Problems with Hyper-Threading and ATI 8500 Radeon

[Hykster 0]

I've just recently built a new computer roughly two days ago. Here are the current specs:

 

ASUS P4G8X-Deluxe

Pentium IV 3.06 Ghz

1 GB DDR PC 2100 RAM

ATI Radeon 8500 AGP4X 128 MB DDR

Maxtor 120 GB HD

Maxtor 10 GB HD (backup)

Gigabyte LAN Ethernet

MATSHITA DVD-ROM (about 6 years old.. works fine)

HP CD-R/W 9500+ (about 2-3 years old.. seems to work fine also)

 

Problem one:

While installing programs from a CD-ROM, didn't matter which CD-ROM the install disc was in, when the installing was about 1/4 of the way finished, the whole system would halt and I would have to make a hard reboot. Basically, the CD-ROM would read the data at a certain speed and then gradually slow down till it stops, then the system would freeze up completely. So, I would go back into the BIOS and "disable" the hyper-threading technology feature. Now, I can install programs with a breeze and the CD-ROM reads data at it's full speed? Why is this? And also during times, I would get random system lockups with Hyper-Threading enabled... now with it disabled, I don't? Can someone decypher this?

 

Problem two:

I have an ATI 8500 Radeon 128 MB DDR. I've installed the lastest 4.7 Catalyst drivers and now I am constantly getting random lockups with games that require a 3D video card. I could be playing a game and then out of no where, the whole screen would fill up with different color bar colums filled across the screen and then the sound loops and the system comes to a halt. Then, I have to do a hard reboot. I've tried switching drivers to 4.6 and 4.5 Catalyst but I get the same problems. I've also tried running these games in a -windowed mode, but I also get the same problems.

 

Problem three:

When I boot up my system, it runs through the regular BIOS info and then I get a message stating:

 

"Invalid BOOT.ini file

Booting from C:/windows/"

 

Windows starts up normal and runs fine with this "invalid" BOOT.ini file. By the way, this is from a CLEAN INSTALL. Could this cause my abnormal lockups and crashes?

 

Does anyone have any possible solutions or theories of why I'm having these new problems?

 

(My old system was an ASUS K7V 800 mhz AMD Thunderbird with 640 SDRAM and the same components listed above and I never had any problems with these.)

 

Thanks for the help... and sorry for the long read. My bad. =)

 

Kevin

[Jerry Atrik 0]

xp pro?

was the clean install done with hyperthreading enabled?

is your bios mp version set at 1.4?

[Hykster 0]

Originally posted by jerry atrik:

Quote:

xp pro?

was the clean install done with hyperthreading enabled?

is your bios mp version set at 1.4?

 

I'm using Windows XP Home Edition

I did a clean install with Hyper-Threading enabled

And I'm not positive on what BIOS version I'm using. I had to update the FLASH to 1006 from ASUS's site in order for it to read my HDD's. How would I know if my BIOS MP version is set at 1.4?

[Hykster 0]

I'm also going to be buying an ATI Radeon 9800PRO 256 MB DDR here shortly cuz it uses the boards AGP8X feature (and cuz I enjoy ATI's products) so perhaps since this 8500 is somewhat old, replacing it with a new one wouldn't give me as much problems... but anyways... keep throwing out solutions for me to do.. thanks!

[thatsteveguy 0]

Originally posted by Hykster:

Quote:

I'm also going to be buying an ATI Radeon 9800PRO 256 MB DDR here shortly cuz it uses the boards AGP8X feature (and cuz I enjoy ATI's products) so perhaps since this 8500 is somewhat old, replacing it with a new one wouldn't give me as much problems... but anyways... keep throwing out solutions for me to do.. thanks!

 

If their isn't a big diffrence in price where you are get the X800 Pro card instead of the 9800pro as the X800 is twice as fast.Sorry I am not helping with the original problem but just wanted to throw that out there.

 

and just wondering something do you have Fast Writes enabled in the bios? the 8500 does not support them so try disabling that and see if it helps stop the freezes. also make sure that 8Xagp is disabled in the bios as sometimes it can cause a conflict with the 4agp cards even though they still default to 4X.

 

S

 

[Jerry Atrik 0]

not being terribly familier with the asus bios setup im going to guess the the setting is on the same page with the hyperthreading enable feature.

check that setting, it normally defaults to v1.4 (as opposed to v1.1)

[Hykster 0]

Originally posted by thatsteveguy:

Quote:

Originally posted by Hykster:

Quote:

I'm also going to be buying an ATI Radeon 9800PRO 256 MB DDR here shortly cuz it uses the boards AGP8X feature (and cuz I enjoy ATI's products) so perhaps since this 8500 is somewhat old, replacing it with a new one wouldn't give me as much problems... but anyways... keep throwing out solutions for me to do.. thanks!

 

If their isn't a big diffrence in price where you are get the X800 Pro card instead of the 9800pro as the X800 is twice as fast.Sorry I am not helping with the original problem but just wanted to throw that out there.

 

and just wondering something do you have Fast Writes enabled in the bios? the 8500 does not support them so try disabling that and see if it helps stop the freezes. also make sure that 8Xagp is disabled in the bios as sometimes it can cause a conflict with the 4agp cards even though they still default to 4X.

 

S

 

Yeah, I've seen the X800 cards, but never really looked at the specs for found out what the difference is inbetween both cards. I'll have to check that out.

 

Also, there's no 8XAGP feature in the BIOS.. I'm only able to change it to 1x or 4x or Default (which is probably 8x). I switched to 4x and still had problems, so I switched it to 1x and I'll test some games out on it and see if I get any problems.

 

[Hykster 0]

Originally posted by jerry atrik:

Quote:

not being terribly familier with the asus bios setup im going to guess the the setting is on the same page with the hyperthreading enable feature.

check that setting, it normally defaults to v1.4 (as opposed to v1.1)

 

Through this ASUS BIOS, there's only a single option for the Hyper-Threading:

 

Hyper-Threading - [Disable][Enable]

 

And that's it. I'll keep looking.

 

Any other suggestions from others are welcome too. Thanks.

[Hykster 0]

Yeah, changing and experimenting with different settings haven't changed a thing.

 

The screen gets all sorts of colored bar colums that fill the screen, the sound loops and then, my monitor goes black and puts itself in a stand-by mode. I don't think it's the video card that overheats because this happens randomly. I can be playing a game for a while and then it does this, or it can do it right away... ugh...

[Jerry Atrik 0]

i would also like to hear other suggestions. this is the first time i've heard of any probs with the ht technology.

 

although when i set the mp version to v1.1 i did have a few problems awhile back