Do Matrox respond to emails for tech support?

[ArchieMan]

Is the Matrox tech support email address directed to /dev/null ?

When I email a company for some assistance, I expect a response. at least a 'hi, got your email, we'll get back to you'. It's been a few weeks since I last sent mail to them. The previous time was just as successful.

Have I just been unlucky, or has anyone else managed to procure a response from them?


[This message has been edited by ArchieMan (edited 10-06-1999).]

[Zwisch]

Hi,

response time should be within a couple of days. If you did not get a reponse since that time, the message may not have gotten through. Did you send your e-mail to graph_ts@matrox.com?

Z

[Jorden]

Do try the address suggested by Zwisch, because on that address Haig will be watching some of the problems, and you will get answers.

[ArchieMan]

Naw, UK tech support. graphic.tech.uk@matrox.com

And I got a receipt....

To: 'graphic.tech.uk@matrox.com'
Subject: version 5 drivers + Millennium G200 8Mb AGP = crash
Sent: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 13:00:45 +0100

was delivered to the following recipient(s):

Graphic Tech UK on Thu, 23 Sep 1999 13:01:32 +0100

Even though I'm in the UK, do you think I should try the address you suggest?

[Charles Lister]

I have tried UK tech support three times over the past year and they ahve not replied yet! I'll try the adress you suggested as well an see if that one works!

[Zwisch]

Hi

The address I suggested might not work since if the e-mail comes from the UK, it will probably still be redirected to the UK support....

Z

[Zwisch]

thinking about it... have you posted your message here? What is the problem? Best answers are often found in forums...

[Charles Lister]

Yup I've been trying to get downloaded drivers to work with only limited success. As have quite a few people according to your other forums (ie powerdesk 4.33+ problems)

[Zwisch]

Hi,
Could you please give us a bit more details? What happens, what have you tried, what drivers have you tried, a bit more on your system information....

Z

[Charles Lister]

Ok then

(I didn't want to go into details as it is a bit off topic for this forum)

I run a..

PII 300 with 64MB SDRAM
Matrox G200 8MB AGP using the 2.6 Bios
Motherboard sound system (CMI8330 chip)
Win98 +Service patch 1
about a Gig of free HD space
DirectX 7

History...

Now the first thing any game tech support (That I have dealt with) tells you to do is to have either the latest; or the latest certified, sets of drivers installed. To shut them up and get some real answers generally try to have both sets.

I have repeatedly tried new sets of drivers & the accompaning Powerdesk and half of them have kippered my system. Corrupted display hangs, Black screen with a mouse cursor hangs, Blue screen of death. (You get the idea)

Now not bieng very "techy" I am reluctant to mess with things I don't understand without first asking advice. The Dam UK guys never @#&*$£ answer.

After some fiddling I have always managed to get the system back to the certified set of drivers (Which until recently worked) I then get to repeat the performance with the next set of drivers to come out. Having no feedback means that I never know why some sets of drivers work and not others! Also more importantly if there is a conflict with any of my system. (the sound system is suspected. No I have no idea as to how this could be the case)

Current..

I run the Certified 4.33 drivers which on DirectX 6.1 tested one of the drivers as none certified. (No problem untill you try to talk to the game tech support guy)why is this? I'm happy to ignore it but I would like to have something to explain it..

The latest certified release (5.2) hangs the system mid re-boot. This results in a system that will not boot at all unless in safe mode.(I thought that certified releases were tested!!!) I think that I have put the old 4.33 release back and the system now runs again but would like to know what happened & how I should have repaired the damage. For all I know I couls still have bits of both sets of drivers. It all seems to work but thats down to blind luck and persiverance!



[This message has been edited by Charles Lister (edited 10-11-1999).]

[Zwisch]

Hi,

Several things might cause this... Here is what i would try to do myself :

- Completely remove you Matrox Drivers with the procedure on their site under Tech Support and FAQ

- Then boot in normal mode, without the drivers installed, and make sure that you card is not sharing an IRQ with another device... if so, clear the IRQ conflict up.

- Once this is all clear, simply go ahead with the 5.20 or 5.25 drivers... even if this sounds scarry you will need to face this problem and install these drivers eventually....

Once this is done, there are still a lot of things to try... AGP 1X patch, bus mastering off, graphic acceleration to none...

Keep us posted, I am sure that we can get to the bottom of this.. with a bit of time and effort

Z

[Charles Lister]

Well I seem to have the 4.33 drivers running stably (well as well as they ever did)As I said last post I have now installed DirectX7 and the none certified driver semms to have gained a certification from somewhere. However powerdesk now seems to think that I have "An old version" of directX running and kept telling me this at every boot until I turned that bit of the diagnostic off. Five attempts to install 5.20 following the instructions at the Web site have all had the same effect (ie the machine hung mid re-boot) from what I hear 5.30 is no better
AAARRRGG!!!

If this is down to a conflict (which I am looking into but so far have found nothing) why do some sets of drivers work reasonably well and others not at all?

What is this AGP 1X patch?

I have had one program only work when I turned off all the graphics acceleration (Myth II)

Bus mastering.. is that something I should be messing with as I know practically nothing about it?


[This message has been edited by Charles Lister (edited 14 October 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Charles Lister (edited 14 October 1999).]

[ArchieMan]

The 5.xx drivers are a load of old pants. A company putting out this kind of complete cobblers is requiring to test their programs a little more thoroughly, and not use their customers as beta test guinea pigs.

Perhaps Matrox could just pull their fingers out of their collective orifices and knuckle down to some hard work than putting out half baked crap.

Are they just blindly releasing any old crud, trying to satisfy people hungry for the latest drivers? Are they embarrassed by all the delays and furore surrounding the OpenGL ICD fiasco last year, so putting out what they got as quick as they can? Personally, I'd rather wait for a finished product.

A more comprehensive readme would have probably saved me the bother of putting any of the 5.xx drivers I've tried so far. You know, version history, known issues, bugs not yet fixed.... I've wasted *hours* on this!

And what *exactly* is the problem with the VIA MVP3 chipset? Or should I be emailing them too?

Archie

[Zwisch]

HI,

Charles Lister : To get rid of this Direct error you can either go up to the 5.25 or the 5.30 or else you can go in your registry and delete the key relating to the Matrox Disagnostic, You can also do if from MSCONFIG. AGP 1X is a registry setting that can be change easily if you are using the registry hack that you can download from here. And as far as Bus Mastering, this is located in in the options in the Matrox drivers and can easily be turned off and on... yes it is worth trying as this solves several problems on some unstable systems.
These two fix might help you out a lot!

ArchieMan : It is better to have more drivers out that keeps up to date with current issues and fixes know bugs than not to release anything at all. Gee on Diamond Web Site, the latest update for the TNT2 is from more than 6 months... even worst for their MX300 sound card! The drivers are tested and proof of that is that a majority of people have them working just fine. Ok the 5.30 with G200 and SS7 are giving problems but the rest was fine for me. The 5.20 have been certified by Microsoft hence tested there also... so something right is done (there is a new procedure to certify drivers from MS, these do not show certified in the DX test but they still are). There is no need to trash Matrox with the drivers because it is not working for you. You can clearly see that it is working for several people and that they are happy about the card. We are all willing help you out and give you a hand in making you card work. So you can tell us exactly your problem rather than blindly accusing Matrox in all possible ways when you have no idea what is happening there... Please remember that it is not because you had specific problems with the UK office that Matrox is bad altogether... So post your problem and we will tell you what can be done for it to work!

Z

[ArchieMan]

Well. That's me told

Seriously though, I'm sorry, this wasn't the place to have a massive blow out.

Perhaps a bit of structure to our attempts to chase the bug(s) could help.

Hopefully we can piece together something from everyone posting in one thread, than having various posts in various places.

My problem is thus : complete removal of 4.51 drivers. Install 5.30. Seems to go OK. Go to 1280x1024x16 OK. Tried to look at the screen saver tab, with 3D Pipes selected. The screen saver ran for about 2-3 seconds and then BSoD, reporting Fatal Exception 0E. On return to Windows, machine had hung, but the mouse could move. Keypresses and mouse clicks were greeted with a 'click' sound from the speaker.

I run a Millennium G200 8Mb AGP in an AOpen AX59pro (MVP3 based).

There are a few issues that may or may not be important.

1) My G200 is sharing IRQ5 with my USB controller. While windows and 4.51 drivers have no problem with this, will 5.30?

2) I haven't applied any reg hacks, so I'm on AGP x1. There's no overclocking going on either.

3) Could bus mastering be an issue?

Once again apologies for my lack of self control.

Archie