asrock 939dual-sata2 -- pci-agp driver problem

[smthmlk]

I've tried installing the AGP driver off the cd that comes with the motherboard, off of asrocks website, and then from the 'integrated' 2.20 driver set from nvidia's ULi drivers page--all yield the same results:

- If the agp-pci bridge driver is installed, installing the nvidia graphics driver gets to the point where the screen flickers once or twice, but then simply goes blank. The monitor doesn't lose signal, but it shows a black screen, and the system must be reset via button.

- If the pci-agp bridge driver is NOT installed, then the graphics driver installs fine and works.. but poorly. Running 3dmark05 shows the card getting half the score this video card and ram got in an older 32bit xp mobile system (same vid card, ram, hds, psu, etc, but different mobo and proc).

- If I boot into safe mode to install the graphics driver while the pci-agp bridge driver is installed, it installs fine, but windows hangs (black screen again, but monitor not losing signal) as soon as the scrolling bar goes away, right before the 'welcome' screen comes up.

I've reseated the video card many times as that was the cause of a problem with this 7600gs in a previous system which gave similar problems (screen losing signal at the same point in driver installation, etc). The card does work (have had it in two other systems without problems besides the seating issue mentioned), and everything in this new system is known to work from previous systems except this asrock motherboard.

I've put in a spare ati radeon 9250 agp to see if the ati drivers would install, and they seem to work ok. A spare 9800pro also works just fine. Perhaps this is a 7600gs agp specific problem with this motherboard? (sigh!)

What is the deal with this pci-agp bridge driver? Is there a known issue with the 7600gs agp and this motherboard? Any recommended pci-agp bridge drivers to use? Any known foulups caused by this particular driver?

Video Drivers tried:
- 91.33 beta
- 91.47 official
- the drivers included on the evga cd.
* All hang/produce a black screen at the same sort of spot (screen flicker spot).

AGP-PCI Bridhge drivers tried:
- whatever comes on the cd w/ mobo
- the 2.30's from ULi's website.
- whatever comes with the "Integrated 2.20' package from nvidia's ULi driver page.
- whatever comes with the 'Integrated 2.13' package from nvidia's ULi driver page.
* All produce the same behavior.

System temps are right where they should be (upper 30s on both, about 85F in the room). Video card is running in the upper 40's/low 50's, right where it was on previous systems with similar room temps.

specs:
amd 3700+ san diego 939 (stock/auto settings)
asrock 939Dual-Sata2 (latest bios, 2.20)
2x512MB mushkin blue-line pc3200 ram (@ auto settings)
evga 7600gs agp 256MB
seagate 7200.7 200GB ide drive
Fortron AX400 400w psu (worked fine w/ this 7600 in a previous system)
Windows XP Pro SP2

 

[Ike0069]

Check out this FAQ for this board, it should answerr pretty much any question you have:
http://www.ocwforums.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=40579

- install ULi Integrated driver 2.20
- during installaion, make sure both AGP driver and LAN driver are checked.
- unchecked USB 2.0 driver if you are using Windows XP SP1 and above.
- REMEMBER to REBOOT when prompted.
- upon reboot, check if the AGP driver is installed correctly.

** Here is how you check, if the AGP driver installed correctly, you should see "ULi AGP v3.0 Controller" under "System Devices" in Device Manager, it's usually the last entry under "System Devices". If you dont see that in Device Manager, goto Add/Remove Programs to uninstall all ULi related drivers, and try to repeat the above steps to get a correct result. (Sometimes do another clean windows installation may help, I know it's painful ).

- ONLY install your graphics driver if prior AGP driver are setup correctly.
- REBOOT again when prompted.
- done!


Initially I had AGP problems also, but using the above steps it worked perfectly.
It's been a while since I did this and the link is old, so make sure you get the latest ULi Integrated driver.

If this doesn't work, then I would say it's something to do with the 7600GS specifically.

 

[smthmlk]

will give this a try. thanks for the post!

EDIT: Same exact behavior. The ULi agp-pci bridge driver shows up correctly in the device manager. (This was done on a fresh install of winxp, with absolutely nothing else installed before installing the uli integrated 2.20's as specified.)

sigh

 

[Ike0069]

It appears there is a problem with this board and some 7600 series cards. I'm looking for more info right now.

 

[Ike0069]

I can't seem to find any specifics right now, but I keep seeing random post tht refer to a problem with 7600 series cards and what aperas to be all Uli chipset Asrock boards. Doesn't matter if the card is AGP or PCI-e either.

Of course it's late and I mioght be misreading some of this info, but you are definitely not the first to have an issue.

Is this card factory OC'd? That was specifically mentioned as to a possible source of the issue. It's possible it's an NVidia driver issue with the newer ones. Try going back to 83.xx or earlier. Read one post where that seemed to work for someone.

Good luck.

 

[smthmlk]

the card is not oc'd at all, from the factory or otherwise (that i know of.) I would try the older 80 series drivers, except very, very, very few driver versions support this card. So far i've found exactly 3 that support it: 91.33 betas, 91.47 officiails, and whatever comes with the card on the evga cd. I doubt any 80 series is going to support this card. If you've heard of any particular 80 series that works, however, I'll give it a try.

 

[Survivor1979]

You may want to set the "AGP P2P Deep Fifo" option in the BIOS (under Advanced - Chipset Configuration) to Enabled, and see if that fixes your problem.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Survivor1979
You may want to set the "AGP P2P Deep Fifo" option in the BIOS (under Advanced - Chipset Configuration) to Enabled, and see if that fixes your problem.

Good call, I didn't think of that. As far as I know that option was meant for bridged AGP Nvidia cards (like the 6600GT), and I'm not sure if the 7600GS is bridged too but I would guess that it is.

 

[smthmlk]

will give it a try. thanks

 

[wishon]

Hi guys. GOT THE SOLUTION!

Same problem, the Asrock 939Dual-Sata2 and a 7600GS, tried a Club3D AGP with fan and an XFX AGP also with fan. Tried installing the ULi Integrated 220 in correct order with graphics driver afterwards, but no luck. The screen still went dark during install just as windows tries to initialize the drivers. As mentioned at the end of this thread, enabling AGP P2P Deep Fifo in BIOS does the trick. Drivers installed with no problems, everything his quite dandy Even though the AGP P2P Deep Fifo is set on auto, it didn't help. You need to set it manually to enabled.

Thx guys, good luck!

 

[smthmlk]

didn't fix it for me. i sold the board. way too many problems even with a pci-e card. very unstable board, or not worth 100 hours of work to make it stable. thanks for the posts, though. much appreciated.