No AGP=2X, G400, FIC VA503+

[erniecc]

I have VA503+, rev 1.1, bios JE4330; with K6-3+450 @5x112; Matrox G400 dual head 16MB; 2 sticks of Crucial 128MB PC133 cas2 SDRAM (cas 3 up to 144); Maxtor 20GB 7200 HD, UDMA enabled.

Although I have used this basic system for some 2 years (originally k6-2 350, then K6-3 4x112) I have never checked AGP bus speed until this week. To my surprise SiSoft Sandra tells me I am operating at 1X (74MHz).

All of my components, to best of my knowledge support 2X. When I last loaded all programs from scratch, I loaded the VIA 4in1 (4.24) drivers immediately after loading Windows98, and before loading any Matrox drivers, The Via AGP VxD driver is loaded with "TurboMode" checked. AGP=2X is enabled in bios.

What did I do wrong? or how can I force AGP to 2X? I am at a loss. Any help would be much appreciated. Has anybody else had this problem?




[This message has been edited by erniecc (edited 09 February 2001).]

[This message has been edited by erniecc (edited 09 February 2001).]

[Greebe]

RAGS!!!!!!!!!!

[Kruzin]

You can try to force 2x with the MTSTU (Matrox Tech Support Tweak Util), available at their website:
http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/dr...s/ftp_util.cfm

It's not uncommon to drop to 1x when overclocking the bus like you are. Forcing 2x may cause stability problems...or it may not.

Either way, you won't see a noticable difference running 2x over 1x in the vast majority of apps and games out today, so it's nothing to loose any sleep over.

[Rags]

Unfortunately, you have done nothing wrong. This is normal for the VA503+ and true AGP cards. What is happening is that when the Matrox drivers load, they do a test to see if your board can provide AGP 2X properly. How it does it this, it writes to memory and retrieves, if it doesn't recieve the same as what was written, then it's determined that AGP 2X is not stable.

You can try one thing, go into your motherboard's bios and disable "read around write", it's under chipset features. Boot into windows and check again, if it's still at 1X, and if you insist on trying anyhow, get the MTSU from matrox, run it and force agp 2X with it, and reboot. You can play around and see if it's stable enough for you.

Rags

[Wombat]

Did we forget to mention that AGP 2x won't make any difference in how your system performs?

Also, is that the 1.1a, or 1.1b revision? It's important (I'm a former 503+ owner).

[erniecc]

Geebe,Kruzin, Rags & Wombat ---

Thanks for the prompt response. Will take your words to heart and try, but will be conservative. Thanks.

board is 1.1b.

[erniecc]

Downloaded and used utility. No bios changes. Running solid at 2X. Don't notice any increases in speed. Benchmarks identical. But it feels good to be at 2x anyway. Thanks.

[Zyn]

Breaks down like this.

Don't buy FIC period.

Matrox & Via, NEVER go well together.

Fallow those basic rules, you'll be fine.

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I wasn't born, I was created.

[Rags]

I have a rule of my own. Don't ever, under ANY circumstances, listen to a dumbass like Zyn. Guys like this have no clue whatsoever about computers

Rags

[Kruzin]

Breaks down like this.
Don't listen to Zyn period.

Zyn & Tech advice, NEVER go well together.

Fallow those basic rules, you'll be fine.

--------------
Zyn wasn't born, he was hatched


[This message has been edited by Kruzin (edited 08 February 2001).]

[CannyOne]

I'd suppose the same proceedure should be followed by a person with a G400Max running @77MHz on a BX chipset mainboard? (And yes, I do fully realize that AGP 2X really doesn't make much difference! But I can't help wanting it that way.)

[Greebe]

yes

[2Whyzzi]

Try this:

make sure you have '2x agp enabled' in the bios
On an existing system, remove the matrox driver via the uninstall utility.
reboot into vga, load the vga driver first
search the registry for matrox entries and remove them.
remove "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servi ces\Class\Display\0000\" and 0001 and 0002 (whatever number of entries there are.

now to be honest, Im not sure what I'd do first (problably install the matrox driver first)... so:

install the latest matrox driver, if not you have to use or pd530 (540/55x didn't work worth crap -pd530 that was the best one I could get to work at the time - I understand the PDesk6x series work alot better for VIA systems).
DO NOT REBOOT
install the latest VIA 4in1 driver and ENABLE TURBO MODE (that is very important)
DO NOT REBOOT
re-install the current version of DirectX(don't know if this will make a difference, but I think it's worth it)
REBOOT

Might also want to update the BIOS in the card before beginning this proceedure (if you haven't done that already).

Good luck. reply in this thread if it works.

2Whyzzi

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Abit BH6 r1.01
Celeron2-566 o/c to 850MHz+Slotket!!! 1.8v
256 Megs PC-133 Cas3
Matrox G400 SH OEM (not oc'd) rev=03h
Diamond Monster Sound MX400

[Greebe]

2Whyzzi, ???

[Wombat]

Well then, It's a concensus. Zyn is a crack baby. The last version of the 503+ was one of the best SS7 boards out there. I haven't liked their latest K7 stuff, though. Matrox and VIA will play very happily.



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Epox 8KTA3 w/ Duron 850@7*133 with Alpha 6035, 256MB Crucial 7E, G400MAX,SBLive!-MP3,Pioneer 10x DVD, Plextor 12/10/32A, IBM 45GB 75gxp, and a Sony 420GS. Running RH7.0 (2.4.0-final), and Win98 (when I have to).