SMARTGART problems (AGP speed)

[manny_c44]

My mobo has the AGP to 8x, which is what my Radeon 9600pro is built for. But when I restart the computer by setting AGP speed to 8 in SMARTGART, it works for about half a minute before the screen turns black for a few seconds and it reverts back to 0 AGP speed.

It passed the smartgart tests...so what the hell is going on?

 

[JimmehH]

Try updating the GART drivers.
What chipset is your motherboard?
To find out press Windows + Pause|Break and then click on the Hardware tab and then on the Device Manager Button. Scroll down to System Devices and look for an entry that has AGP or the words Accelerated Graphics Port. What else does it say?

 

[manny_c44]

Can you update Gart by itself? Because I have the latest catalyst drivers, I installed them yesterday from the website.

My mobo is a socket-A kt400. Model: a7v8x-X.

I went to system devices but saw nothing with AGP or anything dealing with display adapters or graphics...maybe its somewhere else?

 

[Asus]

Update your chipset drivers from VIA for that A7V8X-X board.
I bet it is functioning at 8X. It may just not display what it really is at.
There is no 0X agp speed, the lowest possible is 1x.

 

[bosox188]

You sure it's not an 8 and it looks like a 0? But try updating the drivers, that usually fixes things.

 

[manny_c44]

Update your chipset drivers from VIA for that A7V8X-X board.
I bet it is functioning at 8X. It may just not display what it really is at.
There is no 0X agp speed, the lowest possible is 1x.

Well by 0 I mean its just all the way down and greyed out. And whats VIA?

 

[JimmehH]

You can get the driver package from Asus here - http://www.asus.com.tw/support/down...0&l3_id=21&m_id=2&f_name=4in1_449.zip~zaqwedc

Don't seem to have one at VIA though.

Edit: VIA is the company that made the AGP interface for your motherboard.

 

[manny_c44]

Well I installed it, and now instead of just reverting back after 30 seconds the computer involuntarily restarts (read: its crashing).

 

[manny_c44]

Should I set the AGP level down in the BIOS and try to see if I can fix anything in windows? Maybe set the bios back down to a lower level (from 11 to 9)?

 

[JimmehH]

Lower level?
Which setting is this?

 

[manny_c44]

I was talking abouit BIOS revisions, b ut nevermind, because now I think its working (atleast it hasn't shut down yet...this being the third try).

And SMARTGART says AGP 8x so yeah! Thank you very much.

 

[JimmehH]

No problem. Hope it works

 

[manny_c44]

Actually both games I've tried so far (The Simpsons Hit and run, and the Doom 3 beta) have both crashed before I culd even get to the real, 3d, part of either game...I don't really know what could've gone wrong...

 

[JimmehH]

Well, the Doom 3 leak thing is a bit iffy. Tried something a bit simpler like HL?
Also check the device manager to make sure nothing's complaining.

 

[manny_c44]

Device manager says everythings fine. Simpsons hit and run is pretty simple graphically and it crashes the computer, fallout 2 works ok but its only a 2d game. I got a random screen corrupt followed shortly by a crash when I was only using IE.

I changed some bios things and I'm going to try again, but I have a feeling bios has nothing to do with it. Maybe my card's just dying, which would be a rip considering its age.

EDIT: Nothing works still and I'm fresh out of ideas...

EDIT #2: I even tried a radeon tech demo and that crashed too! What the hell!?

 

[manny_c44]

After reading around the ATI sight I switched the SMARTGART setting down to 4x AGP and got Doom 3 and the ATI radeon tech demos to work...but the simpsons still crashes at start up, so I'm closer but not there yet.

Does anyone know what a BIOS AGP assistance feature does? Mine's on. And will aperture size effect system stability if Video ram needs and regular ram needs come into conflict? (I only have 256 MB of DDR ram, and half of it is devoted to AGP aperture).

 

[kakagar]

Are you running windows 2000 ? Cause if that's the case I have a Radeon 9600 XT the smartgart is blacked out too , but when I log on my Win Xp I have the smartgart in 4x (the max my mobo can handle).