p3v4x and G400 max Lockups

[gjpermit]

I disabled shadow video rom and the temperture settings in bios and the lockups seem to go away.Then I changed the color settings for my desktop and the internet in the appearance section in windows 98 and the lockups started again.I am using the 1.003 bios upgrade for the p3v4x board.Will the 1.004 beta version help.Does Matrox have a updated driver update for the problems the g400max has with the p3v4x?I have a 733 p3 fcpga and 128 mb Hsdram and the S/B Live Platinum setup.When the computer locks up,I cant even use control alt.delete.Even if I hit it a couple of times ,nothing.I cant even shut the computer off with the power off switch.,but the reset switch does reboot it.The sound from the speaker sounds like a note of music being repeated continuously,like it was stuck.Any suggestions would be appreciated.Maybe the 1.004 bios upgrade will help Thx again G.J
eitc

[IceStorm]

- Is your RAM PC133?
- Did you underclock the RAM if it's PC100?
- Did you set the AGP Apeture to 256MB?
- What drivers are you using with what?

My P3V4X ran fine, if a little slow, configured as follows:

- PIII-550E @ 138FSB
- Four 128MB PC133 ECC DIMMs from www.crucial.com
- BIOS 1003 or 1004 beta 1
- AGP Apeture at 256MB
- AGP speed at 2x (mine's only a 2x)
- USWC enabled
- Fast writes enabled
- Auto RAM speed setup
- PD 5.30
- AGP driver 4.20
- TurboGL 1.3

Just my $0.02

[Mcgladiator]

I had the same problems. Took me a while to figure it out. The solution: The problem is your Soundblaster Live! Move it to the very next slot - the one next to the ISA-Slot. Reinstall the drivers for the Live! if necessary. The Live! and G400 must have their own IRQ or it will not work.

Hope that helps.

[gjpermit]

I changed the bios settings.Enabled fast writes,enabled uswc and changed the agp aperture from 64mb to 256 and had one lockup during scandisk of my d drive.My irq settings for the soundblaster is Irq 3.The only other device on 3 is via tech 3038 pci to usb universal host controller and acpi irq holder for pci irq steering.The matrox g400 is on Irq 11 and shared only by acpi irq holder for pci irq steering.The driver for the S/B is version 4.06.703 and the driver for the g400 is the 1520 version.Im using the 4.17 agp driver from asus and their Irq routing driver only.Where is the auto ram speed setup in bios.I did not see it.Thx for any input.I kind of wish I never got the p3v4x,at least not with the s/b and g400 card.Thx again G.J.

[DJRobX]

I really don't think the problem is the p3v4x, g400, and SB Live combo. I have the same combination (using a 550E at 733, no less), and it's got to be one of the most rock solid stable systems I've built, much better than my Tyan S1854 + true 733.

If your system is locking up when running ScanDisk, there's probably some other non-video related issue going on. As IceStorm suggested, is your memory PC133? If not, is it set for 100mhz? Incorrect memory configuration will make your system completely worthless.

Also, check your slocket. Make sure you have used thermal transfer paste between the processor and the heat sink. After working with AMD's budget processors, I quickly learned that the white goo is necessary for today's systems to stay cool and run properly (regardless of whether the board's temp monitor appears in spec or not!)

Last but not least, the power supply. If it's noisy, bad, or low quality, you will (again) have lockups. Try a different power supply if possible.

If you're running AGP 4x, try 2x. They haven't worked out all the bugs in the 4x implementation, and it's not quite reliable.