KT133(A) + Radeon + SBlive = total instability

G

Guest

Guest
Ok there are two systems, neither are mine.

the first has:

A7V133
Radeon VIVO 64mb DDR
Sblive value
Athlon 1400
768mb pc133
a couple 3com network cards

The second has:

Asus A7V-E
Radeon (not sure which)
Sblive Value
Athlon 1ghz
256mb pc133
56k modem

Both systems are unstable, and iratic. The first has been tried with Win98se, WinME, and Win2kPro. Always used the latest 4in1's (4.32v). The latest ATI drivers, and latest SBlive drivers. The second system is a dude I don't even know, and he emailed me because he saw my name in a Logic Audio forum. He is using winME, but had identicle problems which are:

The 4in1's will not install on WinME. They reach 100% and then the computer crashes. I have personally worked on the first system, and formatting/installing win98se allowed the 4in1's to install as usual, but that did not resolve anything.

The radeon will ONLY work if the SBlive is removed. The sblive will ONLY work if the radeon drivers are NOT installed. These two cards refuse to coexist on both Via boards.

I have tried the 686B fix, a myriad of different radeon drivers to no avail. Removing the Sblive stablized the system 95%, but there was still some shakiness. This is just doing anything, surfing, whatever - it does not have to be graphic intense to cause lockups, reboots, blue screens. I have tried the sblive in every slot, with and without the network cards. I have tried each stick of ram individually. I have searched the net and have found no reference to an issue with the RAdeon and Via chipsets to this magnitude.

I myself have an A7V (686A), with Sblive, Echo Gina, 2 network cards, and a Geforce2 GTS, and I have nothing like what these guys are experiencing. Is it an ATI thing? Anybody got info on this, before these dudes drive me nuts? Anyone running the same combo(s) successfully?

TIA

Sean.
 

Abitols

Distinguished
May 26, 2001
55
0
18,630
It seems you're in trouble. Are you using the lastest bios?
Try to change some settings in the bios - AGP4X-2X, Fast Writes, PCI time out (improves stability with sb live in my Abit KT7A), others PCI settings...
 
G

Guest

Guest
Sounds like an IRQ sharing problem to me. Try changing the IRQ of the video card, then fit the sound card.
 
I'm sure Crashman will add to this.

via + SB = woe

There's a couple of threads kicking about on this theme. I think PCI slot three is favoured for sound card.

<b> :smile: <font color=blue>They changed the sig of the week!</font color=blue> :smile: </b>
 

verada

Distinguished
Jun 10, 2001
18
0
18,510
just go into the bios and manually select irq's for the sound card . generally they like to use irq5 or 11 with this type of chipset.on

Computers remind me of Murphy's law:- whatever can go wrong, it's always associated with a computer!
 
G

Guest

Guest
Firstly, thanks for the replies gentlemen. Here's an update.

Installing win2kpro, service pack2, 4in1 v4.32, 686b fix, latest official Radeon drivers without the SBlive installed, and THEN adding the sblive last *seems* to have stabilized things. Personally, I don't see the difference doing it that way, but my friend says it's stable for 12hrs now. He's gonna stress it out, and see if it keeps together. I honestly hope it does, because that was a severe pain in my ass. Wether this will help the other guy running winME or not, I have no idea. Fingers crossed...