Announcement

**LokTo** · 11 August 1999, 20:09

Have you tried the card on another system?

**Doc Mordrid** · 11 August 1999, 20:19

Before you try to RMA that G400 consider this:

Have you tried using your system WITHOUT overclocking your processor? That overclock you're doing is a pretty steep one. Also, any time you overclock a P-II/III system you have to be aware that many AGP and PCI cards just can't handle it.

This is because overclocking most Slot 1 and Socket 370 processors also overclocks the AGP and PCI busses as well. Thank Intel for this because of their locking of the bus multiplier last year. Forcing users to overclock using the bus clock is what brings on most overclocking problems.

This can play hell not only with graphics adapters but with drive controllers and other devices. The Fasttrak is an example of such a card. It does not like PCI bus overclocking at all. There are many others.

Don't forget that overclocking the AGP bus will also cause your G400 to throw a lot more heat. Maybe a fan is in order. Also some small heat sinks may be necessary on the G400's memory chips.

Overclocking can wring some more performance out of a given processor but the damage it can cause other components cannot be understated. It can be a risky proposition.

Also: I know ASUS has improved the P2B's BIOS over the last several months but I'd still be suspicious of it. There have been problems with some of the P2B boards since its introduction.

Dr. Mordrid

[This message has been edited by Doc Mordrid (edited 08-12-1999).]

**SteveC** · 11 August 1999, 21:06

Just a last shot - If you boot into safe mode, change the refresh rate in the windows own advanced display properties to 'adapter default'. And reboot.

------------------
Cheers,
Steve

MK · 12 August 1999, 02:04

Hi,

thank you all for your replies.

LokTo - no, I have no possibility at the moment. But I will later on.

DocMordrid - please read carefully my system specs. I´m using an `old` Celeron 266MHz, which means clock lock at 4x. My current front side bus speed is 103 Mhz, which gives 33.4 Mhz on the PCI-slots. THEY ARE COMPLETELY WITHIN THE SPECIFICATION ! I got this system now for 1 year and a G200 ran flawlessly in there. Also did a Diamond Viper V550 16 MB AGP card, I replaced now with the G400 because of bad image quality and VERY bad signal quality. So I know, my system is o.k. !
Also have to say that I got a good cooled Midi-Tower and I attached a socket 7 fan to the G400`s heatsink - it`s active cooled and not overclocked in ANY way!
Concerning the P2B I only can say, that it is not one of the first revisions and that I didn`t have any problems before.

Steve C - I will try that.

I noticed something strange a few hours ago: I took my girlfriends monitor, attached it to my computer and did a fresh install of Win`98 + DirectX6.1 + Matrox TechDemo. And it was unbelievable: everything ran fine. Then I attached my monitor (as in spec) and booted into Win`98. Guess what? The screen was corrupted. So I thought: o.k. my monitor is defect. But as I tried to switch back to my girlfriends monitor, the screen still was corrupted !

Any suggestions on that ? Can a monitor "destroy" in some way a installation with sending status-information to the card or computer ??

Greetings

MK

**SteveC** · 12 August 1999, 02:09

This is very interesting... does it work everytime if you turn off your machine, plug in your girlfriend's monitor, then boot up your PC?

Check out <A HREF="http://forums.gagames.com/forums/Forum109/HTML/002738.html" target="_blank">http://forums.gagames.com/forums/Forum109/HTML/002738.html</a>. Maybe there's a problem with bad DDC and the G400s??

------------------
Cheers,
Steve

**JamesA** · 12 August 1999, 02:34

MK,

Check out the URL Steve provided above.

I think it is safe to say that DDC is screwing the G400 install.

I have the MAX and the same monitor (check my sys specs for sure) as you. I do not have a problem though. Of course, I am not using DDC. The Iiyama's BNC connectors does not support DDC (does any BNC connection support DDC?). I am using a BNC to D-Sub cable (from Belkin) to connect my monitor to the MAX.

So, my advice is to go buy a BNC cable and enjoy the higher signal-to-noise ratio (i.e. better looking display).

Good luck!

JamesA.

------------------
System Hardware:
www.cis.ohio-state.edu/~ang/demerzel.html

**JamesA** · 12 August 1999, 02:51

MK,

I forgot to mention that since the BNC doesn't do DDC, you will need the monitor information file found in the Iiyama floppy to tell Win98 (and Win95?) your monitor's capabilities.

If you lost your floppy, I can email or post a link to mine (when I get home from work). Let me know at..

{ Deleted email address since MK doesn't need it. }

Take care.

JamesA.

[This message has been edited by JamesA (edited 08-13-1999).]

MK · 12 August 1999, 11:04

Hi,

SteveC - the symtom occurs every time. I make a normal installation with my girlfiends monitor and then switch to my Iiyama. Then everything gets corrupted. If I turn back to my girlfriends monitor, everything is still screwed up. I need to boot int "safe-mode" and disable the G400 for a standard pci vga adapter and everything works fine again.
But fact is, that my Iiyama doesn`t get recognised by Win`98. It is booting up and is IMMIDEATELY screwed up (!). I have the disc with the Iiyama monitor.inf but I don`t install it. (Makes everything just worse)

What can I do ? I can`t plug my monitor on, because I don`t have the chance to fix/change/edit anything ! Is this the monitors fault ? I don`t think so. SockBoy, the guy in the other thread has a low cost monitor, Iiyama is more like high end.

JamesA - thanks for your offer, but I have the inf-file. You also need it for Win`95. Maybe i will the BNC-cable give a try. But I get a little bit frustrated now.

Question is: Why is everything working well (except AGP2x)in Win`95 without usbsupp.exe, but with usbsupp.exe and with Win`98 (with built in usb-support) everything is screwed up ??? The G400 doesn`t like USB or what ???

Greetings

MK

**Matrox** · 12 August 1999, 12:31

Hi MK,

goto safe mode/device manager and delete all monitor profiles and disable DCC from display properties.

Reboot into normal mode and windows should detect a monitor. It will probably put you into 640x480@8bpp.

Haig

**Hellmut** · 13 August 1999, 07:43

Hi Dr. Mordrid,

you say that "some" P2B boards cause problems?
Could you please be more specific as to which boards, which revisions, which problems?
Some URL?

Thanks,
Hellmut

**Pertti** · 13 August 1999, 09:14

Hi Hellmut,

Asus has had a lot of problems with the P2B boards, but exept for some accidental replies from their tech supp at their own news server, they have been very quiet about them.

Last autumn they were coming up with new bioses every other day, doesn't that tell you something ?

I have had a P2B-S for a year now, the first one (rev 1.02) was freezing every now and then with heavy system load, Asus never confirmed the problem officially, but I was lucky to be big enough customer to my supplier and he arranged me to get my board replaced with a newer rev 1.03 board.

This newer board has lot more capasitors on board and behaves much better (although not as good as the T2P4).

All the early P2B boards with integrated SCSI are suffering from the same problem, and as far as I can remember there were some other problems with either Dual prosessors or integrated lan.

Best Regards,
Pertti

**Matrox** · 13 August 1999, 13:03

Hi guys,

just to let you know, we reproduced this DDC problem but only under NT.

Also, one of the beta boys managed to reproduce this under98 successfully and consistently, so we will be looking into this further.

Haig

MK · 14 August 1999, 03:06

Hello everybody !

Now I know, what the problem was! ** I HAD A BROKEN GRAPHICS CARD! **

Actually I have been pretty silly. Because when I got my G400, my whole system was running fine so my first suspicion should have been that the card is broken. But it behavied in such a strange way, that I really began to feel insecure.

Finally I replaced the card by a new one on friday morning and 25 min. later I got a beautiful and sharp desktop with brilliant clours @ 1024x768 with 110 Hz, AGP 2x transfers and a running TechDemo.

** Nevertheless I want to thank everybody who helped me over the past 2 weeks, especially Haig (you really invested a lot of time in me and my problem), SteveC, arbymo and Scotty. **

Perrti - Concerning the ASUS P2B I only can say, I NEVER had any problems them. Before I started to buy exclusively ASUS mainboards, I had A LOT of annoyance with Gigabyte, A-Trend, MSI and Chaintech - just to mention a few.
And blaming good ASUS techsupport in general on releasing bios-updates frequently and for a long time because they have problems with the hardware is nonsense.

Greetings

MK

ASUS P2B (1010), Celeron 266@412 MHz (4x103), 128 MB PC100, OEM G400 16MB SH (Bios 1.3-22,PD 5.13), IBM DHEA 6,4 GB U-ATA, SB PCI64, Mitsumi CR-4801TE, Pioneer 36x slot-in, Iiyama Vision Master Pro 400, Plustek OpticPro 9636T, Win`98

[This message has been edited by MK (edited 08-14-1999).]

[This message has been edited by MK (edited 08-14-1999).]

**SCompRacer1** · 14 August 1999, 03:37

The ASUS P2B series is a very good MB. Have built several for friends and have a P2B-LS, all scuzzy inside, for myself.

The BIOS updates did indeed solve some hardware issues as well as providing support for the newer processors that keep popping up. I say they have been very supportive and responsive of the MB.

I guess its all a matter of how you look at it.

Announcement

My system is still screwed up with Win`98 !!

My system is still screwed up with Win`98 !!

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment