G400 MAX - HELP! Freezing up... drivers? conflict? card fault?

[Defiant]

Have a Celeron 466, Asus 440BX motherboard, 128 RAM, with a P817 Viewsonic.

For some reason the card runs great when I have HARDWARE ACCELERATION TURNED OFF or set to none.

But when at full (or at any other setting) .. it does a freeze about every 10-15 minutes when playing games or even just on the desktop. I mean a complete freeze. No Crtl-Alt-Delete, no mouse movement, nothing. Just stopped. And it doesn't matter if that's in a program, a game, or just on the desktop

Sounds like a driver problem? I thought maybe. Did like 5 fresh installs of WIN98. And tried the drivers that came with my G400 MAX. v.5.11 and from their site, certified drivers v.5.20 and the new ones as well v.5.52. - Nothing. Still the same thing.

Running out of ideas.... Could it be a problem with the card? Or am I missing something. Checked and their doesn't seem to be IRQ problems. I have 3 devices sharing #11, Network card, some PCI controller thingy and my video card. Any thoughts?

[Defiant]

Just to add what the IRQ's look like:

00 System timer
01 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
02 Programmable interupt controller
03 Promise Technology Inc. Ultra66 IDE Controller
03 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
04 Telepath for Windows with x2
05 Adaptec AHA-2940U/AHA-2940UW PCI SCSI Controller
05 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
06 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
07 Printer Port (LPT1)
08 System CMOS/real time clock
09 Creative SB Live! Value
09 Intel 21041 based Ethernet Controller
09 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
09 IRQ HOlder for PCI Steering
10 Comm 4
11 Realtek RTL8029(AS) PCI Ethernet NIC
11 Matrox Millennium G400 DualHead - English
11 IRQ HOlder for PCI Steering
12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse Port
13 Numeric Date Processor
14 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE controller
14 Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
15 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE controller
15 Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)

[Bixler]

Just a suggestion based on some trouble I used to have.

Have you D/L'ed the LATEST drivers from Promise for your HD controller? They've acknowledged some conflicts in their orig. driver package with CPU intensive uses like DVD, 3D, etc.

They advise that you delete their SMART driver. It fixed a problem that I had with my G200 Marvel and DVD.

Check their FAQ's for details. Hope this helps.

EDIT
---------------
Dohhh! Just looked more carefully at your IRQ's.

NIC's and the G-400 don't make nice on the same IRQ. Get that NIC sharing with something else or on its own. Definitely get the G-400 on it's own--preferably right there on 11, but at least somewhere on it's own and as high a priority as possible. (9 is the highest you can assign, then 10-15)

[This message has been edited by Bixler (edited 25 March 2000).]

[Wombat]

Hmm. There's no reason for COM4 to be taking up IRQ10. Disable it if you can, but at least get it down to IRQ5 or lower. It would be best of the Promise card or the SCSI got the higher IRQ.

Do you need both on-board IDE controllers, especially with the Promise AND SCSI?

You have two NIC's. I'd try to have them on the same interrupt, to reduce conflicts with other devices.

Disable USB if you're not using it. If you are using it, maybe get a USB mouse, and you can free IRQ 12 (you need all you can get here).

[Kruzin]

I agree. You have a real mess there with your IRQs. Disable anything you can to free up some IRQs (unused com ports, IDE channels, anything), and reduce all that sharing.
Try to get the G400 on an IRQ (9-11) by itself (with one holder).

If working out the IRQ conflicts doesn't help, look at heat as another possibility...

[gpjnevada]

Hey Defiant,

Take the lid off your case and check to make sure that the cooling fan is running. I had the same exact problem today going through driver reinstalls and even reformatting. I took the lid off and was surprised to see the fan not running. I touched the blades gently and it started running. I turned the computer off for about an hour to cool the chip down and have not had a problem since. My card is only 6 months old, and I contacted Matrox through an e-mail, we'll see just how good they are on resolving my problem. I am worried about another failure plus I bought my card when it was $300 US. Hope this helps. GJ

[xippo@work]

Try to get the Matrox card on an IRQ by itself, on IRQ 9 or above.

How many IDE devices are your running. Since you are running and Ultra 66 controller you must have an Ultra 66 IDE drive in your system. Can you remove one of your one of your standard IDE controllers to free an IRQ by moving the rest of your ide devices onto the primary controller?

xippo

[JesTa784]

try forcing agp 1x speed with the registry hacks. I have similar problems except it freezes up even quicker! maybe 5-10 SECONDS into a game.

[Defiant]

Thanks to all who replied!

The problem is fixed.

I checked the cooling fan -- that was fine.
I moved the COM port to IRQ 4 instead of like 10.
Then I found out which SLOTS on my ASUS are shared. SLOTS 3/6 and SLOTS 4/5 which may be some sort of standard - but news to me

So I put the two LAN card or NIC cards on slots 3/6 to share so that my MATROX is on irq 11 alone.

Then I updated to the latest CERTIFIED DRIVER - for good measure. (It did work with my old 5.11 version too)

BINGO! no problems yet, running 3d stuff to the MAX, high resolution, all details on. You ever noticed that when you really want it to free its fine. As soon as you have just completed the toughest mission or worked out a last kink in your 3DS model, BOOM! gone.

Thanks again to

Bixler, Wombat, Kruzin, gpjnevada and the rest who replied.

'precaite it!

Defiant