Gigabyte Socket 7 and TNT2

[Guest]

Sorry about 'crossposting', but it seems i might get a better response here. (From mainboards and chipsets):

Ok, I've had a Gigabyte motherboard for over a year now... specificaly the GA5-AA. I recently bought a Guillemot Maxi Gamer Xentor card, which is based on the TNT2 chip. I thought it worked ok until i tried running OpenGL stuff, which should be supported. This didn't work, so I updated the drivers and now openGL works but D3D just hangs.

Guillemot tech. support said it was a Gigabyte problem... i think it's because of the ALi chipset can't cope with the power requirements. The shop won't take the tnt back, and i've had the motherboard a year now, so they won't take that back either.

A friend said that Gigabyte might replace the board with an updated one. Is this true, and if so how would i go about doing this? (i'm in the UK)



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Black holes really suck...

 

[Guest]

It's really bugging me now! Anyone?!?

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Black holes really suck...

 

[Guest]

Do you have the option to increase the I/O Voltage on the motherboard? That might help. Do you have soldering skills? That might be the next step...

Boy am I full of it - in every respect.

 

[Guest]

Nope, as far as I can tell, there isn't a way to change the voltage. I have thought about trying some drastic soldering, but seeing as this will pretty certainly remove any chance whatsoever of me being able to get a replacement, I'll wait. Just out of interest, does anybody know if I could use a geforce2 in this m/board?
Cheers, Chris

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Black holes really suck...

 

[Guest]

I had a similar problem with a TNT2 card and a Ali Alladin V based board. The two don't seem to work well together. The problem is well documented (or at least it was a year or so ago) and info may be available on some parts of the net (ie Amdzone.com)

I fixed the stability problems I was having by flashing the video bios with a more up to date reference bios. Of course flashing a video bios kills your card if you do it wrong (ie using the wrong reference bios). It seemed to fix my card up good though.

I can send you a page with some reference bioses if you want, just post a reply.

I replaced that TNT2 card a little while after flashing the bios, with a Voodoo3 3000. The voodoo cards are nice and stable on Alladin V platforms.

I upgraded to a GeForce2 MX just this weekend. It has a few bugs as of yet, but seems like it'll work alright.

Good luck...

 

[Yoda]

Check Gigabytes FAQ page ref tnt2/alladin5 there is a link there for Ali Agp driver which sorted this problem on friends system. Note you may have to use Nvidia referance driver 5.22 to get it working also directx 7 works fie

 

[Guest]

Great. Do you think you could post the links here? I think i'll try it. It seems that I may have an earlier revision board than you because I also had troubles getting a Voodoo 3 2000 working stable. Gigabyte said that this also draws too much power for my board What model board have you got?
Cheers, Chris

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Black holes really suck...

 

[Guest]

I have the updated Ali AGP and IDE drivers, as well as trying every possible driver and Dx8. Thanks for the response though...
Chris

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Black holes really suck...

 

[Guest]

Whoot! I know this one! First off, replace that MB as soon as possible. I've used 2 of them and they suck. The L2 cashe chips blew after around 6 months on both of them. They have terrible voltage regulation, too.

To get the TNT2 working (or any AGP card, for that matter), get the latest BIOS update. Then go into the control panel for your TNT2 and get into the advanced options. There is an option to turn off AGP support. Turn off AGP support. Mine ran fine after than. I didn't have any more lock-ups. The MB is slow as snot anyway. Get a Tyan Trinity. That's what I replaced it with and it is way faster and has no problems that I could find. Also don't install the MB (Gigabyte or Tyan) drivers. Use the Windows generic drivers. That fixed alot of problems for me also and it ran much faster.

If none of these work, try turning off external cashe in BIOS. If it doesn't lock up after that, you have a blown cashe chip and you will have to replace the MB. Don't bother trying to get ahold of Gigabyte, either. They don't care and will not respond. I tried for months and never even got to talk to anyone. I will never buy another Gigabyte product again.

 

[Guest]

I'm afraid I can't really afford to replace the m/board, and if I did it would most definately be the Soltek socket A job.

As for turning off AGP support in the control panel, I can't seem to find any reference to the option you mentioned. The advanced properties tab is the Guillemot version, not the actualy NVidia one, although IIRC they are the same with diff. logo's.

When you say get the latest BIOS update, do you mean for the card or m/board? I've got the latest bios for the gigabyte. I'm still looking for the video card bios. Anyone help here? Well, thanks for the help everyone, but so far it's still buggered. I am most dissapointed with Gigabyte, and will definately avoid them in the future....
Chris


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Black holes really suck...

 

[Guest]

http://zoiah.m3dzone.com is the site containing bioses and flashing utilities and the like. Be careful that you get the right bios or your card will be only good as a paperweight.

The card I flashed was a Viper 770 TNT2 32MB. It was just recognized as a Nvidia chipset on a card after flashing....

I have NO (as in NONE) experience with Gigabyte motherboards, only with the Alladin V chipset on a Asus P5A, so I have no idea if the stuff posted here about the Gigabyte board being a problem. I have read lots about the Alladin V and the TNT2 not mixing well though, hopefully the BIOS flash will fix your problem.

Be sure to post your results, so I know how the flash works out, ok

K6-2+ 550

 

[Guest]

Gotta hate that ALi chipset. It's damn slow, damn incompatible and I frown on companies that use it. Gigabyte makes some kickass motherboards and I'm really proud of my GA6-BXD..though yes, their support could be a lot better.

Best advice: Go ATX if you're not already, get a meaty motherboard and stay clear of 'micky mouse chipsets'

 

[Yoda]

Sorry that should have been, there was a link there.
Ok the motherboard was the same as yours although the video card was generic, the file you need is aliagp 1.69 and you will find it at: http://www.acerlabs.com/eng/support/drvagp.htm hope this works for you.