Anyone here know anything about Tyan S1598cs and G400?

[chucky2]

I guess the fastest way of explaining my problem would be to just direct you here: http://forum.matrox.com/mgaforum/For...ML/002545.html

Anyone have any idea's?

Thanks!

Chuck

P.S. I botched the heading, it should be Tyan S1598C2 and G400. Sorry!


[This message has been edited by chucky2 (edited 28 September 2000).]

[chucky2]

Shameless bump.



Chuck

[kjliew]

For Win98SE and VIA MVP3, you don't need INF updates and IRQ routing driver. Just install AGP driver in Turbo mode should do. I'd recommend you to use the standalone AGP driver, not the 4-in-1. Sometimes, 4-in-1 package will install the wrong AGP driver from \AGP33 path.

Recommended CMOS settings:
Load BIOS defaults.
AGP Aperture: 64MB or 128MB. Most VIA mobos don't work well with 256MB.
Assigned IRQ to VGA: Enable/Auto
Assigned IRQ to USB: Disable
Make sure you have the latest BIOS for your mobo.

Next, I would suggest you to install Win98SE in ACPI mode using "setup /p j", though both APM and ACPI mode work fine for me. I'm also having MVP3-based mobo. Depends on how recent your mobo BIOS, PCI IRQ Steering may not work well in APM mode with on-chip USB enabled.

You should start with PD5.30. After installing Matrox driver, scan the registry for "VGARTD". Matrox driver installation sometimes installs it even though you already have VIAGART installed.

If possible, please provide your IRQ list as well.

[chucky2]

kjliew, thanks for the reply!

I've tried just about every permutation of VIA and Matrox patches/drivers I can think of. I actually was using the stand alone AGP driver at first, but then thought that maybe VIA screwed up and bundled a newer one with their 4-in-1 drivers, so I used that one instead. It made no difference.

I don't think the rebooting would be caused by ACPI or APM, as I've used them both with the Geforce DDR and everything was OK; at AGP 2x no less.

Unfortunately, I can't experiment with the Geforce right now as it's 340 miles North of me in my brothers computer.

Alex is also helping out with the problem here: http://forum.matrox.com/mgaforum/For...ML/002545.html

I'm really starting to believe that G400's don't like Tyan motherboards.

Chuck

[chucky2]

Last shameless bump, promise.

Chuck

[kjliew]

IRQ list, please. That would really help.

WinNT4 regardless of any service packs applied, does not truly support AGP. AGP device is treated as fast PCI66. That may explain why it works for you in WinNT but not Win98. Similiar situation applies if you're using Win95 OSR2 without the USBSUPP patch.

I seriously doubt if it is a mobo issue. I have no problem with G400 and my MVP3 mobo. Both are working great and 100% stable at AGP 2x out of the box.

[chucky2]

Hey kjliew, Thanks for the reply!

Well, I'm running NT right now. My IRQ's are:

01___i8042prt
03___Serial
04___Serial
05___EMU10K1
06___Floppy
09___E100B
11___mga64
12___i8042prt
14___viadsk
15___viadsk

So: COM1 has IRQ4, COM2 has IRQ3, SB Live! has IRQ5, Intel NIC has IRQ9, and G400 has IRQ11

From what I remember in Win98SE, the list was the same except another device was on IRQ2, and the USB stuff was IRQ10. At all times, the G400, SB Live!, and Intel NIC had their own IRQ's. There were no conflicts shown in Device Mangler either.

Got to goto a class, will check back with ya in a couple of hours.

Thanks for the help!

Chuck

Corrected typos.

[This message has been edited by chucky2 (edited 02 October 2000).]

[kjliew]

Well, do not assume WinNT and Win98 have similiar IRQ handling. They are in fact very different!!!

I would prefer the IRQ list from Win98. If you have not given up the idea of getting G400 worked with Win98, you should get a fresh Win98 install. I understand that it may sound a lot of work to you, but that's the right way to troubleshoot. If you have a spared harddisk, then use it and preserve your NT installation. If you don't, well, you can try certain partitiion utilities to shrink your current partition if you happen to use all diskspace as NTFS. I don't think anyone will ever use NT on FAT16, do you?? Always make proper backup before proceeding.

My G400 and MVP3 mobo are working great all the time, at AGP 2x right out of the box. I do have RealTek 100/10 NIC and SBLive to compete for IRQ. I don't see for any reason that you cannot properly configure your system.

SBLive may not like low IRQs as G400 does. Again, if SBLive in IRQ5 works in WinNT, that doesn't imply that it should work in Win98 as well. WinNT doesn't even tap the full potential of SBLive.

BTW, which Liveware will you be using in Win98?

[chucky2]

Yeah, I see if I can score another hard drive. That way, I can just pop my current one out and pop the other one in and... experiment.

I'm using Liveware 3.0 in both Win98SE and WinNT. Also, after I install Liveware 3.0, I install the driver update they have on their site.

Just to be clear: The random reboot problem existed when I only had the G400 in the computer. The Intel NIC and the SB Live! Value were not in the system. Adding them to the system did not solve the problem. So, it is not a problem between the NIC or the Live!.

Let me see about getting another hard drive. That way, I can experiment and not mess anything up too much.

I think if we go forward, the first thing we should try is setting the G400 to 1x through the Matrox utility. I have some sneaky suspician that the G400 (at least this one) is trying to work at AGP 2x and is failing, causing the reboot. Why else would it work in NT and not 98? Remember: A Geforce DDR worked at AGP 2x in here, so we know that the board, RAM, NIC, and Live! all work together properly. Its only when the G400 is added to the (clean) system that problems develope.

Chuck

[kjliew]

I won't bother forcing AGP 1x first. G400 has quite a robust implementation of AGP. AGP 2x works well even on MVP3 chipsets. If it doesn't work well, that would only show up when you fire up any 3D games. Random reboot is not an AGP issue as far as I can see.

Make sure you're not overclocking any single component in your system.

Let me know when you're ready for Win98 fresh install.

[chucky2]

Will do!

Chuck

[chucky2]

OK, I broke down and ordered a hard drive today. It'll be here in about 3 days...Just in time for the weekend!

So, hopefully, we'll get to the bottom of this.

Chuck

[nayaman]

On the subject of random lockups, I have certainly had my share in my time. I have a Tyan s1598 mobo, 192mb sdram, amdk63 400 oc/ed to 450, 2.5v to the cpu. Matrox g400 with 16mb ram, added a fan to heatsink. Have every pci and agp slot filled!!! Don't even bother to ask my about my 'IRQ' list. First off, my server had random reboots in nt4 Server. I leave it on 24/7. I thought it was ram, as cpu is underclocked!! Nope. I thought it was voltage, so I almost bought a new case/ps. But that wasn't problem. I even moved a hard drive out the case and added it to my cheapo 486case/raid tower I concocted. Nope. It was the IDE Western Digital 8gig HD!!! One day while on the porn pipe, I heard a click click noise behind me, and saw the poor server trying to access the hard drive. I don't know what was going on, I tried to turn off power management in bios. The only solution was to pull the drive. How do I know which drive? It's a removable from Kingston. Anyway, back to my workstation, it would randomly blue screen or lock up, reboot sometimes. One day, while running a video, I noticed the cpu usage was high. I also had Motherboard Monitor 4 running, showing the cpu temp in the system tray. At 115F, blue screen. Pow! I rebooted and ran a stress program or 2 to max out the cpu. As soon as the cpu temp got passed 115, blue screen. So, I bumped up the voltage .1 v, from 2.4 to 2.5. No problem ever since, except when the Voodoo2's don't initialize, sometimes. Most times I can kill the program locking up the workstation remotely from the server. So, my opinion, expressed to you, is I thinks it's hardware, buddy. check your voltages, cards, reseat, get a real Power supply, by the way, I paid thru the nose almost for a 300w, esp when 250s are so cheap.
I am also running SBlive value, 192mb pc133 sdram, even though the board only goes up to 100mhz, ata66 maxtor 7200, seagate cheetah 10k rpm, qlogic U2W_SCSI 64bitpci(works with 32pci, too), linksys 100tx nic, 2 voodoo2 cards SLI,Matrox dualhead g400 16mb.Plus, I have 2 usb devices plugged in, mouse and joystick, and ps2 mouse. IDE cdrom. Extra case fan, HD cooling fan on cheetah. That's every pci/agp slot on the board and then some. If anyone's machine should lock up, it should be mine. Maybe you got a defective mobo, or your cpu is overclocked, ie, you got ripped off. Or, like my server, IDE hd doesn't like your os. My server's problems would disappear as soon as I ran w2k on it.
Hope this helps. NayaMan

[chucky2]

nayaman- Thanks for the post!

First, I'm running an Antec PP-303X Athlon approved power supply. I don't think that power (at least from the power supply) is my problem.

Second, like I said before, the system is a ROCK with a Geforce DDR (at AGP 2x none the less), so I don't think it is any of the other components.

If Win98SE completely stable with a Geforce DDR, and then I perform a complete re-install, except this time with a G400 DH 32MB SGRAM, and as soon as I load the Matrox drivers, I get the random reboot problem, that leads me to believe that the only thing Win98SE doesn't like is my G400.

Now, I take the same system, and perform a clean install of WinNT 4.0 Workstation, and I have no problems (except for the Pipes ScreenSaver).

Again, this leads me to believe that 1.) this card (and not the board) has an AGP issue, and/or 2.) whatever is being enabled/disabled in the drivers going from Win98SE to WinNT 4 is solving the random reboot problem.

Since WinNT doesn't support AGP much at all, I'm leaning toward the AGP side. But then I keep coming back to Win98SE and how it stable until I add the Matrox drivers.

Whatever.

I got the extra hard drive yesterday, and hopefully I'll have some time to waste this weekend. Any suggestions? (Other than selling the G400 and getting a Geforce?)

Thanks again!

Chuck

[nayaman]

Well, good!

I had a problem with the Matrox g400 in my machine, running win98, the first time I installed it. At the time, I was just getting into using w2k pro, so I mostly experimented with that OS. Then, I switched to win98 to do something, installed the drivers, and Wham! Lockup occured. We both have a VIA chipset mobo, so it's extremely important that we load the latest via agp driver, and select the right agp mode, whether turbo or standard. Turbo mode turns on write combining if it can, I believe, and sets up agp2x mode. The other thing I did to fix the problem was update the Matrox bios. I would try the above in this order: Flash the bios, if needed. Load the latest matrox drivers. Reboot into safe mode. Load the via 4 in 1 drivers, or just the agp if you like. Don't install the via ide drivers, they're a pain and I've never used them. I never had a problem with ata66 performance, and I have always tested my hd DTR rate consistently. I don't like the via IDE drivers. Choose the agp turbo mode. Reboot the machine and see if it boots up to win98. If it does, check the powerstrip or agplist/pcilist program to ensure that agp 2x and sidebanding are turned on. Oh, and turn off video bios shadow and caching, the cache is used better on apps. Also, set agp aperture size to 64mb? Assign IRQ for VGA should be turned on. Is your MOBO bios v 1.06? I believe that is the latest one. I had to do this kind of stuff on via agp 4x mobos, both asus and tyan, with piii's to get the agp4x to work with nvidia geforce's. It was a Pain. Nayaman