ATI All-In-Wonder and new hardware...

[Zack]

Hello all,

Recently I installed an Asus P4S800D-E Deluxe with a P4
3.0E (hyper-threaded). Since that time, my ATI All-In-
Wonder 7500 video card has been malfunctioning. Three or
more times per Windows session, the screen goes black,
then comes back garbled, then goes black again, and
finally comes back to normal. It then displays a message
stating that "VPU Recover has reset your graphics
accelerator as it was no longer responding to graphics
driver commands." After three to five of these instances,
the garbled screen will come back twice in a row, then
when it returns to normal, I get the above error, along
with one telling me that it was unable to reset hardware
rendering, and has switched to software rendering mode,
and that it will only change back after the computer is
restarted.

The error occurs when a window is scrolled. It could be
any window at all, it doesn't seem to be picky. In the
course of writing this message, the act of advancing the
text to the next line caused the error. From time to
time, the error will actually lock the entire computer up,
and either freeze completely or dump me into a stop
error. I don't always get an message from Windows when I
restart, but when I do, it always has something to do with
a video driver. I remember once that the drawing engine
stopped responding, and once that it got stuck in an
infinite loop.

I've contacted ATI by email twice about the matter, but
have yet to receive a response. I have no way of calling
them, as the only number they provide is Canadian. In my
searches of the ATI website, I noticed that there had been
an issue with the TV tuner on their cards and hyper-
threaded processors, but this seemed only to cause trouble
when the TV tuner was being used.

I've updated all the drivers for my video card and
motherboard, have used Windows Update to download all of
Microsoft's patches, and have searched both sites for
issues similar to mine, but to no avail.

I am desperate for a solution to my problems!

 

[Nathan McNulty]

Three things. First, update your computer fully at
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com . Second, update DirectX to 9.0c (not
on Windows Update yet) from http://www.microsoft.com/directx . Finally,
Update the ATI Graphics Card drivers from
http://www.ati.com/home/online/CatalystXPdriver.html .

 

[Zack]

Thanks for your help...

I had already updated my ATI drivers, as well as
downloaded and installed all windowsupdate's available
updates. The only thing I hadn't done was upgrade to
DX9.0c, which I did this morning. Unfortunately, my
problem is still occurring.

Anyone else?

 

[V Green]

Reduce AGP from 8X or 4X to 2X
using your BIOS and/or SMARTGART (in
the Display>>Advanced dialogs). You may also
want to turn Fast Writes off (also in SMARTGART).

Sound like you're fighting a bum motherboard
implementation of AGP sideband addressing.

 

[Zack]

AGP has been reduced from 4x to 2x, only in SMARTGART
because I couldn't locate the setting in the BIOS. I
found video preference and AGP Aperture Size, but I'm not
sure that there is a setting for AGP speed. In any case,
all I notice by changing the setting in SMARTGART is an
evident decrease in performance. Fastwrite was already
turned off, and indeed cannot be turned on.

The one thing that I did notice when I was tooling around
in the BIOS was a feature that hadn't stuck out until
now..."Advanced HyperStreaming Engine," which was enabled
by default. According to Asus' website, the purpose of
this feature is to:

SiS HyperStremingT Technology, it makes streams of chipset
data flow all over the paths, Efficiently, Concurrently,
Smoothly and Intelligently. Further more, SiS655TX
Advanced HyperStreamingT Engine enhances the transfer rate
on the path from host block to memory controller block to
achieve the target that can improve whole system
performance.

Perhaps this, combined with my pre-HyperThreading video
card, has something to do with my difficulties?

And also, is there anything else that you recommend to fix
my problem, rather than taking away from the performance
of my existing video card? Or do you think that the
purchase of a new card is in order?

 

[V Green]

AGP has been reduced from 4x to 2x, only in SMARTGART
because I couldn't locate the setting in the BIOS. I
found video preference and AGP Aperture Size, but I'm not
sure that there is a setting for AGP speed. In any case,
all I notice by changing the setting in SMARTGART is an
evident decrease in performance. Fastwrite was already
turned off, and indeed cannot be turned on.

The one thing that I did notice when I was tooling around
in the BIOS was a feature that hadn't stuck out until
now..."Advanced HyperStreaming Engine," which was enabled
by default. According to Asus' website, the purpose of
this feature is to:

SiS HyperStremingT Technology, it makes streams of chipset
data flow all over the paths, Efficiently, Concurrently,
Smoothly and Intelligently. Further more, SiS655TX
Advanced HyperStreamingT Engine enhances the transfer rate
on the path from host block to memory controller block to
achieve the target that can improve whole system
performance.

So, you're using a non-Intel chipset motherboard (SiS).

My sympathies ;-) SiS is "low end" for motherboard chipsets.

Backup all your data and get it off this machine. The stuff that follows
can render it unbootable. Try them one at a time, looking for improvements
after each.

Even tho' you already said you did it, go to their website and use
the chipset ID tool, then download the newest drivers for AGP.
And turn OFF that ASUS "feature" (try this first).

Have you done any of that voodoo crap (PCI latency fixes, etc.)
from the DriverHeaven, R3D forums? If so, remove it and go back to
defaults. Also go into BIOS and load "most compatible" or "fail-safe"
defaults and try again.

Get the "hyperthreaded" fix from ATI and install it anyway.

Turn OFF P4 hyperthreading in the BIOS. If this fixes it, scrap
the MB-you paid good money for a HT CPU, and the MB isn't supporting
it properly.

If the other stuff doesn't do it, a new (non SiS) MB is in order unless you
have time and $$$ to play musical video cards.

I know that seems drastic, but how much time have you spent
on this already?

I'm no lover of Intel, but I have totally given up on MB's that
run their processors with third-party chipsets - I just don't have
the time to screw with the incompatibilities and other
weirdness...

 

[Nathan McNulty]

ASUS generally makes the best motherboards on the market, though I do
not like SiS chipsets. I currently use a P4P800 which is the Intel
Chipset version of your board. I would recommend using this program to
disable Sideband Addressing if you try everything V Green has suggested:
http://www.guru3d.com/rivatuner/

You can try lowering settings in there and see if anything helps.