Should I install VIA 4-in-1 drivers on an MVP3 chipset board?

[AamirQ]

Hi,

I just installed a DFI K6XV3+/66 Rev. BB+ board last night. It's a super 7 board with the VIA MVP3 chipset. I am using Windows 98 SE and an ATi XPert 98 AGP video card. I've read quite a few opinions on VIA's 4-in-1 drivers and since this is my first VIA chipset board, I'm wondering which VIA drivers I should install. Should I install all four of the drivers in the 4-in-1 package, or should I stay away from the VIA IDE bus mastering driver and stick with the default Win 98 SE IDE driver?

Regards,

Aamir

 

[AamirQ]

A couple of extra notes...

When I install the 4-in-1 Drivers (v4.25) and I go ahead and install the ATAPI Vendor Support Driver, I find a VATAPI.VXD file (v1.05) when I go to view the properties of VIA Bus Mastering IDE controller in the device manager. But when I install the separate VIA Bus Mastering IDE driver, I don't get a VATAPI.VXD file... I get a VIAIDE.VXD (v2.03) file and a VIADSK.MPD (v2.1.50.1) file instead, but no VATAPI.VXD file. DMATOOL is also installed if I install the separate Bus Mastering IDE driver, but it isn't installed through the 4-in-1 driver.

Why are the results different? Which VIA IDE driver installation should I go with (if any)?

Regards,

Aamir

 

[randomlinh]

you know, i'm wondering the same thing. the AGP drivers seem to hault win98se for me... on a first gen MVP3 board.. man do i wish i waited before i bought it.. heh.. oh well.

 

[holdencommodore]

Yes, install the 4-in-1 drivers. But be careful of the Busmaster driver. It has been known to cause problems.
I recomend installing the seperate Busmaster driver.

I have also experienced the same problem with the two drivers showing different files in the VIA Bus Mastering IDE controller. I would also like to know why there are different files insatlled.

lnguyen: if there are problems with the freezing, you can try going into the BIOS and disabling 'Cache Rd+CPU Wt Pipeline', located in the 'Chipset Features Setup'. This stopped freezing on my MVP3, but there was a slight performance drop.

Hope this helps.

UPDATE: I think I have found out why the differnet files installed! Vatapi.vxd installs when the VSD driver is installed.
The other files install when the IDE Miniport driver is installed. The miniport driver is the best, but use it with caution!
I couldn't boot to windows with this driver installed, but it booted fine when the VSD driver was installed.
I was using the lastest IDE driver from Viahardware.