MB BIOS, G400max BIOS

[derah]

My system was working like a dream until cable internet service installed. The end result was having the whole mess formatted. Techs flashed M/B bios as well . I loaded in Half Life(1.013), Unreal (225f), Tomb Raider 4.All setup in 800X600X16 for testing. AGP aperture 256, palette snoop disabled. Disaster! In D3D , all exhibit very jagged vertical and horizontal lines, hesitations in game play and I can no longer enable volumetric effects in TR4. HL and Unreal show huge amounts of horizontal shearing , see scenery redrawn as walk towards it, ground and walls appear as watery planes that move in front of your view. No difference between OGL and D3D. No difference between drivers 5.30+-turbo or 5.4. I suspect the MB flash as the culprit. Any thoughts? I dont want to format again. Is G400max Bios 1.5.22 the latest version?

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ASUS P3BF 440BX MB,Intel PIII 500 Mhz, 128MB RAM,Fujitsu 13 GB HD, Creative 48X CDROM, Matrox G400 Max Bios 1.5.22, IRQ10, (ver 5.41), SB Live MP3+, IRQ 11(ver 4.06.711) sound card with Liveware3.0, DX7.0

[gbm]

Looks like your problem originates from IRQ sharing. This was discussed many times here. Try to move the PCI cards to some other slots so that they don't share the IRQ line with your G400.

[derah]

The IRQs are as follows:
0 System timer
1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
2 Programmable interrupt controller
3 Linksys Ether16 LAN card (PnP Card)
4 Communications Port (COM1)
5 AOpen FM56-SM Soft PCI Modem
5 AOpen Soft PCI Modem Enumerator
5 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
5 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7 ECP Printer Port (LPT1)
8 System CMOS/real time clock
9 Creative SB16 Emulation
10 Matrox Millennium G400 DualHead Max - English
10 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
11 Creative SB Live!
11 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse Port
13 Numeric data processor
14 Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
14 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
15 Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
15 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller

There were IRQ problems with the NIC installed for internet that resulted in not being able to boot at all. Hence the format. New card, new IRQs , as above. Do you think that this is still an IRQ issue?

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ASUS P3BF 440BX MB,Intel PIII 500 Mhz, 128MB RAM,Fujitsu 13 GB HD, Creative 48X CDROM, Matrox G400 Max Bios 1.5.22, IRQ10, (ver 5.41), SB Live MP3+, IRQ 11(ver 4.06.711) sound card with Liveware3.0, DX7.0

[Thundrchez]

It could be. You do have some IRQ sharing on irq 5.

Why do you still have your modem installed after getting the cable internet service? Uninstall it and rip it out. That would solve the sharing of irq5.

Or, you could go into your MB BIOS and disable assigning an irq to the USB. Only do that if you do not have any USB devices, though.

Or, You might be able to disable the legacy sb16 support to free up irq 9. That would probably let the plug-n-pray remap the usb to irq 9, maybe.

I would go through the BIOS and double check all of the settings.

Is bus mastering enabled on the g400?

[Jorden]

5 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller

Shouldn't this one be at a much higher IRQ as well?? Also from 9 onward?

Jorden.

[derah]

Actually, slots are filled as follows: AGP is MatroxG400, PCI 1&2 are empty.A Star Tech fan is right below the G400 and prohibits using PCI slots 1&2. PCI slot 3 is SB MP3+, PCI 4 empty, PCI 5 currently modem, PCI 6 empty.The cable internet tech installed a 16bit ethernet card into the ISA slot, disabled Com2 to free up IRQ3 and then forced IRQ3 to the ethernet card. That still left me with 4 devices on IRQ5. Well, I 'm diving in with both hands now. Let me get this straight, I uninstall drivers for the modem. Turn the computer off. Take out the modem. Turn computer back on and Win98 will reassign IRQs,right? Is win98 smart enough not to goof around with the SB MP3+ and G400 IRQs or will I be digging myself in deeper?

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ASUS P3BF 440BX MB,Intel PIII 500 Mhz, 128MB RAM,Fujitsu 13 GB HD, Creative 48X CDROM, Matrox G400 Max Bios 1.5.22, IRQ10, (ver 5.41), SB Live MP3+, IRQ 11(ver 4.06.711) sound card with Liveware3.0, DX7.0

[derah]

Well, I removed the modem and now have only 2 devices on IRQ5: Intel PCI to USB Universal Host Controller and IRQ Holder for PCI Steering. G400 at IRQ 10 and SB MP3+ at IRQ11. No other conflicts.
Uninstalled and reinstalled Half Life, 800X600X16 with PD5.41 , no turbo, in D3D. Very bad! Shearing, tearing and flashing of areas (looks like fine black and white mesh)My old Fusion Banshee is starting to look real good. Any suggestions?

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ASUS P3BF 440BX MB,Intel PIII 500 Mhz, 128MB RAM,Fujitsu 13 GB HD, Creative 48X CDROM, Matrox G400 Max Bios 1.5.22, IRQ10, (ver 5.41), SB Live MP3+, IRQ 11(ver 4.06.711) sound card with Liveware3.0, DX7.0

[Thundrchez]

Hmmm....I would try shutting down, pulling out the ethernet card, and booting up just to see if that was the culprit.

If not, shut down and put it back in.

Also, double check to see if bus mastering is enabled on the g400.

[derah]

Thundrchez, the bus mastering is enabled for the G400 in Display/ Advanced/ Options/ Performance. Do you mean to just pull the ethernet card OR actually uninstall its software and remove it from Device Manager?
While cruising through the BIOS (ugh) I found that the VGA BIOS order was set PCI/AGP.
Would this be correct? Would this have influenced the order of assignment of IRQs to the G400 and SB MP3+? I'm grasping at straws here.


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ASUS P3BF 440BX MB,Intel PIII 500 Mhz, 128MB RAM,Fujitsu 13 GB HD, Creative 48X CDROM, Matrox G400 Max Bios 1.5.22, IRQ10, (ver 5.41), SB Live MP3+, IRQ 11(ver 4.06.711) sound card with Liveware3.0, DX7.0

[Thundrchez]

Yup, the bus mastering looks ok, then.

Don't worry about trying to uninstall any of the software for the ethernet card. Just shut down and pull it out for a test. Windows might moan and groan on bootup, but it will be ok. Everything should be ok again when you put it back in and reboot.

The VGA bios order does not have any affect like this. I think that it is more for dual head displays that have 2 video cards. Should it pick the PCI one or the AGP one? I dunno for sure about this one, though. It hasn't ever made any difference for me.

[derah]

OK. I am too frustrated to continue this evening. I am going to pour myself a fine glass (or two) of Gerwurtztraminer and unwind.
I will pull the ethernet card tomorrow morning and let you know what happens.
Thanks again


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ASUS P3BF 440BX MB,Intel PIII 500 Mhz, 128MB RAM,Fujitsu 13 GB HD, Creative 48X CDROM, Matrox G400 Max Bios 1.5.22, IRQ10, (ver 5.41), SB Live MP3+, IRQ 11(ver 4.06.711) sound card with Liveware3.0, DX7.0

[derah]

I pulled the ethernet card and PCI USB Host Controller and PCI steering IRQs moved from 5 to IRQ3. Sadly, there was no change in the G400 shearing etc.
As mentioned in my original post, the only other new factor is that the M/B BIOS was flashed by the computer store when they had the system in for format/reinstallation of drivers. Could this be a factor?

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ASUS P3BF 440BX MB,Intel PIII 500 Mhz, 128MB RAM,Fujitsu 13 GB HD, Creative 48X CDROM, Matrox G400 Max Bios 1.5.22, IRQ10, (ver 5.41), SB Live MP3+, IRQ 11(ver 4.06.711) sound card with Liveware3.0, DX7.0, Linksys 16bit ethernet card fo T1

[Thundrchez]

I'm nearly at my wits end for not having my own fingers on the box.

On a completely oddball question, is the L2 cache enabled in the BIOS?

[derah]

L1 and L2 cache enabled. CPU Level 2 Cache ECC Check disabled.
I even reseated the G400 in the AGP slot. No change.
I have downloaded a fresh copy of DX7.0 from the MURC site and have explicit instructions from MS knowledge base as to the proper reinstallation of DX7.0.
I should probably try uninstalling and reinstalling the G400 drivers as well . I have fired off all this info to Matrox Tech support and hope they get back to me soonest.
On the up side my fear of entering the BIOS and switching out cards is gone.

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ASUS P3BF 440BX MB,Intel PIII 500 Mhz, 128MB RAM,Fujitsu 13 GB HD, Creative 48X CDROM, Matrox G400 Max Bios 1.5.22, IRQ10, (ver 5.41), SB Live MP3+, IRQ 11(ver 4.06.711) sound card with Liveware3.0, DX7.0, Linksys 16bit ethernet card fo T1

[mj12]

Not to blame the cable guy, but this reminds me of my impression 18months ago when I had @home installed. The guy comes to the door and my first thought was, it was a cable repair man doing internet hookups. We walked into my computer room and he looks around like wow. Right then I grabbed a coke from the fridge gave it to him, had him take a seat and took the modem from him and the sheet with my ip, dns and dg. Luckily I already had a network hooked up and had an external nic ready for the install. He sat back and watched as I had it up and running in less than 20 min. He then thanked me for the coke and also for the early day because I was his last install.