how do i go about updating my bios???

Try this link.
http://web.epox.com/html/motherboard-download.asp?id=M4W33jd4e...O32rR3o2J3

Just cut and paste it in your browser...it's a bit.....long!
Select "Download" on both the bios and the flash utility.
The flash utility states that it's able to function in Windows.
Good luck!

Never mind about the cutting and pasting..it's a clickable link.

thanks.
ill give it a go and get back to you.

Its probably ATI's card thats causing the random resets to your computer. From the 22 computers that exist in the netcafe I have the 20 have ATI's and 5 of them are crashing randomly. I have to mention that non of these problems existed when I used to have GF4 Ti4200 on the computers. I dont think its the power supply problem. If your monitor is connected seperately from the power supply of your computer, 300W is very adequate for your computer.

i must say im happy with most games, and yes they do run. but there are still a few which stuff up, eg Mafia, Max payne.
maybe its the dodge copies i got. but yeah i dunno,
battlefield works fine, C&C generals fine, hitman 2 fine
but eh! never get an ati card again........
well maybe

Hello all,

This is my first time posting on this site. Well I had the same problem with my asus A7N8X (deluxe) system with radeon 9600 pro. Always locked up on high rez games like morrowind, dungeon siege, shadowbane, etc. After about 30 e-mails from ATI they finally told me to update the AGP drivers (also known as Chipset Drivers or Motherboard Chipset Drivers) I then had to e-mail asus to find the drivers because I could not find them on the site. They directed me to Nvidia of all places. seemed that nvidia made most of the devices that where on that board. So what I suggest is that if you can't find the agp drivers on the motherboard company web site that you should e-mail them about the agp drivers. After the agp drivers you should then reinstall the most up-to-date drivers for the video card. But then your not done yet... the last thing you should do is then reinstall direct X. this should fix any problems if they where the same kind that I was having. I just wish I would have had a site that said all this rather then e-mailing ati for a month. Well I hope this helps some of you that are having the lock-ups.

-Mr.X

Always go to the chipset manufacturers website...be it nVidia, VIa, SIS or Intel. They tend to be the best place for the latest drivers, and they tend to be pretty consistently implemented on most motherboards from the big makers.
You'll die of old age waiting for Asus, FIC, or Abit to put them on their site themselves.
I never go to Asus for anything but BIOS files.

If you bought a Dell, Compaq or any other pre-built system that's a different story. Always go to Dell, HP, or whatever OEM you bought it from for the drivers. They are usually "one off" motherboards that mix and match chips in ways that are different than regular boards.
You can screw up you computer if you use the wrong drivers on a OEM system.

That still doesn't help me get opengl to work in counterstrike! What's really wierd is that it works in D3D perfect!!!! But opengl screws up when I choose it, then I get the error report right after it goes to the Loading screen. I never do see the status, of my computer connecting to the server or anything. All i see is "Loading" and then an Error report!! f**k!

can anyone help!

i found why my games wouldnt work
for some dum reason my games would only work while running on a 133 FSB and my cpu is 166
so i lose some speed. this sucks arse

THE ANSWER to all freezing problems is just to go into your BIOS and set the AGP APETURE size to 256 MB instead of the 64 or 128 and all problems will be resolved.

This is a common problem and does not just apply to the ATI9600.

Regards
Richard

Have the same hang freeze problem in c&c generals. After making changes in options menu, click accept and everything freezes. Happens sometimes when playing. EMachines T2341 system (three weeks old):

athlon 2300+
128 & 512 ddr sticks
L7VMM2 mobo
award bios
via chipset
via onboard sound
scroll mouse ps2
winxp sp1
latest drivers from ea games and ati

Question: bios has "LOAD OPTIMIZED DEFAULTS" setup option. Do you guys use this? Does it help or mess things up?

Forgot to mention, am using ati 9600 pro 128 ddr.

That Bios string is likely a proprietary setting, but it's always advisable to set these to optimized, and never performance when trobleshooting instability issues.

The fact that it's an eMachine is not all that promising either, they tend to be made very cheaply, with low end parts.

I'd suggest going to their website and seeing if there is a chipset driver update for the VIA chipset, although you might be able to go to the VIA website and download the same Hyperion 4.49 driver that help out so many of us VIA chipset owners. It all depends on whether eMachines stuck with the whole VIA chipset suite, or did a mix n' match job.

In regards to the aperture setting advice, most of us tried that a long time ago with no effect. Much of our efforts are detailed in the preceeding 9 pages.
The general consensus is the the root issue lies with AGP driver/chipset issues. My card did EXACTLY what others have complained about(Lockups/Crashes in Battlefield, Generals, ect), yet after a chipset driver update I've ran with no issue, hell even the Catylist 3.7 drivers didn't do anything for me either.
I went from a "crashy" unstable system, to a solid system having only changed the chipset driver.
It's simply too obvious, at least in my case.

Hello, I am new to the forum. I just bought a ATI 9600 Pro because it was $200 less than the 9800 Pro. I have a new DFI Lanparty NFII Ultra MB with dual ddr 256 (total 512) pc3200 ram, an AMD 2500+ cpu and I Win XP. I have loaded the drivers from the DFI support website, the drivers from the ATI website, and as of this morning all Windows updates including Direct X 9.
For the past few days since building the system I have had locks in Winxp in the middle of configurations or navigation. Random lock ups. The only error I got in the event log was an error about DCOM+ failure.
On occasion the lockup was accompanied by a continous beep.
I have been suspected the ATI 9600 Pro all this time becuase of the flickeing screen that occurs at times and the flaky window displays that occur right before a lockup.
I have changed the AGP arperature and seen no difference. I have changed the fast write settings and it still locks up.
One thing I noticed is that after I went to the ATI site the second time and navigated to the drivers through a different path than I took the first time, I found a page that said to load the DirextX9 first, then install the drivers. Hey So does that mean that all this might have been due to the fact that I did not have Direct X 9 until this morning. I had to leave the system and go to work so I will see if it is locked up when I get home. If not the fix would be DirectX9. The question I have for you tech gurus is "what is the significance of the continous beep when XP locks up?" Does that indicate a different problem than video? Or could it still be video, ram, or Cpu issues? My CPU is not hot and I have not ran a memory test.
Should I take this video card back and get the 9800 pro? I did not really see the need for the 9800 pro with Battlefield 1942 or TombRaider. What do you think? If plugging in the 9800 Pro will solve my lock ups I might do it just to save all this troubleshooting time.

No, all the ati cards use the same drivers, that and the fact that you probably downloaded the b version and already had a of dx9. you can't install the drivers for the card unless you have dx9 and it will install it if you don't. so that isn't your problem.

Ryan

i have a p4 socket 478 with the 256 ati 9600, i thought that the ati tv wonder ve would be a nice addition. i get the hang now when i close the tv or channel surf too much. i'm out of ideas.

Going to return mine back to Circuit City and try something else. Don't need this. Life is too short. Have a ati 9000 pro in a compaq 950, works fine. Other forums report ati 9600 works good. Might try 9200 or 9800 np.

Disable fast-write and SmartGart trick did it for me on KT3 Ultra-ARU mobo.

Thanks a million Matthias Noack !!

updated drivers, mobo bios and aperature size stuff didn't do sh*t.....

Got sick of dealing with it and took it back for a 9800 pro.. but before I left the store I changed my mind and got the FX5900.