A7M266 Problems

[Guest]

Hello all... I just purchased a new system and I'm experiencing problems. The system runs great in windows but as soon as I try to play a 3D game the system will freeze/hang and forces me to reboot. The system will freeze when I start the game and at other times such as 10-20 minutes after playing. Does anyone know what I could do to fix this problem. I've been dreaming of a system like this for years and now I have one that doesn't work. My system configuration is the following:

-Asus A7M266
-AMD 1.2 GHZ
-Asus V7700 GeForce2 GTS (Installed in AGP slot)
-128 MB DDR
-Sound Blaster Live OEM (Installed in PCI #2 slot)
-3COM 3c905b NIC (Installed in PCI #3 slot)
-40 GB IBM Hard Drive
-Toshiba 12x DVD Drive

This is my complete system configuration. I am running a fresh install of Windows 98 SE. I installed the drivers that came along with the mobo and graphics card. I have also been monitoring the temps and everything is running at normal operating temperature. Like I said the system runs great but when I try to play a 3D game it freezes/hangs on me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Adrian
mtbovine@home.com

 

[Guest]

Built a similiar system, but with a 1.4Ghz AMD with same HW. Be sure to get the latest BIOS from the Asus website :

http://www.asus.com.tw/products/motherboard/bios_socka.html#a7m266

Then download the latest Via 4-1 4.32, AMD 760 chipset AGP driver, and Nvidia 12.41 WHQL drivers from :

http://www.msihardware.com/


That should take care of it. Lemme know how things work out. By the way, what type of DDR memory did ya get? The A7M266 is real picky. I got 2 128MB Corsair PC-150 sticks.

 

[Guest]

I did what you suggested with no luck what so ever. The system seems to be even more unstable. I don't know what brand of memory I have. How would you check?

On a second note are there any key points to configuring the bios? I have the AGP set to normal mode insetead of turbo mode. Does that make any difference. What else should I be looking for?

 

[stevengirdham]

i had same fault,go into bios advanced set up loock for agp drive strenth set to manual and turn up setings 1 or 2 places and try

 

[Mattias]

Hi!
---

I've got almost the exact same system as you do.

I have been using different ASUS Socket A motherboards since almost a year now and have had problems with all of them. BUT when I've solved them theese mobos runs like lightning.

I had the exact same problem as you do. Excellent performance in 2D, no hangups what so ever BUT when starting a 3D game it wouldn't last for 20 sekonds before freezing.

I reinsatalled both win98 and win2k over and over again. (I think I restarted my computer over 150 times one weekend ;o) I tried different drivers and different BIOS:es and different patches to see if I could isolate the problem.

The only thing that would make my mobo stable was setting the AGP to "x2" in BIOS. Whatever I changed, whatever drivers I used it always came down to this.

* AGP x2 ultra stable system with great performace
* AGP x4 crashes when playing 3D after just a few seconds

I was a little dissapointed at first not beeing able to run AGP x4 but I get 3300 points in 3DMark with AGP x2 so I think it's quite OK.

Hope this will help you! By the way I've found that the ASUS V7700 11.01 drivers (found on the german ASUS site www.asuscom.de) is the best graphic drivers for my system.

/ Mattias