Problems when starting windows 98 with G400

[Freddy Jones]

I have had my G400 now for over a year and it has worked fine with a few minor problems.
But recently I have noticed that sometimes when I start up windows a blue screen would appear saying 'fatal exception....'. Then I noticed that it would appear sometimes as a pattern. Today I have noticed this problem has got a lot worse. I have found myself restarting the machine four or five times before I can use it.
Has anyone had this problem and/or know how to fix it!
Thanx

[Jorden]

As a matter of fact, I've seen this error creep up a lot lately, while installing Holly's PC. First a couple of GPF's (with starting address 0028), then a fatal error and we need to reboot Windows a couple of times to get rid of it.

I saw it while I had her hdd installed in my PC (P3-450, Asus P2B, 128Mb RAM, G400 OEM Vanilla with 32Mb and DH), and I saw it a couple of times when I was setting up her PC.(Celeron 333MHz, DFI P2XLX, 128Mb RAM, G400 Max).

We thought it was her harddrive, a Maxtor 20Gb, so I installed the other Maxtor 20Gb, and am presently installing Win98FE to it, without having seen a crash yet (knock on wood).

So give your setup and system specs and IRQ list, and maybe we can find a solution together.

Holly will be telling more tales later on
Let me first set up the private network.

Jord.

[fury]

Freddy Jones: Dollars to doughnuts, you have corrupt files. If you get the system to boot fully, try running SFC from the "Start" "Run" box. Best.

[lindberg]

I've also had that problem, this used to occure when a game had frozen and I've used the reset switch on the case...
Try this, when this happens reset your computer and hold F8 while booting, on the boot menu choose start in dos mode, when you've booted into dos-mode type "scanreg /restore" and restore your register to the last working setup and if that one doesn't work try the previous previous one (windows! Hrmph ).
If any of this doesn't help try reinstalling drivers for matrox (a clean install) that oughta do it

------------------
My system:

• Athlon 700 MHz
• 192 Mb Ram
• Asus K7V mb
• Matrox G400 (oc @ 150/200)
• wester 10.2Gb and seagate 6.5Gb (removable) hdd
• Soundcrapster PCI64 (soon Aureal A3d )
• Logitech Force Feedback wheel (cool)
• 300W atx case

[HollyBerri]

Hi, I'm the aforementioned Holly.

Freddy, we <u>really</U> need your system specs... otherwise, we're just guessing blindly.

But here's what I can tell you from my own experience.[list=1][*] Read bootlog.txt. It's in the root of your HDD, and if you don't have one, hit F8 when starting and choose either "Step-by-Step Confirmation", or "Logged" to get it. Somewhere near the end of the text file (you can read it in DOS, or in Safe Mode, if you can't get into Normal Mode Windows), you may find a listing of "LoadFail=something". If so, we have our first lead.[*] Speaking of Safe Mode... I'd say boot into it and look at the Device Manager. Dollars to doughnuts you have multiple entries for one or more devices. Delete all multiple devices and let Windows reinstall them.[*] I'd bet (if I had anything to bet) that you have changed, added or installed something new into your PC recently and forgotten about it. It would seem to be something not always being accessed, if the problem was intermittent, but now is being called upon more frequently since the fatal exceptions are more overwhelming. Have you noticed if they always occur at the same memory register (as mine did)? Back in the Safe Mode Device Manager, did you have any Unknown Devices (under the listing that is just a big yellow question mark)? My problem (well the main problem, anyway) was an Unknown Device which was the SoundBlaster emulation on my sound card (which is a child device under the main card) that could not be installed, partly because of my ATA66 controller, but partly because something is just wrong with the card or my drivers at the moment. Took the sound card out (got no speakers at the moment anyway)-- problem solved.[*] And to support fury with his theory of corrupt files... I usually find that corrupt files result in a "Windows Protection error. You must restart your computer." message, but I also find that this message will crop up once you have solved the BSOD... and the files that you will find to be corrupt (via bootlog.txt) are the standard Windows font files. <u>Always</u> make a backup of a clean font folder and put it on a CD (if you have a burner) or in a .zip file or something. Everybody forgets about fonts, but they are easily corrupted, and Windows will not start without Marlett, Courier, Times New Roman, those damn VGA fonts, et. al.[/list=a]

That's all I've got for you for the moment.

<font size=5>Please</font> list your system specifications, and an IRQ list if you can get into Normal Mode Windows.

Good luck.

----------------------------
Holly

[Freddy Jones]

Thanx for your Help!!
This problem has been bugging me for a while now.
I have tried lots of things, this includes re-formating, changing drivers, etc. I think that the problem has something to do with my graphics card??

I have a:
Celeron 500
64 mb ram
Matrox G400 32mb Dualhead 6.00 Powerdesk
SB Live Player 1024
Windows 98 SE
Toshiba 8x DVD

[Freddy Jones]

I still have the bloody problem!!!
My specs are above.
Do any of u guys know why this is happening??
Is it something to do with my graphics card???

[Jorden]

We'd still love to have an IRQ list, Freddy. If you can get that for us?

[Beezer]

Also tell us the make and model of your mother board.

I too occasionally have this problem (at boot up), about once for every 10 or 20 boot ups. I have an Abit BE6 mobo. I suspected the BIOS/UDMA66 controller so I just flashed to the latest rev in hopes this will do the trick. It's only been a couple days, so I don't know if that's the problem.

[This message has been edited by Beezer (edited 10 July 2000).]

[Freddy Jones]

Believe it or not Beezer,I too have an ABIT, its a BE6-II.
Would that be something to do with the problem??
I noticed that u said that u thought it was maybe something to do with the BIOS/UDMA66 controller, I still have a standard 10gb hard drive!!
I'm sure that wouldn't effect anything.
P.S. How do I get my IRQ list????

[Jorden]

IRQ list making and saving:

Start -> Run -> type msinfo32, Enter.
(left window) Harware Resources, goto IRQs, goto Edit, Select All, Copy, open notepad or some text-editor, do Paste and save it.

The for us to see, open a reply window in this thread and copy & paste those IRQs here.

Easy, huh?

Jord.

[Freddy Jones]

Thanx for the info jordan
I have bin wondering how to do that!!
Here they are:0 System timer
1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
2 Programmable interrupt controller
3 Printer Port (LPT1)
3 Communications Port (COM2)
4 Communications Port (COM1)
5 Matrox Millennium G400 DualHead - English
5 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7 Creative SB16 Emulation
8 System CMOS/real time clock
9 (free)
10 Realtek RTL8139(A/B/C/8130) PCI Fast Ethernet NIC
10 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
11 Creative SB Live!
11 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
12 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
12 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
13 Numeric data processor
14 Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
14 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
15 Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
15 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller

I hope this helps

[Freddy Jones]

Hey Jordan
Just one point I read on one of the other forums that u said that the g400 should be on its own irq number and it has to be 9 or higher. Do u reckon this would help and maybe even speed it up???

[Beezer]

It's good practice to get your G400 to that empty IRQ #9, however I've had my G400 in IRQ 5 at one time and had no problems with it there. To do that, go into your BIOS setup (press "Del" key at boot up). Go to PnP/PCI Configuration. All I had to do with my version of BIOS (QP) was to change PIRQ_0 USE IRQ NO.: "Auto" to "9". By the way, you will always have PCI Steering in the same IRQ as the G400 -- it's supposed to be there.

As far as possible HD Controller issues with your version of BIOS, it may not be a problem since you are still using the UDMA33 controller. I am using the High Point UDMA66 controller, cable, and drives. By the way, still no "blue screen of death" since updating the BIOS last weekend.

I notice that we both have nearly the same NIC (Realtek -- I've been suspicious of that as well. If your problems don't go away, try removing your network card for a while to see if it has any affect.

[SkyeKeeper]

I've lurked here for about a year but I had no reason to post since my Matrox G400 worked flawlessly.

But all that changed when I swapped out the motherboard and CPU. Now, I'm getting screen corruption (loss of sync, it looks like) about 50 percent of the time when I boot, and anytime I come out of stand-by mode. It takes a cold boot to get going again, and then my video goes into safe mode.

I'll try the suggestions above, but here are my system specs just in case.

I suspect it has something to do with the ACPI scheme Windows uses. I have it disabled in the BIOS. Anybody know how to get rid of it in Windows?

MSI K7Pro
Thunderbird 650
Matrox G400
SB Live
Kingston network card
Netgear network card
US Robotics ISA modem
0 System timer
1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
2 Programmable interrupt controller
3 Communications Port (COM2)
4 SCI IRQ used by ACPI bus
5 (free)
6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7 ECP Printer Port (LPT1)
8 System CMOS/real time clock
9 Creative SB Live! Value
9 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
10 Kingston EtheRx PCI 10/100 Fast Ethernet Adapter (KNE110TX)
10 NETGEAR FA310TX Fast Ethernet PCI Adapter
10 AMD 756 PCI to USB Open Host Controller
10 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
11 Matrox Millennium G400 - English
11 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
12 Microsoft PS/2 Port Mouse
13 Numeric data processor
14 Primary Bus Master IDE controller
14 AMD-756 Bus Master IDE Controller V1.22 RC
15 Secondary Bus Master IDE controller
15 AMD-756 Bus Master IDE Controller V1.22 RC