My G400; a total disappoinment!

[warrior]

Hey guys,

I came here looking for support as I didn't get any from Matrox's tech support after a few mails reporting trouble.

There's a couple of things I can't get to work on my system;l

- The EMBM tech-demo included on the drivers-CD ( flythrough fantasy scenery)
- ANY OpenGL game; Unreal, UT, Half-life,...
- Running any game in a resolution above 1024 x 768 crashes back to desktop

Quake 3 was one game that worked, fine.
Now I downloaded drivers version 5.52 + TurboGL 1.3 and all I get is a black screen, pressing space takes me back to the desktop in a wrong resolution

system config:
- Matrox G400 32 MB DualHead, not tweaked
- Aopen mainboard ( A6BX or sumthing)
- SB Live
- 2 Intel Pro 100+ management NICs
- 128 RAM
- PIII 550 mHz
- Windows 98 SE

All updates and patches for all games as well as bios updates for the G400, no use, not one OpenGL game works except for maybe sllooww in software-mode rendering

Any ideas welcome, I'd like to see TurboGL do what its name suggests

Thanks!

[Hunsow]

Try forcing AGPx1, that AOpen board is famous for AGPx2 trouble.

[UncleJoe]

Have you had some other card previously in your system ??? If you could check if there's something left from older drivers (of course you have cleaned up em)... and your G400 should be 0000 here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Class\Display , if it isn't then remove all and reinstall drivers. And 5.52 requires DX7 (sure, you have it... but try to reinstall), and your G400 is using IRQ 9+ alone (only with IRQ holder)... OGL support in UT and Unreal is alpha level, so use D3D with them...

J.

[Nuno]

Warrior, let the voodoo2 in and don´t use turbogl. The ICD performance is very close to TurboGl (sometimes even faster) so don´t bother with it. (Unless you really have to play at 512x3??x16 bit all features off just to have that tiny extra fps)

[warrior]

Too late Nino;

I did just about any imaginable thing to get the G400 up to spec.
As a final resort, the only thing left to do was to take out the Voodoo2.
I then reinstalled the 5.52 drivers + TurboGL performance, reinstalled Quake 3 and BAM, it runs. SMOOTH at 800x600, full detail ( 32bit texture didn't work before)
The TechDemo also works ( beautiful!)
Unreal runs in OpenGL ( well, TurboGL) at 1280x1024, full detail, silky smooth and MAN, does it look ever so good, my jaw dropped to the floor, never seen such beauty before!
Half Life with OpenGL, 1024x768, full detail, smooth as a baby's skin
I'm taking it back; this Matrox is WOW hotdiggillidamn HOT hardware!

And all this on my ( not so hot anymore) PIII 450 ( overclocked to 526 of course)

Thanks for all the advice people, you made my day!
warrior out

[DuRaNgO[MU]]

you are now an official fan!
jim

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Abit BE6 with P3 500 @ 5*124=620
14.6 gb Maxtor ata66 and 128mb ram
G400 vanilla 32mb @ 168/210
Sblive with Altec Lansing speaker combo
384k DSL and Realtek nic
Windows 98se with DX7a
3dMark2000 = 2956
Worn out reset button :O)

[Kruzin]

Give us a list of your IRQ assignments.
A couple of quick things to look at:
Be running in 16bit or 32bit color NOT 24bit.
Have an IRQ assigned to the G400. IRQ9 or higher, and try not to share that IRQ with anything else....

[warrior]

Thanks for the replies so far.
Looking in the readme.txt included with TurboGL it states at the end

"Having another 3D accelerator in the same system with the TGL is not supported. Ex: G400 + Voodoo I or Voodoo II."

Well, I do have a Voodoo II connected which I use for Total Air War which looks but-ugly in D3D mode but beatiful in Glide.

I intentionally left it out since I din't want to distract from the G400 being the problem...
I'd hate to loose my Voodoo II over it. Does anyone have a Voodoo II installed without trouble?

If all else fails, I'll remove it
I'll send a list of IRQ assignments when I get back home ( after designating IRQ 9 to the G400)

[Borg]

yap !...gald you made it !...552 are the best drivers ever relesed (OK !..for me ..)

UNREAL works beauty...not like before with lots of flashing & texture dessapiring from objects & it runs SMOOTH 1024x768x32 TRILINEAR all other on HIGH..D3D , F-16 4.0 is wery playable @ 1024x768 default settings...IM just HAPPY !

[Gurm]

Warrior,

Glad you got it to work. Next time, for reference... if you are running your 450 at 520-something, you do NOT have a P3-550. If it hadn't been the Voodoo2 conflict, it could very well have been an overclocking problem.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[Dyre]

You might still want to check your IRQ's.

Makeing sure everything is in order.

Also, are you using the Unistall untility from Matrox. This helps clear up old Matrox drives when you install new ones. Just some tips.

[warrior]

IRQs are fixed, Windows doesn't allow me to change settings.
Right now its IRQ is 4.
I do have a problem with Unreal,
in outside enviroments things suddenly get pitch-dark, I can't see a thing!
That may be related to overclocking the CPU, but if it's a driver issue or someone knows a solution, lemme know!
Oh, yes, I did use the uninstall util...

[Jorden]

Your G400 runs on IRQ4?

It's best IRQ is on 9, 10 or 11. And you don't change IRQs through Windows, but through the BIOS of your motherboard !! Or by swapping cards if you have an Athlon mobo.

Check this thread in Gaming from someone who had something of the same problem and got it solved.

FAQ Forums

Jorden.


[This message has been edited by Jorden (edited 30 March 2000).]

[Borg]

hmmmmmm ?...I play UNREAL wthout problems ...do you have the latest patch 225f..if not grab it here www.3dfxmania.com.. then ofcourse you have the latest DX7a & matrox driver 552 ...& in UNREAL ADVANCED options you can select D3D or OGL ..I find D3D much better..in advacend options under DISPLAY you can set gamma manual @ highest wich will be 1.00000 & try to set desktop 16 bit this could myke a litle brighter screen..

yah! IRQ 11 or 10 would be nice for G400...