Had repeating problems with 9700 Pro & P4G8x, XPpro.

My setup includes 1Gb of Kingston 2*512Mb PC2700.
The 9700Pro is a Club3d, see http://www.club3d.de.

I use Unreal2 a lot.

Mobo came with 1003 BIOS version.
Problem is repeated crashing into 8 bit VGA, with XP reporting a device failure. This will happen the most in one of two situations:
- fast user switching on XP pro. Pick another account to log on. The CRT goes into power save for half a second, then comes back at the resolution etc. set for that user. Problem is that once in a while: it will simply freeze, and after a while BANG you´re in VGA mode with very crude colors. Windows (sometimes before, sometimes after reboot) will report a failing device.

- in Unreal 2, unpredictably. Could be when there´s a lot a stuff moving, which could point to a driver problem. Or it could be that the Radeon is heating up, or eating a lot of power. Is it possible that DX9 activates more of the hardware of this Radeon, making it more power-hungry?

I´ve tried a ton of stuff:
- reinstalling XP, ghosting it up and down to try various software combinations.
- remove NIS2003, I´ve seen some report on Norton AV 2003 instability
- upgraded to latest intel IAA drivers
- replaced 300W by 350 Enermax PSU ( I now see the posting about ATI advising 400W plus, but can´t find that info with ATI)
- installing DX9 or sticking with DX8.
- activated and deactivated fast user switching.

Tracking this problem down is taking time.

My gut feeling is-was it´s a power related problem, hence the replaced PSU.

The new 1004-014 beta BIOS seems to improve the situation. I noticed that it is raising the AGP voltage default (check by load defaults) is raised
from 1.5v to 1.6v. An unreal2 scene that woul consistenly crash the system 5 times in a row now works.

However, checking back one night later downgrading to version 1003 BIOS, I cannot repeat the problem. Hmmmmpf.

This problem has three different approaches i believe:

1. PSU isn't powerful enough (mine is 460W Enermax and 8bit mode crashes have ceased).
2. Radeon's of early prod.lines fail to comply with newer MB's or other components, causing hardware crashes.
3. P4G8X is uncompliable with Radeon, or needs compliable BIOS version.

Besides this that damn windows screensaver locks up the whole system every time! Every night when downloading, the system freezed just after bedtime. After screensaver was disabled, no crashes of the same sort.

Lets work people, need to find the solutuon for this and report it.
Anyways, I'm getting a brand new Radeon9700pro, or upgrading to 9800pro.

I'll let everyone know what I find with the MSI board, if I experience the same problems, or if they go away. I noticed that someone said that upgrading to the beta bios solved their problem, well i did that as well, and it didn't seem to help mine any... And now, I can't flash back to a stable bios!! heh.. Have you tried flashing back to stable bios? It says it is incompatible.. I think they made a boo-boo in their programming of the bios where you can't step down a revision from the beta version...

Hrmm... Apparently they have a new beta BIOS, I was using 1004 Beta 004, I will try this beta 014 and see if I have any better luck...

Thank you Kenneth!! Apparently that upgrade to the latest Beta BIOS has completely solved my problem as well.. Wow. Now, if I could only cancel my MSI motherboard that is arriving tommorow! hehe...

Hrmm.. So its not perfect, after installing Intel Application Accelerator (a mistake I guess..) my machine entered the "Infinite Loop" state. That happened before as well, what is Intel Application Accelerator doing that causes this?

Gohl, your post triggered a thought... maybe there's a new Intel Application Accelerator! The one that is on the ASUS site is v2.2.2. Intel has a v2.3 here:

http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df/Product_Filter.asp?ProductID=663

I've installed it -- now to see if it fixes the same problems that I've seen everyone post in this thread! -- At the very least, I'm glad we have a support group here!

Lol. I'm glad I have a support group as well. I'm going to definitely try 2.3 as well, I had downloaded 2.2.2 from ASUS... and have since reinstalled XP Hehe.. Is there any good way to test it, and remove it if things go sour?

I avoided the intel CPU accelerator all together.
Maybe my mistake, but from what I can tell, it's useless crap.

This is what I derived, anyway... from the Intel site itself. (and Intel should know, I would think)

http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/iaa/suppchip.htm

No where does it list support for the E7205 chipset... so I avoided it all together... and as previously stated, I havent had ANY problems for over a month now with my bundle.

Yeah, the version that is on the cd from ASUS, and the version that you download from ASUS's website (2.2.2) are all crap. Or at least for me, they just put my system into constant reboot mode. But I just downloaded the 2.3 version from Intel's website, and it seems to be working. (well, at least it isn't causing my system any problems... heh)

As everyone here (or the most) I have Asus P4G8X and ATI Radeon 9700 Pro too. I have formated and installed XP Pro many times and loaded each device's drivers one by one while tested Radeon 9700 Pro with Freelancer and Splinter Cell between loading them. I also did same thing for the other programs like NIS2003, Photoshop 7.0 etc. What I found is, as soon as I installed Intel chispset utility (INF installer), XP Pro started to crash down 1 -2 minutes after I started it. This didn't change even I downloaded the latest version from intel.This especially happens when SGART table adjusted to 8X and WC enabled. Disabling WC and Fastwrite just delays the crashes and infinite loops but no healing at all.
Even I adjust it to 4X any of the 3D games would freeze after 5 or 10 minutes and would go in infinite loop.
Finally I gave up installing Intel chispset utility but loaded everything beside that...Even drivers for USB 2.0, LAN. Also Installed Catalyst 3.2 with Asus Bios 1003.
Now it doesn't freeze & crash but according to 3DMark 2003 and other system check utilities, Radeon 9700 pro works in 4X , not 8X.... But this is not what I spent my money for.
I will try 1004 beta bios and also wait for 3.3 catalyst drivers. If they don't help I will change my SPU but what if they all don't work ? What's left ? And if ATI is aware of the problem, why they don't have a single word about this problem on their online support pages ? same goes for the Asus... By the way, does anyone have any idea about new 865 chipset of intel ?

So Dan,

you're saying to un-install both chipset-drivers and app.acc.

I can understand the app.acc. but the chipset drivers are supposed to be quite an essential thing for the MB you know


Anyways, if it works for you, I probably works for us all, as long you're running Windows XP!?

Installed Intel App.Acc. 2.3 and newest Beta BIOS v.1004.017.

Going to overclock some as well, to see if things work stabily.

Simon, that's exactly right.

I didn't install anything related to the chipset, and like I said, it's working perfectly.

I opted to forego the CD, and get all my drivers from the asus website.
The chipset driver itself wasn't even listed under the XP drivers from the Asus website.

The reason I didn't install the App.Acc. was due to Intel's site (see above URL) that doesn't list the E7205 as even being compatible with it.

Dan :
Are you running on 8X or 4X ? what about USWS / Fast Write ?

Here's a recap list of the version/settings I currently have running:

ASUS P4G8X DELUXE:
- Bios version 1003 (not the beta 1004, although I was testing it at one point, I downgraded back to 1003 to eliminate the beta bios as a potential problem)
- BIOS settings: AGP is set to 8x, and utilizes USWC
- Primary display is set to AGP (obviously)
- I have 2x 512mb PC2700 DDR sticks.
- As for motehrboard drivers, I only installed the Audio and LAN drivers that came from the Asus website, NOT the CD.
- (note: Serial ATA happens to be disabled, as I don't have any SATA drives)

RADEON 9700 PRO (Retail Box):
- Catalyst driver version 3.2
- Speed setting under SmartGart tab in the ATI control panel is set to 8x, Fast write is OFF.

400w PSU:
-- does not have 4-pin P4 connector. The PSU is too old. Instead, I use the EZ Plug on the motherboard that accomodates the regular power connectors
-- in fact, I have 5 harddrives connected to this beast, a DVD rom, a CD-RW, and the video card... it's maxxed out... so if the fear is adequate power consumption of the video card, take that into consideration.

WINDOWS XP PRO - Upgraded to SP1:
-- I avoided the bundled Asus CD all together.
-- All the drivers I installed came from the Asus download pages (and incidentally, the Gigabit Lan drivers were updated at that time.)
-- I did NOT install any Intel Chipset drivers nor the Application Accelerator software.
-- I did not install SATA drivers, since that feature is turned off... and I did not install the GSM editor as I'm not using the PCI Blue slot for wireless.

Since I installed Intel App Acc 2.3, I haven't had any problems. In fact, I've been able to overclock and run 3DMark to stress the card a bit.

I'm going to be daring and upgrade to the newest ASUS BIOS 1004-017 (just released).

jaymoo?

give me ALL you're settings....including write combine in display prop.

I tried with same settings as Dan....but could't overclock at all....the system is still a bit unstable, and I get under 13,5k score in 3Dmark.

thx man

017 released huh? Well, if I am using a beta bios, it might as well be the newest one... Just experienced my first video drop to 8 bit since getting everything "working"; so apparently everything is not so tip-top just yet.

CPU: 140 x 23 = 3220MHz (P4 3.06HT)
AGP: 70.xx/ (don't have the exact #'s)
USWC
AGP V: 1.6v (default in BIOS 1004)
DDR V: 2.6v
CPU V: 1.600v
8x (default)
Memory Turbo: Auto (default) (2x512MB Corsair 3500 + 2x512MB Apacer 2100)
5-2-2-2
AIW Radeon 9700 Pro

Those are the only settings that I've changed from default... everything else I've left the same.

I have everything from the ASUS CD loaded, and I just installed BIOS 1004-017 and Intel App Acc 2.3.

I've had the 3.2 catalyst drivers in place and will probably upgrade to 3.3 as soon as it comes out (someone indicated sometime this week).

Sorry if I've missed any settings that you care about, ask, and I will be sure to get them on my next bootup.

I have not had the 4/8bit problem since the upped agp v to 1.6v.

Good luck!