Asus A8V 8X AGP Problem...Help Please...**Problem Solved** See post #6 in thread

[joeMan]

Hello folks. New member here, and glad to be here. Hope some of you can shed some light here.

Just got my A8V Deluxe and FX-53 going the other night. I am also running an ATI 9800XT. I have the latest BIOS v1006, the latest Hyperions v4.51, and the latest ATI catalyst v4.6. Everything is running good except for this annoying problem:

In the BIOS, when I set AGP to 8X, 3DMark2001SE will lock up, then reboot. When I go into the BIOS and move AGP to 4X, then I can run 3DMark2001SE succesfully (I get 22,000).

Now, a weird thing is that I CAN succesfully run 3DMark2003 in 8X AGP!

Now why would 3DM2K3 run without a problem, but 3DM2K1 lock up in 8X AGP mode??? :beat:

I am hoping a future BIOS update from ASUS will fix this. I am awaiting my X800XT and am going to be really bummed if I can't run it in full 8X AGP glory!! :cry:

I have both phone call, and email in to ASUS tech support regarding this issue...awaiting response... Personally, I think help from the Bleedinedge community will be quicker and taken more seriously...

Anyone else having unstable 8X AGP and having to move back to 4X to achieve stability?

Thanks

[Arvig]

Hate to say it, but it might be the card, not the board. Have an old 9700 Pro that does that, runs well on most boards at AGP 4x, but on AGP 8x it bombs out on a lot of games. (okay, it does the opposite of yours, it will do Aquamark 3 and 3dMark01 okay, but won't do 3dMark03 at 8x, usually crashes on Game 1). I did have one board that if I overvolted it by .2 volts, it would run at 8x fine, that was an Abit NF7-S. Won't even run AGP 4x or even accept a driver on a Gigabyte Nforce 2 board I tried it on today, won't even accept the driver without going into VPU recover.

Having said that, I also have an A8V, I'm running BIOS 1005.021 beta, and an ATI card (X800 Pro) and I'm fine at 8x. Still something to consider, might just be your card on that board just won't do 8x, period.

[joeMan]

Thanks for the reply. I am inclined to think it's the A8V board and BIOS since I have run this 9800XT in 8X AGP on a Gigabyte GA-7VAXP, and an ASUS K8V Deluxe prior to this board...hmmmmmm. Maybe your right though...could be THIS card doesn't get along with THIS board in 8X AGP mode, if so, what a bummer. I am going to uninstall the card, blow out the slot, clean the contacts and re-install tonight.

Last night I installed a new heatsink - Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu, with Arctic Silver 5 paste. Righteous. I thought maybe CPU was overheating during 3DMark2001SE...so I went off the hook on it...didn't fix the problem, but I'm glad I did it anyway.

Today I will run memtest86 while I'm out with the wife at Fahrenheit 9/11 and visiting grandma...

[darkoroje]

Hello,

I have exactly the same problem using a 9800 Pro. 9800 did work in 8x mode on an 875 Intel motherboard, so it looks like the problem is to do with VIA's AGP driver.

However, there is no real speed difference when running in 4x or 8x mode so it is not really much of a problem.

Regards,

Darko

[joeMan]

Ya, I have noticed that there are no differences in my scores in 3DMark03 from 8X AGP to 4X AGP, I get 6,970 both ways. It's just annoying that 3DMark01SE crashes in 8X AGP mode, but not in 4X.

Anyway...like I said, I'm just going to to hang tight until a BIOS update comes along or some new VIA Hyperions or something.

Also, maybe my X800XT won't have the same problem on this board as the 9800XT does. The 9800XT is going back to it's old home on the K8V Deluxe for my daughter's gaming/school computer as soon as my X800XT arrives... They are going to dig that sweet setup, a socket 754 K8V Deluxe, 3400+ @ 2.2 GHz, 1G Corsair 3200C2 Pro. They are Sims freaks currently (avid players with every expansion pack) and are awaiting Sims 2, and Roller Coaster Tycoon 3.

Thanks for your replies folks. I dig the forum. Later.

(BTW, just my opinion, but I thought Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 rocked)

[joeMan]

PROBLEM SOLVED !!! :thumb:

After much searching found this thread:
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/15646/?o=260
which has MANY suggestions in it, but one thing I found in it is all it took to solve my ATI Radeon 9800XT 8X AGP crashing problem. Here it is:

Opened SMARTGART using the RUN command in the start menu. Turned off agp WRITE (NOT READ - left read ON). Rebooted. Problem Solved.

Also, I boosted my AGP Voltage from 1.5 to 1.6, but that wasn't part of the solution - just something I wanted to do...

Now 3DMark2001SE Runs great in 8X AGP Mode: Score 22,308 All Defaults
3DMark2003 also runs great 8X AGP (always did): Score 6,974 All Defaults

Whew...seems to be okay, I have run numerous 3DMark2001SE benches at 1600 x 1200 also just to be sure, here is the best of those scores:
3DMark2001SE (1600 x 1200) Highest Score : 15,530

I will report back if the problem returns so as to not mislead anyone who is reading this thread or having similar issues, solutions, whatever...

Rock on...FarCry, Thief, Here I come...and time for another tour through Call of Duty,damn what an awesome game :thumbs:

X800XT PE...Doom3, HL2, where are you?
:fire: bring 'em on I'm ready.... All aboaarrddd Ha ha ha ha aha !!! :fire:

:stop:

[joeMan]

This is that thread from the beginning...lots of stuff here...some good, some bad - a loooooooooong thread...enjoy, hope it helps others like it did me.

joeMan

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/15646/?o=0

[joeMan]

I went in to Control Panel and cranked everything in D3D to the max and ran it again to be sure of the fix. No problems whatsoever...

3DMark2001SE Score: 5,736

Resolution: 1600 x 1200
3D Settings: Custom
AA: 6X
AF: 16X
TP: HQ
Mipmap: HQ
Vertical Synch: Always On
Truform: Always On

The fix described in post #6 above seems to be the right one, for me at least. Good luck to any others experiencing similar issues...

joeMan

[darkoroje]

Thanks for the info, I'll give it a try :)

[Genesio]

Hi Joeman, I have a question for you:
how does the Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu fit on your A8V Deluxe?
I'm planning to buy it because I've noticed that the standard fan of my cpu (3800+) doesn't cool very well, but I'm worried about the big dimensions of the CNPS7000A-Cu, I've seen that DDR slots are very close to socket... is it a problem?

[joeMan]

Yes, it is close - especially if you use the Corsair TWINX...-3200C2PRO type memory, with the fat heatsink on it, but it's no problem - close, but no problem. I think they knew when they designed it that lot's of us K8'ers would put them on these type of boards though because, man they cut it a tight tolerance there!

Anyway, thought I should mention this Zalman all copper is keeping my FX-53 at about 41C-43C idle, and 44C-48C load - and I am using it with Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste (exactly as instructed on their webiste). I am not happy with these temps, I want lower. Being already satisfied overall with my case cooling in general I am going to try another CPU heatsink.

I have done a lot of searching and review reading and come up with this decision to try next: Thermalright SLK-948U
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-109-114&depa=0
It has reviewed out in the low to high 30C's idle to load on K8's. Man, if I could load my machine and stay below 40C!!! Sheesh!! That would rock... :yikes:

Another one I looked at was: Thermaltake PIPE101
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-106-045&depa=0

But I decided on the first one mentioned becuase it reviewed with lower temps overall. Only drawback on these two is you have to purchase your own fan to go with - but hey, who cares. As long as you get a quiet, high crankin mofro the puts the chill on yer K8 right...hizzle yizzle, fo SHIZZLE!!!! :beer:

Enjoy and good luck.

[joeMan]

Just got my ASUS AX800PRO. So far it rocks. I do not have to do that SmartGart tweak from the RUN menu anymore either, it runs just fine in full 8X AGP read and write mode as far as that is concerned. Will post some benches in another forum/thread in Bleedin Edge...

[T5K-CaNNoN]

Hi guys,

this thread strikes a cord with me.

I've got this set up:

Asus A8V (1.006) | AMD 3500 | Corsair pc3200 C2 TwinX 2x512 | Sapphire 9800 Pro | Antec 430W | Sav Row SR-71 Case | Audigy2 6.1 | Cambridge Soundworks 550 THX | XP Pro (sp1)

and have been having 9800 pro/A8V issues.

With 8x enabled in the bios, i was getting a VPU error:

"VPU Recover has reset your graphics accelerator as it was no longer responding to graphics driver commands."

With 4x on in the bios, all was stable (but fps in games decreased - boooo)

I tried the above:

"Opened SMARTGART using the RUN command in the start menu. Turned off agp WRITE (NOT READ - left read ON). Rebooted. Problem Solved."

(and turned 8x on in the bios)

But, still got a VGA re-set :(

ANy ideas to help would be greatly appreciated.