HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[daniele]

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Sirs,

One month ago I bought a Pentium III 450 mhz, MS6163 pro mobo, 128mb ram, Hd quantum ka 7200 rpm, sblive!, g400 DH 32Mb ram, monitor LG 795FT plus 17"
After solving (thank to your great and blessed suggestions) the problems related to g400/sblive combo, every worked fine with win98, directx 7.0 and pdesk 5.30.
Few days ago I had the chance to get g400 max DH 32mb, so I returned to my vendor my "old" vanilla g400.

Since the upgrade, the troubles started.
The monitor seems got crazy: after win 98 has loaded, the image is not stable. If I move the mouse I see black screen and then (after about 2 sec. in which I "hear" the monitor working (maybe trying to keep the refresh frequency) the image comes back. The same happens if I try to click on one icon.
After few minutes the situation seems stable, but if I try to click on floppy disk icon....well it happens again.

I re-installed everything 10 times (trying different installing combination: everytime I passed from 640x480 16 bit res to a higher one the problem occured again.

For a while everything worked fine when I switched my monitor ddc off, didn't install monitor profile and, through pd 5.30, chose vesa monitor 1600x1200 75 hz. It lasted....for few minutes (sigh!).

I am really desperate.

Thanks in advance for any appreciated suggestion.

[This message has been edited by daniele (edited 18 October 1999).]

[daniele]

Thank you very much for your answer Greebe.

Each time I re-installed, I completely formatted HD.

My AGP aperture size is now set at 256

My G400 is set at IRQ 11 (sblive in IRQ 5)
The bus mastering is enabled (the tech demo works fine)

I don't encounter any trouble when playing games.

The problems occur with win desk top.

daniele
Italy

[Wombat]

So, the problems started when you swapped video cards? Have you tried pulling the video card out, and re-seating it?

[daniele]

Thanks for your reply Wombat.

Yes, the problems started just when I swapped.

I realized them , for the first time, when I double clicked on the floppy icon: the screen got black, the monitor started making some "noise", the image appeared after 2 sec.

Each time win 98 loads, I see the black screen/image combo alternating many times.

I already tried to unplug/plug the card. Anyway I'll try once again.

It's really a strange situation.

Thanks again to you and to everyone who will try to solve my problems.

daniele
Italy

[daniele]

Just phoned to Matrox Italy.

I explained the problem: they told me they think my matrox card is broken.


Should I believe them?

[Drizzt]

Hi daniele (parlare inglese con un'italiano, che bello!!).

Well, I'm listening to all the problems that matrox users are having here in Italy and, after having clarified that there's a batch of faulty G400 SH OEM, i suspect there's another problem.

Could it be there's been a faulty batch of MAX, too? I've heard a lot of complaint from italian users about MAX cards locking up the system.

And Ant, these could be in pair with your doubts about the retire of the MAX from the online store for a while...

------------------
Italian Guy, Bad English

D'ya want an Italian version?

[daniele]

Thank for your reply Drizzt. (lieto di sapere che c'è qualche italiano anche in questo sito)

According to your experience, do you think the problem lies in my hardware configuration (maybe the mobo...) or you rather agree with the broken card thesis?

Thanks.
Daniele.

[daniele]

Does anyone know if there's a test I can perform to understand if my card is broken?

[Jorden]

Danielle, you could test the Max with the PD5.30 drivers in a different machine, if you have the chance. Try it at a friend's PC and if it gives exactly the same problems, your card might be broken, yes.

Jorden.

[Tex.Wiler]

Recently, for no obvious reason, something
erased the bios information of my Millennium
II AGP 4Mb Board.
Since i did'nt have made an emergency disk,
I flashed it back with 865-4.bin file, but i
have lost all informations such es serial
number, features list ecc..
If somebody would be so kind to send me his
backuped bios or tell me how can i restore
back all the data in the bios, I'll be
thankfull.
Thanx!

Tex :-(

[daniele]

Dear Murcenter guys,

I invoke once again your highly appreciated help.

After having re-seated my max without any result, I returned it to the vendor and got back the vanilla.
With the “old” card everything worked perfectly and so did my monitor (1024x768 85 Hz).
In the meantime my vendor has tested the max and the response was: it works perfectly!
I went back to the shop and tested (but the monitor was a 14” one working at 60 Hz) the max card plugged on my computer: no problem.
Believing that it had been just a “seating” problem I kept Max and went home…………………the problem occurred again. Sometimes (randomly, but almost always when I double click on the floppy icon) the image desappears (black screen) and after max 2 secs it appears again. The problem occurs also evreytime I install a program from CD: while installing the monitor starts flashing as usual.
I’m not too convinced the monitor is defective.

It’s really a sad situation. Please help me.

Thanks in advance.

Daniele
Italy

[Jorden]

Do you have a normal 1.44 floppy drive? Or for example a Superdisk LS-120?
Do you have vsynch enabled or disabled? (I see this black screen when I disable vsynch).

How big is your windows swap-file (Virtual memory)? Do you have it at least at double the size of your RAM memory? Do you let windows take care of it, or have you setup a swapfile by yourself?

Jorden

[daniele]

Thanks Jorden.

I have a normal floppy.
Could you please explain me what is the v-synch option and how I can able/disable it?
Windows takes care of swap-memory file.

Please consider that, with a 14" monitor and max plugged everything worked fine and, with my monitor, Vanilla worked fine as well.

Thanks a lot!

[Jorden]

What you could also try is unchecking Plug and Play monitor auto detection under the monitor-tab in Advanced PowerDesk features.

Is the frequency set at optimal or a precise number of Hz under the Adapter-tab?

Oh, P.S: I use the Matrox Overclock util to switch vsynch on/off. You'll probably be able to pick it up at MURC or one of its underlying sites

Jorden

[This message has been edited by Jorden (edited 22 October 1999).]

[daniele]

Dear Jorden,

For Matrox Overclock utility you mean MGA Tweak or something else?

The p-desk advanced setup indicates my frequency is set to 85 Hz.

Among the various tests I tried, I disabled monitor DDC option and also let Powerdesk to manage monitor profile, but I had no result.

Thanks again.