NT Problem again

[Tuna]

At the risk of breaking up the bickering over part numbers, could somebody please help me with my REAL PROBLEM ? I posted it below, but nobody answered. Here it is again.
Also, Is it necessary to have both monitors plugged into a dual-head G-400 max 32, just to install the card ??
*****
Hi all,
I tried to install a G400 Max Dual Head in VGA mode on my Dell XPS D300, NT 4.0 sp6, 128megRam, AGP machine, and the installation CD kept hanging in mid-installation.

I put my old card back in (stb 128/4meg AGP), and NT booted into 800X600 resolution. When I tried to change the display settings, I was already at the maximum resolution, and when I went to display properties/change to reload the old drivers, the change button froze, and the processor displayed 100% use until I killed rundll32.exe with an "end task"

I called Dell and they simply told me to reload NT (the usual response from them). I have 15 gigs of a 34 gig drive loaded, and it would take me the better part of 2 months to just "reload NT" on this machine.

Is there some way to get back to my old card working, and even better, is there some way to get the Matrox card to work ? I downloaded the latest drivers from the Matrox site, and tried installing from the HD....same problem....installation hangs in the middle.

Jeez I wish these guys would try these NT drivers before they release them.

[Scytale]

Not exactly sure what the problem is and what you have tried already, but to install the G400 try booting NT in VGA mode (from the boot manager), disable the STB driver in the Drivers applet, and select VGA display.
If you get that working, install the G400 drivers. You don't have to attach 2 monitors.

[Tuna]

Thanks for the reply, Scytale, but as I mentioned above, it's the drivers applet that crashes the system. I can't get in to change anything and upon rebooting, all I can get is 800X600 and extremely sluggish system response.

Is there any way around entering the driver information through the applet? Maybe just a list of filenames, and their necessary locations for the Matrox G400 to work ?

I'm just sick about this whole thing.

I even called Matrox IN ADVANCE of buying this card to make sure there was no known problems with NT installation. They said "no, none that we know of."

Well, I guess they can't say that anymore, can they ? :-(

[Scytale]

Hi Tuna, I doubt if we are talking about the same drivers applet. I mean Contol Panel->Drivers (not in Display Properties), where you get a list of active drivers for all devices, not just display. If you meant something else, try following the exact directions I posted in my previous message. If not, and you really can't get into NT at all, not even in 'safe' VGA mode, then you're having a serious problem indeed, but you could still try booting NT with Last Kown Good Menu with the old STB card installed.

[Laristan]

Greetings,

First off, you cannot blame NT or the drivers in the case you state. I run NT and I do some heavy duty graphics work in it as well as develop code of industry. I have never had a problem with any Matrox cards. Granted I've only ever used 2 (A Millenium - way back when ... and now a G400MAX). I've never had a driver problem with NT at all.

I do however know Dell machines well enough (since some of my clients insist on using cheap knockouts). They have known issues with any non-Dell-standard hardware. Dell-standard here means hardware they've "made deals" for. To test this theory of mine (since you're probably thinking I'm a nutter) is to take your G400 and install it in a non-Dell non-Production Line machine running NT.

1) This will delay a reinstall until absolutely necessary.
2) It will detect if the error is with your hardware or with the card itself.
3) If it IS the drivers, you simply uninstall the current drivers (using your old card) and then install the latest CERTIFIED drivers.

Hope this helps. I'm not trying to tell you your machine sux or anything but Dell machines do have a bad rep for doing this kind of thing.

Good Luck

[PaulS]

Do you use Netmeeting 3? If it is sitting in your system tray close it before attempting any res / colour changes with NT. It is an MS bug, still present in the final version of W2k as well - except not as severe.

Paul

[GriZZly]

Tuna,

Sounds to me that when you put you old card back, it uses the wrong drivers (due to reg error???). Use uninstall-utilities form both matrox and your old card man. and then reboot forcing win to use native win drivers. Then your sure that no old crap, (especially in reg), are left.... Then do a normal install.

[Tuna]

Hi Laristan,

No, I don't think you're a "nutter" at all, and I appreciate the attempt to help me. Since you have an NT system with the G400 up and running, can you tell me if you've had any problems with interrupts, and how you forced NT to give you an interrupt at 9 or above. (nobody I've talked to seems to know how to change NT IRQ numbers)

The original problem (of the display type/ Change button, freezing up and not letting me into the video drivers dialogue)hasn't gone away, but as I drift inexorably closer to a full re-install (sigh), I'm trying to find out what went wrong and how to avoid it next time.

I'm under the impression that Dell is a tier #1 hardware provider. Is there a better place to buy a complete box, or do you just put them together yourself ? I need tech support because I'm by myself out in the middle of nowhere, and with no one to ask, it's pretty scary with a large NT problem like this and no phone support.

Thanks for reply, it's much appreciated.

[Tuna]

Hi Paul,

No, I don't have Netmeeting installed anymore. (and I didn't have it in my system tray anyway) But after I read about possible conflicts with PCAnywhere, I removed anything that gave any sort of remote access.

Thanks for the reply...I'll leave out netmeeting entirely nextime.

[Tuna]

Hi GriZZly,

The problem is...there IS no software to uninstall with my current card (STB Riva 128 4meg AGP) in the Add/Remove software applet, and there's no video entry in the registry that I can find.

The STB Riva doesn't seem to have an interrupt listed in the Admin Tools/NT Diagnostics/resources, and Dell Tech support just gave me some vague answer about the IRQ being in the BIOS(?) and unchangeable with NT.

I got half-way through the Matrox installation before it froze, and it managed to install Matrox and MGA keys in the registry, but I've since manually removed them. The video driver dialogue still freezes when I press the "change" button, the processor shows "100% usage" until I "end task" on rundll32.exe, and only then can I shut down the system.

The funny thing is, everything else works OK except I can't load the video drivers from either card, and the system is fairly unresponsive without the processing help from the video card.

I'm probably looking at a full reinstall...I just can't think of anything else to do.

Thanks again.

[The PIT]

Tuna it is possible that the STB is using standard NT drivers. Your also right that it isn't easy to change interupts of pci/agp cards in NT.
If you have a bios that can reserve irq to particular slots then you can change the irqs
this what tech support was probably referring to. Normally you can change isa slots within NT although it may protest a little.
I presume you tried changing the display settings in vga mode as prevously suggested.
Another thing you can try doing is using your rescue disks. I presume you made some recently before you attempted the G400 upgrade. If so this should be able to get you back before you did the upgrade. If you never done it forget this option.
You don't have to reformat the partition you can just tell NT to replace the current version of NT. You'll just then have to re-install the applications or re-install from your last good backup.
Also what is your event log saying is it flagging up any errors have a look.

[MarkA]

To help clear all video drivers from the registry, purge all keys EXCEPT "vga" and "vgasave" from the following location:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Hardware Profiles\Current\System\CurrentControlSet\Services \

And then select VGA Mode at boot time to be able to install the MGA Drivers. You should use the most current NT Drivers as opposed to the ones contained on the original CD.

[Laristan]

Tuna,

the only interrupt problems I suffered were motherboard related (AGP slot being wired to PCI slot 1). This sucks because I lose a slot in effect if I want my Matrox to have a dedicated IRQ. You cannot set the IRQs for NT (to my knowledge). This is one problem you'll find with Dell (or any other premade box) hardware. Since I built my own machine, the motherboard I chose allows me to change IRQ settings for all PCI slots ... I have hardcoded (in BIOS) IRQ 11 for my MG400MAX.

If you want to properly uninstall your old driver, you don't have to go registry crazy in NT. One thing you might find is that there is a graphics driver service running in your Services applet. If you find this diable it (need admin access naturally). Before you do this however, switch to an NT default display driver (generic). That should stop that video card's drivers loading up. From here you can delete the service entirely by registry hacking or using a variety of tools (search the net or email me direct for more info dvvega@synflux.com.au).

Well Dell isn't very helpful with "weird" problems. My current client is a Dell person and if you make an administrative change to your system (like tweaking the network access as I have been required to do) they refuse to help you but just reinstall the computer image if you have problems. So NOT good. I personally always recommend custom built NT boxes (well any box really but NT especially). That way you choose the HW that's on the HCL and know what you're getting.

As I've said, I've never had a problem (that I know of) and I run NT always (except when playing the odd direct X game - win98se).

I regularly make registry changes but only if there is no other way (using a util etc). Even though its pretty much straight forward NT has a habit of turning around and going "you see ... you shouldn't have done that"

Good Luck
Laristan