Oh yeah, forgot to add, my PS is 400W, and I'm running WinXP Pro. Suppose it could be low power, but I really don't have that much drain on the PS right now besides the radeon (just 1 hard drive, 2 DVD drives, 1 floppy, 1 internal Zip drive).

Thanks guys..

I actually found it a few minutes after making the post. It is strange that they would only list it under the P4G8X section, someone must not be doing their job right!

Anyhow, has anyone tried counterstrike / any half-life based game with this set up? I seem to be getting lock-ups when I drop out of a multiplayer game and try to rejoin. (Even after waiting for server list reload). This could very well be a problem with my installation of half-life, but it works on all my other machines.

Just throwing that out there to see if anyone has tried it / had any luck.

hmm i have the same problem also ....

but i think it is not the fault of radeon 9700 or the motherboard ..... half life engine that use in counter strike seems to work fine for older graphic cards like TNT , voodoo, and GeForce 256 ......

actually if u want to prevent this from happening it is quite easy ...... when u drop out from a multiplayer game ... u have no choice but to go back to the main page / first page of the game (where there a options for "configuration" ) ...... after that it should be a problem anymore to go into another multiplayer game ....

but u should put the "video mode" to direct3D and not OpenGL .... because if ur drop out while using OpenGL ... ur screen will go black and ur mouse and keyboard will not work ...... but that happen to me (for openGL) ... im not sure whether u will have the same trouble....

hope everything will go fine for u ...

I built a new system about three weeks ago with the P4G8X Deluxe (1003g BIOS, INF drivers from the installation CD) and Radeon All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro (Catalyst 3.2), running WinXP Pro (SP1). I was experiencing the same problem: an intermittent lock up followed by a drop to 640x480 4-bit video mode. Turning Fast Writes off in the ATI SMARTGART section of the Advanced Display Properties seems to have solved the problem. Apparently the E7205 implementation of Fast Writes is buggy. This other thread has more information:

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/4804/

My settings are:

In the BIOS:
*AGP Voltage = 1.5 V
*AGP 8x
*128 MB AGP Aperture
*USWC

In Display Properties->Settings->Advanced->ATI SMARTGART:
*AGP 8X
*Fast Writes Off

In Display Properties->Settings->Advanced->Troubleshoot:
*Full Acceleration
*Write Combining Enabled

I've had no problems for several days.

i got also an problem with my asus p4g8x and hercules radeon pro 9700 i get only a damn low 3dmark 2001 se scrore of 14032 points i ve tried the 1003 and 1004 bios version both times i achieve only this low score also when i run 3rdmark 2003 i got only 223 points in the cpumark part where i schould get at least 500 points can anyone help me solve this problem

I tried to deactivate the FastWrite and solved my problem too...

But I've payed for a top notch AGP card, I would appreciate to use all the features..

Does anyone knows if ATI changes my card if the new 3.3 drivers wouldn't do any better to the problem ?
I'm from Portugal, outside USA of course

Read all the threads including the ones at the other forum topic regarding the E7205-chipset (above) before you post questions, they might give u the answers

So whats the best advice?

(I'm running an asus p4g8x 2.8mhz, with an ATI A.I.W. 9700 pro. I get the similiarly described crashes, where the screen reverts to 256 colors and must reboot, later citing a video driver loop.)

I'm not a computer "guy" and I've never installed a new bios, which seems to be the prevailing solution. (if its not please let me know). So if anyone can help with a solid step by step solution I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,

K

just turn "fast write" off ..... u can find it in ::

Display Properties->Settings->Advanced->ATI SMARTGART

it is known bug .... even intel had published a paper on it .... u can access it here ::

http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/e7205/specupdt/251938.htm

see page 9 .....

they said NO FIX PLANNED FOR THIS PROBLEM ....... so frustrating ......

oh forgot to mention ....... even u update the bios to v1004..... it won't do u any good .....

this is the E7205 chipset problem (hardware) ...... not ur graphic card nor the bios ......

Yes...and to work around these two problems it seems two settings need to be fiddled with; set your AGP/PCI clock frequencies to the next notch and also disable FastWrite in the SmartGart settings, ATi advanced control panel (if they don't appear download newer catalyst drivers; 3.1 preferably, since 3.2 have more "defects").

These settings directly work around the mentioned problems of that Intel-report.

Besided this I think you can run BIOS and windows settings pretty aggressively, and overclocking should work fine also.

BIOS:

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


Advanced Control Panel (ATi Catalyst Control Panel)

FastWrite : Off
Write Combine : Enabled
AGP Speed : 8X

i know this is probably stupid, but ive downloaded the ati control panel and i can find the write combining but i cant find the fast writes.. i dont have this ati smartgard thing.. i go to settings, advanced then no smartgard or fast writes..can someone plz help

I would like to chime in here. I purchased the infamous combination of the P4G8X and the Radeon 9700 Pro and built by computer last week. I immediately updated my video drivers to Catalyst 3.2 and began setting up my system on Win XP Home.

I began to have continuous system hangs as mentioned many times in this forum. It was terrible. I was getting about 2 or 3 crashes an hour. A friend of mine showed me how to find the event log, and I then found the Infinte Loop problem. I thought it might have something to do with the new drivers or something I was doing wrong, so I rolled the drivers back to the originals with no help. Subsequently, by searching for info on the internet... I found this forum.

I thought.. "Great!! I have bought a High Dollar Motherboard and a High Dollar Graphics card only to find out they want to fight!!" Either that or I was going to have to go out and buy a 500 Watt Power Supply. I only have a 350 Watt Power Supply and thought that might the problem. But after reading this entire thread and picking up on multiple items and settings to check, I began trying to solve my problem.

First thing I did was upgrade my motherboard bios from 1003 to 1004. Someone noted that the default AGP voltage in the 1004 bios was 1.6V, but I did not find that to be the case. It was still set to 1.5V. But taking several people's advice, I raised it to 1.6V.

I then set the Graphics Aperture Size to 256MB and then changed the Video Memory Cache Mode from UC to USWC. AGP Capability I left defaulted to 8X Mode.

I then ran the system for several hours with no glitches. I then got brave and upgraded my video drivers back to Catalyst 3.2. I was still puzzled about everyone talking about the SmartGART tab, the 4X-8X slider bar control, and the FastWrite ON/OFF option in the ATI Control panel as mine did not have them. I then found an update at ATI for the new control panel. I installed it and now I have the SmartGART tab. I noted that the default settings were 8X AGP and Fast Write ON. I decided to let it stay on those defaults to see what happened .. figuring that if I had more problems I could turn Fast Write OFF.

But that was 3 days ago and I have YET to have any more problems with the Infinite Loop bug. NOT ONE HANG-UP. No more Infinite Loops for me!! I don't like running around in circles anyway!!

I will list all of my BIOS settings and ATI Control Panel setting below for anyone that is interested. Maybe my setup might help someone get out of this situation.

BIOS SETTINGS

ADVANCED
CPU SPD --- [2533 MHz]
AGP/PCI Freq --- [Auto] (which is 66.66/33.33)
CPU Vcore Setting --- [Auto]
CPU Vcore Voltage --- [1.525V]
** AGP Voltage --- [1.6V]
DDR Voltage --- [2.5V]

CHIP CONFIGURATION
SDRAM Configuration --- [By SPD]
SDRAM Idle Timer --- [16T]
Memory Turbo --- [Auto]
** Graphics Aperture Size --- [256MB]
AGP Capability --- [8X Mode]
** Video Memory Cache Mode - [USWC]
Delay Transaction --- [Enabled]

** - Changed from Default Setting


ATI CONTROL PANEL Catalyst Driver 3.2 version 6.14.1.6307

Monitor Tab ---- Refresh Rate = 72 Hz
Troubleshoot Tab --- Hardware Acceleration = FULL
--- Enable Write Combining = ON
SMARTGART Tab --- Set AGP Speed = 8X
--- Fast Write = ON

Except for the Refresh Rate.. all of these settings were default values.

Extraneous information: My system has 1 GB of PC2100 DDR266 RAM and running on a 350 Watt Power Supply.

Thanks and Good Luck All!!

One other tid-bit... I am running Intel Application Accelerator version 2.3

nice that things happened to work fine for u ......

but u have to remember .... the symptoms (crashing / hang / changing color mode) occur almost at random .....

and also u had increase the aperture size to 256 ..... that would delay the crash .....

i say this because i did exactly the same as u ...... including "fastwrite" on ...

the 1st 3 days ... it work flawlessly (hours in gaming SOF2/UT2003 .... 5 times running 3Dmark) ..... but the next day.... out of the blue ..... i have to join the club (crashing club) .... ......

switching fastwrite off seems to cure it ....

but if it work fine with u .... then no need toswitch it off ..... because u said that u only bought the MOBO last week ..... maybe that asus had done a revision on it ... since intel suggest this remedy for the problem in their paper ......

actually... the problem isn't the p4g8x or ati but the combination of the granite bay chipset (e7205) with ati radeons.

disabling fast-writes from the ati's control panel will stabalize your configuration.

this works very well with either the p4g8x or the other granite bay counterpart: giga-byte's ga-8inxp, also equipped with e7205.

until later released drivers and bios updates that will resolve compatibility issues.

Wrong.

Do some more research

well simon... i thought i saw somewhat the same post from your part regarding disabling fast-write in ati's control panel.. but maybe i was wrong.

in any event, having both the p4g8x and the ga-8inxp here at home and more at work, i think we can agree the problem is the granite bay chipset, since this problem occurs and only occurs on that platform with the 9700 pro..

i also doubt i will have to upgrade to the canterwood 875p to fix the problem :o)

bios and driver updates will eventually fix the problem.. when they come out. but mind you, that is just my two cents worth.

oh and btw simon... i don't need to fiddle with agp frequency settings.. just disabling the fast-write fixes the problem as you mentioned yourself, on any granite bay (e7205) motherboards.

67.26 Mhz?

heheh.. wooohooo for overclocking!

:o)

I had the same problem and resolved it by applying the BIOS and ATI control panel setting suggested by Simon Shaw in his message dated April 15. (Thank you Simon!)

BTW as merely a food for thought, i need to say that before applying the above setting my system crashed each and every time the the 3dMark 2003 terst reached the "Winds of fury" sound test(!). Of course I had chrashes with other programs but I could not spot a definitive regularity as with 3dMark 2003.

Anyway three days now I am running flawlessly.

System
P4 2,53
ASUS P4G8X deluxe (sound card included)
512 RAM 333 Mhz
RADEON PRO 97000
Maxtor 30 GB
Win XP Home