System instability

[JeremyM]

I've been having this problem since I bought and assembled my system and I've gotten precious little help from few sources, most people never replied or didn't know so I will try here one last time.

My system is completely unstable in games. I'm constantly getting exited to the desktop from any game. I get dumped back after 45 mins to an hour in Counterstrike, Starship Troopers dumps me at random intervals, and Thandor just completely freezes up.

I've done everything possibly software wise. I've done a fresh install of Windows ME twice, I've installed the lastest drivers for both my video and sound card. This has resulted in no change.

I've drawn the following items that may help any who would help me out here. It made it through 3Dmark 2000 without crashing on several tries, 3Dmark doesn't have sound. Could it be the sound card? Secondly, it crashes less frequently when the RAID array is completely unfragmented. The more fragmented it gets the worse the crashing, at least this seemed to be the case with Starship Troopers. Other then those two observations, I can offer little in the way of help.

The system is still well under warranty and I can return any and all of the components but I can't return anything until I know exactly what the problem is. I don't want to keep replacing everything trial & error style. I don't have the time and the place I got it from probably wouldn't appreciate it. Here is my system configuration:

Thunderbird 900 mhz
Abit KT7-RAID
Two 128 MB PC 133 DIMMs
Dual Maxtor 40 gig hard drives setup in RAID 0 configuration
Voodoo 5 5500
Sound Blaster Live!
Microsoft Intellimouse in USB mode
Q500 case with 300w Athlon approved PS

I've optimized my bios settings for maximum speed, I'm not sure if that could be the problem but I don't get any problems outside of games. No BSODs or exceptions.

Could it be the RAID array itself? The memory? The processor? Heat issue? I'm currently running at about 40 degrees celsius which is well within the operating parameters of the Thunderbird I believe. I simply don't know what else to do, PLEASE help me if you can. I'd like to be able to tell my vendor why I'm returning a broken system if I do have to bring it in.

I'll monitor this forum closely and respond promptly to any further information that you may need to help me.

Thank you in advance to all who help.

 

[jpprod]

If 3Dmark without sound works while numerous games don't, it's most likely the sound card crashing your system. I had lockups with Live when I was using Liveware 3 drivers without latest patches. On the other hand, it could also be a hardware resource conflict if system crashes more frequently on heavy IDE activity.

 

[JeremyM]

Any suggestions on what I should do to pin point the problem?

I can't disable sound because most games don't run without sound now.

 

[cavingjan]

Is your Live sharing an IRQ with the HP controller?

 

[NicColt]

did you install the viagart in turbo or normal mode ?

 

[JeremyM]

No, the HPT 370 is using IRQ 11. The SB Live! is using IRQ 12.

Yes, I installed the 4-in-1 drivers in Turbo mode.

 

[JeremyM]

Bump?

 

[billyjak]

Try setting your sb emultion to share with the printer in device properties, it solved my problem.

 

[JeremyM]

Actually, I've completely disabled SB emulation all together
So that can't be the problem. I suspect it's the new Win ME drivers and Liveware! crap. I'm reinstalling the Win 98 drivers and Liveware!

 

[JeremyM]

Welp, I uninstalled Liveware! and drivers for Win ME and installed the Liveware! and drivers for Win 98. Now Counterstrike locks up my system entirely instead of just dumping me back to the desktop.

 

[The Wildcard]

Try just not installing liveware at all. just use the basic drivers.

 

[JeremyM]

Same thing happens

 

[NicColt]

Microsoft admitted to incomple support to VIA chipset with Win2K I can only assume that winME and win98 are next.

 

[Killer Ape]

The other culprit could be the V5 (AGP I assume). Even though it's got the extended pins for more power and you have a 300W PS, you might also try plugging a PS power connector directly to the V5, in the top rear I think, if you haven't already. Check the documentation. That's a nice system you've got, but it looks VERY power hungry to me, so the 300W PS or AGP slot may be just weak enough to crap-out under heavy load (like in the middle of a game).

Also try different drivers for the V5.

The RAID situation also sounds fishy. If you have an old HDD you can install in a non-RAID configuration, try that with the apps that crash and see if the same thing happens. You can't just drop out one of the HDDs now because they're striped right? If you have a funky RAID controller that can be a MAJOR nightmare, although yours is built into the mobo.

Try moving the soundcard to different slots if you suspect a busmastering or IRQ problem.

 

[Dennis Travis]

You say your SBLive is on IRQ12? Is your mouse PS2? Usually a PS2 mouse also uses IRQ12. Just for the fun of it check to make sure. I have noticed the Live has problems when sharing with any other device in my system at least.

 

[JeremyM]

Well, the V5 has to have a power connector plugged into or it won't work at all

Yeah, the RAID is pretty weird but it seems to work okay and what not. Busting up the drives at this point wouldn't be an option. I don't have anywhere to stuff 50 gigs of data.

I'm gonna give moving the cards around a try tommorow, there's a pretty good site dedicated to this particular motherboard.

My mouse is plugged into the USB as I said above.

 

[Killer Ape]

Huh. I don't own a V5, but I thought the auxilary PS plug was just there for insurance if the AGP power wasn't adequate. I assumed it ran off the AGP rails and didn't require a direct feed from the PS.

Am I misunderstanding or is it my bad ?

 

[WyattBurp]

JeremyM

Question(s)

1. Before you built this system, did you play these games on another system?
2. After you built it, did you EVER notice any problems while NOT running games?
3. Can you play the 3DMark2000 demo? It has audio.

Recommendation -
This is extremely painful, but should work:
Rebuild your system using the simplest configuration. For this I recommend windows 98, no RAID configuration, and I recommend you buy or borrow a cheap TNT card. If there are no problems, then try the Vodoo card. Repeat, adding the latest drivers, etc. Finally go back to RAID. For simplicity, I have just mentioned the major components. Include all the components in this gradual rebuilding.

Good luck!

 

[JeremyM]

Misunderstanding
From what I understand, it draws no power from the AGP slot at all but rather from the power connector entirely to avoid just the problems you mentioned.

Prior to this system, I had a P3 800 with 128 megs of PC100, same sound card, V3, etc. It ran all of these games fine and without problems.

No, I haven't noticed any problems outside of games. As I said, it doesn't seem to affect anything but the games. It's damn weird is what it is.

Actually, I'm just heading off to bed and I'm gonna set it up to run 3Dmark 2k in an infinite loop. The actual benchmark doesn't have sound, only the demo does and I've had no problems running the benchmark whatsoever. I even compared it to similar configurations and my system comes pretty well even to other people's. At any rate, if it's still running when I get up tommorow then I think it's a safe bet that we can rule out the graphics card as the problem, at the very least. :\

I've been wrestling with this damn thing for two weeks, I'm getting sick of this.

 

[Kitros]

I used to have alllllll sorts of good little problems running Counterstrike. It would:

A) Lockup.
B) While loading, return me to desktop.
C) Sound would get crackley/Fuzzy. (was not Sound card)
D) Would not load at all and I would get random BSoD's
Right after boot, the game would run fine, but as soon as I exited, A.B.C.D., etc...

What was it you ask? Well, honestly, I don't know for sure, but it had something to do with my drivers for the video card, motherboard and how Win98 would use them together. After many reinstalls, etc., it finally worked... although I didn't narrow it down all the way. It was a driver/ Win98 issue. Try a different version of windows (like win98), and/or different drivers.

I know how it is not being able to kill terrorists, man.

 

[JeremyM]

Well, Win ME is about the only thing I haven't tried replacing. I suppose I could installed Win 98 again. heh. Buggering thing.

3Dmark 2000 didn't last too long, I was at the desktop again this morning when I woke up. Grrr.

 

[Kitros]

I have a hunch that it's the agp driver ... I think that was the last thing I reinstalled...

"If you have tried everything and it doesn't work, then try anything!"

 

[JeremyM]

I think I'll toss the bastard out of the window. That'll fix the problem in short order. I'm 16 floors up

Yeah, guess I'll give it a try and reinstall that AGP driver in normal mode.

 

[Kitros]

Keep at it man, it'll give sooner or later...

An idea:
Hold the thing outside the window and threaten it, while shaking it violently!

Like I said before - I feel your pain! I know what it's like to not be able to defuse bombs and almost have a heart attack when you hear approaching footsteps.


EDIT....and the win98 install, stay off the coffee for a while, and smoke a few cigarettes to keep a clear mind.

 

[JeremyM]

Well, I reinstalled the VIA 4-in-1 drivers, including the AGP driver.

Additionally, I changed my memory settings in the bios to the most conservative possible. Moved from CAS 2 to CAS 3 and changed the memory timing to "SDRAM 8/10ns" from "Fast".

It made it through the 3DMark 2k demo with sound without crashing, I'm going to set it on looping for awhile and see how it fares.