Oh no! Not again! Another AGP question...

[jms]

Just bought a Aopen AX6BC Pro II millenium to replace a Abit BE6.
Supposedly this board(the Aopen) would be very stable, and was touted as being an overclocker’s dream with its 2200uF low ESR capasitors etc.. Now here is the funny stuff; My G400 32MB will only run at 1x AGP(bring on the flames), where as it would do 2x no sweat before on the BE6. Well, before you guys start flaming me for bringing this topic up again, I would just like some opinions as of what could be causing it. It is really NO big deal(can’t see ANY performance differense), but I am curious how the G400 determines the safe speed which it can run at as I thought this was a high quality MB. Have been searching the web for answers, but have not found any real good ones. Otherwise the Aopen performs very well(could lower the voltage from 2.2V to default on my C366@550). If I force 2x in Win98 it will crash with lots of horisontal lines. Win2k only runs if I set AGP aperture to 4MB(which I believe kills all AGP transfers?). As for various BIOS settings; I’ve tried them all, but no luck.

Here is my specs.:
Aopen AX6BC Pro II millenium ed.
C366@550
128 MB RAM(one stick)
G400 32 MB Dualhead (which I love!)
SB Live 1024
KTI PCI fast ethernet adapter

And my IRQ list:

0 Tidtaker
1 Standard 101-/102-tasters tastatur, eller Microsoft Natural Keyboard
2 Programmerbar avbruddskontroller
3 (ledig)
4 Kommunikasjonsport (COM1)
5 (ledig)
6 Standard diskettkontroller
7 KF-230TX/2 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
7 IRQ-holder for PCI Steering
8 CMOS/sanntidsklokke
9 Creative SB Live! Value
9 IRQ-holder for PCI Steering
10 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB universell vertskontroller
10 IRQ-holder for PCI Steering
11 Matrox Millennium G400 DualHead - English
11 IRQ-holder for PCI Steering
12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse Port
13 Matematikkprosessor
14 Primær IDE-kontroller (dobbel fifo)
14 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE-kontroller
15 Sekundær IDE-kontroller (dobbel fifo)
15 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE-kontroller

Yeah it’s in norwegian, but you will probably understand most of it. (ledig = free). :-)

Thanks for your time guys and gals.

Jan M.

[Maggi]

Hi Jan,

have alook into your (soft)Bios and search for busdividers ...

It looks like your using 100MHz FSB and a didvider of 1/1 instead of 2/3 for your AGP bus.

Other than that I can't help you further I fear ...


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Cheers,
Maggi

Despite my nickname causing confusion, I am not female ...

[Maggi]

uhmmm .. could also be that it's set by jumpers ...

Look into your manual ...

[jms]

Hi,actually there are jumpers for it, which can be set to AUTO, 1/1 or 2/3. Tried'em all, no differense. I forgot to mention that I've tried the G400 in a BP6 as well, and guess what; AGP2x. Strange indeed...
Jan

[Kruzin]

I am curious how the G400 determines the safe speed which it can run at

When the system boots up, the G400 drivers perform a read/write test. If what it reads is different than what it writes, it fails the test, and drops to 1x mode.

If all you changed is your mobo, then that's what is most likely doing it...

[paulcs]

I have this motherboard, and I was running at AGP 1x the last time I checked. I assumed it was because I was running a 117 MHz FSB.

The fact that I share the same problem with you and I fully intend to ignore it could be cause to ignore me, but I suggest trying a couple of things.

The AOpen AX6BC series is extremely stable, maybe the most stable BX motherboard available. I was able to get an overclocked Celeron that wouldn't even post on Asus and Abit boards to boot into Windows at 2.0 volts on an AX6BC. It wasn't especially stable however, and AOpen didn't offer voltage adjustments at the time, so the Celeron ended up back on a BH6.

I suspect that just because you can boot into Windows without a voltage tweak doesn't mean you should. Try upping the voltage to 2.1 and 2.2 again and see what happens.

I had a hell of a time getting a G400 Vanilla properly situated in the AGP slot of this board. You might want to check and make sure the board is properly seated in the AGP slot. It wasn't so much of an alignment problem. The board was in straight. It just wasn't all the way in (until I forced it). Be careful, of course.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[jms]

Paul,
Would you mind dropping down to 100, just to see if things changed?
Thanks.
Jan

[Mark F]

I had a simillar thing happen after a BIOS upgrade on my AX6BC. It was running at 2X before and would only do 1X stable there after.

I got it working at 2X again, after much hair pulling, by removeing the adapter in DEVICE MANAGER, rebooting, and letting windows 're-find' the device. It has worked for some others (with G400s and G200s) I sujested it to. It sertainly can't hurt. don't uninstall the card or drivers, just remove it.

It's now running happily at 2X at 89MHzAGP (133MHz FSB).

Give it a try and let us know!

Mark F.

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OH NO, my retractable cup holder swallowed a CD

[paulcs]

Well, I clock the FSB down to 100 MHz and still got AGP 1x readings from Sandra, DirectX, and PCI List. I then forced AGP 2x using the registry hack, rebooted, and everything reported 2x. I just raised the clockspeed of the FSB to 124 MHz (I was previously at 117) and testing for stability. So far, so good.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 29 January 2000).]

[paulcs]

Well, I probably have some cooling issues at 124 MHz, but everything is fine at 117. I'm not sure what's going on with our motherboards, I used a "vanilla" AX6BC for a long time without any AGP issues, but the reg hack seems to cure it.

A sample of two is certainly not definitive, but it makes me suspicious.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[jms]

OK, I tried to remove the G400 in the device manager and let WIN98 re-detect it. This didn't make any difference. I was thinking of buying a PIII 500E, and OC it a bit. Will the fact that I'm stuck at AGP1x at default FSB prevent me from reaching higher busspeeds?
Jan

[The PIT]

Judging by the number of people that find themselves running at AGP x2 unstably and have to force agp x1 and the number of people that end up with agp x1 and can force agp x2 without any problems suggest that Matrox's test rountine is somewhat flawed.
It would be nice if Matrox include an option in the powerdesk to turn this test off so didn't have mess around with the registry.

[Hunsow]

Will the fact that I'm stuck at AGP1x at default FSB prevent me from reaching higher busspeeds?

Not at all.

[Trashman]

How can I check too see what my AGP card is running at?? I know I've read this somewhere before, I'm just assuming its set at 2XAGP.
Thanx

[paulcs]

There are several ways. Try downloading PCIList:
http://www.entechtaiwan.com

Scroll down the page. There's a link to it.

It's small and it will tell you a bunch of other stuff about your board.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net