AGP 2x, why can't I get it??

[BladeRunner 0]

Hello People,

Running a Matrox G400 MAX on a ABit BE6-II Mobo.

Both the video card & Mobo are quite capable of running in AGP 2x mode.

Ran PowerStrip.

It reports that I'm running in 1x mode.

Try to make the change here, warns me, I do it, hard lock...reset button time.

Back into Windows, re-run PowerStrip, still running in 1x mode.

I can't see any option in the BIOS to set 2x.

Anybody have any ideas?

 

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ABit BE6-II, PIII 550, 384MB RAM, G400 MAX, SB Live! Value, Adaptec 2940UW, Intel Pro 100 PCI network card, 20GB ATA-66 7,200 IBM HD, 22GB ATA-66 7,200 IBM HD, Pioneer 6x/32x DVD, Yamaha 4416 CD-RW, SCSI Iomega ZIP drive, Iiyama VM Pro 410 - Phew, that's about it :-)

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[Ronin 0]

It's a drivers problem I bet. For the longest time before Nvidia released good drivers for W2K, my TNT2 and Geforce both ran with no AGP support.

 

That's my best guess.

 

...

[Damien Green 0]

Could be a problem with the AGP interface on your motherboard, Matrox cards run a self-test on bootup to check the stability of motherboards running at an agp 2x or higher. This does indeed sound like a strange problem especially with a motherboard as mature and stable as the BE6 range. However I have heard of problems with the BE6-2. I have an Athlon 800 with Matrox G400 Max and Asus K7M motherboard - agpx2 = easy. Check you're power supply if it can't deliver enough oomph (amps) over the agp slot - the graphics card will fall back to agp x1.

[BladeRunner 0]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

I'm using a 250watt power supply, but I do have quite a few devices inside my PC.

Maybe I should consider moving up to a 300watt?

So you feel this is more likely to be a problem with the AGP port on the motherboard than an issue with the Matrox card itself?

 

Thanks.

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ABit BE6-II, PIII 550, 384MB RAM, G400 MAX, SB Live! Value, Adaptec 2940UW, Intel Pro 100 PCI network card, 20GB ATA-66 7,200 IBM HD, 22GB ATA-66 7,200 IBM HD, Pioneer 6x/32x DVD, Yamaha 4416 CD-RW, SCSI Iomega ZIP drive, Iiyama VM Pro 410 - Phew, that's about it :-)

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[Damien Green 0]

Well, I'm currently running my G400 Max at AGP x 2 (soon hopefully at 4 x when I get my abit K7V on Tuesday). I know of many ofthers who have successfully managed to get AGP x 2. You could try a larger power supply, but if this doesn't work, try:

 

1. looking for an updated bios

 

2. Reinstalling windows

 

3. The latest Matrox Drivers

 

4. As a last resort, you might consider trying your card in another machine, preferably one with a different MB, see if it then works.

[pr-man 1]

Also make sure that the G400 has an IRQ assigned to it and that it is not sharing one. G400 likes to be by themselves

[BladeRunner 0]

Hi Again,

OK, motherboard is running latest BIOS (February this year)

Matrox card has latest BIOS & latest drivers.

This is currently a clean install of Win2000.

It was freshly installed less than a week ago.

Friend of mine also has a G400MAX and is having exactly the same problem on a Intel SE440BX-2 Motherboard.

(Hard Lock as soon as you use PowerStrip to modify settings to AGP 2x)

Due to ACPI all of my devices including the Matrox are sharing IRQ11.

I will have to try and get hold of a more powerful power-suply.

 

Not that I doubt PowerStrip, but is there any other software out there that could confirm what speed my AGP port/Card are running at, just for confirmation?

 

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ABit BE6-II, PIII 550, 384MB RAM, G400 MAX, SB Live! Value, Adaptec 2940UW, Intel Pro 100 PCI network card, 20GB ATA-66 7,200 IBM HD, 22GB ATA-66 7,200 IBM HD, Pioneer 6x/32x DVD, Yamaha 4416 CD-RW, SCSI Iomega ZIP drive, Iiyama VM Pro 410 - Phew, that's about it :-)

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