- Did you install DirectX? Which version? Radeon 7200 is a DirectX 7 level card so you should install at least DirectX 7.
- Did you install the necessary VIA drivers? Especially the AGP driver is probably necessary, I'd probably go for the VIA 4-in-1 drivers. Be careful not to use a too modern version since the board is quite old. (I'm guessing the card is AGP.)
- If the card is AGP you also try with different values for AGP aperture in the BIOS setup, including turning it off.

idspispopd wrote:

- Did you install DirectX? Which version? Radeon 7200 is a DirectX 7 level card so you should install at least DirectX 7.
- Did you install the necessary VIA drivers? Especially the AGP driver is probably necessary, I'd probably go for the VIA 4-in-1 drivers. Be careful not to use a too modern version since the board is quite old. (I'm guessing the card is AGP.)
- If the card is AGP you also try with different values for AGP aperture in the BIOS setup, including turning it off.

Well I tried Directx8 , 8.1 and 9b (I'm using D9b right now)
All the drivers failed with a blue screen (sometimes it flicker at blue screen or even it was unreadable [i think it writes this way :s]
example of blue screen:https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphoto … 983023427_n.jpg

The motherboard support agp2x (and radeon 7200 and fx5500 suport it) The motherboard is from 1998 and the gpu is from 2000.
I really think the gpu "died" so I hope the fx5500 works, if not it may be a problem on the motherboard D:

Oh, I didn't instaled the via 4-in-one (via mvp3 chipset), would this fix? (Well I didn't find the right driver at via, website, is there another site with it?

EDIT:abou the agp aperture I tried from 4 to 64, but it didn't fix the gpu, also I can't disable it on bios D:

Installing via drivers for the motherboard is very important,couse they have the agp drivers.
First u need to find out exactly what via chipset u have,in order to find the correct drivers for it.

North Bridge: VIA VT82C598 Apollpo MVP3
South Bridge: VIA VT82C56B
since the ram is 128mb and the video ram is 256mb, should I put the agp aperture to 4mb?

EDIT: I installed this software:http://www.viaarena.com/Driver/VIA_4in1_443v.zip
but for now I don't notice something different :s

EDIT2:
Now with the geforce fx5500 results:
-No crash at windows user interface.
-No crash at ms-dos games (doom)
-No crash at quake 2 at opengl
-Crash on dxdiag on the test where you see the cubes (No blue screen, I only see a white window box with the dxdiag name, nothing more)
-Black screen at 3Dmark99

Now the directx are 9.0b, should I downgrade it to 8.1?

ibm5155 wrote:

since the ram is 128mb and the video ram is 256mb, should I put the agp aperture to 4mb?

No. Half o system ram is reasonable value, the OS is managing it intelligently.

I say the gpu is not dead if it were dead,the pc wouldn't start,and u get no image on the monitor,i think the problem is driver related or it could be some incompatibility
Remove the soundcard,just to remove 1 posible couse of driver and compatibility problem.
Reinstall windows 98se.
Install via 4in1 driver version 4.35 from here http://www.via.com.tw/en/support/drivers.jsp
Install videocard drivers http://www.oldapps.com/ati.php?old_ati=29 version 4.4 seems to be last version for windows 98.
Then install directx 7.1
Start testing see how it goes.

Nahkri wrote:

I say the gpu is not dead if it were dead,the pc wouldn't start,and u get no image on the monitor,i think the problem is driver […]
Show full quote

I say the gpu is not dead if it were dead,the pc wouldn't start,and u get no image on the monitor,i think the problem is driver related or it could be some incompatibility
Remove the soundcard,just to remove 1 posible couse of driver and compatibility problem.
Reinstall windows 98se.
Install via 4in1 driver version 4.35 from here http://www.via.com.tw/en/support/drivers.jsp
Install videocard drivers http://www.oldapps.com/ati.php?old_ati=29 version 4.4 seems to be last version for windows 98.
Then install directx 7.1
Start testing see how it goes.

I really don't like to remove the sound card (because it's hard to remove and to install D:) but I'll do it.
So after I reinstall (again xd) windows 98, and if I install all the drivers and everything works fine, what should I do to make the sound card work and not crash the gpu drivers?

EDIT:OMG, I installed and no drivers, no cd-rom drive, nothing 😳 (no floppy driver, video 😳) thanks the second reinstall worked fine...
updating things now with no sound card

EDIT2:Nop, I'll really need to format it =/, it looks like it's not working the install disk that I saved at HD, the cool part I that I found a ms-dos bootable cd with many tools, like format, live cd, diagnostics, benchmark,... (it's weird, on the benchmark list, my pentium mmx 233MHz, is more powerfull than a pentium mmx 233 that they tested and it's near to a pentium 2 😳 )

UP:
Ok I installed all again from zero (there was a problem with the windows 98 cd).
Installed W98 ok.
Installed ati radeon 7200 and drivers ok
tested directdraw and direct3D, all tests are ok.
tested quake 2 ok (19fps, demo1.dm2 D:)

now when I installed the isa sound card.
-Windows ui works fine (before no)
-Quake 2 crashed when the first 3D frame appear (on timedemo 1)
-Directx:
--Sound test:passed in all software sound buffer test but it haven't support for hardware buffer
--Music test:fm synthesis and dream wavetable worked.
--DirectDraw test:work
--Direct3D:work
-Alley Cat:work
Doom 1:work (vanilla)
-Tomb Raider 2:work (direct3D)
-Wolfenstein 3D:work
-Zdoom (doom2 + action doom 1, software render):Unplayable xd, but no crash
-Dark Forces: freeze at "sound card setup and configuration" software (imuse.exe)
-Quake 2 : worked now (But i didn't used timedemo 1, just the normal config), and what I not is that the sound eat some fps (on some benchmarks I saw the same snd card when on it up a bit fps like 2 or 3 :s).

The thing is, That an ati radeon 7200 for a pentium mmx 233 is alot of power, it can't handle the drivers hungry, and somehow i think I got more fps at quake 2 when I was using the fx5500 (and this one has a monster driver D:).

I don't know, I want to maintain the retro feel, so I don't know, on the future If I change for a gpu like voodoo 3000, or for a k6-III...

EDIT:Another crash at quake 2 D:, this time I let it running, for a time, and bam, first it showed alot of error mensages, I closed and ok, then I tested again, and ten seconds latter it freeze D:, so could it be the sound card?

EDIT:
I tested 2 gpu drivers, one I get more blue screens the other is a bit more stable, no blue screen but it freeze the computer when it crash.

Also I think there's an update for my sound card, but I can't find any new drivers for it D: (guillemod game theater 64)

Since all the errors and lock ups only show up when the sound card is installed,it could be the couse for the problems,i don't think it's broken just some driver or resource problems,have u checked system manager to see if any conflicts?Also do some google searching for problems with your type of soundcard or try running the pc with another isa or pci soundcard.
For the soundcard try this drivers http://web.archive.org/web/19980415150423/htt … /uk/index2.html
U should also test the memory with memtest just to be sure.
Also check on the motherboard,to see if the cpu gets enough voltage,i had the same problem of the pc locking up and lot of random numbers coming up on the screen,when undervolting a cpu.

Well the drivers didn't helped xD, because the newest are only for NT >.>
well for result.
I run memtest for like 4 hours and the memory was ok.
I tested some dos stress test reading floppy cd hd doing ram test and processor test at the same time and nothing.
I think there's a strange thing, when I installed my sound card and installed the drivers, after the reboot, windows detected somethings from the motherboard like lpt1/2 serial,...

I didn't crash on heretic, neither tomb raider, I did some strees cpu test and nothing '-'.
BUT, i did it again, timedemo 1 and runned a demo from quake 2, bam, freeze at first frame.
Also now it crashed the explorer, i saw a error mensage but the system freeze (I was moving a big file from pendrive to the hd and unziping another big file directly from hd and playing a mid).

Well, I don't have another sound card to test on it :s. The weird errors I dont see anymore I think it was a problem related to the old windows.
What could it be D:
something related to the serial port?

Today happened a weird thing.
I was playing dos doom (under windows) and the screen freeze.
Ok I did pressed the reset button and I wait, but, no screen came onder bios 😮 and I listened the normal beep from the mother board 😳 But it doesn't look it was working D: I didn't listened to the windows start sound and the hd disk led never turned off D:, The strange was that I wasn't getting a no signal mensage from the monitor, just a black image.
I could open the cd drive and close, but, nothing more 😮.

Well, I turned it off, I checked the processor temperature and it wasn't even hot, and it was the same result for ess and dream chips from game theater and the gpu and the power supply...

The only time that I got on old days a reset and no screen was when a onboard ati gpu get too hot (there was no heatsink on it)...

But this time the gpu was not hot (even more with doom, a game that doesnt even use the gpu for 3D rofl)...

HELP D:

edit: other weid thing that I noted, on windows the doom musics from a mid file sounds different from the music ingame (both using the fm synth),

That doesn't sound good, you may have no choice but to rebuild the system and search out what exactly has failed. Usually the psu, board, or graphics card but this time it could very easily be the psu. Never use cheap generic units that can brick a whole build.

Actually that psu is the original one from the case (1996 case, 300Watts psu), It was never used from what the seller told (Really looks like if someone back on the time, stole a case and back to this time to sell it xD)...

Here're the descriptions of the psu:
300Wmax
Imax:(+5v 26A, +12V 13A, -5V 0.5A. -12V 0.5A)
Inom:(+5V 20A, +12V 8V, -5V 0.2A, -12V 0.3A)

I think there're no AT supply to sell, but this board support ATX PSU, BUT, the case is at (with the old switch on/off)

Could It be the processor thermal paste?
because when I bought the motherboard, the cooler came with a thermal paste on it, but I think it's old, and I fixed the cooler on the processor without replacing the thermal paste.
So, could that be the problem?

And, how do you people buy an AT PSU today, and how could I know if mine is good or not? (maybe opening and checking the components?)

EDIT:Well since the problem isn't the gpu, I'll not need more this topic, thanks for the help guy 😁