Help please, more A7V problems (and I've read through the forum)

[grifter12]

Ok, here my situation:

Tbird 800 w/stock fan (runs about 50 deg. C)
2 64 MB PC100 DIMMs
2 HDs as masters on the Promise ports
Plextor CDR as master on IDE port
Diamond Viper 770 (TNT2U)
Diamon Monster Sound MX300 (Aureal Vortex 2)
USB "expander" that came w/the MB

Nothing is OC'ed and my system performance setting is set to "Normal" w/DIMM interleave off, PnP OS off, etc. I've tried every combination of these settings being on and off.

I've had this setup for a week and WinMe would randomly crash after about 10 minutes. After tinkering w/the BIOS, I was somewhat stable but Half-Life would crash 2 minutes in.

So I give up and get Win2K. It's stable for the most part but there seems to be pausing during some activities and the system hangs when I try to log off, requiring a reboot.

If anyone has ANY idea what I can do, please pitch in, I'm in my busiest quarter ever as a college student and can't afford to be tinkering w/my PC all day any longer. Any help is great appeciated, thanks in advance.

Oh yeah, I've also tried installing and uninstalling the AMD AGP patch and the AGP4X patch on geforcefaq.com.

Oh, also, VIA/AGP drivers are updated, drivers are newly installed, BIOS version is 1004c, and AGP 4X, along with fast writes, are off.

 

[blammo22]

Some ideas:
1) Try an earlier BIOS - 1003 works well for me (lower temps).
2) Try Detonator 3 6.26 and up - they have some fixes for KT133 motherboards. Maybe try leaked 6.34 - supposed to have improved stability in 3D games.
3) Try yanking your sound card - a lot of people have had problems with the MX300 card on an A7V. Others have reported it working okay with the Aureal reference drivers... although the installation process might be tricky.
4) Make sure your using Via 4in1 4.24a or higher. Some have said that installing the AGP driver only gives improved stability in Win98SE and up...
5) Try underclocking your processor (with the DIPs) - maybe see if it runs stable at 700MHz or so. If this fixes it, you may need to get a better HSF. Also make sure your case has good cooling (at least one fan blowing in, one blowing out) - I've got a 4000RPM Delta 8cm fan blowing the hot air from my HSF out the back (noisy, though).
6) Try different memory if possible. Make sure the memory settings are 8ns - slowest possible - for troubleshooting...

In my case, I had major problems with my SBLive - I finally switched to a Yamaha card. Currently, I'm running very stable in Win2K (no crashes at all even at 900MHz), but Win98SE has been giving me a lot of random freezes lately... I'm currently troubleshooting it. Good luck.

 

[KGB]

In regards to Blammo's suggestions:

1. Do not use the Det3 drivers (6.xx). These are written for GeForce cards and will actually SLOW DOWN your TNT2. Stick with the 5.xx (5.22 my fav).

2. Definitelt get the Aureal Vortex2 reference drivers for your MX300. The std. Diamond ones will cause lock-ups. The Win2K reference drivers are a little tricky to install (certainly use the readme file).

3. If you are running 98SE, all you need (out of the 4in1s) is the VIAGART.VXD driver. SE has native support for all other VIA devices.

Let us know how you make out.

 

[grifter12]

Thanks guys. I'll keep you updated. I don't really want to flash to an older BIOS version but I've done almost everything else suggested.

I think my CPU should run fine at 50C but my power supply is 230W and may be causing problems, so I just ordered the Antec SX830 from Onvia. Hope that arrives soon.

I've already set up those tricky beta Vortex drivers for Win2K and have WinMe running, does that have VIA support out of the box as well? As for the Detonators, I reverted back to 5.32.

 

[midknight]

Well, I've finally solved my VIA + TBird problems - memory. Turns out that one of my memory sticks is fine running on my old Celery-based box, but the TBird is less tolerant. Leaving it with just the one 128Mb stick has smoothed everything. I thought it was AGP related, as it only crashed in 3D stuff, but it turns out that its just that my 2D software doesn't use as much memory and fits on the first stick.

 

[sandorski]

Grifter: If I remember correctly, I think BIOS 1004c was made for a particular OEM mobo and not for general use. Perhaps someone can clarify whether this is true or not.

 

[grifter12]

sandorski: Hmm..I'd be happy if that was true but doubt it...

Update: WinMe seems somewhat stable now but still crashing sometimes so I'm playing w/the BIOS. I was told to get rid of my MX300 because that has clashed w/many an Athlon system but I'm too low on cash to go out and grab an SB. Instead I just experimented w/the PCI slots and turned every feature off except the audio. Still think the card's causing problems tho.

Do any other A7V users have problems shutting down WinMe or Win2K?