Still Having Problems!!!

[DapperD]

I am having a hard time with my STB Velocity 4400 and my computer. I have updated the BIOS to the latest revision, I have updated my drivers for my video card, and I have tried all the slot juggling I can muster. No matter what I do my TNT board keeps on crashing when playing games such as Quake, Mechwarrior 3, and Half-Life. I am really frustrated. I would like to manually assign IRQ 11 to the AGP slot but I haven't been able to get that to work properly. I have been able to get a clean IRQ for the AGP card (usually 5, 7, or 9) with no conflicts, however my games keep on crashing!! In addition I have optimized the BIOS to correct for the video card, which includes disabling the Video BIOS cashing and shadowing, and disabling the VGA Palette Snoop. I've set the AGP divider to 2/3 and like I said earlier all the latest drivers for my software, (Velocity drivers 1.6, Detinator drivers 2.08, DirectX 6.1) What do I need to do??? Please help if you can. I am running out of options and I feel like it is a problem with my video card.

[Bleeding Edge]

Sounds like you tried just about all you can. Does the system lock-up when the games crash? Are you actually able to play them for awhile? -never mind...


It still could be a driver problem. Either the soundcard drivers are interfering or need updating. You can try an uninstall/install on those with the lastest drivers.

If your running an OS other than Win98/98SE (well, Win95), could be that you need an updated or motherboard manufacturer specific AGP driver/fix. So check the motherboard site. If it is this, you'll also want to upgrade the Bios on the STB.

The other thing is if your running an non-Intel processor you may need a fix for that. A motherboard Bios upgrade/patches and patches from the STB.

If the games are running for awhile and crashes after about the same amount of time, you may have a overheating issue...

If your overclocking you may want to re-examine the clock and bus settings with your hardware. If you have PC66 modules running at 100MHz, try a different multipler/bus x83.

I can't think of what else.

A bad card?

Give a go at these things if you haven't yet. Like I said, it sounds like you tried everything else.

[DapperD]

Thanx for your suggestions Bleeding Edge. . .here are the specs of my system to give you a better idea:
Intel PII 450 w/128MB ECC RAM (Not Overclocked)
ABit BX6 Rev 2.0
SB Live! Value
RealMagic Hollywood Plus Decoder Board
HP CDWriter 6020i (ISA SCSI Controller)
Toshiba M1212 DVD-ROM Drive
STB Velocity 4400
Windows 98 (Not SE)

I have the PCI slot open next to the AGP slot open so that an IRQ isn't shared and to allow for some cooling. I've been checking the system temperature and it doesn't seem like there is a problem with temperature. What is an exceptable range for system temperature?

My games do run for awhile and then they crash. However I was running my PC with the case open at the time so I don't think that overheating was an issue.

I don't think that the card is exactly bad because it was a handmedown from my father's rig (He upgraded to a Viper 770 Ultra). The card performed fine on his system which I considered to be poorly configured and cluttered with all kinds of junk. My computer isn't running any special software other than Windows, drivers, and games for testing.

[rxblak]

Dude man, Welcome to Hell

First off, remove the SB Live card and drivers. Run it without.... I went through Hell with this card myself. Try this first

Still screwed up?

Have you updated the BIOS for the video card itself? This is needed.

Also run some of those 3gl screen savers for awhile and see if those crash too. Is it just the GL games? How long do they run? And when they crash can you ctrl-alt-del to reboot or is it locked very hard requiring a cold boot?

A clean reinstall of everything sometimes is the only way. Welcome to Microsoft Hell.

-Luck

-RMB

[DapperD]

I've done a ton of clean reinstalls of Windows98 and all the drivers. I am waiting for the new set of LiveWare! 2.1 drivers to come on CD from Creative Labs. . .should have been here days ago!!! My games crash in the middle of playing and require a Ctrl-Alt-Del boot. Half-life sometimes requres a reset switch boot someitmes. The crashes aren't specific only to openGL. In fact, when running Half-Life in DirectX it runs really slow. . .there is delay with my mouse and keyboard movement to what happens on the screen and then the system locks up completely. I'll try another clean install of everything again and put the PCI cards in one by one (although I have done that already about 4 times!!)

I've looked at the BIOS of the Video card and it is at the latest version of 1.1. The STB FAQ said that another BIOS update was not necessary after this level.

Any more suggestions?????

Once again thanks to all who have and hopefully will attempt to help me with this problem!

[FastEddie]

I had some trouble with an AGP Velocity 4400, (artifacts and instability). I flashed the card with the Asus v3400 bios, then loaded the Asus drivers. Now the card works better than it ever did http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif
FastEddie

[DapperD]

Is that safe???? How is your computer's stability?

[FastEddie]

It was a major improvement. The STB 4400 & Asus V3400 are both reference designs, so the cards are basicly the same, (a little faster memory on the Asus).
FastEddie

[DSEG]

I wouldnt recommend flash upgrade from another manufacturer.... have you tried taking out all your hardware and just running the stb on its own? then if it doesnt crash putting cards back in 1 at a time and testing again i have just purchased 8 STB 4400 no tv out cards and only had probs with one running kingpin.

Check that the TNT chip isnt getting too hot as this is a typicle symptom of crashing

[DapperD]

Thanx everyone for all your help. . .I narrowed down everything and found out that the chip was overheating. I went out and purchased a 486 heat sink and fan to put on the TNT chip and it works fine for awhile. . .my case has poor ventilation and air circulation so I am going to purchase another case fan to help circulate the air more. Thanks everybody. . .if anyone has any suggestions about case cooling let me know!!!