Integrated video woes

[HO]

Just fired up my Tyan K8E with a fresh XP Pro SP2 install. I am using a Matrox P650 video card instead of the ATI onboard chip and I have a problem.

Whenever I perform certain functions, such as closing Device Manager, I get this:

mmc.exe - Application Error
---------------------------
The instruction at "0x7c9105f8" referenced memory at "0x008a0010". The memory could not be "read".

Click on OK to terminate the program.
-------------------------------------

According to Event Viewer, this error is being generated because XP is "Unable to map required address ranges for (ATI) graphics card." Terrific. I've tried disabling and uninstalling to no avail. After an uninstall, XP just puts it right back without any input from me.

How can I get XP to ignore the integrated chip (no jumper, only a selection in the bios) so I can stop these freaking error messages?

 

[mrmann14]

You disabled it in the BIOS?

 

[HO]

Yes. The bios allows choosing which graphics to initialize (PCI or PCIe) and I chose the latter. The error went away after I made some tweaks but returned after a reboot.

 

[HO]

It was the Matrox driver. An update cured it. I'm not going to ask why the Event Viewer pinned the problem on the ATI memory address...

 

[HO]

Well, things went from bad to worse. After updating the driver, I went through a rash of BSOD events like you can't believe. A fresh install of XP did nothing to make it better. I finally pulled the Matrox and uninstalled the driver and all *seems* to be stable now.

BUT, one wierd issue remains. With either the Matrox or the onboard ATI chip driving the video. if I reboot the computer it winds up in a blank screen about half the time. Cold boots have always been normal (I think--there have been so many I've lost track). The Windows splash screen displays, and then when the driver should kick in... nothing. The boot process looks normal up to that point.

Any ideas?

 

[Bozo Galora]

you are wrong
jumper 11 is for the onboard 8MB PCI video - default is on
PCI Video will obviously not map a GART table to memory
hopefully this did not scramble your bios chip

you might also want to run memtest86+

(you owe me a steak and lobster dinner)

 

[HO]

From Tyan Tech Support (via another forum):

You won't be able to disable it but if you go in and change the order of detection from VGA first to PCI Express first then you can use a PCI Express card without any issue

There is no jumper 11 referred to in my manual. Does your source reveal its location? Any chance you're looking at a preliminary board layout and not the one that's currently shipping? As far as scrambling the bios, are you talking about the mobo bios or one on the Matrox?

If you are correct, I'll send you a crawdad--it's just like lobster, only smaller. You're on your own for the steak.

BTW, memtest ran for 10+ hours, no errors. Prime95 ran for 9 hours, no errors.

 

[Bozo Galora]

On the Tyan site, today, there are only 2 K8E boards listed
K8E
K8E-SLI

On the K8E page there is only one user manual listed (vers. 1.1)
ftp://ftp.tyan.com/manuals/m_s2865_110.pdf
On page 20, it shows the VGA jumper JP11 at the very low left corner of mobo.

Other than that, dont know what to tell you, other than "disable in this hardware profile" in XP device manager, ATI display adapter., properties.
Or to google "disable windows file protection" to stop it from reinstalling drivers.

 

[HO]

Ah, crud. That manual is for version 1.1 of the mobo. It DOES have the jumper. Mine, version 1.0, does not.

Never buy the .0 version.

 

[Bozo Galora]

Maybe they added the jumper just because of your prob.
RMA your board and you will get the new revision.

BTW: Just noticed, Matrox made the 650 in PCI-E and PCI and AGP
Hope you got the right one.

 

[Bozo Galora]

And, the latest bios 11-5-05 says this:
Fixed a Matrox 550 PCIe card issue where it couldn't be
the first init video device
NOTE: If you are running a current OS installed with nVidia nForce driver v6.39 and bios version v2.01 (or earlier), you will need to re-install your OS using at least nVidia nForce driver v6.66 and bios v3.00.

http://www.tyan.com/support/html/b_s2865.html

Looks like this is an ongoing issue with this board, even with prev bios.

 

[HO]

I flashed the bios to the current version and reinstalled the OS. The system with the Matrox PCIe (yes, I bought the right one ) was still flaky as hell. I turned video hardware acceleration down to None and that helped, but it was only when I pulled the card and uninstalled the drivers did my computer seem anything like normal.

Too bad I can't just use the ATI onboard, it seems to work fine. However I'm a photographer and graphic designer and I'm quite addicted to two monitors, as well as high resolutions and refresh rates.

 

[Bozo Galora]

Man, I feel for you, that board seems to be a mess
Of course, the Matrox is a also little out of the ordinary.
Any nvidia card with two ouputs (VGA/DVDI.... DVI/DVI) will do same thing).

 

[HO]

Thanks. I really think the board will pan out--if not this version then maybe the 1.1. As far as the Matrox goes, I'm not sure. That fact that all has been rock solid since the Matrox was banned may mean that it has a problem. Or it could mean some other piece (PSU?) is to blame.

The sleuthing goes on.

 

[HO]

Well, another reinstall of XP and a few days of running solidly with the onboard ATI video made me feel bold enough to put the Matrox back in.

It works flawlessly.

The only remaining issue is a "warm boot/blank screen" problem which is addressed here.

Please feel free to drop in and offer a solution...