GF2 MX Upgrade Problems, Part 2.

[BFG10K]

Some of you may remember the last time I tried to upgrade to a GF2 MX I experienced numerous problems and I went back to my Voodoo 3. I decided to try again with another card, but this time I did a reformat of C: and a clean install of both Windows and my 3D games. Needless to say I am experiencing all of the problems I had before.

My problems have been as follows:

-Stuck at 640 x 480 x 60 Hz 2D res.
-Random lockups in OpenGL and Direct 3D games (Quake 3, Unreal etc).
-A consistently disappearing/corrupted start menu.
-Stray pixel/video artifacts in random areas of the screen.
-Much slower Direct 3D framerates compared to my Voodoo 3, at all resolutions.

I have tried driver versions 5.22, 6.18, 6.34, 6.48, 6.50 and the latest 6.67 and they all exhibit the same problems. Unreal locks up at random intervals in Direct 3D mode and won't even start under OpenGL. Return To Na Pali is the same but it often simply locks up whenever I move the mouse in the GUI.

I have managed to fix the first problem by using Powerstrip to force up the resolutions and the refresh rates, so at least now I can view my desktop at 1024 x 768 x 75 Hz. Since powerstrip is correctly utilising my monitor and my old 3dfx drivers were as well, I can only conclude that it's entirely the fault of nVidia's drivers. Unfortunately even powerstrip can't fix the OpenGL and Direct 3D lockups that I experience in games.

Fastwrites are not causing the problem because my slot is AGP x 2 and they are disabled by default. I have a 235 W power supply and my old Voodoo 3 never caused any problems, so I don't think it's power-related, given the GF2 MX uses less power than my Voodoo 3.

Note that this is a different card and a different manufacturer to my last card so it effectively rules out my first card as being a dud. I'm really sick of nVidia's abysmal drivers. I wasted the whole afternoon reformatting and re-installing all of my programs (I'm still not even finished) and I get the feeling it was all for nothing.

If anyone has any suggestions how to fix these problems, I'm all ears.

 

[Smbu]

It would be easier for ppl to help you if you listed your computer specs.

 

[BFG10K]

Intel Pentium 3 650E.
192 MB PC-133 SDRAM.
Gigabyte BX 2000+ Motherboard.
Gainward CARDExpert GF2 MX (the other card I tried was an MSI Starforce 816).
15" Windows 95 plug-in-play monitor.
Windows 98 SE.
235 W Power Supply.
I tried the Detonator driver versions 5.22, 6.18, 6.31, 6.34, 6.48, 6.50 and 6.67.

 

[BFG10K]

Well I've pretty much re-installed all of my programs now, so now I can focus exclusively on the problems I'm having with the card.

I tried to have a quick game of Quake 3 just to see what 32 bit/large textures look like and the game locked up in the first 30 seconds of play. I'm really getting tired of this. :|

 

[BenSkywalker]

Gigabyte BX 2000+ Motherboard

Is your problem, a notoriosly poor AGP slot. Do you have a revision 1.1 or later board with the Voodoo3 jumpers? Edit The + indicates revision 1.2 or later so you should definately have the jumpers.

Did you mention this last time you had problems? If not, I should have asked. If you did, sorry for not catching it.

 

[BenSkywalker]

BFG-

Just downloaded the manual for your mobo. Between your Slot1 and your DIMM slots there is a set of jumpers, JP20 and JP21 that right now are probably both be closed(have jumpers on them). Remove both jumpers. These may be obstructed by your heatsink/fan, hard to tell by looking at the pdf image

These two jumpers are

"Close for Voodoo III
VGA Card"

"Open Normal (Default)"

I assume since you have been operating without problem with your V3 for so long these jumpers are closed(present).

If you download the pdf off of Gigabyte's website it is on page 26of77.

Hope this fixes things for you

 

[BFG10K]

BenSkywalker:

JP20 and the JP21 should be closed whenever you require more power to go through the AGP slot, so it's not just the Voodoo 3. You should also do it for the GF DDR. The reason why these switches made no difference before is because I had a Voodoo 3 2000 PCI.

I wouldn't have thought that a GF2 MX required so much AGP power, but it can't hurt to try closing the switches anyway.

I've looked at the switches and I have no idea if they're closed or not. How can I tell? All I see is four pins sticking up from the motherboard. The two left pins have metal arms coming out from them, encased in black plastic. From a top view it looks a bit like this:

|--|. .
|_|. .

How do I close/open the jumpers?

 

[Gstanfor]

take a look at this page Jumper Examples.

Look at the first line of graphics. The leftmost (1-2) jumper is OPEN (electrically unconnected). The rest of the jumpers are CLOSED (electrically connected).

You can think of a jumpercap like a matchbox cover - it has an insulating outer plastic jacket and a metal interior structure that shorts (electrically connects) the two motherboard pins it sits over together.

Regards

Greg

 

[BFG10K]

So if I have the plastic bits does that mean it's closed? At the moment the other two pins aren't being touched by the metal arms.

Is the idea to have the metal arms connected both sets of pins? If it is, the only way I can see how to do this is to remove the plastic bits and rotate the arms 180 degrees to make contact with the rightmost pins, something like:

.--.
._.

 

[Gstanfor]

NO!!!

Do not rotate that jumper cap! You must only jumper the proper pins on your motherboard, or you could permanently damage it and anything plugged into it.

You need to get another jumper cap (from an computer store or a friend, etc) and close the open set of jumpers.

The jumpers are closed when the pastic cap is inserted over them.

If you do not already possess a motherboard manual, go and download one BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE. Look on page 26, there will probably be a table and a diagram showing how to set the jumpers correctly (can't say for sure since I have not downloaded a copy of the manual - just going on what Ben stated).

if after reading the manual you still are unsure of what to do, please get an experienced friend to help you, or get the work done at a store.

Regards

Greg

 

[BFG10K]

I've got a proper printed manual for my motherboard but it doesn't explain how to open/close the jumpers. I also have two jumper caps (plastic bits) but each one is only touching the leftmost pin. According to the manual the leftmost and the rightmost pins must be closed.

So if this is a plastic jumper |_|
and these are the two pins . .
the switch currently looks like:

|_|. .

Is this closed or open?

 

[Gstanfor]

That is an open jumper and to close it you must bridge both of the pins. It's a common practice to park a jumper cap on only one pin of a jumper, if setting it to open. This avoids losing the jumper.

All you need to do is remove one jumper at a time, don't change the jumpers direction and cover both pins with it. Repeat for the second jumper and you will be fine.

A little hint - look carefully at the board near the jumpers, you should see the names of the jumpers in white lettering (JP20, JP21) the writing usually is written in line with the jumper orientation (but not always).

Regards

Greg

 

[BFG10K]

That is an open jumper and to close it you must bridge both of the pins. It's a common practice to park a jumper cap on only one pin of a jumper, if setting it to open. This avoids losing the jumper.

Thanks, that's just as I suspected.

BTW the manual explains everything about which jumpers I should close and where they're located. What I was trying to say was that the method of closing them wasn't explained.

Does it matter which side the jumper touches both pins? For example I could close the pins:

top side
. .
bottom side

Does it matter which side (top or bottom) the connection is made?

 

[CHHASmatroxuser]

You have 4 pins arranged something like this:

x x

x x


2 pins make up a connection (JP 20 and 21), and you need to connect the right ones,
your motherboard manual should tell you which pins corresponds to which connection,
perhaps like thus

x x JP20

x x JP21

This indicated that the pins must be connected like this

x---x JP20

x---x JP21

 

[BFG10K]

OK, I've connected the two jumpers together but I'm still having the same lockups as before. As I suspected, the GF2 MX's voltage requirements weren't high enough to cause power-related problems in the first place.

What detonator drivers are the most stable?

I've also noticed that the GF2 MX is sharing IRQ 10 with something else. Is this a problem? My Voodoo 3 worked with with a shared IRQ and I'm not keen on the idea of forcing IRQs.

Also, why the hell isn't there a setting to disable vsync in Direct 3D?

 

[Gstanfor]

Ok we are making progress.

First, nVidia cards will not share IRQ's with other devices under win9x. This is almost certainly the cause of your troubles. You must ensure the GeForce has an IRQ to itself.

You can disable v-sync in D3D, but first you need to apply the coolbits registry patch (won't work for 6.49 or 6.50)

there is a great resource/knowledge base for GeForce users on the 'net GeForce FAQ - I strongly suggest you read through it (not all of it its huge - just the parts that affect you).

Regards

Greg

 

[BenSkywalker]

Well, I guess my idea wasn't it

What device is the GF2MX sharing an IRQ with?

Do you have any PCI slots open? Some devices will work fine sharing an IRQ under Win9X with a nVidia board, but not too many(I have three currently sharing IRQ 10 including my DDR).

A quick way to free some up and get your GF "alone", without needing to force IRQs most of the time, is disable legacy ports that you aren't using(COM/Serial etc). You can do this through the BIOS. If that doesn't work, try switching the physical location of whatever device is sharing with the GF.

 

[Dark4ng3l]

If I was having suck problems with my card I would return it pronto and not waste my time trying to fix it. Just my .02

 

[RoboTECH]

wBFG, you're experiencing very similar problems to those that I had periodically, tho yours are much worse.

What, exactly, is using IRQ10? The GTS cards HATE sharing IRQ's. I have a Live, a pair of NIC's, a modem, and a SCSI card, so trying to avoid sharing IRQ's is basically an impossibility for my system.

In order to get the GTS to work stable in my system, I had to move the modem and one of the NIC's to another system (Networking crap).

If it's just 'PCI IRQ steering', then don't worry about it.

Is it sharing with USB? What kind of mouse do you have? If you have a PS2 mouse, don't worry about it, it'll be on IRQ12.

If it's sharing with the modem, that shouldn't be a problem. If it's sharing with your soundcard, MOVE THE SOUNDCARD. That is a horrid problem.

You don't have anything in the first PCI slot, do you? Typically, AGP cards share IRQ's with PCI-0 (the first PCI slot)

Also, your board, the Gigabyte, HATES nvidia cards. Just thought I'd let you know.

I assume you have disabled sidebanding and fast writes, yes?

Oh, and congrats on FINALLY getting a REAL CPU, heh....

 

[BFG10K]

IRQ 11 is being shared with my GF2 MX and with ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI steering. No other devices are using IRQ 11.

As to the slot usage, I have a 10/100 PCI network card (disabled), a Yamaha PCI audio card and an ISA modem which seems to like using the COMM 1 port.

Also my AGP slot is only 2X speed so I don't have side banding/fastwrites enabled.

I could try disabling USB, the parallel port and the COMM 2 port I guess. The BIOS was already set to assign an IRQ for VGA when I had my Voodoo 3. Also my network card is disabled and my mouse is connected to the PS2 port, not USB.

So, do you guys think that the ACPI PCI steering would conflict with the GF2 MX? Is it worth me trying to disable all that other stuff?

 

[Mem]

There have been problems with Nvidia cards in Abit & Gigabyte boards,so there is not much you can do, it`s not a driver problem more motherboard & Nvidia card problem,go through all possible solutions from here on Geforce FAQ unfortunately you have one of those (problem motherboards that is listed)if you cannot get it to work then your only option is change video card or motherboard.

 

[RoboTECH]

I'm gonna have to agree with Mem. You're SOL BFG.

 

[oldfart]

BFG, you are destined to have that Voodoo 3 forever.

 

[BFG10K]

Well, if nobody's got any more suggestions I guess all I can do is return the card and order an ATi Radeon online. Hopefully I won't experience the same problems with the Radeon as I did with both of my GF2 MX's. I've still got a few more days before I have to return the card so I'll see if any more suggestions are put forward.

Is it possible that a BIOS update might cure the problem? There have been several BIOS revisions since my motherboard was released but none of them mention fixing anything to do with video cards/AGP/compatibility. Has anybody had problems with 440BX motherboards and GF2 MXs which have been cured by motherboard BIOS updates?

 

[Dark4ng3l]

Hmm I would update the bios anyway.