AGP 2x hack won't take

[xortam]

I can't seem to reset my system to use AGP 2x vs. 1x transfer speeds. I use the PD5RegHacks to make the adjustment (and I verify the change through regedit) but all three AGP hacks yield a 1x setting. I have verified the 1x setting through the ZD WinBench results (much lower rating than an pre-hack run)and also via SiSoft Sandra. Is the transfer speed controlled by something other than the registry setting spelled out in the AGP reg hacks? Note that I even do a cold boot between BIOS and registry settings.

[Kruzin]

Just because regedit shows those keys entered doesn't mean they where entered in the right place.

When you just double click the .reg file, it sends those keys to \0000. You card may not be \0000 it may be \0001 or \0002...whichever is the highest number...

[Himself]

Yawn, use G200Tweak or G400Tweak and save yourself the bother.

[xortam]

Thanks for the right answer and so quickly too. I had noticed an AGP setting in this second entry before but I didn't modify it because it had a entry name of "AGPFallback". The good news is that I changed the \0001\Settings\CPU\AGPFallback entry to "-1" and my system reported 2x AGP after reboot. The bad news is that now I lock up in the ZD 3D benchmarks. I also noticed that the AGPFallback field gets reset after reboot (once to "0" and once to "255" [kinda like -1]). Two new questions -- I only have one video adapter, the Max. Why do I have two entries in the diplay key and why does one have an entry "AGPFlags" and the other "AGPFallback"?
The second question is the big one, why the lock ups? I've tried all the suggestions listed on this board. I'm currently running most everything at default have installed the latest MB and Video BIOS and drivers. My system specs should hopefully appear in my new signature below ...



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• ASUS P2B-S, PIII 450MHz, Award BIOS v1010
• MYLEX FlashPoint RAID+ running RAID 0 on two 9 GB IBM DDRS 39130 Disks
• Diamond MX300 sound card
• Matrox Millennium G400 Max Dual Head - English
• NEC 5FG 17" monitor
• YAMAHA CRW4416S and NEC Multispin 3x CDs
• 3Com Fast EtherLink XL 10/100Mb TX NIC
• US Robotics 56K Voice FaxModem Pro
• Note--All SCSI devices (except disk drives on RAID) are connected to onboard AIC7890 U2W SCSI

[Frank]

Hello Xortam,
When windows starts up for the first time after a fresh install, it will detect your video card and install the drivers for Standard Display Adapter (VGA). This gets listed as 0000. When you get to the desktop you are able to install Maxtrox drivers and this gets entered into the registry as 0001.
To avoid this, play along with windows apon initial startup and detection. When it indicates that it has detected your card and asks for the drivers, lead it to search in a place where it will not find video card drivers. When it says it cant find any and has not loaded any, click next to continue. When you get to the desktop, Device Manager will show the Display Adapter with the familiar yellow exclamation mark.
Installing drivers for the Matrox card now will get it listed as 0000.
Frank.

[Kruzin]

AGPFallBack and AGPFlags should both be in the same section (the higher numbered one).

AGPFallBack runs (or doesn't) the AGP test on startup. Set to 0 forces a fail in the test, and you end up with 1x regardless of what AGPFlags is set to.

AGPFlags determines what will happen IF AGPFallBack is set to 1.

[xortam]

Thanks to both of you for the good information. I deleted both of my display entries in the registry and did a complete G400 driver uninstall and reinstall. Frank, I'm running Win98 and it didn't let me continue the VGA installation without picking an .inf file. I went ahead with the shipping windows VGA driver and it got installed as /0000. Later, when I did the G400 install, it took over the /0000 entry. I don't know how I got two entries before, but I do seem to remember it booting up and completing installation of a VGA and G400. Anyway, I currently only have the one display entry and the latest G400 drivers installed and it still locks up at 2x AGP. I can run the ZD 3D benchmarks at 1x AGP, but now I get significantly lower numbers than before. Wierd?! I also can't run the G400 Tech Demo; it logs:
0.000575 0.016527
Error!! can't load video texture 0395:<si_Texture.cpp>

I'll continue to play with it but I'm tiring of this. I got the board a week ago Monday and I'm still in acceptance testing. I would like to get beyond this and start actually using the board.

[Frank]

I am sorry my explanation was ambigous. And maybe not entirely correct from a technical point..but that's what worked for me in win98se, after I did a complete format and reinstall of os.
Origonally I deleted the TNT drivers from 'Add Remove Programs' I took the TNT out and installed the G400, installed the 5.25 drivers I downloaded+ICD and no prob. Just out of curiousity I later installed the drivers that came with the G400, over the 5.25. No prob.
At some point just for hells sake I formatted and reinstalled windows with a clean install of the d/l 5.25 drivers. Is this feasible on your system? It may/may not affect anything. But you can then be sure of no conflicts with previous driver installations.
Frank.

[SCompRacer]

xortam, using 3D MARK 99, the only thing that changes for me going from AGP X 1 to AGP X 2 is the 32 MB texture rendering numbers increasing.

What is the difference with ZD 3D benchmarks and 3D MARK? I am not familiar with ZD at all.


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P III 500 @ 560 via 112 FSB, ASUS P2B-LS, 1010 BIOS, w/256 MB 8ns ECC RAM, ECC Enabled since 5.13 driver release, current 5.25 drivers, dual 9 GB Cheetahs, 10 GB IDE DiamondMax, Plextor Ultraplex/Plexwriter 8/2/20, Hitachi IDE DVD CD ROM, SCSI ZIP Insider, G400 MAX, SB Live, Sigma Hollywood + DVD decoder, US Robotics 56K Sportster, Sony GDM400PS, UMAX 2400S SCSI scanner, Soundworks 5.1, HP 6P Laser & 890C, LAN & USB enabled. SB Live shares IRQ w/MAX, bus mastering enabled, Win98 SE and NT 4.0 SP4.

[xortam]

Well things are looking much better this morning. I'm now getting my previous peak ZD 3D benchmark ratings. Seems I accidently set the tests to a 32-bit z-buffer during one of my numerous runs (the z-buffer setting is adjacent to the color depth). The tech demo is running again. I don't know why I get the texture error on some boots. But I'm still left with the problem that the machine locks up when driving the Max at 2x AGP.
SCompRacer, to clarify my rating differences. I don't have any 2x performance figures to compare with since the PC always locks up in this configuration. The differences I was referring to occured due to the z-buffer setting. I'm not familiar with the 3D Mark tests but you can find the ZD suites at http://www.zdnet.com/zdbop/ (ZD Benchmark Operation).
Frank, I don't even want to think about reinstalling the OS with the many aps and data and such to worry about (though I did do a backup before installing the Max). There would be several other things I would try first if I suspected the system files. I've scraped the system (including the registry) several times during the last week and a half in the process of uninstalling and reinstalling the Matrox software. I think I have the sofware pretty well under control at this point and I think its simply an AGP incompatibility with my Max card and ASUS motherboard. There seems to be a real mixed bag of results among various ASUS motherboard users here. Kruzin, (and Maggi, if you're listening), you seem to be in a pretty good position to comment here. Do you have any advice for us fellow ASUS users?


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• ASUS P2B-S, PIII 450MHz, Award ACPI BIOS v1010, 128 MB RAM
• MYLEX FlashPoint RAID+ (BIOS v2.02N) running RAID 0 on two 9 GB IBM DDRS 39130D Disks
• Diamond MX300 sound card
• Matrox Millennium G400 Max Dual Head - English
• NEC 5FG monitor
• YAMAHA CRW4416S and NEC Multispin 3x CDs
• 3Com Fast EtherLink XL 10/100Mb TX NIC
• US Robotics 56K Voice FaxModem Pro
• Note--All SCSI devices (except disk drives on RAID) are connected to onboard AIC7890 U2W SCSI
• Mainly running Win98 v4.10.1998