VOGONS


First post, by Ace

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I have an AOpen XCcube computer on which I'm trying to set up a dual-boot with Windows ME and Windows XP, but I'm having a really hard time because of the graphics cards being problematic. My idea is to use either a GeForce 6200 or a Radeon 9800 Pro on this computer, but both cards have given me major problems:

-In Windows ME, trying to get the Radeon 9800 Pro to work is a nightmare as the drivers are quite a handful and as soon as a game either boots or renders 3D graphics, the computer crashes
-In Windows ME, the GeForce 6200 works perfectly, but on Windows XP, I have performance issues as well severe graphical corruption in games, sometimes even causing crashes

Due to all the problems I had with the Radeon 9800 Pro on Windows ME, I have never used it on Windows XP. The main reason for this dual-boot setup is due to some games with CD-DA audio not working properly with replacement WINMM.DLL files like _INMM.DLL (severe slowdown or full system crashes on Windows 98 and ME) and OGG-WINMM (does not work at all on Windows 98 and ME, but works on XP). I mentioned this problem elsewhere on the forum, but the only solution has been using Daemon Tools, which gave me some seriously degraded performance with slower computers, in particular, so I'm not using this anymore.

I currently have an eVGA GeForce 6200 in the XCcube and I would like to focus on this card first. It's using the 307.83 drivers right now, and I'm wondering if this is the reason for the problems I'm having in Windows XP. The thing is I need a driver where I can upscale 640x480 to 1920x1080 (preferably with aspect correction, but that's not necessary - I can enable a scaler in Windows ME which upscales all lower resolutions to 1920x1080 since I need this for video capture) and I know the 307.83 drivers can do this via custom resolutions. If this is a driver issue, what driver would you recommend I use for this card on Windows XP with custom resolution support?

I will get to the Radeon 9800 Pro another time, but some pointers to good Windows ME drivers would be a start since everything I've tried gave messy results to the point of causing BSODs (some of them caused full system crashes) while trying to adjust certain settings.

Creator of The Many Sounds of:, a collection of various DOS games played using different sound cards.

Reply 1 of 4, by meljor

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Sounds like a psu problem with the radeon (or a faulty card?)

asus tx97-e, 233mmx, voodoo1, s3 virge ,sb16
asus p5a, k6-3+ @ 550mhz, voodoo2 12mb sli, gf2 gts, awe32
asus p3b-f, p3-700, voodoo3 3500TV agp, awe64
asus tusl2-c, p3-S 1,4ghz, voodoo5 5500, live!
asus a7n8x DL, barton cpu, 6800ultra, Voodoo3 pci, audigy1

Reply 2 of 4, by Ace

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I was wondering about the power supply being a potential problem since it's just a whopping 250W. The computer itself runs on a 2.66GHz Prescott Pentium 4 with 1GB of DDR RAM, though I'm not sure how much power that takes.

However, I did still have problems with the Radeon 9800 Pro on my Tualatin running Windows 98 SE. I didn't get BSODs like on Windows ME, but I just could not get Star Wars Rogue Squadron 3D working properly on this computer with the Radeon 9800 Pro. I do remember having quite a hard time with this game and certain later ATi cards, though, but I will have to test with my other AGP Radeons to make sure (7000 and 9000 series cards). Also, I don't remember off the top of my head what power supply this computer uses.

Creator of The Many Sounds of:, a collection of various DOS games played using different sound cards.

Reply 3 of 4, by kanecvr

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I'm willing to bet my left nut the machine's PSU isn't able to handle both the 9800 and a pentium 4 CPU. If I remember correctly, back in the day ATi recommended at least a 350w PSU for the 9800 pro. You can get away with a good 300w psu and a low power CPU tough. It's quite possible you will have to redesign your build.

Reply 4 of 4, by Ace

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That would likely mean getting an entirely new computer as the XCcube uses a non-standard power supply that is pretty damn small and I've never seen anything like it.

Okay, so forget about the Radeon 9800 Pro for now. What about the GeForce 6200? Why the graphical problems? Same issue?

Creator of The Many Sounds of:, a collection of various DOS games played using different sound cards.