Here's the Dilema: I got a 9700 Pro, and when i go to SmartGart (Program Files...ATI Technologies...ATI control Panel...not the tab in the display settings) it says that AGP Read is on, but AGP Write is off! I've tried resetting it, but it doesn't fix a thing, it just reverts back to the off position (and ive already looked at DXDIAG. I've also had problems with random lockups, even microsoft works, and for some strange reason the Nature demo of 3DMark01 won't work. I get a greyed out screen and then it locks, or sometimes part of the first frame will be on screen, while pieces are missing and it locks immediately. Surprisingly, no other 3D games or applications seem to be having problems (other than the odd lockup).I checked for overheating, and even ran with my case open, but it still locks up after about an hour. I also might want to add that before i put the 9700 Pro in, i had a 9000 which i accidentally bios flashed with a 9200 bios. Consequently, i couldn't get anything to show up on the screen when i booted my computer, and the monitor light would just turn orange. So i got a 9700 Pro off a friend. Would the problems i'm having now be attributed to what happened with the old card, and how do i go about trying to fix my computer. PLEASE HELP
A few more details as to your operating system and hardware would help. But i can say that flashing the bios on one card, will not interfere with the bios on another.
The other thing, is AGP fast writes enabled in the bios ? what drivers are you running as well, what DirectX version ?9.0b or 8? SP1 with win XP all of that stuff. It all helps
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<font color=red>AMD 2700 XP<font color=red>
<font color=red>PC 9600XT<font color=red>
<font color=blue>ASUS A7N8X deluxe<font color=blue>
<font color=blue>1024 meg DC DDR 3200<font color=blue>
....................
The other thing, is AGP fast writes enabled in the bios ? what drivers are you running as well, what DirectX version ?9.0b or 8? SP1 with win XP all of that stuff. It all helps
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<font color=red>AMD 2700 XP<font color=red>
<font color=red>PC 9600XT<font color=red>
<font color=blue>ASUS A7N8X deluxe<font color=blue>
<font color=blue>1024 meg DC DDR 3200<font color=blue>
....................
O.k. Thanks for at least offering to help...it means a lot. As for my specs, i'm running Win ME, with 384MB DDR PC-1600 ram, and a Gigabyte GA-7DX motherboard with AMD 761 Northbridge, and a VIA 686B Southbridge. The video drivers that i've been running are the Catalyst 3.5's for Win ME. AGP Fast Writes IS enabled in the motherboard bios...that's what baffles me! Currently, im using DX9, but same problems occured when DX8 was installed, so i've ruled that DX Version has nothing to do with it. Hope that helps you make a diagnosis
I guess I would start with the latest VIA Hypernion drivers, they include amongst other things your GART driver for your AGP, next update your card drivers, the ones your running are quite old and don't i beleive offer even directx 9 support, plus the older the driver, the less stable it is. go for the 3.8's if your after speed, and the 4.2's if your after more stability.
And think seriously about Win XP pro with SP1, you will notice the benifits from it, it is more stable, and it is a lot faster than 98SE, I've seen the benchmarks.
Gary
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<font color=red>AMD 2700 XP<font color=red>
<font color=red>PC 9600XT<font color=red>
<font color=blue>ASUS A7N8X deluxe<font color=blue>
<font color=blue>1024 meg DC DDR 3200<font color=blue>
....................
And think seriously about Win XP pro with SP1, you will notice the benifits from it, it is more stable, and it is a lot faster than 98SE, I've seen the benchmarks.
Gary
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<font color=red>AMD 2700 XP<font color=red>
<font color=red>PC 9600XT<font color=red>
<font color=blue>ASUS A7N8X deluxe<font color=blue>
<font color=blue>1024 meg DC DDR 3200<font color=blue>
....................
cleeve
Illustrious
- Mar 7, 2003
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AGP Fastwrites don't need to be on. As a matter of fact, most people's systems are more stable with fastwrites disabled.
Your problem lies elsewhere, methinks.
Try disabling SMARTGART with the utility from ati.com. That has helped some people in the past with this type of problem.
________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>
Your problem lies elsewhere, methinks.
Try disabling SMARTGART with the utility from ati.com. That has helped some people in the past with this type of problem.
________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>
But does switching off fastwrites effect performance in anyway ? is it faster on or off, or is there no change ?
Gary
....................
<font color=red>AMD 2700 XP<font color=red>
<font color=red>PC 9600XT<font color=red>
<font color=blue>ASUS A7N8X deluxe<font color=blue>
<font color=blue>1024 meg DC DDR 3200<font color=blue>
....................
Gary
....................
<font color=red>AMD 2700 XP<font color=red>
<font color=red>PC 9600XT<font color=red>
<font color=blue>ASUS A7N8X deluxe<font color=blue>
<font color=blue>1024 meg DC DDR 3200<font color=blue>
....................
correction, I see your running ME not 98 SE, apologies in advance...still though, XP is better, Bill Gates says so.
....................
<font color=red>AMD 2700 XP<font color=red>
<font color=red>PC 9600XT<font color=red>
<font color=blue>ASUS A7N8X deluxe<font color=blue>
<font color=blue>1024 meg DC DDR 3200<font color=blue>
....................
....................
<font color=red>AMD 2700 XP<font color=red>
<font color=red>PC 9600XT<font color=red>
<font color=blue>ASUS A7N8X deluxe<font color=blue>
<font color=blue>1024 meg DC DDR 3200<font color=blue>
....................
I can deal with disabling fast writes, but how do i go about disabling Smart gart? And just to let you guys know, i'm only getting 125 fps in Quake 3 with my 9700 Pro card, and for comparisons sake, i seen a review in an old PC Gamer book for a GeForce 3 and it got 133! Now surely my card can hit higher than 125!! Now where would i get those VIA drivers from, and are they only for VIA northbridge parts like the KTXXX series??
Hey this might be worthwhile posting too. My computer still locks even when fast writes are disabled (and i did it directly through the motherboard bios plus turned them off in smart gart)So that's not the issue. Any other ideas as to why my computer would be acting like this?
cleeve
Illustrious
- Mar 7, 2003
- 12,012
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Dude... dude... dude.
1- Fastwrites gives almost no increase in perforance. Nothing you'd be able to percieve, anyway. Many motherboard makers turn it off at the factory because it's not worth the hassle.
2- Smartgart... smartgart does not enhance performance, it simply detects your motherboard and decides which settings (AGP speed, fastwrites, etc) that your video card should be set at. In the early catalysts, Smartgart could screw things up and there was a smartgart removal tool... although I looked at Ati.com and I don't see it anymore, so maybe it's not an issue anymore.
So your best bet is to get the newest drivers/BIOS for your motherboard from the manufacturer's website. Then retest and we'll go from there.
________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>
1- Fastwrites gives almost no increase in perforance. Nothing you'd be able to percieve, anyway. Many motherboard makers turn it off at the factory because it's not worth the hassle.
2- Smartgart... smartgart does not enhance performance, it simply detects your motherboard and decides which settings (AGP speed, fastwrites, etc) that your video card should be set at. In the early catalysts, Smartgart could screw things up and there was a smartgart removal tool... although I looked at Ati.com and I don't see it anymore, so maybe it's not an issue anymore.
So your best bet is to get the newest drivers/BIOS for your motherboard from the manufacturer's website. Then retest and we'll go from there.
________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>
o.k. thanks. I've already downloaded the Cat 3.8's so we'll see what happens. After that, if the problem still persists, would you suggest upgrading the bios for my motherboard? I've also tried updating to the newest AGP Drivers for the AMD 761 chipset (from the AMD website) but they are still dated back to 2001. So i'm running out of options. I'll see what the new video drivers do, and go from there, but i'll say that i had the 3.5s running with my old 9000, and everything worked fine, ive only started having problems since i've messed that card up with the bios flash and put this new one in.
cleeve
Illustrious
- Mar 7, 2003
- 12,012
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Ouch. That's an old motherboard. That's not going to help the problem.
Ever consider upgrading your MOBO?
________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>
Ever consider upgrading your MOBO?
________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>
I don't think he could upgradehis mobo without upgrading his ram since his ram is like the original DDR. And considering he still has such an old computer and the video card he has was something he got from a friend I'd guess that he dosn't have the money to do any upgrade like that.
However it just occured to me that since he has such an old comp he may have an insufficient power supply for the videocard perhaps? Might that result in lockups?
<font color=blue>_____________________________________</font color=blue>
Vancouver, Canada
Asus A7N8X-X, Athelon XP 2500+ Barton,
Samsung 1024mb DDR400, Creative Geforce2 GTS,
SoundBlaster Live! Value.
However it just occured to me that since he has such an old comp he may have an insufficient power supply for the videocard perhaps? Might that result in lockups?
<font color=blue>_____________________________________</font color=blue>
Vancouver, Canada
Asus A7N8X-X, Athelon XP 2500+ Barton,
Samsung 1024mb DDR400, Creative Geforce2 GTS,
SoundBlaster Live! Value.
I know the MOBO is old, but like mentioned, an upgrade would involve the ram as well, and that's not in the budget right yet. However, the Dell system that the card came out of only had a 250W power supply, and it ran fine, so i dont see why there would be a problem in that department considereing the power supply for this computer is 250W as well. It still baffles me as to why the Nature demo of 3DMark 01 will not function properly, yet every other program does, including all of the benchmarks in 3DMark03. But i did notice that when i tried to upgrade the drivers to version 3.8, i had an INFSETUP.exe error come up, but once i restarted and set the display adapter to "Standard Display Adapter VGA", the updated drivers installed o.k. But i'm still getting the messed up SmartGart, and random lock ups
TheGreatGrapeApe
Champion
- Feb 18, 2003
- 20,043
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SmartGart Uninstaller is part of their Catalyst Utilities (on another page).
<A HREF="http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/misc/catalystutils.html" target="_new">HERE's the Link</A>.
And Cleeve is right, the benifits of Fastwrites usually represent less than 1% and can cause problems. Run with it if you are 100% stable, run without it otherwise.
- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK
<A HREF="http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/misc/catalystutils.html" target="_new">HERE's the Link</A>.
And Cleeve is right, the benifits of Fastwrites usually represent less than 1% and can cause problems. Run with it if you are 100% stable, run without it otherwise.
- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK
cleeve
Illustrious
- Mar 7, 2003
- 12,012
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Power supplies are OFTEN the culprits in instances like this. People never want to believe it.
If you can borrow a 350+ watter off of a friend for testing, it's DEFINATELY worth a shot. I've seen power supplies cause these problems more than you can imagine.
________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>
If you can borrow a 350+ watter off of a friend for testing, it's DEFINATELY worth a shot. I've seen power supplies cause these problems more than you can imagine.
________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>
O.k., i played around with the connections of the card to the power supply. See the Radeon manual tells you to route the hard drive and video card with the two plugs, then hook into the power supply. But what i did, was i used a seperate line for the HD and plugged from the card to the powersupply directly, and after installing the new drivers there seems to be no lock ups....none yet at least. But i still can't get 3Dmark01 Nature Demo to work...i dunno what the hell it is. any ideas? 3DMark03 works fine as do Quake3 and Unreal2
I think i found the answer to my problem...i was checking through system info and noticed that my video card is on the same IRQ as several other things. All the following are listed as being assigned IRQ11:
VIA Tech PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
VIA Tech PCI to USB Universal Host Controller (there's 2 listed)
ESS WDM MODEM ENUMERATOR
ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering (there's 2 listed)
As far as i know, most video cards need their own IRQ assignment, so i think this is the root of the problem....only thing is i dont know how to change IRQ settings...how would i go about doing that??
VIA Tech PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
VIA Tech PCI to USB Universal Host Controller (there's 2 listed)
ESS WDM MODEM ENUMERATOR
ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering (there's 2 listed)
As far as i know, most video cards need their own IRQ assignment, so i think this is the root of the problem....only thing is i dont know how to change IRQ settings...how would i go about doing that??
I tried to figure things out over the weekend, but i'm still stuck. My bios doesn't have an "Assign IRQ to VGA"
option and if i try to assign IRQ's manually in the bios, i only have the option of setting them to "Reserved" or "PCI Device". I also noticed that my Windows ME OS just overrides this anyway. Please...i need help!!
option and if i try to assign IRQ's manually in the bios, i only have the option of setting them to "Reserved" or "PCI Device". I also noticed that my Windows ME OS just overrides this anyway. Please...i need help!!
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