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Savage4 locks up when doing 3D

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First post, by hornet1990

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Hi

I've got a Diamond S540 Savage4 pro card (32mb) that I've put in my pc to do some tests but for some reason when you run anything 3D using Metal (S3 Angel tech demo) or DirectX (3DMark 99) after a number of seconds it freezes and locks the PC up (doesn't respond to power button, but does the reset).

Interestingly the amount of time it can run varies - when the machine was well warmed up it would be just a few seconds before freezing, but from cold and with a fan blowing on the card it is more like 30 seconds. When it is running there is no obvious visual corruption in the demos and they appear to function normally.

I've tried different S3 drivers but they all behave the same. 2D appears fine, it only seems to be a 3D problem. This is also on a completely fresh Windows98SE installation with just chipset (v4.27) and VGA drivers installed.

The same system with a PCI Voodoo4 instead works perfectly fine for everything.

I tried running Video Memory Stress Test CE 1.21 on Hirems BCD and that threw hundreds of thousands of "Error at [address] must be 00, but found FF [bits:11111111]" errors before I just gave up the run after over an hour. If the memory really was corrupted that should've presented during the longer runs (and in 2D).

The system specs:
AthlonXP-M with 5x multiplier - fsb at 100 for 500mhz or 200 for 1GHz - issue occurs at both speeds (S3 Angel was noticibly too fast at 1GHz too)
Chaintech 7NJL3 nforce 2 400, all on board devices except IDE disabled (Serial, parallel, audio, lan etc)
Cruicial 64GB SSD via Startech IDE-SATA adapter
All three 4x AGP jumpers set on the S540

8x AGP disabled in BIOS, 64MB apeture, issue occurs with fast writes enabled or disabled.

Any thought's on what else to try/look at? The only other thought right now is to try another AGP card to see if that behaves, which might rule out an AGP problem?

Thanks

https://rogueone.uk Kyro and other things

Reply 1 of 10, by Putas

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Can you run the AGP texturing test of dxdiag?

Reply 2 of 10, by Linoleum

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Isn't the Savage4 an AGP 3.3v while your board is an AGP 1.5v? In other words, this board might be too modern for the card...

P3 866, V3, SB Audigy 2
P2 300, TNT, V2, SB Audigy 2 ZS
P233 MMX, Mystique 220, V1, AWE64
P166, S3 Virge DX, SB32, WavetablePi & PicoGus
486DX2 66, CL-GD5424, SB32, SC55
Prolinea 4/50, ET4000, SB16, WavetablePi
SC386SX 25, TVGA8900, Audician32+

Reply 3 of 10, by hornet1990

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Putas wrote on Yesterday, 12:13:

Can you run the AGP texturing test of dxdiag?

There isn't one (I've got Dx7a installed) but the DirectDraw and Direct3D tests both pass. Disabling the AGP support does nothing - it still freezes.

https://rogueone.uk Kyro and other things

Reply 4 of 10, by hornet1990

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Linoleum wrote on Yesterday, 16:29:

Isn't the Savage4 an AGP 3.3v while your board is an AGP 1.5v? In other words, this board might be too modern for the card...

I saw that some Savage4's were 3.3v but assumed as it had 4x jumpers and universal cutouts it would be happy with 1.5V in a newer board but you're possibly right. I have been eyeing up an older 1x-4x AGP SocketA motherboard so I might have to bite.

https://rogueone.uk Kyro and other things

Reply 5 of 10, by Linoleum

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hornet1990 wrote on Yesterday, 16:51:
Linoleum wrote on Yesterday, 16:29:

Isn't the Savage4 an AGP 3.3v while your board is an AGP 1.5v? In other words, this board might be too modern for the card...

I saw that some Savage4's were 3.3v but assumed as it had 4x jumpers and universal cutouts it would be happy with 1.5V in a newer board but you're possibly right. I have been eyeing up an older 1x-4x AGP SocketA motherboard so I might have to bite.

I have a Savage4 that was running well only on a PII board... Anything else would behave just like what you are describing.

Based on the few info I could find, many Savage4 are indeed AGP 3.3V cards. I.e: https://theretroweb.com/expansioncards/s/teppro-s3-savage-4

While your motherboard is definitely AGP 1.5V only: https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/chaintech-ct-7njl3

P3 866, V3, SB Audigy 2
P2 300, TNT, V2, SB Audigy 2 ZS
P233 MMX, Mystique 220, V1, AWE64
P166, S3 Virge DX, SB32, WavetablePi & PicoGus
486DX2 66, CL-GD5424, SB32, SC55
Prolinea 4/50, ET4000, SB16, WavetablePi
SC386SX 25, TVGA8900, Audician32+

Reply 6 of 10, by shevalier

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This doesn't affect anything at all.
1.5/3.3V AGP is the interface supply voltage.
If there was a mismatch, then either something would burn out, or the video card would not be detected.

The problem may be different, namely, in the power supply of the video memory.
SDRAM has a supply voltage of 3.3 V.
Therefore, it can be powered either from a regulator with +5 V on the video card itself (more modern and advanced designs), or directly from the motherboard (from the power supply).
If, due to an unsuccessful combination of the motherboard and power supply, the video memory receives a voltage of 3–3.1 V, then it may begin to fail.
On old motherboards, where 3.3 V was often regulated locally, for example, all sorts of 440BX/MVP3, you can install, for example, 3.5 V.

Aopen MX3S, PIII-S Tualatin 1133, Radeon 9800Pro@XT BIOS, Audigy 4 SB0610
JetWay K8T8AS, Athlon DH-E6 3000+, Radeon HD2600Pro AGP, Audigy 2 Value SB0400
Gigabyte Ga-k8n51gmf, Turion64 ML-30@2.2GHz , Radeon X800GTO PL16, Diamond monster sound MX300

Reply 7 of 10, by hornet1990

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shevalier wrote on Today, 03:59:
The problem may be different, namely, in the power supply of the video memory. SDRAM has a supply voltage of 3.3 V. Therefore, i […]
Show full quote

The problem may be different, namely, in the power supply of the video memory.
SDRAM has a supply voltage of 3.3 V.
Therefore, it can be powered either from a regulator with +5 V on the video card itself (more modern and advanced designs), or directly from the motherboard (from the power supply).
If, due to an unsuccessful combination of the motherboard and power supply, the video memory receives a voltage of 3–3.1 V, then it may begin to fail.
On old motherboards, where 3.3 V was often regulated locally, for example, all sorts of 440BX/MVP3, you can install, for example, 3.5 V.

I have just replaced the PSU with a "newer" (circa 2009/2010) 500W PSU as the original 300W was causing random restarts. It is a slightly lower rating on the 5W and 3.3W rails - 150W, 25A on both, compared to the old which was 180W, 30A, 28A respectively. But the system is hardly being stretched with the little hardware that is in it.

Is there an easy way to check the voltage getting to the card? (I can use a multimeter but I'm no expert and mostly use it for continuity or testing for AC mains voltage)

https://rogueone.uk Kyro and other things

Reply 8 of 10, by Linoleum

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Let's settle that 1.5v vs 3.3v question... Based on this info here https://www.playtool.com/pages/agpcompat/agp.html what AGP voltage slot does your card has?

P3 866, V3, SB Audigy 2
P2 300, TNT, V2, SB Audigy 2 ZS
P233 MMX, Mystique 220, V1, AWE64
P166, S3 Virge DX, SB32, WavetablePi & PicoGus
486DX2 66, CL-GD5424, SB32, SC55
Prolinea 4/50, ET4000, SB16, WavetablePi
SC386SX 25, TVGA8900, Audician32+

Reply 9 of 10, by shevalier

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Linoleum wrote on Today, 13:41:

Let's settle that 1.5v vs 3.3v question... Based on this info here https://www.playtool.com/pages/agpcompat/agp.html what AGP voltage slot does your card has?

If you read your own link carefully, it says that 1.5V/3.3V is the power supply for the AGP INTERFACE of chipset and video card.
If the BIOS has detected the video card and it has started displaying the image, then the matching of signal levels and interface speed from the motherboard and the video card has already been completed successfully.

hornet1990 wrote on Today, 09:49:
shevalier wrote on Today, 03:59:
The problem may be different, namely, in the power supply of the video memory. SDRAM has a supply voltage of 3.3 V. Therefore, i […]
Show full quote

The problem may be different, namely, in the power supply of the video memory.
SDRAM has a supply voltage of 3.3 V.
Therefore, it can be powered either from a regulator with +5 V on the video card itself (more modern and advanced designs), or directly from the motherboard (from the power supply).
If, due to an unsuccessful combination of the motherboard and power supply, the video memory receives a voltage of 3–3.1 V, then it may begin to fail.
On old motherboards, where 3.3 V was often regulated locally, for example, all sorts of 440BX/MVP3, you can install, for example, 3.5 V.

I have just replaced the PSU with a "newer" (circa 2009/2010) 500W PSU as the original 300W was causing random restarts. It is a slightly lower rating on the 5W and 3.3W rails - 150W, 25A on both, compared to the old which was 180W, 30A, 28A respectively. But the system is hardly being stretched with the little hardware that is in it.

Is there an easy way to check the voltage getting to the card? (I can use a multimeter but I'm no expert and mostly use it for continuity or testing for AC mains voltage)

Show a photo of the videocard.
Well, and measure the voltage between the orange wire (+3.3 V) and the computer case on the switched-on computer.

PS. https://docs.rs-online.com/8f7f/0900766b8002c872.pdf

Aopen MX3S, PIII-S Tualatin 1133, Radeon 9800Pro@XT BIOS, Audigy 4 SB0610
JetWay K8T8AS, Athlon DH-E6 3000+, Radeon HD2600Pro AGP, Audigy 2 Value SB0400
Gigabyte Ga-k8n51gmf, Turion64 ML-30@2.2GHz , Radeon X800GTO PL16, Diamond monster sound MX300

Reply 10 of 10, by hornet1990

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shevalier wrote on Today, 14:57:

Show a photo of the videocard.
Well, and measure the voltage between the orange wire (+3.3 V) and the computer case on the switched-on computer.

PS. https://docs.rs-online.com/8f7f/0900766b8002c872.pdf

Voltage on pin 11 (the only one I could access) is 3.39V.

Here's the card, with the 3 jumpers set as per the docs (as they have been since I put it in):

The attachment IMG_7714.jpg is no longer available
The attachment IMG_7715.jpg is no longer available

https://rogueone.uk Kyro and other things

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