This is a problem I've had for quite a while now, I'll try to explain it as in depth as I can...
Before I had the ATI Radeon card I had a Voodoo5 on the same mobo, everything worked fine and
I was quite amazed by the extreme stability of the Epox mainboard. (I actually never managed to crash
that configuration once!)
Then I tried to voltage mod my Epox mobo but that didn't go to well, (I fried the mobo), but end of
that story.
I had preordered my new ATI card a few months back and finally got it, but I didn't have my new
Epox mobo yet, so I just put the card into my other computer with an Abit KT7A mobo and everything
worked perfectly fine, no stability problems or visual artefacts at all...
But then when I got my new Epox mobo back the problems began; I had the same components in it as from the beginning only thing is that now the computer would always crash and display visual artefacts...
Ok I thought; must be a faulty mobo, but still something about that statement didn't sound right so
just to be sure I put my ATI card in the old mobo again; and sure enough, it ran stability tests 48H
in a row without crashing!
Ok, then I thought I'd just send in the Epox mobo as faulty but still this didn't feel right, after all
I've never in my life heard of a "DOA" Epox mobo...
So I borrowed a Geforce3 TI200 from a friend and ran stability tests on the Epox mobo for 8H in a row
but it didn't crash then either, and neither did it display visual artefacts!
So to sum it up: It can't be the ATI card being faulty, I've run that for 48H without stability or visual
Artefacts on my Abit mobo. Neither can it be the Epox mobo since I've run stability test on that with a GF3 for 8H without any crashes or visual artefacts!
It can’t be the drivers either because I've run the two configurations with the exact same installation:
Install Win98,
Install VIA 4in1437 and latency patch 0,19
Install DirectX 8.1a
Install win98 GFX driver: 9016
And on the computer with the Abit KT7A mobo this config ran 48H straight, on the Epox it barley runs one minute, and that is with visual artefacts! Though the GF3 could run this config for 8H without crashing...
Also mind you that these are "clean" installs, i.e. I've done a format between every change of hardware...
If I am to worsen the already strange problem lowering the frequency of the "Built by ATI" ATI Radeon 8500 Retail card with a default core/memory clock frequency of 275/275mhz does infact allow the card to run longer; up to 10 minutes with some luck, though remember that on my other computer it can run in full speed for 48H so it's not a problem with the card itself...
And this takes us to where I believe the problem lies. Do you remember the old Creative/VIA debate over which one of them was guilty of who created the infamous "crackly" noise?
If a Creative card was put on a VIA mobo it often created crackly sound, but paired with an Intel board no crackle was present.
Though if you just went and bought a Hercules soundcard or whatever and paired it with your VIA mobo everything worked perfectly, so it would seem both VIA and Creative was guilty, and I'm willing to bet that the same thing is happening here...
So what I'd like to hear now is your side of the story; do you have the same problems or does your comp run fine? I sure want to know!
And before I forget it, here is an easy was to reproduce the bug; first download 3DMark 2001 SE, start it and select Tests > Change, click "clear" and only tick "Point Sprites" (the spinning white horse) click "ok" Now Options > Change and tick the two buttons at the top "disable title screens" and "looping". Now click "ok" and "benchmark"
Though this isn't the only way to reproduce the bug; just take your favourite game, I for example can't finish a single lap in Need For Speed 5 Porsche Unleashed...
The visual artefacts I'm talking about are also a good indication of the problem; my monitor can’t cause them because with the GF3 they aren't there, and neither can it be the ATI card because on my Abit mobo they aren't there. And as I said it couldn’t be the Epox either because that's what the GF3 was tested on, so to sum it up:
The crashes and or visual artefacts aren't caused by anything!
I'll try to describe the visual artefacts also, they can appear anytime, I'm seeing them as I type this text in Windows, though they appear more often in 3DMark2K1, they are quite hard to explain to, it's like a 5cm long and 1cm thick line "flashing" on the screen for about 0,1 second...
Also said should be that I've never seen these artefacts when I've had stability, i.e. get rid of the artefacts get rid of the crashes too...
The crash is also a bit weird, I’ve only tried it in Win2K but if I run Winamp in the background the song will continue to play when the computer has crashed until it comes to the end, it won’t begin on a new song though… And the image of the horse just “freezes” on the screen, pressing “reset” is the only way to restart the computer it seems…
Oh; and I also always run Windows 2000, it was just under the tests that I ran Win98, but the problem is exactly the same under both OS'es...
Sorry for the long message and happy hunting in figuring out this problem for me; I've already given up ;-)
(Psst, if you figure out this problem I'll throw in a good word for you in the ongoing contest, just don't tell anyone
)
Before I had the ATI Radeon card I had a Voodoo5 on the same mobo, everything worked fine and
I was quite amazed by the extreme stability of the Epox mainboard. (I actually never managed to crash
that configuration once!)
Then I tried to voltage mod my Epox mobo but that didn't go to well, (I fried the mobo), but end of
that story.
I had preordered my new ATI card a few months back and finally got it, but I didn't have my new
Epox mobo yet, so I just put the card into my other computer with an Abit KT7A mobo and everything
worked perfectly fine, no stability problems or visual artefacts at all...
But then when I got my new Epox mobo back the problems began; I had the same components in it as from the beginning only thing is that now the computer would always crash and display visual artefacts...
Ok I thought; must be a faulty mobo, but still something about that statement didn't sound right so
just to be sure I put my ATI card in the old mobo again; and sure enough, it ran stability tests 48H
in a row without crashing!
Ok, then I thought I'd just send in the Epox mobo as faulty but still this didn't feel right, after all
I've never in my life heard of a "DOA" Epox mobo...
So I borrowed a Geforce3 TI200 from a friend and ran stability tests on the Epox mobo for 8H in a row
but it didn't crash then either, and neither did it display visual artefacts!
So to sum it up: It can't be the ATI card being faulty, I've run that for 48H without stability or visual
Artefacts on my Abit mobo. Neither can it be the Epox mobo since I've run stability test on that with a GF3 for 8H without any crashes or visual artefacts!
It can’t be the drivers either because I've run the two configurations with the exact same installation:
Install Win98,
Install VIA 4in1437 and latency patch 0,19
Install DirectX 8.1a
Install win98 GFX driver: 9016
And on the computer with the Abit KT7A mobo this config ran 48H straight, on the Epox it barley runs one minute, and that is with visual artefacts! Though the GF3 could run this config for 8H without crashing...
Also mind you that these are "clean" installs, i.e. I've done a format between every change of hardware...
If I am to worsen the already strange problem lowering the frequency of the "Built by ATI" ATI Radeon 8500 Retail card with a default core/memory clock frequency of 275/275mhz does infact allow the card to run longer; up to 10 minutes with some luck, though remember that on my other computer it can run in full speed for 48H so it's not a problem with the card itself...
And this takes us to where I believe the problem lies. Do you remember the old Creative/VIA debate over which one of them was guilty of who created the infamous "crackly" noise?
If a Creative card was put on a VIA mobo it often created crackly sound, but paired with an Intel board no crackle was present.
Though if you just went and bought a Hercules soundcard or whatever and paired it with your VIA mobo everything worked perfectly, so it would seem both VIA and Creative was guilty, and I'm willing to bet that the same thing is happening here...
So what I'd like to hear now is your side of the story; do you have the same problems or does your comp run fine? I sure want to know!
And before I forget it, here is an easy was to reproduce the bug; first download 3DMark 2001 SE, start it and select Tests > Change, click "clear" and only tick "Point Sprites" (the spinning white horse) click "ok" Now Options > Change and tick the two buttons at the top "disable title screens" and "looping". Now click "ok" and "benchmark"
Though this isn't the only way to reproduce the bug; just take your favourite game, I for example can't finish a single lap in Need For Speed 5 Porsche Unleashed...
The visual artefacts I'm talking about are also a good indication of the problem; my monitor can’t cause them because with the GF3 they aren't there, and neither can it be the ATI card because on my Abit mobo they aren't there. And as I said it couldn’t be the Epox either because that's what the GF3 was tested on, so to sum it up:
The crashes and or visual artefacts aren't caused by anything!
I'll try to describe the visual artefacts also, they can appear anytime, I'm seeing them as I type this text in Windows, though they appear more often in 3DMark2K1, they are quite hard to explain to, it's like a 5cm long and 1cm thick line "flashing" on the screen for about 0,1 second...
Also said should be that I've never seen these artefacts when I've had stability, i.e. get rid of the artefacts get rid of the crashes too...
The crash is also a bit weird, I’ve only tried it in Win2K but if I run Winamp in the background the song will continue to play when the computer has crashed until it comes to the end, it won’t begin on a new song though… And the image of the horse just “freezes” on the screen, pressing “reset” is the only way to restart the computer it seems…
Oh; and I also always run Windows 2000, it was just under the tests that I ran Win98, but the problem is exactly the same under both OS'es...
Sorry for the long message and happy hunting in figuring out this problem for me; I've already given up ;-)
(Psst, if you figure out this problem I'll throw in a good word for you in the ongoing contest, just don't tell anyone
)
