Take a look to this web page. It is a creation of VIA but it is good for any of the people here who are experiencing this problem:

http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=64

It should answer to a lot of questions about the problem.

G'day guys,

I have been running the ASUS P4P800 (after upgrading from P4G8X) which has a 865 chipset, gotta say I have no problems with 9700pro - 8X and fastwrites turned on - gaming for days (hours at a time) no lockups etc. Only problem is the fps benchmark is no where near what sites like Tomshardware are reporting - I have same hardware they test with and I get 266fps for Quake demo. They led me to believe I would be getting 427 what a load of s**t!!!
Anyways, no problems just less fps. I have the latest bios upgrade and there are few things that dont work - eg push space bar to turn machine on - worked perfectly on P4G8X - no work on this board. At least I dont get lockups anymore I should be grateful but would nice to have a board that fully works - straight out of the box hey!

ASUS P4C800-E series is out

ASUS P4C800 Deluxe -E series is out

Sorry for Double Post the Newest One is the Correct One

Anyone tested this:

Start up system, then login, wait for 15 minutes, and then play, my computer then freezes maybe 2 times and then it's done. I can use it all day after that, so i don't reboot

Another thing, when i start up computer i have no display until the login screen. When i reboot i see the whole startup, bios, post, XP progressbar...

My sys:
P4G8X-Deluxe (what else could it be, or i wouldn't be posting here
2x 512 Mb pc 2700
ATI 9700 Pro
2,53 Ghz

Try Doing a BIOS upgrade, sometimes thats what causes stuff to not run correctly, BIOS 1005 Release Has Had Helped People with the ATI Radeon 9700 Fix Problems. But first make sure u have original BIOS on a Floppie first, say back up the BIOS b4 doing upgrade, so if it fails u can always install the original

Finally Asus answered, just by calling them (wrong line:notebook service) but it helped):

They said return it to your supplier, and he'll return it to asus and we'll fix it with an chipset rework (whatever that means).
But the problem is known to them and they have an solution (they say at least).

but (there's always a but), i problably dont have a good pc for over an month.... GRRRRRR

So if that is the solution.... hmmm íll try some more things u all mentioned over here

and Brandon...,

i've did every BIOS upgrade there was, until 1.04, haven't tried 1.05 yet, but i dont think that's gonna work, but i must say with every upgrade it's getting better. Less system hangs and no hardware errors or resets anymore since BIOS upgrade 1.03.

Good luck all with testing...

BTW i talked to the supplier, he said the last 2 new Intel chipsets in the new motherboards pretty suck (including P4G8X), they have A LOT OF complaints, fyi.

Bas u should try upgrading to 1005, Oh I have an ASUS P4S8X and all it did was lockup under 8X agp in 3D Games. Ive got Partially down the problem, I did this, set Motherboard BIOS to 8X and set SMARTGART to 8X but system crashed, so i changed SMARTGART to 4X and no crashes, but i think That This board may be a bad egg just like the P4G8X, even tho my board runs SIS 648 chipset, but come to think of it, SIS is a Budget Company, not a High End Company, Oh Ur Mobo means being returned for another P4G8X or something better that has been tested and hasnt locked up in Games and other APPS. thats all i think it is, meaning they will give u P4G8X with a Different Release of the Same Intel Chip, im thinking about selling this mobo, and probably going to the P4G8X most current Revision that is. I dont think i will ever get a SIS based Board Again, IF Via would make a chipset for intel processors again i would get that, But they are having dispute over processors, VIA made Processors that would fit Socket 478 and had same voltages , but didnt ask intel for say so, in other words VIA was practically making Clone Processors, and thats what the dispute is over. VIA made a very bad mistake, If they Did that with AMD too then they would end up going out of business.

Bas,

Exactly the same problem mate. My system specs are very similar to yours. As far as the cold boot no display problem goes anyway. I posted here quite a while ago with the same problem. Haven't been able to find a solution too....and don't really want to return the system either....too much hassle. Let us know if you find a workaround.

Cheers

History keeps repeating itself.

I hope everybody reads this.

The asus P4G8x has a problem with AGP 3.0

The ONLY thing you have to do is TURN OFF FAST WRITES.

And your system won't crash.

User BIOS 1006 and Omega Catalyst drivers.

Greetz,

d33ch

Hello there. My system specs are about the same as many others here

An Asus p4g8x deluxe
intel pentiuum 2.8 Ghz 533Mhz frontside BUs
512 mb ram
Ati Radeon 9700 pro

Have had problems whilst playing 3d-games like almost everybody else, but not all 3d-games.

When playing Ashersons Call 2 I can only play with medium graphics settings which is ver annoying. If I turn the graphics up, the game crashes totally and I have to manually reboot. In Unreal 2003 the gamne runs smoothly apart from som graphics "sticking" so that the screen appears divided by horizontal lines, when turning.

Since the fault seems to be hardwareconnected, I'm considering swapping my motherboard for something less "troublesome".

Tips on good motherboards that work well with radeon 9700 pro, and are stable would be most welcomed.

PS. Where do I shut of fastwrite DS.

Best Regards /JOn

Here`s how Asus said how to fix it:

1.Set Video Cache mode : USWC in Motherboard BIOS
2.Disable fastwrite function in the SNARTGUARD utility
3.increase AGP frequecny to 67MHz(Maybe default 66MHz of clock gen(ICS
950224) is unstable) in BIOS

USCW should be disabled in bios

Haello again. Antoher thing about my sys sepcs
I have a PSU of 450 W, should that be enough for the 9700 pro
Or do I have to get a stronger one
Please send me some tips on alternative motherboards to use instead of the p4g8x DEluxe
something that won't give me as much problems

/Jon

Ok people, here is what I've done:
I have returned Asus P4G8X Deluxe board back, well, they didn't accept refunding or replacing it but I just left it over there and bought a new Intel D865GBF Board. Installed all the latest drivers and catalyst as well. Everything seemed perfect; WC and Fast write was on, AGP was set to 8X, etc.. And started to run 3D Mark 2003... 10 seconds later it was frozen...went in to indefinite loop. Tried it several times but no good. Tried to run some other games but after several minutes it locked again. So it is not only the board, Radeon 9700 pro is a pretty buggy product as well. What I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna buy a Nvidia card and will never buy a ATI product ever.

I dont have the same mobo but i have had problems like this with a different model ASUS mobo. Flashing the bios solved the problem completely. Maybe some of you might want to try that... just a suggestion (cant hurt... unless the power goes out!)

-Bawitdaba

Hello fellow sufferers,
YesI have the ASUS P4G8X and Sapphire Radeon 9700 Pro combo as well. I have read all the previous threads regarding probs...probs with this combo. My system is very stable. I only have problems with some games e.g Rise of Nations - meaning lockups and reboots. I have no probs at all when I do not play games. I have a P4, 512MB RAM system. Then I get lockups and freezes and reboots. I have all the latest BIOS updates, MOBO Drivers, Sapphire 9700 Pro Drivers, etc and still get lockups but only with games. I have tried the usual 8X back to 4X, fast write off and so on but still no good. Hope this helps a bit

hello ....

im considering in exchanging the p4g8x with p4p800 .... i read the past posts ... it seems to be mix ... some are ok and some are not with p4p800 ...

so can anybody comfirm ..... do p4p800 runs ok ... with no problem ... when setting it 8x and fast write on ....

thanks