Announcement

**Gurm** · 27 April 2000, 11:34

Idea 1: Make sure your BIOS is the latest.

Idea 2: Get the 5.04 drivers, they are much more SMP friendly.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

**JohnT** · 27 April 2000, 14:37

Interesting - I thought this was a problem with the G400 w2k drivers and the Via chipset.

I have the same problem with a KA7 with the KX133 chipset. The KA7 (and the Epox 7KXA) do not identify the Via chipset by the numbers w2k expects (see Toms Hardware site) and installs only the standard PCI drivers during installation of w2K. IF the G400 is then installed, it works fine for me.

After reading the report on Toms Hardware about the Epox 7KXA vs the Asus K7V, I modified the machine.inf as he suggests and, sure enough, the Via drivers were installed instead of the standard MS PCI drivers. With these drivers in place, I get exactly the multicolored horizontal and vertical patterns you describe.

In my case, there was no way I have tried yet to get the G400 5.03 drivers to work with the Via drivers. At this point, until someone shows me different, it appears the current 5.03 drivers are only compatible with the PCI MS drivers, at least on the KX133 chipset.

Has anyone out there gotten their K7V to work in w2k with the 5.03 drivers? If you have, I would sure appreciate a post as to how you accomplished this!

JohnT

**JohnT** · 27 April 2000, 14:56

Gurm -

Exactly what procedure did you use to install the 5.04 drivers with the G400Max? According to Matrox, these are for the G400 std and another driver will be released for the G400Max.

When I tried to install them, the setup utility popped up a msg saying no compatible hardware was found, and stopped cold.

Presumably there are some incompatibility issues with the G400max - have you discovered what they are yet? If it's an issue with the dual head feature, then that may not be a problem for me as I only have one monitor connected.

JohnT

**glarec** · 27 April 2000, 17:54

i suggest you do a search on this forum.. the question as been asked and been answered several times.

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Glarec
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bp6-(2)433(oc488) celerons, g400max, ibm ultra scsi 9.1g, sb-live value, hitachi ss-753 19", plextor 32x, etc, etc, etc...

**Eldar** · 27 April 2000, 20:56

Thanks for the help guys. I tried installing 5.04 drivers as Grum suggested, but unfortunatelly it didn't help. I also researched this forum for previous cases, and all I could gather that is simmilar to my case is that I might have an ACPI problem. Matrox is sharing resources with 3 other cards and there is nothing I can do about it because it won't let me adjust IRQs manually.

It might be faulty ACPI in bios that requires a BIOS update.

It might be a SMP problem of some sort.

It might be a flaky driver that just doesn't like my config.

Or it might a million and one other thing. At this point I'm so frustrated with the whole situation, I'm thinking about ditching W2K, G400, my motherboard or all of the above. Maybe I should get an I-Mac instead... (*shiver*)

I've been asking myself a rethorical question all night: Why the heck do I need to waste my time with all this if I want some kind of decent performance and stability. Why can't something for once just *work*, without me having to jump through hoops of fire... grrr

Thanks again folks... Windows 2000 is not yet ready for this computer and this reasonably patient end user.

**PaulS** · 27 April 2000, 21:25

Eldar,

The current G400 drivers do not work well with multi-processor machines, the only 3D cards that appear to be working correctly are the nVidia ones.

I think Windows 2000 is quite ready for your computer, it's the video card drivers that aren't up to scratch.

Paul

**JohnT** · 28 April 2000, 07:32

I tend to agree with you about the resource sharing problem with w2k. I, too, was able to install the 5.04 drivers on my G400Max, but it made no difference - still locks up at the switch from VGA to desired resolution at boot-up.

Playing around, I was actually able to get it working right after installation, and before rebooting. To do this, I deleted the MS ACPI (isn't that pronounced acrapi?) from the system devices and rebooting. When w2k loaded, it came up in VGA and proceeded to reload every component in my computer, including all system devices.

By clicking on no to each dialog to reboot, each device was reinstalled - including the G400Max. After it was installed, and still not rebooting, I was able to set the resolution to the desired level and it worked - for the first time with the Via AGP driver.

Running WCPUID confirmed it was actually in AGP4x mode, and checking DM showed the video card was at IRQ 7 (and not shared with anything).

Alas, on rebooting, w2k - in all of its infinite stupidity - again shared a single IRQ (11) with the G400Max, MS ACPI, and my SCSI card. Of course, I got the usual multicolored lockup, and had to go to booting in VGA mode to find this out.

Question - isn't there some way to shut off this automatic assignment of IRQ's by w2k and manually assign them???? Anyone?

If I could just force it to use the IRQ's set in BIOS, I might be able to get this card to work in w2k.

I come from NT4 with very little experience with W98 (only installed it to run some bm's, and was running NT3.1.and 3.5 when W95 was around), so I haven't found a way yet. The only previous time I can remember being able to manually assign resources with DM was when there was a conflict.

Anyway, any comments would be appreciated!

JohnT

**Neubi** · 28 April 2000, 14:15

Hi,

I have also the problem with the garbage screen at every second reboot but I have found that the system works without this problem if Win2k check the harddisk for errors during bootup. Now I use this phenomenon to get the Powerdesk 5.03 working on every boot at my system.

AMD Athlon 700MHz
256MB SDRAM PC100
EPOX 7KXA BIOS 425
Matrox Millennium G400 DH 32MB
SB live!
Adaptec 2940UW - Plextor PX40TSi ;Yamaha CRW 4416S
Hauppauge WinTV PCI
D-Link DFE-530TX networkcard
IBM DPTA-372050;IBM DTTA-351680

This is not the absolute solution, but it is a way:

Open the Windows Explorer or "My Computer". Then select your Win2k system partition, there you have Windows 2000 installed, and go to "properties". Press at the "extras" menu the button "check for errors" . Check the box for autorepair system errors and press start. Now you get a message that it can only run at the next boot. Accept this dialog with "yes".

Windows starts "chkdsk" on your next reboot (after shutdown or reboot) automaticly. If you are sure that your partition has no errors you should cancel the countdown.

Now the trick:
If you skip "chkdsk" at the bootup, it starts again at the next reboot.
Remember: Windows 2000 works with activated AGP+Powerdesk 5.03 if "chkdsk" is started during bootup.

Let me know, if it works also for you.

Neubi

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**Lockheed** · 28 April 2000, 20:03

To disable ACPI/IRQ sharing in w2k, disable ACPI in the BIOS. BUT the thing that sucks here is that you have to reinstall w2k. I had numerous problems when I had ACPI on, so I went through the painful reinstall process... at least things are working great now that every freaking card I have isn't trying to use IRQ 11.

**glarec** · 29 April 2000, 07:46

the acpi in win2k actually do work if your mobo do support it correctly. i have an abit bp6 with the newest bios with acpi and it works quite well. yes, if i do look at the irq setting.. alot of the cards 'looks' like they are sharing the same irq, but it isn't really the case. if any of you don't know what acpi is really suppose to do.. you might wanna find out.

the problem most people experienced is the fact the mobo's implementation of acpi is not correct and therefore, you should simply go into the bios and turn acpi off. i heard difference stories. some people (like the one above) said you need to reinstall win2k, while others claim that you just need to change the acpi hal to the regular hal under system in the device manager.

eldar: the mobo you got is one kick ass board. just don't use acpi for now until tyan comes out with a new bios that fixes the acpi.

MOOOOOO

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Glarec
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bp6-(2)433(oc488) celerons, g400max, ibm ultra scsi 9.1g, sb-live value, hitachi ss-753 19", plextor 32x, etc, etc, etc...

**Eldar** · 29 April 2000, 14:13

Ok, you all have given me new hope that I might get it working eventually. For some reason I have always prefered building my own computers with hardware I chose. I guess you could say I'm a control freak. I get to pick exactly what I need, but on the other side very often there are problems. I guess I shouldn't be whining since its my own fault. If I went out and bought a Dell or Gateway, I would have a peace of mind cause everything would work, but at the cost of not beling able to do upgrades whenever I feel like it and not being able to use the latest toys.

It does have its upsides and downsides.

Now I just have to figure out how to circumvent this ACPI madness.

**JohnT** · 29 April 2000, 17:30

Neubi -

I went to properties of the boot partition as you suggested, but found no settings as you describe. Either I'm looking in the wrong place or you have a different version of w2k. I am using the official first release version of w2k Pro for the US, and the properties menu has 6 tabs. They are General, Tools, Hardware, Sharing, Security, and Quota. Tools has a Checkdisk choice, but it runs Chkdisk immediately when pressed.

During normal bootup on my machine, there is a longer period of intense disk seeks, a pause and then a shorter period of disk seeks while in VGA mode. To me, the first disk activity "sounds like" a chkdisk type activity, but I may be wrong.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestion.

JohnT

**JohnT** · 29 April 2000, 18:03

Glarec -

Well now, did I hear you volunteering to educate the rest of us on what ACPI is good for??

I have wondering for some time just exactly what ACPI was invented for, so now's your chance to illuminate its features. Coming from a steady diet of NT since the second beta of 3.1, I seem to gotten along for the past several years without it.

Up to now, my PC turned off when I pressed the on/off button (still does in NT4), and I had the opportunity to adjust the resourses as I saw fit (instead of having everything shared on IRQ 11 - even though 3, 9, 10, 14, and 15 [no ide here] were not being used).

Also, I'm wondering what you mean by the IRQ's 'appear' to be shared - do you mean w2k doesn't really know what resources are used by what? If I look in DM, it indicates IRQ 11 is assigned to the G400Max, MS ACPI, and my SCSI card. If I add my sound card (PCI 128 SB) it is also sharing IRQ 11.

If I go to Computer Management and drill down to the IRQ assignments, it also indicates all of these devices are on IRQ 11, even though several other IRQ's are unlisted. Is this all wrong?

The above occurs regardless of what's set in BIOS. I can set the PCI settings to anything available in the selections, and w2k still put everything on IRQ 11, as far as I can tell. The only settings in BIOS that seem to be read by w2k are the ISA assignments.

If I set IRQ 11 as being used by a legacy ISA card, w2k assigns a different IRQ to ACPI, but still puts all the other devices on IRQ 11!

So.... WHAT exactly is ACPI supposed to do and what, if any, K7 mbs support it correctly?

JohnT

**Neubi** · 29 April 2000, 18:10

JohnT

I have really a other version, Windows 2000 in German. It seems it wasn't so good idea from me to try to translate the German menu.
Sorry.
The "tools" tab with the checkdisk option sounds good. If you choose this option you should see two boxes which you can set. In the German version it is the first option which you must enable. Can you inform me of the exact wording in your version?

Have you the administrator rights?

Skip "chkdsk" during bootup only after the counter is down to 5 sec., if you should have problems.

Neubi

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Announcement

Win2K and G400Max – please help!

Win2K and G400Max – please help!

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