Damien
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Everything posted by Damien
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Tried to delete multiple posts - unfortunately I can't apparently! [This message has been edited by Damien (edited 03 June 2000).]
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Update - 4.22 is out of beta - you can download this and AGP driver v4.03 from Via's website - these both install under Win 2K
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You really shouldn't have any problems with a Via motherboard, as long as it's set up correctly. I've used several with win 2K, no problems at all once everything is configured. You should try: 1. Completly reformatting the hard drive. 2. Installing the bare minimum to get your computer to boot with the minimum set of vital features i.e drive controller, graphics card, memory, cd rom and floppy. 3. Go into your bios and load up the defaults - if there's an option to load the fail-safe settings then definately try these. 4. Try downclocking your memory speed to 100mhz or even 66 - this should show you whether or not this is a memory timing issue, also set all memory settings to their most conservative values. 5. If you have different components to hand i.e graphics card, memory chip - even another mother board - try these instead - you could have a faulty motherboard - unlikely but possible. 6. If you still have no joy, try booting in safe mode (F8 as Windows 2000 starts up) 7. If you want to test system stability, I'd suggest running something resource intensive such as Quake 3 for a few hours to see if anything locks up. 8. As a last resort try significantly underclocking your processor - this will at least show you whether or not it's a heat issue.
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There are sone beta 4 in 1 drivers avalible for Win 2K (V4.22) If you look at fargo's thread - Via Drivers V4.22 in this forum, you'll find the url from with you can download them. [This message has been edited by Damien (edited 02 June 2000).]
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You might try installing the latest Via 4 in 1 drivers from the website - have you installed these drivers at all? Also try putting the CDROM on a different IDE controller, and switching it from Master to Slave or vice-versa. Finally try another drive with your machine, there may be an incompatability between the cd drive and your motherboard.
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Personally I love the Abit KA7, not only is it very stable, but thanks to the updated Inf file from Via - it rund absolutely flawlessly under Win 2K. I'm running an Athlon 800 with a Matrox G400 Max, so I don't really know about any issues this board has with the Geforce, but there have been several machines on sale over here in the UK the use a similar configuration to the one you describe withous (I assume) any problems.
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If you're thinking of up[censored] to the lastest Bios for the ABit KA7 and you have a scsi card such as an Adaptec 2940UW or a 29160 then beware. I've just tried installing bios revision KA7_RX - and it seems to prevent these scsi cards from installing their bios successfully at bootup - result no scsi hard drive will boot. I've just spent hours scratching my head with the computer in bits, until I tried flashing back to the previous bios - guess what, everything now works. This is a pity as the revision addresses some SDRAM stability issues - Oh well will just have to wait for KA7_RY which is in beta as we speak.
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This is interesting, as far as I can tell it has to be the bios that's causing the problem - I've tried flashing again, with the same result - and this is in a PC equiped with just a Graphics card, Scsi Card and hard drive. It's possible that the flash program isn't flashing the bios chip properally with my configuration - I'll check this out later. Anyway, thanks for your feedback.
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If you want to check for compatability - go into the Microsoft wedsite - under Win 2K, you should find a program that you can download and run on your machine. I think it's called Win 2000 compatability analyser - anyway it checks your hardware configuration and lists any problems you might have. As a rule of thumb, check the websites of the producers of every piece of hardware you have - they usually list whether or not they're compatible with Win 2K. I know this may take some time, but it's the only way to be completely sure. If you want to check the compatibility of games, then you'vealready found the best site, simply check the Games subsection under compatability (which is on the menu to the right of the home page) there you will find all games tested thus far and whether or not they're compatible with Win 2K. [This message has been edited by Damien (edited 30 May 2000).]
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Taking k6-2 cap of processor, help warmth problem?
Damien replied to RazoRBladE1st's topic in Hardware
Globalwin heatsinks are very good indeed, I've got a VOS32 fittled to my Athlon 800, and it now runs at a steady 31 degrees c - which for an Athlon is pretty damn low. -
Hmmm - Win 9X 32 bit! Maybe it is - just a pity it has to rely on 16bit Dos code.
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What type of IDE port are you trying to connect the drive up to? UDMA33, UDMA 66? Are you trying to connect it to a controller which predates UDMA? It sounds as though the program is trying to tell you that the IDE controller that you have the drive connected to doesn't meet it's requirements. You could try: 1. Enabling DMA transfers - do this under device manager - go into the properties for the controller, then select either primary or secondary controller (depending upon where the drive is placed) open up the properties for this and check that USE DMA IF AVALIBLE is selected for the channel in question. i.e if your cd writer sits as secondary master, make sure USE DMA is the option selected. All this is assuming that you use Win 2K if you are running NT 4 - then I'm afraid I don't know how to enable DMA - it's been so long since I used the system that I can't remember the procedure - perhaps someone else does. 2. If you have a controller that predates the UDMA standard, you could try connecting the drive up to a separate controller card - you can buy these from many mail order companies - specift a PCI card that adheres to either the UDMA 33, UDMA 66 or UDMA 100 standard. Other than these suggestions, I can't think of much else to try except ensuring you have the latest version of the CD RW's software.
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Guys - I think somehow you're missing the issue here. Everyone seems to be talking abount DX8 as though it is the final release - it's not. What you can download from various (dodgy) sites is an early Beta version. It's bound to give you problems, it's not finished yet, it's not going to work flawlessly. Do yourselves a favour and don't install anything but the final release version, it will save you a lot of grief.
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Taking k6-2 cap of processor, help warmth problem?
Damien replied to RazoRBladE1st's topic in Hardware
It might - but I really wouldn't reccommend that you do it, there have been several reports of K62 being sent to silicon heven when the heatsink has either crushed or shorted out the delicate core - if I was you, I'd leave the iron cap on - it's there for a good reason. [This message has been edited by Damien (edited 27 May 2000).] -
Ouch - you may have better luck finding a solution if you post your message on the Matrox Users Matrox hardware forum - http://www.matroxusers.com. Anyway try the following: Install the latest VIA KX133 inf file - from the VIA website - this will allow Win 2K to properally detect the AGP bridge amongst other things - by default - Win 2K is unable to recognise the KX133 chipset. Check the Asus website for the latest bios - I don't have that board, but I do have an Abit KA7 which uses the same Via chipset - this runs fine with my G400 max. Try installing windows with nothing but the G400 - this will at least eliminate any other cards which may be indirectly causing the problem. Try installing Win 2K without ACPI support i.e as a Standard PC - to do this I think you press F6 when setup asks if you want to specify any other scsi devices etc. I've never done this, so I'm not sure if F6 is the right key - do a forum search to find out for sure. Ensure that your power supply is up to the job - it needs to be at least 300W to be reliable - also see if it's listed as compatable on AMD's website - quite a few 300W supplies aren't and it may be this that's causing the problem - again if you remove all cards - and all by essential drives, you may find that the card then gets enough power - but this is no guarentee - the only sure way to know is to buy a compatible power supply. Try getting the latest, patched viaagp.sys file - again this can be found if you do a forum search. Place it under safe mode in the Winnt/system32/drivers folder. Hope this is of some help, regards, Damien. [This message has been edited by Damien (edited 27 May 2000).]
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Yep - I think there are utilities to recover this sort of damage. It may have formatted the werong drive because you entered format /q d: when you should type format d: /q. The best way to format drives to use Disk Administrator (under computer management in control panel) then you can be sure which drive you're formatting. Anyway - Good Luck
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Yep tried it, and it worked well - maybe I've bben lucky, but you might consider reinstalling then applying the patch - it's possible that the hacked version left some clutter behind - I reinstalled Win 2K recently - mainly to get rid of the many beta patches etc. I'd installed - now I have final release drivers for just about everything. Once you reach this stage I suggest you do the same - much smoother system. [This message has been edited by Damien (edited 27 May 2000).]
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I have to agree - it comes to something when such a recent game won't run on Win 2K and that EA doesn't wan't to release a patch making it a case of tough luck, you're screwed!
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The best way to get Quake III fps is to run a time demo. To do this, do the following: 1. Load Quake III (obviously) 2. Go to the console by pressing the ` key (on the left hand side of the keyboard - second row down) 3. In the console type "timedemo 1" - press return 4. Type "demo demo001" or "demo demo002" press return This will run a short time demo, and at the end you'll be given your average FPS score.
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Good point - well made.
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The DX8 beta is exactly that - a beta, there's no mention of it on the Microsoft site because it hasn't reached release status. There are hacked beta versions circling around the net - but I wouldn't reccommend using them - there could be a lot of unforseen issues - wait for the real Mcoy.
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I hate to say it but I always stick memory sticks of exactly the same type in my motherboard slots. By this I mean EXACTLY - same company - same speed etc. This is the only sure fire way that you can ensure than the modules you fit will cooperate. It also ensures than you get 100% relability from your modules (assuming that they're not faulty of course).
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Also remember that the DSP chip on the SBLive is upgradable through software - we may see better position sound from future driver releases. I would also like to say that I consider low CPU unilisation an importsnt issue (even though I have an Athlon 800) - it really helps to have as much horsepower as possible when running the latest 3D games - this is especially true if you have a video card other than the Geforce series (which of course have a GPU which helps offload the cpu from some 3D Tasks.) You may have guessed from this that I'm a bit of a Creative fan - I chose the SB Live mainly because it's more than just a games card - the Live Drive and Live Drive II addons supply you with an array of very useful inpuits and outputs - digital - digital optical and analogue phono which every biudding musician will find extremely useful. It's also nice to be able to link an MP3 player or DAT machine digitally to the card - resulting in no quality loss during transfers (I know some Aureal cards also have digital out dut the connectors are no as flexible as those on the Live). [This message has been edited by Damien (edited 26 May 2000).]
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JMC - it's possible because when the size of a CRT monitor is quoted - what they're quoting is the actual size of the tube, not the viewing area. You can try this for yourself - neasure the diagonal of the viewable area of the screen on your CRT - I think you may be surprised to find that the value is something short of 21". With TFT's they quote the real viewing area - so if a 21" monitor only has a 17.5 " viewing area or even an 18" viewing area - then you can see how a company that makes TFT'scan justify itself with such a statement. Cheers, Damien. [This message has been edited by Damien (edited 24 May 2000).]
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Images can be very sharp on CRT monitiors - hell my Eizo Flexiscan 21" is absolutely pin sharp. Despite this when I look at my Laptop's TFT screen - I always think - wow this is like so easy to read. Because of the way in which TFT works - it will always be a little bit sharper than a CRT - this is mainly due to the fact that such devices don't need shadow masks or aperture grills - so you don't get the danger of fuzzy lines caused by a grill or mask's inability to block out all the stray electrons. Anyway here are what I consider to be the advantages and disadvantages of a TFT FPD compared to a CRT. 1. A Flat Panel Display feels more comfortable to work with - this is because they emit very little radiation when compared to the CRT. When using a CRT you can often feel your eys getting tired and sore with prolongued use - with a FPD - this doesn't happen. 2. Viewing angle - unfortunately a LCD FPD offers a smaller viewing angle than a CRT - again this is because of the way in which it is constructed - the angles can be anything upo to 30% less for a LCD panel. 3. Colour - CRT tubes - especially Trinitron tubes provide brighjter and more vibrant colours than their LCD counterparts. 4. Cost - CRT's are far cheeper than LCD panels. 5. And finally size - when a LCD panel is quoted as 18" it really is 18". The same is not true of a CRT where one quoted as being 18" can be as small as 16" or even less. This is because the figure quotes the CRT's size, some of which is always hidden in the plastic casing - this is the only way the tube can be adequately supported. Of course CRT displays are also far larger than their LCD counterparts and can save considerable space - something that is very important in a small office. [This message has been edited by Damien (edited 23 May 2000).]