Help, unique problem with S3 S540 mission

[Dyngoe]

Hi Y'all

I'm trying to do the impossible. I have a S3 Savage4 Stealth 32mb PCI card and I'm trying to get it working with my old TXPro Mobo. I have almost everything fixed as long as I don't turn the computer off. If I turn my system off it boots through? the video bios and hangs right after it and shows only a blinking cursor in the upper left corner. If I clear the CMOS, I can boot through the BIOS(I am required to fix certain settings in the BIOS to boot) and everything works fine. I actually have full hardware acceleration enabled in win98 and I can post decent numbers in 3DMark.(For a P233 with Ali chips). So, I've read almost everything about the problems with Ali and S3. Everything works fine once booted, but I need to figure out why my system hangs right after displaying the video bios.
Thanks,
D
My System:
P233@266 75Mhz fsb
S3 Stealth II S540 PCI 32MB "Latest" Bios "BiPolar" Drivers
SoundBlaster Live
Kingston 10/100 NIC
M575 PCChips Mobo Ali TXPro chipset
72MB Ram
WD Expert 9.1GB UDMA66 HD running @ UDMA33 onboard
Enough cooling!

 

[MrChicken]

This may be as simple as "it wont work" because the TX prochipset might not have the correct PCI spec for the video card. Check on that. I'd guess the TX Pro has PCI spec 1 or 1.1 and the Video card requires 2.0 or higher. No, I dont know what the difference between the specs are.

 

[Dyngoe]

From what I have found the mobo will support PCI 2.1. Besides that, I have read that Ali chipsets don't work well with S3 cards. Personally I believe that's bulls@#t, but I'm trying to prove it by getting this working. There is no reason, if I can get it to boot(after clearing the cmos) and run steady in 3dmark for over two hours, that it should not be able to boot through every time.

Thanks,
D

 

[MrChicken]

Ok, the PCI spec is good, the next thing I would check is IRQ and address asignments before and after the reboot.
Clearing the cmos may give set the IRQ's and addresses to a certain value, but windows may change them and then they take effect on the reboot. It could be for any device, not just the video card that the assignments change.
Oh, and did you try setting it at 66mhz bus, in case the video card just doesnt like the faster pci speed that goes with the 75mhz bus?

 

[Dyngoe]

I've tried 66mhz, 60mhz, 75mhz and 85mhz FSB on my mobo. I like the 75 even though the 85 works. It's my parents computer and they need stability. The only reason I used the S540 at all was because it was free and they had a 1Mb ISA video card. I must clarify that, once I have turned on the comp and reset the CMOS and BIOS, I can boot into Windows(98Lite) and restart( including the Restart button on my case) as many times as I want. However, when I shut down the comp and turn it back on, the system freezes after it shows the video cards bios information. It happens BEFORE any mobo info shows up. I know it must be a bios setting error right? Hell, I've invested too much time to quit now. some of my ideas have been: disable Mobo Bios Shadow and Vid Bios Shadow, I've set IRQ to 9, 10, 11, I've also eliminated VGA frame buffer. Basically I've tried some serious amounts of S%&T! So, give me some neat Bios tweaks please.
As Always,
D

 

[MrChicken]

Hmm, I'd still stay with the theory that the MB has updated the resources for the devices afetr the boot into windos and they arent taking effect until after the power off.
My guess is that the bios has juggled some assignments and the Video card and something else are conflicting.
Have you tried diabling every thing else or removing what you can? The TX pro has built in sound doesnt it? But it can be disbaled both in the bios and by jumper, correct or am I thinking of another pcchips board?
I'd pull out what I could and disable the sound and see if it still happens.

 

[Dyngoe]

OK!!!!! F&CK Yeah!!! I think that actually worked!!! I believe I have the only working S3 S540 PCI video card working at full tilt on an Ali TXPro mobo. I'll Keep checking in, but please send more ideas. This is my parents comp and I need it to work well. If I had the option I'd have ATI or 3DFX, but money constaints halt me. Any other ideas are also welcome.
Thanks to all at Anand,
D

 

[Dyngoe]

Consider it still broken. I shut it down, counted fifteen and restarted twice when I wrote the last note. Then I shut it down for two minutes and it's back to it's old tricks. It boot right through the video bios and freezes with only a blinking cursor. It never shows any indication that it hits the mobo bios at all. I'm loosing it guys, please help.
As Always,
D

 

[Rigoletto]

The SIII AGP certainly drives me up the wall. Diamond support is non existent also. I can only boot from AGP in WindowsME with my Voodoo uninstalled with it on. The card nonetheless crashes waking from suspends.
This SIII is a buggy piece of shiit. Don't drive yourself round the bend with it, get something else. Sell it. You might get $40 dollars for it but you will be glad to get rid of it.:disgust:

 

[Dyngoe]

OK, thanks for the idea. But I believe this massive commercialism has only degraded US society. Thanks freshman philosophy. Anyway, I think I figured it out. I DO have an IRQ problem. In my BIOS I have my devices set up as follows:
IRQ 10 - PCI Slot 1 - SBLive(Slot # printed on Mobo)
IRQ 9 - PCI Slot 2 - NIC (Actually on slot 3 but IRQ gets assigned on 2)(# on mobo)
IRQ 11 - PCI Slot 4 - VGA(#mobo)
In Windows I have:
IRQ 10 - PCI Slot 1 - SBLive
IRQ 9 - PCI Slot 2(Slot 3) - NIC
IRQ 11 - PCI Slot 4 - VGA
HOWEVER in the splash screen during the boot I read:
SLOT 1 - IRQ 11 - VGA
SLOT 2 - IRQ 9 - NIC
SLOT 4 - IRQ 10 - SBLIVE
To sum it up, the numbers in my screen BIOS match win 98 device manager and the IRQ's in my Bios splash screen. However, the PCI Slot 1 and 4 are switched in the Bios Splash screen. I'm blown away by this. I'm thinking about flashing my mobo with another PCChip Bios. Stop me from doing this and please give me some idea.
Thanks,
D

 

[Bartman39]

Uh just a question but why not put the video card in slot #1??? I seem to remember that on the TXpro boards only the top slot #1 is a buss mastering slot??? Also take the nic out till the problem is fixed (might be way off base but I would`nt flash the bios just yet)...

 

[Dyngoe]

I Still can't boot once I've turned my computer off. I haven't resolved my IRQ problem(if I have one). I'm using CtPCI to check my PCI slots and I'm experiencing an error. It's saying something about my IDE I believe. Is it possible errors in my PCI to IDE bridge might be causing these problems. I'm just stumpedf since it happens so early in the BOOT process.
Thanks,
D

 

[Auric]

Does it even require an IRQ? My AGP S4 does not.

 

[mcgi6ah2]

SiS had a PCI patch that I used to get an SIII working on an integrated S7 chipset of theirs. Maybe theres something similiar for the ALi?