G400 TV wont post with Athlon MB

[Madhouse28]

I have a G400 TV Marvel tv out agp that runs fine on a Abit BE6 11 r2 with a P3 600. XP running fine. I have also 2 Athlons, one is a K7S5A with a 1.4 morgan core, the other is (not yet fully built) a Asus A7V333, with an XP1700.

The G400 Marvel tv card will not post with either Athlon setups, yet its fine on the Abit BE6 11 r2.

I want to move the G400 Marvel card to either Athlon for better capture. The bios version of the G400 is as listed as unified bios. Version 2.1 b35

Can anyone help please as to why I get no post with either of these 2 Athlon setups. I just spent a packet on the second Athlon and I just can't afford to junk the G400. I am really miffed at this, as I am now flat broke.

tia

[Ali]

It should work. Are you sure you had the G400 seated properly?

Whats your power supply like on your AMD systems?

Have you tried another graphics card in your AMD system to make sure its not the motherboard at fault?

when you say its not even POSTing, do you get the beep error from you motherboard? I think its 3 short beeps from memory, but I would have to look it up to be sure.

If its not even getting past POST, yet it works in your Intel board, it suggests something wrong with your AMD systems.

Let us know more about what youve tried

Good luck

Ali

[Marshmallowman]

It shoul work but some thunderbird athlons may have problems in the 75sa, does it boot with and video different card?.(as a test)

Defintely do a bios update if you can get the 7ks5a going it would be the ideal for captureing.

if you say "Doc Mordrid" three times very fast you may get the resident 7kS5a genie to appear, he knows a lot about them and g400's

[Dr Mordrid]

For the K7S5A;

1. set the BIOS PCI/Plug 'n Play Primary Graphics Adapter setting to AGP. The default setting is usually PCI

2. Make sure the board is well seated and the AGP clamp is firmly engaged. Easy to miss.

3. if that doesn't work then I'd take a hard white eraser to the contacts of the G-400TV. I've had 'em oxydize enough to insulate a pin or two, particularly if the previous AGP slot is was used in didn't have the proper composition in its contacts or if the environment is humid. Bimetal + moisture = oxydization = insulation.

4. You'll also want to update the BIOS and AGP drivers to the latest builds when you finally get it booting up. Necessary changes to both;

AGP & other drivers: http://www.ecsusa.com/ecsusa/www.ecs...driver/k7s.htm

BIOS: http://www.ecsusa.com/ecsusa/www.ecs...load/k7s5a.htm

Make sure you get the correct BIOS. There are two: one for boards with a LAN and one for those without LAN. Both use the AMI flash utility.

5. Check your CPU and memory clock settings. Even with DDR266 in the slots it'll often default to 100/100 instead of 133/133. Set it manually in the BIOS.

Dr. Mordrid

[Madhouse28]

Well I have the latest "Official" bios" for the K7S5a with lan. This board I have had since September last and is running faultlessly (if thats a word lol). I have at the moment a GF3 TI 200 in there, but have also had a ATI Rage Pro, GF2 MX, ATI Radion VE in there. All those work just fine.

The XP1700 does not yet have an OS on it. It will also "post" with all those cards except the G400. I say post meaning you see the startup screen, bios, memory etc when first starting. This I don't get on either system with the Matrox card in. The K7S5A is set to 133/133. The Asus board I have played with Agp 1/2/3/4 settings still no go. The cards are well seated in the AGP slot.

I am tempted to redownload the unified bios from the Matrox site and reflash (good/bad/ yes or no?)

I can only conclude that this G400 dosent want to play with later motherboards, yet as you all say it should. I can put half a dozen cards in either the K7S5A or the Asus A7V333 motherboards, they ALL post and boot EXCEPT this G400 Marvel.

I seem to remember a utility when I first got this G400 that set the AGP speed of the card. Is this fixed in rom when set? Maybe this has to be set to 1 or something to boot then the motherboard will change it. Is that possible?

PSU on the K7S5A is 400w, the Asus has a 550w psu. Pretty sure this isnt the cause as the BE6 11 r2 has only a 250w.

No point in updating ANY drivers on the K7S5A (it dosent need any anyway as I also like to keep up to date) as it would do no good if it did need them. It just sits there at bootup doing nothing, nowt. plain ziltch, no display. On both motherboards, no drivers even get loaded. This is very strange. I am at a loss.

I thought i read last night on the Matrox site that a support tech from Matrox (think it was Haig or someone) posted a statement saying ALL G400 Marvels had AGP x4 capability, so I'm stumped there also.

Dont know what elso try, except the eraser trick on the card fingers, yet as I type now behind me, the P3 600 with the G400 card in is happily working. hmmmmm this is not looking good. I like this G400. It will be a great shame to junk it, but my patience is running thin.

[az]

Hmm... my K7S5A needs a reset after pressing the power button to POST (both to get a signal to the monitor AND to beep) - you might want to try that Sometimes I need several pushes on the reset key to make it boot.. but I think that's an older BIOS problem, as it doesn't happen with 100/100, only with 100/133.

And I think your g400 might still be under warranty, so you might want to try that out, since you do have replacement cards for the time you'll be without the g400.

AZ

[Madhouse28]

Quote: And I think your g400 might still be under warranty, so you might want to try that out.

How long is the warrenty on this product? I purchased it on 7 October 2000




Quote: Sometimes I need several pushes on the reset key to make it boot.

I have the latest bios, so are you saying you have similar problems also at bootup?

[az]

I don't have the latest BIOS, and I'm not using a g400 (am using a 3D Prophet 4500 TV, Kyro II based), but I suggest you try it out

AFAIK the warranty is three years

They officially dropped support for their Marvel products, so if it's not the hardware that's failing you might have a problem

Oh, a thought just came to my mind: Have you tried playing with the AGP drive strength setting in the BIOS? (of course you'd have to change drive strength BEFORE putting the g400 back in, and I don't know whether your boards' BIOSes support that kind of tweaking). Just be careful with it, I don't know if you can damage your hardware with that

Good luck!

AZ

[Ali]

Just had a thought, and its stupid, but did you plug the monitor into the correct D-SUB on the G400? I dont know what happens if you only have one screen, and its plugged into secondary at bootup.

Also, if the mobo has had all those different video cards, you could try doing a CMOS clear. Should be a jumper of solder pads on the motherboard somewhere to do it. Could just be an ACPI problem.

Ali

[Madhouse28]

The K7S5A does not have an AGP drive strength but the Asus A7V333 does. I dont know what it does, I have left it on auto. The G400 is a Marvel, it only has 1 15 way hi-d plug for vga, the other is for the in/out/tuner pod thingy. The cmos was cleared when I updated the MB bios last night.

Cheers for the help guys, I will soldier on. At the moment there is an ATI rage pro in there, there is absolutly no comparrison between the ATI and the Matrox except...........the ATI bloodywell works, and the Matrox dont.!

tnxs to all for your input so far.

[J.O.N]

Can't offer much advice, but I can offer my experience. Yesterday my new ECS K7S6A and Athlon 1800+ arrived - I've installed this with my Marvel G400TV, same bios as yours, and it works perfectly. Since my motherboard is even newer than the K7S5A I doubt there's an incompatibility with the 'old' Marvel G400TV.

Suggestion: replacement Marvel?

[Madhouse28]

I am begining to think the same thing myself. I flashed back to the origonal bios, still the same. I have the radion working fine with the Asus board so only now have this problem to deal with.

In the Asus board if I put a PCI card in along side the G400 and use the PCI to drive the monitor, the Asus board dosen't even see the G400 at all.

The K7S5A just hangs and does nothing.

I believe the warrenty is 3 years on this board. I think I will have to go back to the Matrox main site and look for warrenty info.

Poo.

[Madhouse28]

Hate to follow my own posts but I have just emailed Matrox technical (UK) with my complaint and received back a general FAQ. It said to repost on to "George" if the FAQ did not answer my question.

Well I have now forwared it on to "George" (as stated) but George has not replied. Soooow...... I have sent another.

Suppose I will get another FAQ now also.

Does this "George" actually exist? and are Matrox UK gona reply I wonder?

How do you get a suspect card repaired/replaced in the UK?




cheers to all.

[Wombat]

Of course George has not replied. It's the weekend. Wait until he gets back in the office.

[Madhouse28]

Sorry, very sorry I dont mean just know.... twas several days ago that I email support. I do realise they dont work the weekend.

Bad choice of words on my behalf lol..