System Freezes - Please Help me!

[Merlin CH]

Hello!

After one year without major issues, I have now to ask for your help.

I have regular system lockup. Here some details:

Soyo Dragon Plus, latest Bios
AMD 1600 XP
512 MB DDR RAM
Radeon 8500 9072 Driver
Win 98

It all started after flashing my BIOS. The Bios Flash went well, but of course all BIOS settings were back to default. I am 99.5% sure that my lockups are due to wrong BIOS settings, because the same system ran perfectly before. Now I get lockups when I am in a graphic intense game like Aquanox 2. Drivers etc. all well, game run rock solid prior Bios flash.

I think I do have a IRQ conflict. I had lockups when I first built the machine (1 year ago) and I can remember that I had to put the "Assign IRQ to VGA" on "Disable", otherwhise I wasn't even able to load Windows correctly.

This and other settings I remember are now done again in this bios revision and my computer is able to start up.

Then, when I play Aquanox 2, after about 19 Minutes - Lockup.
After a reboot (rebbot-button), I get the system loaded again and can play for 6 Minutes - Lockup.

Reboot-Button again, and this time windows cannot load completely.

Then, shut down system, plug off and wait about 10 secs. Reboot and start game. Level cannot completely be loaded - lockup.

It seems to have a kind of progressive manner.

My Graphic Card and my Soundcard (yes, I disabled the on-board sound) are sharing IRQ 11. They did that before and it worked. But still, I have the impression that I do have a confilct here.

I also get that "Ultra100 BIOS cannot be loaded because there are no drives attached" message. I heard that this is not an error and hence can be overlooked.

Please, I'm at the end of my know-how and need professional support from you.

Can you help?

[BipolarBill]

How old and strong is your power supply?

[biglaker]

Try relocating the sound card to another slot especially if it is in the slot next to the video card. Also, here's a link that may help with your mobo setup:

http://www.amdforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=116775

Good luck. Biglaker

[Peter M]

Don't waste your time pursuing the "IRQ conflict" myth.

Check the cooling, think about whether the power supply is adequate, test the RAM. www.memtest86.com

[Merlin CH]

OK Guys,

Thx for your first replies. No, it's not the power supply, I have 400 Watt and remember, this system ran for more than 1 year perfectly. It's not any heat problem too.

I might try to put the soundcard into another slot. At the moment it is in the second last slot (two empty slots away from the video card.

I am pretty sure that we are talking of a IRQ conflict here. IRQ 5 is empty. Any way to put the soundcard on 5? In the device manager it does not allow me to do so. Why?

Thx guys, keep on bringing in your know-how!

[BipolarBill]

Try clearing CMOS on the motherboard and restarting.

[Merlin CH]

Hi BipolarBill

I'm not that good in that Bios Stuff. But resetting CMOS, would that not just reset my BIOS settings to "default". I mean, I can access my BIOS and I could load Fail Safe or Optimized Defaults.

What would the CMOS jumper help? I'm not questioning your suggestion, I just don't understand what it would do for me?

Thx for clarification Bill!

cu,

[Merlin CH]

I'm attaching my dxdiag.txt - hope somebody sees anything in there.

thx!

[biglaker]

Info on IRQ sharing:
http://www.sudhian.com/faqs.cfm/fid/7/fcid/26.sud

If you've tried relocating your sound card, and you've cleared cmos as BPB suggested, have you then turned off PNP OS in bios (not sure that it is a default state for your bios)?

As for heat, simply because you've had the machine running for a year does not mean that the p/s can not degrade in ability. You could also get a build up of heat from dust, fan failure, etc. Are you running a temp/electrical monitoring program and is it indicating normal conditions?

Biglaker

[All4Babiedoll]

Merlin CH,

This maybe far-fetch,...but I think it's worth looking into, especially since you seem to be at the end of your rope. (figure of speech, no insut intended)
I noticed that your ATI2DRAG.DRV is Not digitally signed by Microsoft. I had an ATI issue one after updating a system. It worked fine in the system UNTIL the update. After alittle eyebrow raising, (and some hair pulling ;) ),....I ended up at the ATI Website,.....to lool for an update for my card. there was one,...but more importantly,...there was a patch there for my system created by a 3rd party,...witch was the key to allowing me to once again use it with my system. Maybe you might be having a similar situation. I would recommend READING that "README" file that usually comes with these types of programs/updates,....that is...if you find out that this ends up being your problem. Reason for this,....because just installing mine wasn't enough....they had specially directions that must be followed exactly, in order for this patch to work. Some of which included REMOVING the actual video card FIRST, and then rellocating the down loaded file.
It's worth a shot.