G400 & VIA KX133: Driver Installation Sequence?

[paulcs]

I will be writing an article on AMD's Thunderbird, the KX133 chipset, and assorted compatibility issues. I'd like to cover G400 compatibility issues, and it appears the PD 6.0 Betas have changed the playing field somewhat.

I'm looking for a precise sequence for VIA AGP, 4in1, and PD 6.0 installation. I will be working from a clean install of Windows 98se, so we might as well toss in Direct X 7a and Soundblaster drivers as well. Something like this would be great:

1. Windows
2. VIA AGP 4.03
3. Matrox PD 6.0
4. VIA AGP 4.03 (is the before and after AGP install still necessary?)
5. VIA Busmastering (from 4in1 4.22)
6. DirectX 7a
7. Liveware 3 + update

Any tips or tricks would be appreciated as well. The devil is in the details here, because I'll be reporting my findings, and a lot of AMD/Via newbies look to hardware sites for guidance. I'm often shocked at what's left out of some articles.

Thanks.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Joel]

Try this.

1. Windows
2. VIA 4in1 4.22
3. DirectX 7a
4. Matrox PD 6.0
5. Liveware 3 + update

I'm putting an addtional PC together for the kids and that order has worked fine for me.

Joel

[JohnT]

Paulcs -

When I did a clean install of W98 (not SE) on a KA7 with a new drive, I used the following sequence:

only G400Max, SCSI cards installed with hds and CDroms

To save time and numerous swear words later , caused by inacessible CD, I copied the drivers and W98 folders as well as setup file from root of the W98 CDrom to a folder on the intended hd (I used NT4 already installed on one of the other drives to do this, but it could be done from a DOS boot disk with CD support. If you want W98 at the very beginning of the disk for fastest operation, first put a large file (like pagefile.sys from NT4 or w2k on the newly formatted hd before copying the W98 CD, then delete it before actually installing W98). Be sure to partition a large drive in appropriate sizes for the intended OS)

in BIOS setup:
disabled ACPI
manually set irqs for PCI (10 for G400Max, 11 for 1st SCSI, 9 for 2nd SCSI, 15 for SMC1211 NIC and PCI 128 SB - your choice here)
enabled memory hole 15-16MB for succesful operation of my sound card, particularly in w2k (may not be necessary for yours)

installed Win98 using setup /iq /is from the hd - much faster, rebooted (on my machine, these switches are necessary to prevent Scandisk from hanging on the hds connected to the second SCSI RAID card that are formatted with NTFS - anyway, saves time as some are LARGE)

installed 4in422 (no ide, as my system is SCSI), video driver in Turbo mode, rebooted

installed AGP4.03, rebooted

installed DX7a, checked irq's and Via entries in DM, rebooted

installed PD6.00, rebooted to set and check new resolution and irq's, shutdown

Installed NIC, booted up

installed NIC drivers, rebooted

checked NIC operation and irq's, shutdown

installed sound card, booted up

installed SB drivers, checked irq's, rebooted


Success!

Notes:
1. At first, I had an ISA NIC (3Com905b), and set PCI pin 4 to IRQ 5 for the SB and set IRQ 15 for the NIC. In the PNP BIOS screen, I was able to set each of the PCI cards to a different IRQ (with the correct choice of PCI slot). However, at the BIOS info screen just before the multi-boot screen, the SB was set to IRQ 11 (as it was in each OS). I suspect that using the ISA slot on the KA7 causes the PCI to ISA controller to claim one of the PCI IRQ pins - can anyone confirm or refute this?

2. Even though all ide entries are disabled in BIOS of the KA7, IRQ 14 is still shown as being assigned to ide in the BIOS info screen at boot-up, but is not shown as used when actually in either W98, NT4, or w2k.

Hope this info is of some help!

JohnT

[paulcs]

A big help!

John and Joel.

Wow, John. Two SCSI boards, a NIC, a Soundblaster board, and a G400 on an Abit board! That has to be the Mona Lisa of IRQ management.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Rags]

Hi Paul,

I have a BF6 with a SB Live, a 3com NIC, two SCSI cards, and a USR sportster without incident. I see no probs using my slots in an Abit board at all.

Rags



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[paulcs]

Hi Rags. You're good at this stuff!

I haven't had an IRQ problem I couldn't handle in minutes in a very long time, and I learned practically everything from you guys. Thanks to my friends at the MURC, last week I found myself standing over my garage sink with a bottle of extra strength acetone, a rag, and wearing a single anti-solvent glove, scrubing down a couple of CPU's.

By the way, I think what you need is a second NIC. Then enable both com ports, usb, and Soundblaster Emulation. (You never know when the urge to play a DOS game might overtake you.)

Got a Highpoint controller on that board.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 26 June 2000).]

[Electric Amish]

Joel-

Did you not install the AGP 4.03 VIA drivers??

This is the way I installed for my Abit KA7:

Windows 98SE
VIA 4.22 4in1's (all of it)
VIA 4.03 AGP (turbo mode)
Matrox drivers.

Seems to work fine, but I haven't analyzed it that much.

amish


[This message has been edited by Electric Amish (edited 26 June 2000).]