New PC crashes in AH.

[Voss]

Typo. Sorry. I started to type 7.78, and then remembered the 7.91 Detonator release had just occurred. I have been running the the 7.91 package my VIA board with an NVidia GeForce 3 all morning (Quake3 over at The Playground, where GrimDude owns the map) and I have had no problems, yet. Quake crashes, historically, more often then AH. No crashes so far in either AH, or Q3. You can find the new Det drivers on http://www.the-ctrl-alt-del.com  , or continue to use the 7.78 drivers available from NVidia.

I don't see an advantage to changing the AGP mode. If the card is a 4X card, setting it for 4X seems appropriate. I have not discovered any advantage to any other setting than that for which it was designed.

By *Glide* I meant GLSetup (OpenGL), of course (Dodge and Plymouth are still MOPAR to me, too, even though they are owned by Daimler now// Glide/GL, same crap). My recommendation comes from experiences I have had with games of the OpenGL type, versus AH (which does not need them). Q3, for instance, will not work with the "OpenGL" 3D setting, unless you go through the GLSetup routine (didn't for me anyway, and I've done it on three systems now). If you feel you need it, go to http://www.glsetup.com  and follow the links to the 200kb web setup (follow the instructions). These drivers are of beta quality, though, just like they tell you.

The most important thing, though, is the 4in1 package from VIA for the particular MB in use (the A7M266 in this case). This is the same MB that HP is using in some of their systems (the one I have for instance).

Sorry about the confusion.

[Flares]

Voss, I enable agpx4 in the bios, AH video locks up. I disable bios agpx4 and AH never locks up. I have tried this numerous times, on two different spec PCS, with virtually every reference driver up to 12.20 and the same thing happens. There's no need to poopoo my suggestion. Anythings worth a try in this type of situation.


Flares.

[Lephturn]

Where you lost me is that I can't find that driver version on Ctrl-alt-del or anywhere else, there is no "7.91 Detonator release".  And the latest drivers are way past 7.91... we're talking 12.40's.  Heck I was running the 11.x's a month ago.  Maybe you mean 12.0?  Ah well.  I'll take it as a typo since I think you are likely running 7.78's.

Glide and OpenGL are very different things.    All GLSetup does is go get video drivers for you that are known to support OpenGL properly.  Any of the later Detonator packages provide OpenGL drivers, although I found the 12.x ones gave me problems in Q3.  The 6.50's or the 7.78 Dets all work perfect for Q3 here.  If you run GLSetup it just goes and puts in the 5.32 Dets... the later versions work better though.  If you are setting up new machines with nVidia cards, you should be installing later drivers than that... 7.78's are your best bet for a Geforce 2.  Any of the Detonators after 5.32 will give you a working OpenGL implementation.  The WHQL marked drivers are not beta quality, they are tested and supported, so always go with those.  The latest WHQL Detonator driver package is 12.0, but 7.78 should work fine too.  Running those is better than GLSetup giving you older drivers... it's pretty much outdated enough to not be useful anymore.

Yep, the latest 4-in-1's are really important, even more so if you have an SBLive in the box.  Get the 4.31 4-in-1's at http://www.viahardware.com.

Now, about AGP speeds.... some boards just don't run stable at AGP 4x.  If you are overclocking, that goes double... and sometimes dropping down to 2x will let you get a higher overclock and run faster.  Even at stock speed, some boards just are not stable at AGP 4X, but drop 'em to 2X and they work fine with almost no measureable difference in performance.

------------------
Sean "Lephturn" Conrad - Aces High Chief Trainer

A proud member of the mighty Flying Pigs http://www.flyingpigs.com

Check out Lephturn's Aerodrome for AH articles and training info!

[This message has been edited by Lephturn (edited 05-30-2001).]

[bloom25]

Voss, actually you are completely wrong.    Setting AGP to 2x in the bios will resolve 90+% of lockups related to agp cards that weren't solved by driver/mb updates.  

If the lockups continue, go into the bios and find the AGP speed setting and set it to 2x.  His MB is NOT VIA based.  Installing VIA 4 in 1s is pointless and will probably hose his computer.  The A7M is based on the 760 chipset from AMD.  (Caveat:  Some MBs do pair this northbridge with the via Southbridge, so in these rare cases the 4 in 1s are needed.)

I would try the 7.78 Detonators.  They are the best overall in Win9x IMO.

(Voss, I'm not sure what MB you are thinking of.  Maybe the a7v133?  The a7a266 uses an Ali chipset, and thus the via drivers do not apply again.)



------------------
bloom25
-MAW-
(Formerly of the)
THUNDERBIRDS

[SKurj]

A7V does use Via chipset, and works fine with my GF2 MX set to 4X AGP

Salvo

[bloom25]

I think some of you are getting confused with Asus Mb naming system.

Asus A7V  (means socket a, 7 series processor, via (V) kt 133 chipset.  This one uses the 4 in 1 drivers.)

Asus A7V133 (socket a, 7 series processor (athlon, duron), via chipset kt133a.  (Supports C series 133 Mhz fsb processors) This one ALSO uses the 4 in 1 and it's very important to be using the VERY NEWEST 4.31 drivers to resolve the SB Live bug with the southbridge used on this board.)

Asus A7A266 (socket a, 7 series processor, Ali Labs chipset (namely ALI Magik 1), Uses DDR ram (thus the 266 in the name).  DOES NOT use Via 4 in 1 drivers.

Asus A7M266 (socket a, 7 series processor, AMD 760 (761) chipset.  Supports DDR ram. DOES NOT need or use Via 4 in 1 drivers.  This is the fastest board of the 4, and the most expensive/scarce.

That Letter in the middle is ALL IMPORTANT.  V means VIA, A means ALI, M means AMD.  Only the ones with the "V" use via chipsets and thus 4 in 1 drivers.

Asus model names are actually pretty easy once you know the code.  (I.E. CUSL2 is a motherboard for P3s.  CU = coppermine S = socket L = Intel chipset 2 = second board chipset from intel for this processor. )

K7V (amd slot, 7 series processor, Via chipset.)

etc, etc, etc.

Hope that clears up some confusion.  



------------------
bloom25
-MAW-
(Formerly of the)
THUNDERBIRDS

[Voss]

 http://www.the-ctrl-alt-del.com/Drivers.htm#791

Yes, you're right. When I accessed this article just yesterday the link was most certainly listed as 7.91 and marked as the latest certified drivers. Today the page is completely different, and 7.78 is marked as certified, with 12.4 listed at the top of the page. It was not there yesterday (or I'm going crazy) and it still does not bear certification. The 7.78 drivers were not causing problems with AH (for me). I was getting some problems in Q3, but the 7.91 drivers fixed that. I would test every one of the packages, but everything is working here, so why mess with it?  

GLSetup got my Q3 working without D3D and I think that's important to mention. I tired simply installing the Det 7.78 drivers, and everytime I restarted Q3 it would be back in D3D mode. So, I went looking for GL and viola! I'll defer to your wisdom there.

I think Bloom cleared up the other inconsistencies nicely (Skurj too). These guys have really got to get another naming convention going, or it's going to be even harder to help people.

Sorry, guys. With the system count climbing I'm going to be useless, so I'll just shutup and sit down now.  

[Lephturn]

Wild driver gyrations.  

nVidia goes a tad nuts with the driver version.  So far here at work on a TnT2Pro, the 12.40's are working great... just an FYI.

I hope nVidia took the driver writing team from 3DFX... those guys rocked.
(pats his V5)

------------------
Sean "Lephturn" Conrad - Aces High Chief Trainer

A proud member of the mighty Flying Pigs
http://www.flyingpigs.com

Check out Lephturn's Aerodrome for AH articles and training info!