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Greggy

Chasing an Win2K SMP problem!

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I need you guys to help me chase an SMP bug in my Windows 2000 box (dual 366 Celerys @ 550, 256Mb, CL GeForce SDR, Epox KP6-BS/Abit BP6 with MSI slot converters).

 

I am currently using Windows 2000 nvidia drivers ver 3.69 (the best so far in my opinion)

 

Running single CPU mode (MPS Uniprocessor PC) everything is perfect at all CPU speeds with either CPU on both the Epox and Abit boards.

 

But...if I switch to MPS Multiprocessor PC (dual CPUs) anything related to D3D (eg UT or a D3D screensaver) will usually crash as soon as the 3D rendering begins. The only thing I'm left with is an hourglass and a hung Windows 2000 box. This occurs on both motherboards, with the CPUs at 366 or 550, regardless of what I do. I've also tried two BRAND NEW 466 Clerons on different slot converters with the same results. Rebuild after rebuild and things are the same.

 

OpenGL seems to be fine (I can play SMP Quake 3 or Half-Life for hours with no problems at all) Also, Windows NT4 SP6 is perfect as well, but no D3D of course!

 

Now, someones gotta have noticed something like this.... please help!

 

I'm hoping its a video driver bug, but if others have a similar SMP combo and D3D is perfect it looks like I'm in trouble.

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I have noticed the same trouble with my setup.

 

ABIT BP6

Dual 466

Viper V770

 

Any time I do anything that does D3D I get the hard lockup. I have tracked it so far to running the RC5 distributed client in the background. If I disable it before attempting anything D3D related the game will run but if not I have to reset my compuer.

 

I have currently switched to a Voodoo3 to get around this until Nvidia drivers address this. After all, smp is here to stay and if their drivers can't share the processor with anything else... Of course the Voodoo3 hacked drivers that I am using don't allow smp in Quake 3 but at least they don't lock up my computer.

 

Ed

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You are far from alone. I've got the same problem om my BP6 and DDR GeForce. I also had the same problem with my old PCI TNT, so it is definetly a driver problem.

 

I use dxdiag to test whenever I get my hands on a new w2k build og nvidia drivers. And so far it always locks up during the ddraw (fullscreen) and d3d (only fullscreen is tested). Now, since the non-fullscreen ddraw works, I'm beginning to suspect that it has problems with switching to fullscreen in SMP mode. Also the mediaplayer crashes quite often (almost always) when I fullscreen it, with just reinforces my suspicion.

 

I want my second CPU back!

 

 

------------------

Paul Currie

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As EM said... make sure you disable the RC5 distributed.net client if you're running it as this has caused lockups for many other people and is not an obvious culprit. However, the latest version of the RC5 client along with the 3.69 drivers does seem to work marginally well with only locking up every other time you run a D3D app.

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Disabling rc5 sure worked, but its kinda lame way to fix a bug. But it'll have to do for the time being. Thanks.

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Greggy,

 

Hi! It seems that my system have finally found its twin brother. smile

 

I have exactly the same specs as yours, except I am using DDR instead of SDR.

I have the similar problem as yours.

System lock up if I run any 3D games, Quake, Unreal, even DxDiag in Control Panel. And it happens very randomly. Sometimes it hang, sometimes it doesn't.

 

I have RC5 Client cracking at the background too.

 

I found a solution for this, I revert back using Nvidia Reference Drive 3.68, everything solved. Everything run as solid as rock.

 

However, there is a still a few small minor problem here and there which even if I use 3.69 driver, it still don't solve the problem.

 

1. Dagooth Moor Zoological Garden benchmark is extra ordinary slow. The missing texture?

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Firstly, thanx to all who have replied.

 

I have a few questions:

 

slkh, where do I get the Windows 2000 nvidia drivers ver 3.68 that 'work' with Windows 2000 SMP? Can you e-mail them to me at gsimpson@bigpond.com.au so I can try them out.

 

How do I disable the RC5 distributed net client? I cannot find it anywhere, so maybe I'm not even using it. Comments?

 

Also, I know you will hate to hear it, but I'm glad you guys are having similar problems... I was beginning to wonder if some of my hardware was faulty.

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The distributed.net RC5 client is a program that you must download and run, so if you did not download it then you do not have it. However, programs like CPUIdle Pro and SETI@Home also can cause lockups with these drivers so if you have any idle-type processes running then disable them and see if that helps, as it has helped many people.

 

Other than that, all I can say is try the new 3.75 drivers and see if they will work...

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I have a Tyan thunder 100 mobo with dual celeron 500's and a geforce ddr card. I had the same problems with the lockups at first. I bought a 425w power supply and changed the MPS type setting in bios from Generic to ISA and now everything is fine. I use the 3.66 win2k drivers on reactorcritical.com.

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this is slightly off topic but figure you guys might know.

 

I just purchased an Abit-BP6 with 2 -433 celerons running at 541mhz, in the bios the voltage on both cores is running at 2.00v consistently, i am running w2k 2195 and if i run hardware doctor 2.03 or Motherboard monitor 4.05 it shows core 1 at 2.00v +- and core 2 at 1.5v +- is this a software problem or is my board screwed? any help woulb be appreciated.

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I'm running "MotherBoard Monitor" version 4.13...

 

Perhaps you should upgade...

 

 

 

------------------

SuperMicro P6DBS (dual UW-SCSI) BIOS 2.2, 2*Celery 300a @ 450Mhz, 384MB PC100 RAM

SCSI-A=4.3Gb+9Gb, SCSI-B=Tosh32x CD-ROM, Yamaha4416 CD-RW, Iomega ZIP100, IDE1=4.3Gb

IBM EtherJet 10/100 NIC PCI + Nortel ADSL "modem"

CL TNT1 AGP + Quantum3D Voodoo2 SLI PCI

SoundBlaster Live PCI (not Value)

Win2K build 2195 Retail (no 120-day eval)

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Anyone notice any vid card overheating problems with SMP?

 

I have a Viper770, Geforce SDR and Geforce DDR all overheating on different mobos. Namely a dual PIII-500 @ 2x500 or 2x560 Asus P2B-D, dual PIII-500 @ 2x500 or 2x560 MSI 6120 and a dual Celeron 366 @ 2x366 or 2x550 BP6.

 

I tried the new 3.76 drivers to no avail. 3DMark2000 keeps sending me back to the desktop while running the benchmark and the demo. Afterwhich I touch the back of the card to find it burning hot. I haven't even started oc'ing the cards yet.

 

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

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