*** G400 Problem with my K7M – It’s small but annoying! ***

[NewmanM]

System:
Athlon 500
K7M mombo
G400 32Meg Dualhead
64 PC100
18 Gig WD Expert HardDrive
9.1 Gig Quantum Fireball KA HardDrive
15 inch monitor
350 Watt Power supply
good cooling, etc…..

Occasionally I get this problem.
Half way through a boot up, my computer hangs with different colored vertical lines on the screen. When this happens I have to reset the computer, which I can do by hitting the reset button, but curiously enough if I want to just turn the computer off when this happens I have to hold the on/off button in for a couple of seconds, which is not the norm for my computer.
Any way, back to the real problem, when I boot back up windows starts in 640*480 with 16 colors.
When I go to display properties/settings it only gives me the option of 16,256 or high color, and only at low resolutions.. etc… I’m sure you get the idea.
Any way I go to system properties, and every thing checks out.
Display adapter is “matrox millennium G400…” Device status checks out. Driver looks good.
Every thing looks good except that it doesn’t if you get my meaning.
The only way that I can fix this problem is to uninstall (not physically) the video card using matrox’s uninstall utility.
So that’s what I do -I use the matrox uninstall utility… system reboots… windows detects the adapter… install driver etc…… I install the most recent drivers…etc…
And it works, I’m all back to normal, for a while at any rate..
Then it happens again anywhere from a couple of days to a week or so later
While the uninstall/reinstall procedure only takes a couple of minutes, it seems to happen at the most inopportune moments and hence It’s starting to get really F’n annoying,
Does any one have any suggestions or is any one else experiencing this problem???

** All help is appreciated! **


Additional info:
Graphics BIOS 1.3 – 20
Display driver: 4.11.01.1410
Matrox PowerDesk: 5.41.008
DirectDraw/Direct3D driver: 4.11.01.1410
Microsoft DirectX: 4.07.00.0700

**PS. And Yes - I believe I have followed Matrox’s explicit directions one how to uninstall and install the particular drivers I have used.

[chip]

that is easy to fix-upgrade your bios in g400
than you will probably be good to go-let us know how it goes.i got same setup as you-i had that problem till i updated bios.

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IT'S NEVER FAST ENOUGH!

[MXR4LIFE]

I had the same problem as have others with K7M + G400. I honestly don't know the solution but I like others have fixed it somehow. Read my post from last month for some ideas. http://forums.murc.ws/ubb/Forum5/HTML/006587.html

Make sure you have no ghost drivers in Device Manager (boot in safemode to check)
Run the beta 1209 BIOS

I disabled ACPI in BIOS by;
ACPI Aware O/S ? NO It's more trouble than it's worth.

Also try force AGP 1x or 2x 2x works for me.

let us know how you do
Good Luck



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"Hi, my name is Gary and I'm an OC addict"

[Zenfe]

Had the same problem.
The way to fix it is to download the registry hacks from the MURC site and force AGP 2x.

I use to get the lines or as we came to call it the "Plaid death" only on cold boots. As in the first boot up of the day.

Anyways forcing AGP 2x will fix your problem :P

Hope you don't have anymore problems

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Athlon 500MHz @ 750MHz 1/3
G400 32 meg Dual-Head Vanilla @ 160.2/200.25 (400.5, 2.5/2.0/2.5)

[Gum]

Hi!

I think you guys know abt the situation whereby the system will not boot or even output anything to the monitor when you guys first install the G400 into a new mobo.

Only by setting the AGP Aperture size to 256 and Video Sequence to AGP/PCI then will the G400 boot to its full glory in Win98.

Any related problems with the K7M and G400?

[Greebe]

I have one problem... why 64 megs of mem?

------------------
Designer of the first commercial Athlon mod.
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

[Thundrchez]

I've had the exact same problem on my Asus K7M and G400.

MXR4LIFE & Zenfe are correct. You need to go to the MURC utility downloads and get the PD 5 registry hacks. Install the one named "forceagp2x.reg", reboot, and you will be in business.

It is very annoying. I don't know of a better solution than that, though.

Whenever you upgrade your Matrox drivers by using the uninstaller and then installing the new drivers, you will have to remember to reinstall the forceagp2x.reg. That got wiped on me with the uninstaller and burned me one time.

[NewmanM]

Wow, great response times!
Thanks every one for the info, I’ll give it a try and get back to you.

P.S. are there any down sides to applying the forceagp2x.reg hack?

[Zwisch]

Hi,

I have that exact same mobo and never once had the mentioned problem. Looks as if your Bus speed is too high and being overclocked. Are you running your Bus Speed at normal 100 with AGP set to 2/3 (66 MHz) as it should be?

Z

[NewmanM]

Oh, just forgot to mention. When this problem occurs the Matrox QuickDesk utility fails to load in the system tray, has this been the same for the rest of you that have experienced this problem?

[Greebe]

Zwisch, now come on! U know that MB won't do 2/3!

[dean]

If I disable Primary Frame Buffer in CMOS then the problem disappears. However, DVD playback becomes jittery. My mobo will only to 2X. Is this a problem?

Matsonic 5MVP3, K6-2 450, 128mb PC100 Ram, 2 - 6.4 Fujitsu ATA33 HDs, Marvel G400

[Zwisch]

Greebe, actually, no I did not remember... but point still stands that you can't expect a perfect card is your AGP speed is higher than 66 mhz

[Gum]

Hey Guys!!

I have the exact similiar problem!!
The corrupted color screen, the 640x480*16colors, PowerDesk not loading on boot, and of cos Matrox 5.41 drivers all semmingly working properly but again not...

My Setup:
Athlon 500 (week47 & can o/c to 750 @ 1.65v)
Asus K7M Rev 1.04
GW FKK08 Heatsink (modified with 'bigger & badder' fans!!)
128Mb Micron -8E rated PC100 SDRAM (in DIMM1 slot)
IBM 34GXP 13.6g
Quantum Fireball ST 3.2g
Toshiba 32x
HP 7570i 2x2x24x CDRW
OEM 16Mb G400 (PwrDesk v5.41)
SBLive! Value (LiveWare v3.0)
Sumsung 700IFT
No-brand Full Tower bought w 300w 'Wintech' PS
Win98SE (w DX7.0)

Thanx guys for the tips on forcing AGP2x!

BTW, any other G400 related problems? Let's discuss together and try solve them!!