G400Max/System Freeze ups

[pmhenry]

Hi,
I am having a problem that I think has to do with my G400Max.
Problem at present: The system will freeze at various times and seems to have no pattern to when it will happen. When it does freeze the screen shows a pattern disruption and pulses. Its almost like ¼ inch hash marks running both up and down and left to right, take over the screen. Nothing I can do will get it to work any further. It takes a soft re-boot.
History: About two weeks ago the system started to freeze once in awhile. When it would freeze then, for the most part, the screen only had minor disruptions on it. It mostly happened when I was in Netscape 4.72. I know it’s hard to believe, but I installed nothing prior to this starting, nor did I change anything. In fact the system has been very stable since I put it together last September. By searching this forum, I was able to remedy any minor problems that I had with the G400Max. The only major problem I had was when I installed the PL BIOS in my Abit BE6 motherboard. Part of the install put a new BIOS for the High Point Ultra DMA66 controller in place. My system starting locking up right away, but there was no screen pattern disruption. It was fixed when Abit told me that I also needed the new drivers from High Point to go along with the new BIOS. Once I put them in all was well.
What I have done so far:
a. Uninstalled Netscape 4.72, installed 4.73, no change, uninstalled 4.73, and left it off.
b. Updated Eudora Pro from 4.3 to 4.3.2. No change. Uninstalled 4.32 and installed 4.2. No change but have left it installed.
c. Re-installed the UltraDMA66 drivers, no change, installed the newest Ultra DMA drivers, no change.
d. Uninstalled (using Matrox utility) Pdesk 5.52 and re installed. No change. Un installed 5.52 and installed 5.55. No change. Un installed 5.55 and installed 5.41. Waiting to see if that will help. I do not use Turbo.
e. Re-installed Win98 by loading over my existing copy. No change.
f. Virus scans done using Norton 2000 with latest updates. No change.
g. Standard scan disk, no change.
h. De-activated any power down of the Monitor, no change.
The last two times it froze up:
a. After re-loading Win98, I activated a screen saver to come on after 5 min, went away for 30 minutes, and when I came back the display was frozen, with the lines running up, down and across. The mouse pointer had turned into a 1x1 inch cube, and the flying logo was cross-hatched so badly you could barely see what it was. Nothing would work, so a soft re-boot.
b. I was running a De-frag of all hard drives. It was past drive C, so I pulled up a properties screen on the display to select a screen saver to use as I had turned off the power down function. I selected one, looked at the pre-view, went to select another, and when I clicked on the new selection the system froze up, with all the pulsing ¼ inch lines going up, down, and across. Nothing would work so another soft re-boot.
Anyone have any Idea what may be the problem? I am not sure if it’s software or hardware related. I am hoping someone may have seen this and can point me in the right direction.
Thanks for any and all help,
Regards
Paul M. Henry
pmhenry@earthlink.net

System Specs:
PC Power and Cooling full steel Tower with fans everywhere
Abit BE6 motherboard, BIOS level PL
PIII-600 CPU Katami
256MB PC133 SDRAM
Dual IBM Deskstar 22gig UDMA66 hard drives
Mitsumi 16X CD-ROM
Conner T-1000 tape drive
Iomega 250mb Zip drive (internal IDE)
Diamond Monster Sound MX400 (PCI slot five)
US Robotics 56K V90 ISA modem (ISA slot two)
3-Com 3c905C-TX-M fast Ethernet card (PCI slot two)
Dual Creative Labs Voodoo2 12meg 3Dfx boards in SLI (PCI slots 3 & 4)
Matrox G400Max AGP video card
Graphics BIOS: 1.6-25
Display driver: 4.12.01.1520
Mini-VDD: 4.12.01.1520
Matrox Power Desk: 5.52.015
DirectDraw/Direct 3D driver: 4.12.01.1520
Microsoft DirectX: 4.07.00.0700
Windows 98se, 4.10.2222A
DirectX Version: DirectX7.0(4.07.00.0716)
Microsoft Force Feedback Pro joystick
ViewSonic Graphics Series G790 19” monitor
Altec Lansing ACS-55 Speakers
IRQ’s
00 – System Timer
01 – Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
02 – Programmable Interrupt controller
03 – Communications Port (COM2)
04 – Communications Port (COM1)
05 – Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
05 – IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
05 – Monster Sound MX400 Series Device Manager
06 – Standard floppy Disk Controller
07 – Printer Port (LPT1)
08 – System CMOS/real time clock
09 – Matrox Millennium G400 DualHead – English
09 – IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
10 – 3Com EtherLink 10/100 PCI For Complete PC Management NIC
10 – IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
11 – U.S. Robotics 56K FAX INT PnP
12 – PS/2 Compatible Mouse Port
13 – Numeric data processor
14 – Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
14 – Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
15 – IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
15 – HPT366 Ultra DMA Controller
15 – HPT366 Ultra DMA Controller

[Brian R.]

A couple of ideas.
Try resetting MB BIOS parameters to default.
Then removing all cards except for MAX. If stable, add them in one by one with testing until problem occurs. Go from there.

Also, check the MAX heatsink/fan. Running well? Firmly attached? Heatsink filled with dust?

Reflash MAX BIOS? Try MAX in other computer? MAX well seated in AGP slot? (ABIT boards have a problem with AGP seating)

Able to try another (higher capacity?) Power Supply? You have a significant power drain with all those cards, drives, fans, etc. Perhaps the PS is going south or just has inadequate output current.

[ALBPM]

You should also disable the Primary IDE contoller if you are not using it. This can cause some problems if you are using the onboard AT/66 controller with the Primary IDE still enabled.

Paul

[spoogenet]

Although I doubt this is the root of your problem, for the record, it isn't the greatest of ideas to install 98 over itself. If you're going to reinstall 98, it's best to wipe the drive, or at least delete the Windows directory. This will cause you to have to reinstall all your software, but tends to produce better results.

Also, uninstalling Netscape can wreak havoc on your system. I know quite a few people who have uninstalled Netscape (with stable systems, just to get rid of it) and then encountered program crashes and general instability. Not a scientific test, but definitely something to think about.

b

[Rob M.]

This one will work. Download the PD5 registry hacks from the win98 downloads section here at murc. Run the forceagp1x registry hack, and reboot. Problems should be gone.

[pmhenry]

Thanks to one and all for taking the time to help me with the problem.
Brian R.: Great ideas. I reflashed the MAX BIOS, and suddenly everything started to work. Of course it's still early days, but I have been trying to get it fail, which was not very hard before, and it continues to work just fine.
ALBPM: I am using the primary IDE controller for the CD rom and ZIP drive. Good to know about possible problems there though.
spoogenet: I was not aware of possible problems loading Win98 this way, but I am now. With Netscape, I normally uninstall the version I have to go to the next, as I have had troble with using the Netscape up-grade system. Something for me to keep in mind though.
Rob M.: If the current reflash of the MAX BIOS does not work I will try this.
Thanks again,
Regards
Paul M. Henry
pmhenry@earthlink.net

[Rob M.]

It comes and goes. I have the same problem. My card worked perfectly for 3 days, after which it would give that error in games. I brought it back and the replacement would give the error before I even finished booting.

After messing around with all different types of hardware and software, I've come to the conclusion that all g400s do this, although at various levels. forcing AGP 1x doesn't even work 100% of the time in my experience, but it helps a lot.