4g4a+ not working with ATI AIW Radeon

[pepsimanz]

Posted in the long "4g4a seems promissing..." thread, but seems that it will just be buried soon in the 400+ posts, so I will just post a new topic concerning the 4g4a+.

Just received my 4g4a+ from mwave yesterday and had been playing with it all night last night, turned out to be a nightmare.

This is a new MB for my 1.6a which used to sit in my old MSI 645Ultra.

In my old setup, I used a stick of 256 crucial pc2100 ram, with a generic 400W PS, voltage mod to 1.7v and was able to overclock to 2400mhz (150fsb) with 4:5 settings to get DDR 374 on the crucial ram. I also have an Iwill Raid 100 raiding two 80gb Western Digital 7200rpm HD and a ATI AIW Radeon 32mb ddr.

However, with my 4g4a+, I used all the same components as my previous setup, using the on-board hpt 372 controller, but encountered many problems.

First, I encounter a non XP compliance warning during Windows XP installation. After I chose "continue anyways" and finish the installation process, my computer couldn't load into windows, freezing right at the "welcome" screen. Finally found the problem might be the Video Card, and my ATI AIW Radeon doesn't seem to work with this board. It loads to windows successfully if I just enable the on-board graphics and uninstall the ATI AIW Radeon, so I replaced it with my brother's Gainward G4 4200, and it works fine.

Then, I started OCing. Since my old setup brought my 1.6a to 2.4 and my crucial ddr266 to ddr374, I expected no less. I put my crucial ram in the 2nd slot as suggested by others. I am using the Intel stock fan with AS3 applied, with 1 120mm intake and 1 120mm exhaust fan. Temp seems to be ok at around 35-37 idle for the cpu and low 30s for system. I locked the AGP/PCI, And then...

FSB133, mem 1:1 @ DDR 266, default voltages -- boot, windows, OK

But,
FSB 150, mem 1:1 @ DDR 333, default voltages - boot, freezes before windows finish loading
FSB 150, mem 1:1 @ DDR 333, core 1.6v - boot, freezes before windows finish loading
FSB 150, mem 1:1 @ DDR 333, core 1.7v, mem 2.7v - boot, load to windows, start to get errors, screen starts to get artifacts, freezes
FSB 150, mem 1:1 @ DDR 333, core 1.75v, mem 2.7v - boot, load to windows, start to get errors, screen starts to get artifacts, freezes

Then, i tried to lower my FSB down to 145, but still, no luck.

So now, I am a little concered as to what the problem is. Did I get a defective board since I still can't find out why (and can't find similar problems in this thread and other forums) about my ati aiw radeon not working with the board, I tried the board in another computer, and it was fine.

Does anybody have similar problems?

Or could it be my generic 400 W PS?
Or could it be that the board doesn't like my crucial ram? I just ordered some Corsair xms pc3200, should I try with those ram before I rma it.
Or could it be something else?

Thanks in advance for any help/recommendation


Updates:

I found out from EPOX website that they experienced difficulty with the ATI Radeon DDR 64mb using 4x agp during Windows XP installation. They suggest switching to 2x first, install win xp, install latest ati driver, then switch back to 4x agp. Since my ATI AIW Radeon DDR 32mb uses the same radeon chip (I think), I will try this tonight to see if it's help. However, this still doesn't justify the worse OC that I am getting from my old MSI 645 ultra since I switched to a GF4 4200 when I am OCing.

 

[tech405]

I'm having the same problem with my AIW Radeon as well. Just reloaded XP tonight, and still no go. It freezes at the same place as yours. Do you have any updates since your initial post?

Jason

 

[lookin4dlz]

I believe that the voltage for the AGP slot on some newer boards has changed. Check this & post what you find out.

 

[cj420]

I have a Radeon 8500 128mb card in mine (4g4a+) and it has worked fine from the start. As for the non-compliance issue when loading xp, its the drivers for the high point raid controller that xp doesn't like. ignore the warning because they work fine. i'm not an o'clocker so i can't help you any further. there are some onboard video settings in the bios, did you try disabling all of them when the card is installed?

 

[pepsimanz]

Tech 405:

I also posted this message in the long "4G4A seems promising" thread.

From my last post, I read from EPOX's website (the Bulletin Section) that they have experienced problem with the Radeon DDR 64mb card. Since our ATI AIW uses the same video chip, maybe that's what causing the problem. EPOX claims that it has to do with the board not working well in 4X mode with the radeon card. They suggest switching to 2x agp, install windows or load to windows, then install the latest ati radeon driver, then reboot, after confirming that it's working, then switch back to 4x mode. HOWEVER, I couldn't find the option to switch from 4x mode to 2x mode in the bios. So I don't know if that's the problem.

In addition, my GF4 4200 is also giving my problems installing windows now, so I am RMAing the board and see if it's just a defective board.


CJ420:

I think the message I got was different than the non-compliance message for the Highpoint driver. The message I got didn't say what device or driver is giving the problem, it just saids the "software" is not compliance.

In addition, if I click "stop installation" , then another non-compliance message will appear a couple minutes later stating specifically that the highpoint driver has problems. So i am not sure if they are both pointing to the same device.

I tried clicking "continue as is" and also tried skipping the installation of the "software", but both time, my computer would freeze right after the "welcome" screen.

 

[kgraeme]

I have the Radeon 64 DDR and had the 4G4A+ and didn't notice the two having issues. When I did my system install, I did it without the Radeon, just using the built-in video. Then I would install the Radeon, let Windows load its drivers, then loaded the latest ATI drivers.