First post, by Edman
Hi, I've obtained a microATX board GA-6ZMA (Rev 1.2) from Gigabyte, it is a 440ZX so only 256MB SDRAM. There already was a beta BIOS F2g (removing some hw limitations) so I kept it and installed P3 850MHz (runs flawlessly).
My problem is that this board refuses to work properly with AGP graphic cards like Geforce FX5200 or FX5500 (all the cards are either 128 or 256MB). It will display POST, BIOS and run the installation of W98SE without problem but when I try to install drivers for it, there's always a hardware conflict, then it runs only in basic resolution and colors. I tried several manufacturers of those cards mentioned above and the result is always the same. It says that there is conflict with some parts of motherboard. None of the resources can be changed. I read several articles about conflicts in 98, tried different settings in BIOS, power management, AGP/PCI, IRQ reservations, PNP - with no effect so far. AND...
The problem lies not only with W98. I tried to install LUBUNTU (version for old and slow PC's) and with any of those Geforces I can only see a language selection and installation menu, if I click on anythig there, I get black screen and that's it.
To make it more interesting... If I use Nvidia QUADRO for the AGP slot, everything runs as it should. LUBUNTU can be installed without any trouble. W98 has no conflict.
I just don't understand what is it that my motherboard does not like about those FX cards. Any of them. What I'm trying to achieve with this is that - first, I wish to use the DVI port. I have no fancy card like 4TI or anything else and these are the strongest I have. And second, I would like to put the whole thing in a SFF case. I have an LP LAN card, there's an onboard ESS Solo 1... but just the freakin' QUADRO is full height so no can do. All my other boards with SLOT1 or Socket7 can handle all those cards without trouble - but they are ATX (and cant handle my P3).
If anyone has any idea about what's going on, I'll be happy to listen and try. Thank you.