ABIT KT7, Thunderbird 800, CL SB Live!, CL TNT2 - lockups!

[runnyhunny]

Hi folks,

A month or two ago, I built myself a new system:

ABIT KT7 (non-RAID) motherboard
AMD Thunderbird 800 CPU
128 MB PC100 RAM
13 GB EIDE hard disc (UDMA/66)
24x EIDE CD ROM drive
CL SB Live! 1024/Value sound card
CL TNT2Ultra AGP video card
ATI TV-Wonder card
RealTek 8029 Ethernet card
Diamond SupraExpress 56i ISA modem
Logitech WingMan Formula Force USB wheel
PS/2 keyboard/mouse
Floppy drive

All is well, except... if I run a 3D game (Grand Prix 3, Grand Prix Legends, Sports Car GT etc.) the system will lock solid after a short while - sometimes 30 seconds, and sometimes 20 minutes.

If I remove the sound card (or just disable it in Device Manager), then these crashes don't occur. Therefore, I blame the SB Live! However, I since tried some old ISA sound cards (a Yamaha and Opti) and I still had the same problem.

I have tried *lots* of different PCI slot arrangements, and also lots of different driver revisions for the TNT2 card and SB Live! card. BUT IT STILL CRASHES!!! I have also tried the VIA 4.25a chipset drivers, and the 1.03 BIOS from ABIT.

What am I doing wrong?! I've read the KT7-FAQ, but there is nothing in there which helps me. :-(

Any suggestions would be appreciated!


Richard.

 

[AC]

Could it be IRQ conflicts as a result of IRQ sharing? What OS are you running?

 

[Enigma]

Yep my thoughts what OS?

 

[runnyhunny]

Oops! I forgot to mention the OS!

I am running Windows 98 (first edition).

I have tried the BIOS PCI IRQ settings on 'Auto', and moving the cards around. I have also tried setting specific separate IRQs. It still crashes. :-(

At the moment, the only IRQ sharing is my USB and TV card. All the other devices have their own. However, if I remove the TV card, the system still crashes.

I have ACPI enabled, because it's FORCED on by my BIOS. Could this be the culprit, I wonder? Sadly, it looks like that only way I'll find out is if I re-install Win 98 with the 'setup /p i' option. :-(

At the moment, I am looking to blame the TNT2Ultra card, but having said that, the system only crashes if I have a sound card fitted! So maybe it's the motherboard...?! HELP!


Richard.

 

[AC]

If the problem is not with IRQs, they could be bad drivers (if you haven't looked for updated ones). DirectX too maybe?

This problem only occurs with games, right?

Have you confirmed that it's not a memory issue? If you are low on memory or system resources, it could do that too. Nothing running in background, enough free RAM and system resources availiable, etc.

I'll try to come up with more ideas.

 

[Rottie00]

Hmm, maybe upgrading to Win98 Second Edition might help. That's what I run and have no problems, with a similar (sort of) setup to yours. Try unconnecting all peripherals and cards except your vid card, snd card, hard drive, cdrom drive, and floppy drive, keyboard and mouse. If you still have the same problem, well then you know the extra stuff isn't the culprit. If you know someone with a different vid card, you might try theirs too.

-John

 

[runnyhunny]

I've tried a few more things out, and got nowhere. :-(

So, in one last attempt, I re-formatted, and installed Windows 2000. I added the VIA USB filter driver, VIA 4-in-1 pack (chipset drivers), NVidia display drivers (5.32) and the driver kit for my Logitech WingMan Formula Force wheel/pedals.

I thought the crashes had gone, but they came back (although less frequently than with 98). I then added the Microsoft VIA AGP 'hotfix', and this made things better - but still not totally stable. I installed the 'LargePageMinimum' registry patch, which Microsoft recommend for Athlon systems with AGP. It still crashed!

Now, I've upgraded to version 6.47 of the NVidia display drivers, which are supposed to be better on AMD/VIA systems. So far, it hasn't crashed! I'll play a few more games now... 🙂