PD 5.30 + Mil. G200 + Win98 = Instability?

[chucky]

Well, here the situation:


Fresh install of Win98 (Original)

Installed IE 5.0

DL'd all the important updates on Windows Update (Including DX 7.0).

Installed VIA AGP Driver 3.56.

Installed Matrox PD 5.30.

Re-installed VIA AGP Driver 3.56.

System is stable, except for:

OpenGL screen savers cause the machine to blue screen. WTF?!

Everything else is stable. Now, I don't really play and OpenGL games, so how exactly do I test this system out to see if it's not something else that's making the screen savers bomb out?

Before I had to do the re-install of Win98, I was running PD 5.20 with the VIA AGP Driver 3.55 with no problems at all.

Suggestions?

Thanks!

Chuck

[Mellow_Dude]

Chucky,

I have a TMC VIA 133 m/Board and had similar problems. Here is how I solved them.

1. Direct X 7.0 did not run any D3D games with PD 5.30 so I downloaded 5.41 which immediatly solved that problem. PD 5.30 worked fine with DX 6.1.

2. Download the latest 4 in 1 Via Board drivers from the following site. These improved my system quite a lot.
http://www.viatech.com/drivers/index.htm

Hope this helps.

Mellow_Dude

My Specs:

TMC TI6NBF+
PII 300 (SL2YK) O/C TO PII 450 (2.2v)
66MHz ~ 133MHz, jumperfree
G200 Mill 8 meg SGRAM
96 Meg PC100 SDRAM
6.5 GIG Seagate UDMA33 HD
Win 98
Runs Sweet for now!

[chucky]

Thanks Mellow_Dude for your reply!

I was hoping to stay with DX 7, that way I wouldn't have to mess with their machine for a while.

I see you have a PII, here's what I've got:

Cal. Graph. Photon 100 HC
K6-2 300, 3x100, 2.2v VERY stable
Matrox Millenium G200 250MHz RAMDAC 8MB SGRAM
128MB Samsung Original PC133
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 6800
Sound Blaster 128 PCI
US Robotics v.90/X2 ISA

Now, if I drop back to the 5.25 drivers w/ DX 7, everything is stable. Haven't tried to goto the 5.41 drivers yet. Have to do that next weekend.

Can you think of anything else it could be?

I was thinking maybe something to do with the AGP spec. or something?

I'm setup in the BIOS for AGP 2x, 64MB Aperature Size; Spread Spectrum Modulated is OFF.

Any thoughts, drop me a line back here.

Thanks again!

Chuck

[Mellow_Dude]

Chucky,

I just had to drop back to PD 4.51 to run System Shock 2. PD 5.41 currently won't run that game but ran everything else (And I try heaps of software). PD 5.30 crashed out of every D3D program after setup menus and just before the game screen is displayed.
Went back to 4.51 for now as it seems to be the next fastest for me. I could've gone to 5.13 also.

Keep DX 7.0 but use PD 4.51 (Unless playing Sys Shock 2) or otherwise try PD 4.51 from www.matrox.com and see how you get on.

Merry Christmas!

Mellow

[Mellow_Dude]

Sorry that should have been use PD 5.41 unless...........

I think your prob is just a driver (matrox's) issue.

[paul]

chucky, I havent seen any difference in drivers (speed, visual quality) since 4.51.
Stick with what works for you

------------------
k6-3 450 @500 - tyan 1590s bios 1.16 - wdac310100 - g200 mill sgram w/8mb upgrade & bios 2.6-20 PD 5.41 (DISABLED) - AGP1x (NOT MY CHOICE) - 128MB 10ns sdram - sblive value 2.1 - 3com 3c905b-tx - cable access (28.8k for emergencies) - win98SE
dx7 - V3 steering wheel/pedals - MS sidewinder PRO

[chucky]

Just checked back in...Thanks for your replies!

Since I'm in a techy mood, I'll do another format and slap 5.41 and DX 7 on. If that doesn't solve the problem, I'll go back to 5.25.

I'll update this thread with what happens after I try it out. That way anyone else that has the same problem can reference what we tried here.

Thanks again!

chucky

P.S. For those that celebrate it, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

[YankeeeMax]

Hi chuky !?
look, i have a:
PA-2013 MVP3 1MB
K6-2 450
128 PC100 cas3 8ns
mille.G200 16 SGRAM Ovcl. 250Mhz
PowerDesk 5.25 / Directx7a
PD 5.30 and 5.41 bring a lot of problems
put 5.25 again, 5.30 and 5.41 are not faster
from Via install 4in1, they are good if you have Win98SE, put only AGPvxd and PMangment i think, they say
good luck

[chucky]

Yep, that's what I thought too.

I'm going to be doing it this weekend, maybe even tonight.

Since I'm going with the "format c:" route, I'll give the 5.41 drivers a try, it's only an extra hour to find out.

What do you guys think about using the 5.25 PD with the 5.41 drivers?

Chuck

[chucky]

Sorry guys (and/or gals), I couldn't get to it.

Have to wait until 14th-15th of January.

I will post back here though.

Later!

Chucky

[AlphaKen]

well, sorrie man can't help you there. I have DirectX 7.0a and have 5.41 installed and everything seem to be perfect in my computer. So it depends maybe the hardware or the software the might be conflicting with your other hardware or software. I am using DX7 + G200 + 5.41 + win98 with no problems seen. I seen better fps on the game with smoother frame and richer colours with the latest version. traces of old dx files could be a problem. well did all i could
___________________
My computer is 1.5 year ago... My specs

P2-300(not celeron...ewwwwwww)@374Mhz, 128 mb Sdram, SCSI Panasonic 36X CD-ROM and 8x4x32 CD-RW(exteral scsi), G200 Mill AGP 16mb SGRAM, UMAX Scanner 1220USB, 2 Quantum Fireball HD total 20Gig. 3com Ethernet XL PCI card, Lucent Tech 56k Modem... what else
oh the printers, soundcard and monitor which i don't care as much... =) there not bad

[chucky]

Well, I just finished, and everything seems to be ok. Only 1 problem in OpenGL screen savers, and that's 3D Pipes. I have it set to multiple, flex, maximum resolution. Everything goes fine until the end of the first sequence, then it just locks up. No BSOD, just locks up. I can always 3 finger salute out of it. But, no problems with any of the other OpenGL screen savers. Possibly a bug?

I'm using PD 5.41 and the VIA 3.56 AGP drivers. Was going to go with the 3.59 drivers that just came out, but after I DL'd them and read the readme, it said for AGP 4x boards only. Maybe I read it wrong, but I wasn't going to take a chance.

The way I installed all this was to load the AGP patch from VIA first, then PD 5.41, then DX 7.0a (DL'd it from the DirectX site, not Windoze update). Everything was in working order after that, but VIA says to install the AGP driver last. So, I re-installed the AGP driver after DirectX, and everything is still good. One thing is for certain, visual quality is better in the OpenGL screen savers. I haven't really tested with any games (don't really have anything other than Starcraft ((DirectX)) to test with), so I can't attest to speed or visual quality changes in anything else.

With the exception of the 3D Pipes OpenGl screen saver, everything is very stable.

Hope this helps someone out there!

Chuck

[This message has been edited by chucky (edited 15 January 2000).]