VOGONS


First post, by plattertough

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Hi, first time poster and also first time building a Windows 98SE machine. I'm pretty new to this stuff so really any solution is on the table. My setuup:

ASUS PV3133
Intel P3 550 MHz
256MB*2 SDRAM PC133
Matrox Millennium G400 16MB AGP
YMF724F
Corsair RM550X (does not have -5V rail)

After getting my graphics card drivers working (wouldn't until I installed VIA 4-in-1 drivers), I tested everything using Quake 2. Game runs fine for a few minutes and then crashes the whole system. Even the 3D Pipes screensaver crashes the system after too much has drawn. Running in software works fine. Same issue when sound card is removed. I rolled back the Matrox drivers to the oldest I could find on this site - the game now lasts a lot longer but eventually flashes the illegal operation message and crashes. Any advice on what could be going wrong?

Reply 2 of 6, by Con 2 botones

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plattertough wrote on 2020-10-21, 21:46:
Hi, first time poster and also first time building a Windows 98SE machine. I'm pretty new to this stuff so really any solution i […]
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Hi, first time poster and also first time building a Windows 98SE machine. I'm pretty new to this stuff so really any solution is on the table. My setuup:

ASUS PV3133
Intel P3 550 MHz
256MB*2 SDRAM PC133
Matrox Millennium G400 16MB AGP
YMF724F
Corsair RM550X (does not have -5V rail)

After getting my graphics card drivers working (wouldn't until I installed VIA 4-in-1 drivers), I tested everything using Quake 2. Game runs fine for a few minutes and then crashes the whole system. Even the 3D Pipes screensaver crashes the system after too much has drawn. Running in software works fine. Same issue when sound card is removed. I rolled back the Matrox drivers to the oldest I could find on this site - the game now lasts a lot longer but eventually flashes the illegal operation message and crashes. Any advice on what could be going wrong?

I first thought too that your issue was related to overheating, as "skitters" stated. Although, since changing the video drivers makes the situation a little better, it might not be a hardware issue then, but software.
Do you happen to have another video card around to try?

Also, I could not find any information about that Asus PV3133 board. Are you certain that´s the correct model?
Related to the previous, what version of Via chipset drivers are you using?

Reply 3 of 6, by swaaye

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Moved the thread over to Marvin/Video.

VIA AGP instability may be the problem. If it's running AGP 2x-4x, see if you can force the card to AGP 1x by the system BIOS. Otherwise get the Matrox Technical Support Tweak Utility and force it to 1x.
https://ftp.matrox.com/pub/mga/utils/tech_sup/2002/

Also which G400 driver release are you using? Are you using TurboGL? I think I would try drivers between Powerdesk 5.41 and 6.21. The earlier drivers include TurboGL, which is a highly optimized miniGL for Quake based games. In the Powerdesk 6.xx series the regular OpenGL ICD replaces TurboGL and is about the same speed.
https://ftp.matrox.com/pub/mga/archive/win_9x/2000/

Reply 4 of 6, by The Serpent Rider

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Otherwise get the Matrox Technical Support Tweak Utility and force it to 1x.

You can force specific AGP speed, sideband adressing and fast writes by RivaTuner on any card BTW.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 5 of 6, by Dmetsys

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Have you re-pasted the GPU before you tested it? 21 years on stock TIM pads isn't something I'd recommend. Wouldn't hurt to install a 40mm fan on the heatsink as well, for additional cooling.


A7N8X-LA | 2800+ | GeForce2 MX400 | Audigy 2 ZS
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MS-5169 | K6-2 450 | Voodoo3 3000 AGP | AWE64 Value
P5A-B | P200-S | 64MB | MGA Millennium | Yamaha 719
LS-486E | Am5x86-P75

Reply 6 of 6, by PC Hoarder Patrol

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Assume it's the Asus P3V133

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/slot1/p … /p3v133-102.pdf

As there were only a few bios versions for this board, are you on the latest (P3V133 Beta BIOS 1003.002 7/8/02)

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/beta/mb/bios/pv133132.zip

Also, be worth checking for failing capacitors.