHead
Eye-Q 777 (22" with 127kHz) on primary VGA
Nokia 445Xi (21") on secondary VGA

Home Rig:
Asus P2B-S Bios 1010 @ 100MHz FSB
Celeron 333A @ 500MHz
2 x 128MB CAS2 SDRAM
Matrox Millennium G400 32MB DualHead @ 150/200MHz
CTX VL710T (17")
and a brand new Pioneer 303S SCSI-DVD

[Zwisch]

I am using that mobo at work with no problems. Be sure that everything is running fine first with just the video card. Yo uisntalled the AMD AGP miniport and VIA bus mastering? Also be sure that USB was enabled in your BIOS before you installed windows.

[fabrice]

Hi Maggi and Zwisch,

-> Maggi:
I'm not a true specialist in setting AGP stuff. Scanning through the Murc, in the utilities section, I've found 3 files:
1) PD5 Registry hacks
2) PCI List 1.30
3) G400Tweak
If the "patch" (agp*1) to apply you're thinking about is contained in PD5 (ForceAgp1x.reg), I've already done it with no success (FSB 100Mhz): reg file applied, warm reboot with success, then misc. use of the computer, then shutdown for the night, then back next morning, power on and vertical lines with crash...
If the "patch" I just described is not the one you were thinking about, would you mind
advice me which one of the two remaining I should use (if you know it)...
Thanks

-> Zwisch:
Thanks for the advice. I'm gonna reinstall W98 on an other disk from scratch.
I can't remember if USB was enabled or not, when I installed W98. BTW what's the difference (or what are potential impacts) between installing W98 from scratch without USB enabled then enabling it later, and installing with USB enabled ?
What I'm planning to do is:
0) remove SB Live value and Ethernet Card, keep Adaptec 2940U (dvd-rom needed) and matrox G400Max; keep USB mouse plugged (I've switched jumper for IRQ12; now IRQ12 is usable by USB controller or any other device);reset FSB to 100Mhz; USB enabled (port 0 and 1)
1) boot from diskette
2) install W98 from cd-rom
3) install miniport 4.45, and stay with VGA display adapter; reboot
4) install all VIA4.16 (except AGP); reboot
5) install matrox 5.41
6) install DX7.0a
7) then wait until success or failure...
do you think it's a correct procedure ?

I'll keep all of you posted (maybe in a few days)

Cheers
Fabrice

[Jacco Hoeve]

Hello,

This might help you guys out: The Asus K7M by default uses a voltage of 3.45V for memory and cards etc. etc. This, sometimes, is a bit too high for certain parts. I suggest you put that voltage back to 3.3V using the jumpers on the mainboard (check your manual).


------------------
Jacco

ASUS K7M,Athlon 500MHz,256MB,G400 16MSH(160/200)

[Maggi]

Hi Fabrice,

you did what I suggested ...

[Psychaos]

Check the memory. I just got an Athlon 500, MS6167, G400 a couple weeks ago. Did a fresh install of Win98 SE and had tons of stability problems. Crashes, video drivers not working, DVDs crashing, etc. Then I took my 4 month old cheap OEM 128 Meg DIMM out and put in a name brand 64 meg DIMM. boom all crashes went away and the system is completely stable. 64 megs is killing me though trying to hold out till the prices come down and buy a good name brand 128 meg DIMM.