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**HollyBerri** · 2 February 2000, 02:00

Well, I just did that myself... went to a BX/Celly combo, so I shouldn't talk... but it is quite possible to get a SS7 system running stably... just ask Rags.

My theories...[list=1][*]IRQ conflict?[*]SBLive conflict??[*]DX version mixed (you installed one version, a game installed a previous version and overwrote files)??[*]Old/previous videocard drivers not uninstalled correctly??[/list=a]

I would say that your most likely problem is a sound conflict, or a memory/resource error.

The fact that you're getting dumped back to Windows as if you never ran the game... well, for those of us who used to play these things in DOS (6.22 and lower, thank you very much), that sounds familiar... In the old days , you used to get an error msg saying that you didn't have enough (conventional) memory or that (usually sound) did not initialize, and you'd be back at the command prompt.

Now, Windows is so advanced, it doesn't have to tell you these things anymore (lol), but the fact that Windows then runs normally-- it does run normally after that, doesn't it?-- indicates a similar (if more modern) version of the same old problem.

Do you have an SBLive? and perhaps an IRQ listing would be of some use at this point, so please provide one...

Also, you may be having a problem with heat... open up the case, if you haven't and try it that way...

Also try playing games with nothing running but Explorer... holding 'Shift' down as Windows loads is supposed to keep your startup menu from loading... but a better way is to open the System Configuration Utility from the System Information tool and uncheck everything on the Startup tab...and see if that helps.

Good luck... get back to us with some more details, and we'll do our best to help...

-------------------------------
Holly

**[paradox]** · 2 February 2000, 23:32

Ok firstly, irq sharing/conflicts as stated in msinfo:
09 - Realtek NIC / PCI Steering
10 - USB Controller / PCI Steering
11 - G200 / PCI Steering

I might try ripping out the NIC and disabling USB see where that gets me ill keep you guys posted.

Secondly im using a Creative Vibra 16 (dont laugh) its been as reliable as u could ask a sound card to be. Theres no IDE ports or anything like that on the card.

As for directX i thought microsoft was intelligent (lol) and made it so u couldnt install older versions over newer ones... but hey its microsoft anything is possible :P but na ive tried reinstalling it (7.0a) straight away as it was only direct3d games causing this problem...

And I think it is gonna be a matter of lets try install the drivers in 1million different orders to get the one that works or at least looks like its working

The only reason i installed the IDE driver was so i could use my pioneer 10x DVD to get the drivers for the g200
When i install the AGP driver it doesnt give me an option to which mode to install it, turbo or normal it just installs... i downloaded some AGP controll centre from ALi which is supposed to change the registry setting to the different options but each time u reboot and check the settings nothing has changed..

Do you think i would have more luck in 98 than 98SE ????

**MartinS** · 3 February 2000, 02:52

Well those IRQ's look Ok. PCI steering tends to live with most things (someday I'll remember the detailed description I read about PCI steering - maybe someone could tell us here).
You can't re-install a previous version of DirectX over a later one, but setting your card to VGA seems to invalidate some parts of DirectX (I've found) and allows you to do a proper re-install of the current version.
I wont laugh at your sound card because the older ISA ones give much less trouble than the current batch of PCI cards. I still use an Awe64 gold after trying a SB Live and having sooo much trouble with it.

Do the DXDIAG tests go through Ok ?

I don't know if you've ever tried to force your G200 into AGP 2X mode - if so make sure that the registry entry is reset (Matrox drive uninstall util will do this - assuming you've got a higher series of drivers installed - check the Readme).
Out of interrest do OpenGL games (quake series etc) play ok or do you have similar problems.

**[paradox]** · 3 February 2000, 18:56

Ok i tried ripping out the network card. Didt change a thing. I then proceeded to diablne USB, which let games run for about 2mins instead of about 45 seconds.

The DXDiags tests all ran fine, as they only go for 10 seconds or so. All the DX info boxes tell me everything is ok, apart from the G200 driver being uncertified which i knew anyway...

OpenGL games are fine i can play quake2, SOF demo, quake 3, half life (in opengl) for hours and not a problem. Its just opengl tends to be a tad slower than D3d Im only getting 30 odd frames a second in q2 demo1

And ive used the uninstall program each time ive installed drivers, and will probably do it in a second when i go back to 5.30 because 5.50 is sending my system tray mental, things dissapear and reappear every few seconds...

**MartinS** · 4 February 2000, 02:09

The fact that it works for longer without USB means that there is a problem with bus mastering. To check this switch bus mastering off and try D3D again (it'll run very slowly - but should run). If this is the case then I'd be pointing the finger at the ALI patches. Turn bus mastering back on and turn the display settings hardware acceleration down a few notches and try again.
The AGP patches you downloaded - Have you tried an older version (1.4 I think it was) and if so did you correctly remove it before installing any later versions (not all updates make things better <s>)

**[paradox]** · 4 February 2000, 23:08

Ok well i think we have a winner...

im currently running PD5.30 AGPv1.65 IDEv3.55 and i turned off busmastering and my test program (mortyr) ran slowly but steadily for at least 10 or 15 minutes.
then i realised my bios was still in default mode. so i changed things back to normal and it ran for about 5 minutes. and locked up.
but thats probably related to the busmaster ide drivers.. ? as there is no way to turn it off completely in my bios.

ok now that we have the cause, anyone wish to suggest some remedies..?

Ill check on the ALi site soon for those v1.4 drivers. If I cannot find them would anyone have a link to them ?

Id just like to thank everyone for their help so far its been great, lets see if we can conquer this problem once and for all...

**Taz** · 5 February 2000, 16:12

I've just emailed you those drivers just in case you couldn't download them.

Just for your information I am currently running an AMD K6-2 400@450Mhz on an Iwill XA-100plus which also uses the ALi chipset. The drivers versions are IDE 3.40, AGP 1.65 and Powerdesk 5.41. No probs in either OpenGL or DirectX. I have a SB Live, Compaq 10/100NIC and Iomega Ditto Max fitted. I have used both a G200 and G400DH so your setup should work! I used to have a Gigabyte GA5AX which also worked Ok.

What IRQ is the Vibra 16 using?

[This message has been edited by Taz (edited 05 February 2000).]

**Taz** · 6 February 2000, 13:49

Paradox

Your IPS's mail server has has sent me a message saying that the file exceeds the limit, it's only a 740Kb file! I'll Zip it up and try again.

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