Hacking drivers: how to run Marvel G400 TV with latest drivers

[VS_]

thanks for the info, Haig.

[VS_]

Shame on me! i'm a plagiarist

Well apparently someone has been able to figure *.inf modding well before me:

Found on Matroxusers links,

http://grafi.ii.pw.edu.pl/gbm/matrox/ aka MatroX files.
go to Help/Driver installation problems. BTW lrvalley maybe you have an explanation of your problem there.

For me I'm looking for registry settings to force AGP modes, due to problems with XP.

[lrvalley]

RMA Matrox Marvel?

OK, HAIG, I'll pass my info on to you concerning my Marvel. If you can point me in the right direction to get this board working, I would appreciate it!

The sticker on my board reads: G4+MVTA16GRN. I purchased this board approximately a year ago. When I received it, I was running Windows 98, and it worked fine.

When I attempted to upgrade to Windows 2000, I downloaded the latest drivers from the Matrox website, and found that I could not install these drivers. 5.39 simply tells me that my GA-G400 is not supported, and the video tools indicate that I don't have any Matrox hardware installed. If I go back to the 5.25 driver I can install along with the beta video tools, but I experience a great deal of crashes with this combo.

I then loaded up Windows ME, and tried to install the latest drivers - with the same result. The software tells me that my card is not supported in this version. Under ME, I have to go back to 6.10, and once again experience significant lock up issues.

What concerns me is that I can't load the latest drivers for either Win ME or Win 2K - this should not be a problem. I've tried loading the latest bios, and even tried the recover utility from Matrox - all to no avail.

Another interesting point is that when I run the Matrox MTU utility, it does not know what type of graphics card I have. I have also tried this video in three separate motherboards, all with the same results.

When I attempted the hack for the 5.72 drivers under Win2K, I discovered that my board does not work with the posted mod. The string SUBSYS_3693102B has to be changed to SUBSYS_04001458 for it to work. This value comes from the 5.25 driver.

Does my Marvel need to be RMA'ed? I'm beginning to think that I got an early version of the board that is reporting itself to the system in an incorrect fashion.

Any help will be appreciated.

[Wombat]

It's generally a bad idea to post your Serial # to the world. I'd edit that post.

[lrvalley]

Thanks for the info. It's changed!

[Greebe]

Irvalley, Please contact Matrox Technical Support for an RMA

[marathon]

G400tv winXP

Plaese help me guys.

Running xp with g400 tv.
No matter what I do I can't get the vid tools running in X. P. I've tried all combinations of all drivers and vid tools (not tools prior to win 2k though). Got the hacek for the 5.72 drivers, and card is runnibng fine and recognized as a Marvel g400 agp.
Cannot get 204 tools to install.
Installation wizard just stops working and comes up with the message saying
"machine not modified . Have tried compatibility mode for both win 2K and win 98".
Beta vid tools used to start ok with 539 drivers but would not shut down and resulted in having to pull the plug on the machine.

Now with 5.72 drivers I get the message that Video editing hardware is not available. am set to 16 bit.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated I need the card because
I use the digital output daughter card with my view sonic flat panel display


PLEASE help.

Thanks

[VS_]

I think it has something to do with access rights on XP.

I tried yesterday to create another account, administrator group.
When I log on, and launched VCR and a messsage said that another device is using my hardware.

I remember reading something similar concerning Win2K.

What you should try is using an account with administrator rights (so part of the administrator group) and (re)installing VideoTools on this account.
Being administrator, you maximize your control rights over either software and hardware access.
In the worst case scenario, you probably only be able to run VideoTools on this account.

I cannot tried this trick yet, I'm at work now, more on that later.

[VS_]

Another so-called "hack" in Registry settings !

Well, continuing this thread main theme, I will submit now a registry hack concerning 3D performance.

Maybe you have pointed out that you are no longer able to use MSTU properly on XP with the hacked drivers : No AGP 4X available, VSync off D3D setting apparently not working...etc.

Well, I don't have a definitive answer of this problem, but it is very likely a misplaced Registry key.
Apparently, MSTU writes the proper registry settings at the wrong place: with XP native drivers, Performance settings are set there: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\G400\Device0
and that is the place where MSTU writes settings too.

Unfortunately, when upgrading to 5.72 drivers, the device driver service is not "G400" but "G400DH"
---> new settings are then written in that place:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\G400DH\Device0
but MSTU is still writing settings at the previous place, so that's why MSTU settings are ineffective, because appying to a no longer used registry key !

So I made a little registry hack to write AGP 4X, VSync off setting...etc at the right place.

!WARNING! !WARNING! !WARNING! !WARNING! !WARNING!
It is possible that the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\G400DH\Device0
is not the right one for you, so search it a closely similar one by searching the "Mga.AGPflags" string in your Registry.
!WARNING! !WARNING! !WARNING! !WARNING! !WARNING!

Now the results: D3D VSync off seems to work now, GL_EXT_env_combine OpenGl extension seems to be activated, because now Serious Sam runs beautifully (800x600x32 almost max settings) without crashing randomly as before every 5 minutes (not a single crash since)
Concerning AGP 4X....Well I must say the gain is not obvious, I only made tests with 3DMark2000, espacially "Texture rendering speed tests". To be honest, I don't even know if AGP 4X is really set !

Here is the file:

[marathon]

I thought this thread was about getting card & vid tools to work under 5.72 drivers???

I have installed and am running as administrator.

Can you lead me in the proper direction if I am wrong being here?

Thanks.

[VS_]

Well, I launched this thread to present a trick about installing 5.72 drivers with Marvel G400-TV, while it is normally impossible.

At that time I didn't have any trouble to install VideoTools v2.04, but people had so ask about it: there is nothing wrong with it, the folks and I will be glad to help you !

marathon, did you say you were able to install VideoTools finally?

[marathon]

No way.

Final vid tools won even install under win2k compatabiliry or any other mode.

Beta vid tools install but now with the new driver won't find Video editing hardware.

I am completely lost on this and have tried everything.


Wish I had never gone with matrox, but now need help desperately.

thanks for anything you can suggest.

[Kruzin]

Try asking the guys in the Desktop Video forum.
They are the pros when it comes to Marvels and RRGs.
Also, check Matrox's forums. I know some folks over there have gotten it working...

[Trinidad]

Install of the Video Tools??

Okay I am A bit lost here. I have installed the lastest drivers for Xp the 5.72 and now I just want to install the video tools to watch tv and capture. the old beta tools install but they give me tv tuner funtion and when I try to install the new one the final for win2k i get the wizard has been terminated your system has not been modified.....can anyone help I know that many of you have this working by just reading the posts. Any help would be greatly appreciated


Thanks very much,

Trinidad

[mrtj1]

how come some people can install vt's fine and other cant?

the final vt's work perfect with me in xp pro. my problem is that while they work with the 5.39 drivers, the capping doesnt start with the 72 drivers. tv works fine, just no capture.

i have never touched the 'compatibility' option to get anything installed, and have to ask why some need to do that to get the vt's installed.

could it be with the way we install xp? i mean i did an upgrade from 2k which had the final vt's and drivers installed anyway.

maybe those who cant did a clean install or are using home as opposed to pro. there must be something that makes a difference.