This may have a solid answer to some of the the G400/VIA Issues!!!

[Saud]

All-

G400 and FIC PA2013 1.x = Not Compatable!!!
This probably includes the 503+ too.

That's right, I just saw this on the FIC web site. You need a rev 2.1 for everything to work properly though the manual says the MB is fully AGP 1x & 2x complient.

I have a FIC PA2013 rev 1.1 MB and have been having strange problems since day one. The latest problem is that my monitor will turn off and then after a minute or so, turn back on. 3D games crashing and Poor DVD play are a few more issues that I see.

Not only is it not compatable with the G400, but also they say that it has problems with the AMD K6-2 & 3s!?!?! If you have a rev 2.1 board then it's cool, it'll work, but anything else you are screwed.

I sent FIC an e-mail looking for a free 2.1 upgrade. I let ya know how it goes.

A MAD Saud.....

[Saud]

Here is the link to the FIC FAQ...
http://www.fica.com/techsupport/faq/.../PA2013.stm#Q8


Q3: How can I make my computer workwith Voodoo3/nVidia TNT2&GeForce256/ATI Fury Maxx AGP graphic card?

A: Only 2.1 revision (PCB) of PA-2013 can support those video cards:

Voodoo3 chipset, such as Voodoo3 3000, Voodoo3 3500 and etc...

nVidia TNT2 chipset, such as Diamond V770/V770 Ultra, Creative 3D
Blaster Riva TNT2/TNT2 Ultra and etc...
nVidia GeForce 256, such as Creative 3D Blaster Annihilator and etc...

Matrox G400, such as Matrox Millennium G400 and etc...

ATI Rage 128 Pro (Fury Maxx only).

[paulcs]

What does it work with? I think FIC owes you more than a new motherboard. I think they owe you an apology.

How old is this board?

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Saud]

I'm not sure what it is suppose to work with, but it sounds like they are saying every PA2013 board that is not a rev 2.1 is NOT fully AGP complient.

The motherboard manual quotes: "The board is fully complient with AGP 1.0 specification".

The motherboard I have is nearly a year old and I initially used it with my the G200. It had problems with the G200, but not as bad, performance was poor & a few lockups & never ran at 2x. Via drivers were always a pain in the #@! to tweak. I always thought it was a big via chipset problem. Looks like the Motherboard manufacturer is the problem... a poor MB design.

I do have a valid complaint here, right????

[Randy Simons]

Isn't this problem due to the MVP3 chipset? There are 2 commercial revisions of the set, AFAIK.

The CD (original) and CE. The later should fix a number of problems, including AGP...

Well I'm glad I got the shop where I bought the think to swap mainboards, and now I have a new revision

Btw, this was a while ago already.

[RAB]

You probably have a valid complaint, but be prepared for their answer that it worked with the AGP boards available at the time it was made. I, too, have a 503+ v1.2a and it worked fairly well with the G200. It never did AGP 2x, but since I moved the G200 to an Epox MVP3C2 it still doesn't work at AGP 2x. So I would think at least part of that problem is Matrox and/or VIA chipsets in general. In either case, that was not a big problem since there is little, if anything that really uses AGP 2x.

I never tried my G400 in the old FIC, so I can't comment on that.

RAB

[Saud]

Randy, That's right, I do remeber that. And looking my M-board I have one of each type. The BGA is "CE" and the other is "CD". Can they be mixed like that???

So does the "CE" chipset clean up all the problems? My monitor still turns on & off every five minutes, very annoying.

[Joel]

I have two EPoX boards, one with the CD revision chipset which has a G200 AGP card on it and a CE revesion board with a G400. Both systems have the latest VIA 4in1s, the latest VIA AGP drivers, and the latest Matrox drivers. Both are running fine. I think the problem comes from buying a cheap board like FIC. They are not only cheap in price but in quality too.

Joel

[halfblood]

I have a VA-503+ and a G400 MAX, even if I had some problems in the start (with drivers etc.) everything works fine now. I use Windows 2000...

[Jon P. Inghram]

Before I got my new CUBX I was using a Epox MVP3G5. I could never get my old G200 to run better than x1. I was surprised when my G400 MAX automaticly used x2, without being forced! And then I got a SBLive! and was happy to note that the G400 got along perfectly well with it.

The only real problem I see with the MVP3G5/2 boards are that most won't run past 100 MHz FSB due to lower speed cache tag chips. (Well... that and they use K6 type processors. I was shocked at the performance difference my new Celery 533A made, even before I o/c'ed to to 600.)

[rylan]

Yeah, the FIC PA2013 motherboard is a piece of crap, even at rev 2.1
FIC has lots of SS7 boards that have voltage regulator problems. Basically they used cheaper regulators, so they can't output enough current to drive faster agp cards and cpus that need more current like the K6-3 line and top end K6-2s.
I haven't had any problems with my Epox MVP3G-M and G2 boards. Both can hit 112fsb w/o a problem (guess I got the faster cache)

[Saud]

The more I look at this, the more it seems like a power problem on the Motherboard. The monitor will turn on and off every five minutes or so. The S-Video out is black & white, probably because of the same lack of power issue. The G400 works fine in my BX system. All signs are pointing at the MB.

I think it is time to raise the white flag and give up with the FIC-PA2013(or FIC-POS in this case). EPoX here I come....

[Jon P. Inghram]

I think it's the MVP3G5's that have the cache problems, seems that Epox cut corners a little on the G5 to keep the cost of the 2 meg cache down to a reasonable level.

It runs fine at 100, but I couldn't get it to boot up at the next FSB, which was 112 if I remember right.

[Alfie]

Due to poor construction on the Fic PA2013,newer agp cards can fail badly.
As the newer cards draw too much power for the mobo to cope with.
It's been reported of actual damage to the AGP slot on these boards and to the video card.(one person went through 3 cards before he discovered the problem!)
Of super 7 boards the ones that are on the top of the heap are made by Epox and Tyan.

[RAB]

The guys are right about the FIC voltage regulators. They just can't produce enough current for K6-3's and some AGP cards.

As far as Epox boards go, they have been very reliable for me. I have an MVP3C2 (AT,512k cache) and an MVP3G5 (ATX, 2meg cache). Jon is correct about the G5, I could never get it over 100 mhz FSB, but the C2 runs at 112 just fine. I've tried the same memory sticks in both with the same results: C2=112mhz FSB and G5=100mhz FSB.

Both work well enough that I will keep them running until the KT chipset is revised to use DDR RAM at 266mhz with Socket A K7's.

RAB