James, what type of problems have you been having??

kiran

First my system setup:-

CASE = Antec Plus 1080AMG 430w power supply
MAINBOARD = Asus P4G8X Deluxe
CPU = Pentium 3.06GHz
RAM = 4 x 512mb PC2100 DDR266 memory modules
GRAPHICS CARD = HIS Excalibur RADEON 9700/9800 PRO 128MB
HARD DRIVES = 2 x 120g Seagate Barracuda Serial ATA drives.
CDR = Lite-On LTR-48246S 48x24x48x CD-RW
DVD = Lite-On LTD-166S 16x DVD player.
KEYBOARD = Logitech “Cordless Elite Duo”
& MOUSE
MODEM = Net-comm 56k v92 modem

This also works for the 9800 Pro - I know, because I have both cards & the 9800 Pro does the same thing with this mainboard.

It's probably an obvious thing to say, but make sure your monitor has it's own drivers. The 9700/9800 Pro will drive the monitor but it likes help in the form of a monitor driver.

Having tried literally everything mentioned on this forum in regards the the 9700/9800 Pro problems (drops in screen resolution - system rebooting - games & system freezing up & so on & so forth) the following appears to have solved my problems.

Uninstall your 9700/9800 drivers & reboot into the mainboard setup & hit (I think it's the F5 key) restore defaults & save.

Reboot & reinstall the drivers either catalyst 3.2 OR 3.4 the result is the same.

Reboot into your mainboard setup and change the following.

Advanced:

AGP/PCI Frequency : 67.26/33.63
AGP Voltage : 1.5V

Advanced -> Chip Configuration:

Memory Turbo : Enabled
Graphics Aperture size : 128MB
AGP Capability : 8X Mode
Video Memory Cache : USWC
Delay Transaction : Disabled

The Advanced Setups are courtesy of Sander Sassen, CEO, Hardware Analysis. They came out of the "Intel E7205 chipset device failure" forum on this site.

So far, so good. I've hammered the system since doing this without a hitch.
Disable fastwrites in SMARTGART if you like. It makes little difference and tends to stop an occasional screen flicker. Not that you'll notice it unless you spend days in front of your machine.

Hope this helps.
Message me if you need more help.

I will update my progress, even if everything is going well. I know how frustrating it can be to have the latest of everything and not have it running as we dreamed it would.

Disabling Fast Writes Does give you system stability.

Accually it's the only sollution to this problem.

There's a problem on this mainboard with AGP 3.0 compatibility.

People who say Disabling fast writes doesn't really slow down your system propably just use benchmarking to test their system.

Try to play cnc generals with and without fast writes and you will INSTANTLY know the difference.

To be honest I don't think their is a real sollution for this problem and will never come. Cause intel won't resolve this problem. Or have in the new i865 and i875 chipset.

Sell your P4G8X and buy a P4P800 or P4C800 to really solve the problem.

I'm on the Abit IC7 "Canterwood" I875P, and I've experienced hard-boots under gaming, infinite loops even during internet browsing and also low-res. low colour bit crashes. This is with an early revision Radeon 9700 Pro. But still it's much more stable than before, I can play for hours on hours, even days without trouble, big improvement from the P4G8X.

It obviously also matters what revision you are on, as it says in the Asus manual I believe, RMA your old Radeons as I will this summer. ATI-built Radeon's like the 9700 have a 5 year warranty!

one word "Asus"

The P4P800 from Asus has the PAT hack.
It's the best buy.
Very good review and comparisons

hi.. sorry for the late reply.....

i'm using ATI's own brand of the 9800 pro 128mb 3.2cat.. all works fine, zero crashes.
fast writes on

really dont blame Intel Blame ASUS,
oh its the same thing with the P4S8X, sell it and get a P4C800Deluxe/P4S800/P4P800
Oh
found out that if run under 4X should have no problems running card, but who wants to run 4x with an 8X card, I think all the mobo companies need to get together with the creators of the AGP standards. same with the Video card makers

Hey

I got a Asus P4C800 Deluxe and the same problem exist on that to.

Which problem is that exactly????

Hope it doesnt exist on P4P800 otherwise I might buy an MSI Neo

Ok Heres the deal with the 9700, DO not buy, the 9700 has many problems, the Voltages are too unstable, Have get a Big PSU for it, the Heatsink and Fan on it are Crap. Instead of Buying the Radeon/AIW 9700 Pro, go for the 9800 AIW/Radeon Instead. 9800 is so stable, voltages, etc dont have to really buy a Massive PSU. This Is showing that ATI is learning from its Mistakes!! the P4C800 is extremely Stable with the 9800 Pro.

All may not be lost.......
I think the problem with this combo is that you must uncheck "Use DDC information" and set the values for 'maximum resolution/refresh' manually (display properties/ advanced/ displays/ monitor/ ) oh, and "Fast Writes off". Everything else as normal. Have done this and noticed no problems...yet.

Ati have released a beta catalyst 3.5... I dont know whether it addresses the issue of this.... but hey its worth a try.. please post if you have tried it.

Heres the link

http://down.9down.com/Download/Ati%203.5%20beta.rar

I had the same problem with FX5600 and P4S8X-X and then after fighting for 5hrs at the distributors i replaced the board for P4G8X and the same thing continued. Now i threw that off and purchased Intel D865GBF.
Wow! UT2003 is showing improvement upto 20 fps. and Doom3_Alpha
0.02 runs superb at 1024 X 768. All my problems are solved. D865GBF almost has the same set of features as P4G8X and a better chipset

Hi.
I am suffering too from my P4G8X and Radeon9700 Pro hardware with changing resolution to 640x480.
Today I connect my second monitor to DVI output and surprised to see that the resolution of the monitor is 640x480 8 bit. I changed it to 800x600 32 bit, so if my primary display will changed from 1024x768 to 800x600 I'll know that problem with my ATI card.

Hello guys,

just a note that there is new BIOS 1006 available on ASUS pages:

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=P4G8X

Enjoy.

Hello,

Sorry for deceiving all of you who thought P4P800 was the solution. Having same trouble here with a P4P800 Deluxe.

I have tried with 2 CPUs (Celeron 2Ghz and P4 2.8c), and 2 different RAM modules (2x512Mb PC2700 Kingston ValueRAM @ DDR320 and 2x512Mb OCZ EL PC3500 Double Channel @ DDR400). Didn't help...

Adrian,

What exact trouble are you having with the P4P800 and 9700 pro?
I just upgraded to the P4P800 today and havent reinstalled windows so i have no idea how its going to go yet but wondered what version bios and catalyst driver you have installed and what problem you are getting. Infinite loop, 8 bit device failure, lockups?
I really only upgraded to get the extra performance out of my P4 2.8C and DDR400 the P4G8X was stable with fast writes turned off.

Thanks
Carlos

Hello Carlos,

I only have lockups in 3D.

I have installed:

P4P800 Deluxe BIOS 1008 (Fastwrites on, I'll try disabling)
Catalyst 3.5
Windows XP Pro SP1 (I'll try a fresh install)

Thanx

Try this, It Appears that the SMARTGART Utility that is built into ATI drivers isnt compatable with this Vid Card, ATI provides a Uninstaller Utility, Try Uninstalling it and make sure BIOS has AGP set to 8X, In Other Words its like ATI and Nvidia are Thinking Way too ahead as of Doing HardWare Settings VIa within the OS Environment, thats the next step is to remove BIOS completely and have Configuration under Windows, Mac, Linux, and what ever other OS there are.

I bought the Asus P4c800 Deluxe as well. The problem is not the same as E7205 chipset problem but it is close.
It seems that the memory timings are wrong. I think Corsair and OCZ are making special modules just for the 875P chipsets. But the Asus board has other problems as well, that makes it a poor buy.
The sound drops out when you use the 378 Raid controller to transfer files.
I just updated to the latest BIOS (v1008) and updated the drivers and the problem is still there.
Two bad motherboards in a row and both of them are supposed to be "top of the line" The 865 boards are said to be better, they have the Raid controller right on the southbridge(ICH5R) there is also a 875p with the ICH5R controller but Asus was too cheap to buy it.
I like my E7205 board better than this new board, after installing the latest drivers from ATI (3.5) I have not had any freezes and only 1 resolution glitch. Fastwrites and AGPx8 enabled.
If you are going out for a new board shop carefully and visit sites like this first not after you blow your money. I'm out quit a bit of money, but I learned alot.