Help with possible PCI conflict issue

[PhilB2]

So I'm setting up a computer for work and I have a problem trying to get some vital components working together. I've tried a lot of Google-fu but have been unable to fix the problem.

The components are:

GPU - Palit GTX 285 1GB (PCIe x16)
Frame grabber - Matrox Helios CamLink (PCIe x4)
Frame grabber - Coreco CamLink (old fashioned PCI)

Rest of the system is:

32-bit Windows XP SP3
Gigabyte X58-UD4 motherboard
i7 920 CPU @ 2.67 GHz
3.0 GB RAM (3 x 2 GB plugged in but 32-bit XP limitation)

And the interesting facts of this case:

1) All components work fine when installed alone
2) Install order: GPU -> Matrox -> Coreco: GPU and Coreco work. Matrox does not work. Device manager reports no errors. Matrox software hangs the system for a long time, sometimes requiring reboot
3) Install order: GPU -> Coreco -> Matrox. Neither the Coreco nor the Matrox work. No error in Device Manager for Matrox. Coreco gets a "Code 31" error that the driver can not be loaded. The GPU is fine.
4) Regardless of install order: disabling the GPU and rebooting somehow allows BOTH the Coreco and the Matrox to work simultaneously (!). Of course, then my screen updates about once per second

I thought from reading forums that this could be an IRQ overlap issue. The Matrox and the GPU are on IRQ 16 in Windows and the Coreco is on 18. I heard that this could be changed by plugging them into different PCI slots, but the IRQ stays constant for several combinations of this. The other ways to change it are with Device Manager (option to not use "auto" is greyed out) and in the Bios (my Bios doesn't have an option for this).

So I pretty much have no idea what's going on here or how to fix it! I've emailed the various companies involved but replies are... slow in coming. So I throw it out to you guys - any bright ideas??

 

[mpilchfamily]

Are you installing the Matrox in the second PCI-e 16x slot or one of the other PCI-e slots? It needs to go into the 16x slot. If the motherboard doesn't reconize that there are 2 cards there you may need to look for a setting in the bios. You don't want it to try and run a CF configuration just ren 2 differnt video cards. Which it will easily do. As for the PCI card it should run without a problem since the PCI slots are on a totaly seperate controler from the PCI-e slots. There should be no IRQ problems unledd the PCI card is a legacy (pre plug and play) card. Just remeber to install the drivers before installing the PCI card.

 

[PhilB2]

I initially put the Matrox board it in the x4 PCIe slot, but I also tried the second 16x PCI-e slot when that didn't work (no love; similar issues). Why does it need to go into the 16x slot out of curiosity? I will troubleshoot it in that slot from now on.

I'll have a look in the bios when I get back to work on Monday - any clues as to the name of what I'm looking for?

 

[mpilchfamily]

Being a video card the motherboard will perfear it better in one of the 16x slots. If there is an option in the bios to enable CF/SLI then go ahead an enable it so that both 16X slots are active.

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

I've come across an interesting way to resolve irq issues. You mentioned you are in the position of the gpu sharing an irq address with the matrox. Get to that point, and then uninstall the nvidia graphics drivers + software. use driversweeper to get it all (but know what you're doing). Upon the next boot, ignore windows whining about not knowing what is plugged in, and the bad video resolution. Go to device manager and uninstall the 'unknown' graphics display device. I read that doing this, then letting windows assign the driver it finds online (albeit, may be older than nvidia's newest), can place the gpu on it's own irq.

wait for win7, or give vista a try? Depending on your uses, vmware may be useful- hand the devices to virtual computers to avoid overlap + incompatibility. Maybe there is a firmware update out there.

 

[PhilB2]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I heard back from Matrox and they told me that it could be a memory overlap issue. They gave me an in-house diagnostic/repair program to try. This program told me that the memory used by the Matrox board "overlaps the PCI address space". The program also apparently fixed this error but the problem still remained. I'll post back an update when I hear back from Matrox to tell me what to do... does anyone know a good way to fix this in the meantime?

I'll definitely try your suggestion after I hear back from Matrox Comdr. I don't want to switch to Vista because a lot of the stuff we're using barely has support for Windows XP (ie a lot of the install programs have options for Win 98 ^^). I don't know much about vmware but I'll look into it, sounds useful...

I've also been doing all the tests now with the Matrox board in the second PCIe 16x slot so thanks for those that suggested that.