ATI Radeon 8500 problems

[Guest]

Hi,

I've just built my own PC and I'm having a few problems!

WHAT I'VE GOT

P4 1.8GHz
Abit BL-7 m/b with Award v5K BIOS (latest)
1.5GB PC133 SDRAM
120GB IBM IDE HDD
ATI Radeon 8500 64MB DDR
Iiyama MA901-U Visionmaster Pro 452 19" Monitor
Lite-on 32x CD Writer
Lite-on DVD

WHAT I WANT TO DO

I want to run a dual boot system - Win98SE and WinXP - because of worries over hardware and software compatibility issues with XP. I want a 20GB Win 98 partition with the rest for XP.

MY PROBLEMS

Win98 installs okay after adding the line

MaxPhysPage=20000

to the [386Enh] section of system.ini but I cannot get my graphics card driver to work correctly. After installation of the driver and after re-booting I get the message "An ATI driver is not running" (abbreviated) from an ATI utility program. In Control Panel\Display\Settings the ATI Radeon 8500 and Iiyama monitor are listed as being installed but I can't get better than 1024x768 at 16 colours or 640x480 at 256 colours.

WHAT I'VE DONE

I've flashed by ABit BL-7 m/b bios to the latest 5K release (was 5B). I've downloaded the latest Intel Inf Installation utility from the ABit website (and Intel's site for that matter) and installed it (although some clearer instructions than those contained in the included readme.txt file would be appreciated). I've downloaded and installed the latest ATI Radeon 8500 driver and ditto for the Iiyama.

I've previously installed WinXP on this machine (before I decided to go for the dual boot option) with no problems. Can anyone offer me some insight into what I may be doing wrong or not doing at all? Also any tips on a 98/XP dual boot set-up and how best to achieve it would be appreciated.

TIA

Jack

 

[AMD_Man]

Well, if MaxPhysPage=20000 is screwing up your system then take it out.

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor

 

[AMD_Man]

Well, if MaxPhysPage=20000 is screwing up your system then take it out.

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor

 

[Guest]

MaxPhysPage=20000 isn't screwing my system up, it's the only setting I've found that allows Win98SE to boot up past DOS without crashing with an Insufficient Memory error.

Jack

 

[AMD_Man]

No, it's not. Use the Vcache trick:

[VCACHE]
MaxFileCache=262144
MinFileCache=0

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor

 

[Guest]

I tried MaxFileCache with numbers from 500000 down to 65000 but I still got the Insufficient Memory error. I have to admit I didn't use MinFile Cache.

 

[Pettytheft]

You cant have more than 512MB of ram in a windows98 system. It's going to give you problems to no end.

Blah, Blah Blahh, Blahh, blahh blah blahh, blah blah.

 

[AMD_Man]

Ok, set the AGP aperture to 128MB.

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor

 

[mystic]

You don't really need 2 operation systems just stick with windows xp. Just give me one exampe that you would meed a diffrent os than xp.

 

[Guest]

Thanks I'll give that a try. What is the AGP aperture anyhow?

 

[Guest]

I was acting on advice from a (more knowledgeable) friend. He said he'd experienced some problems trying to run some programs under XP. Also I've read that drive rcoverage is a little sparse at the moment. What's your experience? I suppose I should just get on with XP and see how it goes (which is what I'm doing until I can get a solution to my problem!), but the fact that I want to do something and can't just makes me want to do it more!

Regards

Jack

 

[AMD_Man]

I know how you feel. Which drivers are you trying anyway to install?

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor

 

[Guest]

I tried that but no luck. Guess I'll have to wait for the man at ATI.

 

[Guest]

I've just installed the ATI XP driver (which works like a charm), I'm downloading the Videologic Sonicfury driver as we speak. I've eventually got to install my HP970CXi printer, Elsa Microlink USB modem, Logitech webcam, Agfa e25 scanner, Wacom A5 Ultrapad graphics tablet, Kodak DC290 camera, Diamond Rio 500 mp3 player, Belkin USB hub, Belkin USB serial port (may not need this as my mobo has 2 ports anyway), Hauppaugge TV tuner card and Logitech steering wheel (can't wait to play Grand Prix 3 - anychance on XP?). Well, you did ask! Could be quite a while.

 

[mystic]

overall I like xp better then past versions and i havent had any problems with programs not working. The only anoying thing is sometimes when I'm running more then one program it slows down and and after about 10 seconds it askes me if I want to sent an error report. But after that It goes back to normal.