G400 Max is dead :-(

[boszot]

When booting on a: BX6-r2 w/Celeron 366(OCed to 550), 128 meg PC133 micron, 300w Addtronic A7890 w/4 fans, I get 1 long, 3 short beeps (thought it was memory),no boot/video sig. It only happens when my NEVER overclocked G400 is installed. Also tried at defualt 66FSB and the differant AGP setting (aperture). The G400 MAX is only 30 days old running on a dual boot W2K Pro (build 2195.3)and Win98 SE (full). I've just installed a borrowed ATI AIW 128, and after a taste of Matrox I'm really bummed. ATI's drivers are a joke! Does Matrox support have a fast turn around? Do the folks at Matrox have a hot swap program? I really do like the dual head feature in 98, but W2K's stretch-top is lacking. I purchased this Matrox G400 from Sunway Graphics and they only have a 20 day RMA period. Please help this matox virgin out of this ATI hell---0

[Scytale]

Indeed 1 long, 3 short is a memory error. Does the system post without the card?

If you contact tech support and they find that the card needs to be replaced it's only a matter of a week/couple of days. Cross exchange is possible if you have a credit card.

[Rakido]

Hi.

As i do not know your board: do you have a AMI bios or Award Bios?

In AMI Bios 1 long, 3 short is video failure, not memory.

See here : http://www.sysopt.com/biosbmc.html

Please make sure, that your G400 is seated correctly in the slot, as many people had problems to get the card completely into the slot.

I had the same beeps a short time ago, after i exchanged my memory cards and accidentally pulled the G400 out for approx. 3mm on the right side of the agp slot.


Rakido


[This message has been edited by Rakido (edited 13 March 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Rakido (edited 13 March 2000).]

[Chucky Cheese]

boszot,

i just seen this problem with a "power spec" branded computer from microcenter(..ohio) that i had to repair for our union...and it was the keyboard, same beep codes!

chucky

[Thundrchez]

1 long, 3 short beeps is a video error. Definitely try to reseat your g400. agp slots are very touchy. It does not help that the gold finger connectors are on the extreme far side from the mounting bracket.

[Jammrock]

Jammrock says:

1) Pull out the G400 and turn on the computer. You will notice that you will get the lovely one long, 3 short beep message again, which mean no video present.

2) Put back in Mr. G400 MAX. Make sure the card is securely seated and the screw is nice and tight.

3) Power on Mrs. Computer and pray to the gods of computing that the damn thing works.

Jammrock

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Athlon 650, Biostar board, 128 MB PC133 (Crucial), G400 32 MB DH, SB Live! w/ Digital I/O, 10/100 NIC, lots of case fans, etc...

[boszot]

Thanks for the replies.
Award BIOS using ABIT's NW flash (12/8/00). The sys boots fine with a PCI Diammond and AGP ATI AIW 128 <I was hoping to be an EX-ATI'er>. The G400 MAX will not post, but the (video)fan is on- so she's getting power through my board. Also, I have 2 known good (Forcetron/Sencetron)300w PS's with excellent cooling (cross flow with balanced in/out) Side note, even with less than 1 month with a real Video card, the drivers show that Matrox IS a good manufacturer after the bitter taste of ATI :-( don't even mention Diamond support ;-). What's the best way to get a hold of Maxtor Support? I borrowed my this ATI which goes into my sisters new rig (she's still on my old 486-ouch!)

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[Jammrock]

I have had funky problems like this before, especially with the old Intel i740 video card. I don't know the technical reason why this works, but it does. Booting the computer without any the video card in it seems to clear out the old data...or something strange like that.

Boot the computer up and keep it powered on for aboot 15-20 seconds with no video card in it. Turn it off, put in the MAX and turn it on, like I posted earlier. This has fixed many a video card upgrade problem.

Like I said, I have no idea why this works, but if it still doesn't work after trying this, it could be a bad MAX. The only other test I would suggest is putting the MAX in a friends computer and see if it works.

Jammrock

[boszot]

Thank's for the heads up but it most likely is the card. Good news though, although I purchased the card on 2-11-00 from Sunway Graphics (20 day RMA), has agreed to RMA this card for a hot swap replacement. Nothing against Matrox support, but I'm a spoiled Yankee who does not wish to wait for cross border customs shipping hassal's(read fast shipping + customs = undue delay).

[Solo22]

same thing happened to me...
I took the card back to the store and they gave me a new one...now it works

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PIII-500, 128M RAMpc-100, ADVANCE 5/133 Motherboard, QuantumKA 18.2gig, QuantumST 6.4gig, Creative DVD-Rom 5x, Pioneer CD-Rom 12x, G400Max Dualhead, SB Live, Winmodem 33.6, NEC MultiSync E900+ 19" Monitor, Windows SE

[mkaresh]

If you made an emergency disk, you might try reflashing the BIOS. If you don't have an emergency disk, make one. It's one of the Matrox utilities.