ASUS P4S8X + Radeon 9700 Pro = NIGHTMARE!!

[Rick67]

Well, I finally received my mobo today. I guess you could say I was lucky and my system was able to POST without any problems. Putting everything together and installing the OS went smoothly. On the surface everything looks to be running fine. However, everything is not fine in Radeon land!

The first problem I discovered was that I couldn't make it through 3DMARK2001SE without it crashing to my desktop somewhere in the middle of the 5th test.

If I go into Display Properties and click on the ATI Options tab and then the Details tab it shows Bus Type as AGP 1X, AGP 2X, and AGP 4X. It also shows Current Bus Setting as AGP 2X. AGP 8X is nowhere to be found! I have AGP 8X set in the BIOS so this is very strange. Also, someone over at rage3d.com suggested that I install the SiS AGP driver so I found it on the disc that came with my mobo and installed it. Well, prior to intalling it, Current Bus Setting showed 1X. So after installing the SiS AGP driver my Current Bus Setting went from 1X to 2X. Also, afte installing the SiS AGP driver, now instead of it crashing to my desktop when I run 3DMARK2001SE, my whole PC crashes and reboots!!

Could someon else running a P4S8X/Radeon 9700 Pro combo check and see what their AGP settings are? Also, is anyone else having this problem? It's been suggested that my powersupply could be causing the problem. Here's my hardware:

Intel P4 2.53GHz
ASUS P4S8X
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
Corsair XMS 2700 512MB
Antec True430
Western Digital SE 80GB
Creative Audigy Gamer
Plextor PlexCombo 20/10/40-12A
Logitech Elite
LIAN LI PC-61
Microsoft IntelliMouse SE
Sony FDD

The BIOS is showing:

VCORE Voltage is 1.40V
+3.3V Voltage 3.20-3.24
+5V Voltage 4.91-4.94
12V Voltage 11.84-11.90

 

[RideFree]

ATI has had a littany of issues throughout the years. It'll take a year for the 9700 to mellow.
May all of your issues be little teeny weenie ones. I gotta wish you luck.

 

[o1die]

You may want to try sis agp version 1.10, if it wasn't on your cd. You can download it off the sis website.

 

[Mootorks]

Rick67,

First off don't worry about the ATI Display Details not showing AGP 8X. That is a known bug. Your card is running at AGP 8X. You can check this buy looking at your system information in 3DMark2001SE. 3DMark will correctly show that your system is running at AGP 8X. The bug in the ATI drivers will be fixed in the next official release of drivers.

Secondly, Install the latest beta bios 1004.002 for the P4S8X

ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/sock478/p4s8x/1004-002.zip

I noticed several stability improvements after installing this BIOS. Before this bios i could not get War III to run, now It runs like a charm

As for the SIS Driver, I believe the latest version 1.11 came on the ASUS P4S8X driver CD. But you can still download and reinstall if your not sure.

As far instability is concerned look for a few things:
1. RAM Timings, ensure that speedy ram isn't causing any problems. Set the timings to either be autodetected in the BIOS (SPD) or set them conservatively yourself.
2. IRQ Sharing, go into device manager and ensure that the Radeon 9700 isn't sharing any resources. If you feel really paranoid, then make sure your sound card doesn't share any either.
3. AGP Aperture, some people have gotten success simply by changing the AGP Aperture settings in the BIOS. Fool around with all the settings, see if any of them bring greater stability. If not, then leave it at the default of 64MB.
4. Install the latest Direct 3D patch released as of yesterday Sept 10th.
5. Install the leaked beta drivers 6159 and see how that helps.

I'm running the P4S8X and the 9700 PRO and it runs great. My only remaining problems are lock-ups with Battlefield 1942 and Dungeon Siege.

If I think of anything else i'll let you know.

-Mootorks

 

[Rick67]

Mootorks,

What's strange is the problem getting through 3dmark2001SE without it crashing seems to be completely random. Without making any changes I was able to get through the whole test without it crashing. My score seemed about right at 13984. I ran the test again right after that success and it crashed to the desktop.

I just picked up a new Enermax EG465P-VE FCA 431 Watt power supply and I'm getting ready to install it now. I just installed the 1004.002 BIOS you provided and was running 3dmark as I typed this and it crashed to the desktop again. Anyway, I'll give the power supply a try because I've been told my rails look low.

Can you help me out with some BIOS settings? Not sure about the following settings:

Chipset Clock Mode - Synchronous, Asynchronous, or Performance?

Graphics Aperture Size - Default was 64MB. Should this be left at default or changed to 128MB, 256MB or other?

AGP Fastwrite Capability - Enabled or Disabled??

AGP Voltage Adjustment - 1.5V, 1.6V, 1.7V, or Auto?

DDR Voltage Adjustment - 2.5V, 2.6V, 2.7V, or Auto?? FYI, I have Corsair XMS 2700 2-3-3-6-T1.

Primary VGA BIOS - AGP VGA Card or PCI VGA Card??

Not sure on these settings. I think I've got all the other settings correct.

Now to the power supply.

 

[Dulanic]

Originally posted by: Rick67
Mootorks,

What's strange is the problem getting through 3dmark2001SE without it crashing seems to be completely random. Without making any changes I was able to get through the whole test without it crashing. My score seemed about right at 13984. I ran the test again right after that success and it crashed to the desktop.

I just picked up a new Enermax EG465P-VE FCA 431 Watt power supply and I'm getting ready to install it now. I just installed the 1004.002 BIOS you provided and was running 3dmark as I typed this and it crashed to the desktop again. Anyway, I'll give the power supply a try because I've been told my rails look low.

Can you help me out with some BIOS settings? Not sure about the following settings:

Chipset Clock Mode - Synchronous, Asynchronous, or Performance?

Graphics Aperture Size - Default was 64MB. Should this be left at default or changed to 128MB, 256MB or other?

AGP Fastwrite Capability - Enabled or Disabled??

AGP Voltage Adjustment - 1.5V, 1.6V, 1.7V, or Auto?

DDR Voltage Adjustment - 2.5V, 2.6V, 2.7V, or Auto?? FYI, I have Corsair XMS 2700 2-3-3-6-T1.

Primary VGA BIOS - AGP VGA Card or PCI VGA Card??

Not sure on these settings. I think I've got all the other settings correct.

Now to the power supply.

I couldnt tell you about chipset mode... but it sounds like memory speed.... Fastwrites enabled, AGP default would be 1.5... auto is fine... DDR default is 2.5 or auto is fine (Both thoose 2 can be raised for OCing higher.... Primary VGA doesnt matter unless you have 2 video cards.