G400 screen corruption

[KB]

I am getting random lockups where the graphics on my screen become corrupt with lines througout the screen and a box where the mouse pointer used to be. After this happens I have to reboot. This occurs randomly including right after startup or when I am running internet explorer or other windows apps. Are there any issues with IE5 and the G400? My system specs are as follows:

Win 98 first edition
DX 7a
Aopen ax6b MB
p2 400 o/c to 448 w/112mhz fsb agp bus set 2/3
192 Meg pc100 ram
G400 SH w/32 megs w/pd 5.50 and fan on heat sink (same behavior w/5.30 and 5.40 drivers)
Diamond MX-300 w/latest Aureal ref drivers
32x cdrom
6x2 cdrw
SMC 10/100 nic w/busmastering enabled
PDPI L4 game card
Power Supply - 235watt Aopen

My irq's are as follows:
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 Vortex AU8830 PCI Audio
5 Vortex AU8830 Multifunction PCI Platform
5 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
5 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
5 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7 Printer Port (LPT1)
8 System CMOS/real time clock
9 (free)
10 SMC EZ Card 10/100 (SMC1211TX)
10 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
11 Matrox Millennium G400 - English
11 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
12 (free)
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

Strangely enough these lockups never happen in 3d games including Q3A, Nascar 3 or Unreal. Just in windows. Could my power supply be at fault? I have implemented all of the MB bios recommendations listed in this forum and have agp aperture set to 256.
Sorry for the long post but thought I would provide all the info before it was requested.
Thanks



[This message has been edited by KB (edited 18 January 2000).]

[Kruzin]

The power supply is one possibility.
But I would check the RAM first.
192 meg has to equal multiple sticks of RAM. Try them one stick at a time...

[KB]

Thanks for the quick reply. I have 1 64 meg stick and 1 128 meg. I recently added the 128 but this problem has been around ever since I got my G400. It happens every 3 or 4 times I use my computer and usually when I am using or starting IE5.01. Would a ram problem cause more frequent lockups? I saw a suggestion for setting the Ram timings up one notch. Mine are set at 2T. Would it help to increase them to 3T?
Thanks

[Kruzin]

Couldn't hurt to try...

[KB]

Well changing the ram timings didn't help. One last question before I open the case and pull some ram out. If I have a bad stick wouldn't I be noticing other strange behavior? This "plaid death" problem is the only thing that is abnormal with my system. It also seems odd that it only happens only in windows apps and not in 3d games. Ram usage should be much higher in 3d games I would think.
Thanks

[Kayes]

I have the same problem in win98.
Try forcing AGP1X.

[Dude]

KB-
I have the same problem. Sometimes when I boot and start up netscape the screen starts breaking up and I have to re-boot. Very Ramdom. One day it's fine, the next it happens on every netscape start up.

I finally (about two months ago) cleaned out my machine, blew out the dust re-seated the cards and the problem went away...... or did it???? I don't know for sure yet. I had it happen the other day and haven't seen one since. I guess we'll see.

[KB]

Sounds familiar. My lockups usually are associated with IE5. It has been happening more often lately but the other day I uninstalled my mx300 soundcard and reinstalled without the SB dos emulation and free'd up irq 9. I then reseated the G400 and yesterday I moved the mx300 to irq 9 to separate it from the usb adapter and it hasn't locked up since. Don't know if a conflict between other devices could cause a problem like this but I am reluctant to disable busmastering and forcing agp 1x to solve this problem at the expense of 3d framerates.

[Masayver]

"I am getting random lockups where the graphics on my screen become corrupt with lines througout the screen and a box where the mouse pointer used to be. After this happens I have to reboot. "

I have the same symptoms when I try o/cing my G400 to G400 Max specs (memory speed). My 6ns RAM cannot cope with 201MHz, though the core gets to 155MHz+.
Is your G400 running at spec?

------------------
You have been Donimated

[KB]

My G400 is running at spec. No overclock except for my fsb being overclocked to 112mhz but problem happens with 100mhz fsb as well.

[KB]

Just an update...The plaid death syndrome was getting worse, to the point that it was happening just about everytime I used the computer. So I removed my 64meg dimm and left the 128 meg dimm in and rebooted. The plaid death showed up immediatly after rebooting. I then pulled the 128 and put back the 64 and it has run for 2 days without a problem. I gave the 128 to a friend who also has a G400 and he is going to test it this weekend. Hopefully this is the problem. I appreciate the help.
KB

[Snow-in-a-can]

I have the exact same thing..
the stupid part is..
i only have it since i got my PII266 replaced by an Athlon500 and k7m.
I had real big problems installing the new system, it would crash at random after a given time. I read somewhere that the problems were similar when you got the wrong RAM.. so i took out my 64mb .. and everything seemed to work fine..
but now on ocation, and only on specific websites.. my screen goes bad with the box at the mouse pointer and stuff.

So i cant imagine that its the ram. i was hoping to find the solution to the problem here. i will try to solve it this weekend.
But i dont have a good feeling about that..
so i hope to find some answers here in the near future. Since i put in a new motherboard. i think its something with AGP settings

[xippo@work]

I get the same problems with the plaid screen freezing the computer, usually happens just after starting the computer, and usually happens in a series of restarts. The last time it froze (couple of days ago) was when I started IE5.0.

It happened only after installing the G400 card. I reloaded windows fresh after a month or so from receiving the G400 card and it seems hang up less frequently. I can't say for certain that the reload helped, but it seemed to.

I don't think that it is memory problems for I have replaced all memory sticks since I first experience the freezing problem.

Other related information from other posts: I have 250 watt power supply. I think my computer is at 1xAGP speed. My memory timing is set to 3.

Suggestions
Maybe try to reseat all of your cards as suggested above. It can't hurt.
Ask your friend to swap G400 cards for a week. And if his system locks and yours doesn't - keep his card.
Also ask you frient to swap memory modules.
You can also download hardware monitoring program that will tell you your power supply voltages. Your Aopen board should have the correct chip onboard for the monitoring programs.
After all that, you can still rename your windows directory and load windows fresh. If you still lock up, rename your old windows dir back. (A bit extreme but who knows)

Good luck
xippo

[Snow-in-a-can]

Hmmz, seem to have fixed that one..
probably stupid fault of mine.
but i looked arround in the bios. and i saw this feature of "primary video card slot"
or something.. it said PCI, i changed it into AGP, and no problems anymore..

If everybody just knows this.. stupid me..
if not.. try it

[CPYOU]

I had the same problem with an ABIT BE6 board. Screen corruption started a week after I installed the card. Long story short it was a bad G400.