KT400 / Radeon issues

Fu3lman · 02-January-04, 04:52 PM

this isnt so much a complaint as it is an explanation of what i discovered a while back....never thought it might be helpful to anyone else until i realized that im not the only one who had issues using a (probably) newer ATI radeon graphics card on a KT400 (more specifically, the Epox 8k9a2+)....

my specs...
================================================== ===
AOpen 300 watt psu
Epox 8k9a2+
256mb GeiL Golden Dragon PC-3200 CAS=2 (@400mhz DDR @ 2.7V)
AMD Athlon XP 1800 Palomino (@ 133x11.5 @ 1.75V) "stock"
20GB WD 72spin ATA1XX PATA on IDE 0 master on IDE channel 1
16X Sony IDE DVD ROM drive on IDE 1 slave on IDE channel 1
Built by ATI Radeon 9700PRO non overclocked
SB Audigy Gamer
1 x 120mm panaflo, 3 x 80mm Antec, 1 x red ccfl
onboard lan, I/O, audio all disabled
================================================== ===

...anyway, the issues started only moments after getting into a clean install of xp, any time i would repeatedly manipulate a 2d desktop object (icons, contact list, taskbar), the system would hang and reboot on its own...mind you, i could play my games allll day long and nothing would happen, but this was unexplainable...

did some research and discovered hundreds of posts...some regarding this mobo, but alot of them indicating KT400 as the culprit, i wasnt happy about this because, as alot of you know, i dont have a great deal of money to replace something like that...so i did what any other self respecting geek would have done...i bought myself a 12 pack (of pepsi) and spent some quality time with DarkEternal....

i experimented with combinations of drivers, BIOS revisions, and BIOS settings, but nothing seemed to do any good, i had read that dropping your AGP to 4x would resolve some issues, but these issues involved games crashing, and this was the opposite of my problem...

..i was ready to give up and accept that this mobo just would not work with this beast of a card...

...then something caught my attention, almost magically...AGP 3.0 Calibration Cycle...

knowing that it wouldnt do any good, i turned it off, and rebooted, and loe and behold, glorious crash-free goodness.....until i raised my AGP back up to 8x, and made the almost fatal mistake of updating my bios...

seems AWARD is hell bent on taking these frivilous settings that appear to do virtually nothing and eliminating them or hiding them...because after updating bios, problems worse than before, and this time, i magically did NOT have the option of disabling AGP 3.0 Cal. Cyc....if AWARD had any fans of their BIOS that day, i was on the moon...

heres what it ended up as...

> rolled back my BIOS to the second to first they released...temps are reported ~ 5C higher than they actually are but i am ok with that, obviously disabled AGP3.0 Calibration Cycle

> tried using ATI's newest drivers, but crashes ensued, so i rolled back to their previous one and presto, beautiful chocolate

> am running this card in 4x AGP (even though the option for 8x Is available) within the ATI SMARTGART control panel, with Fast Writes still on...

> Windoze XP updated like all get out

....and so far, its running like its supposed to...

there is no moral to this story, questions comments and expecially criticism are invited and expected...

and f*ck the french

BigAkita · 02-January-04, 05:12 PM

Hmmm...When my KT400 was still alive, I used to always get lock ups when I tried newer Cat drivers. I always went back to the older ones. Bios updates didn't affect it until the final one that killed it, but the newer vid drivers made it real shaky.

Fu3lman · 02-January-04, 09:50 PM

yeah, makes you scared to really do anything to it....

and my main problem now is that if and when a new driver or version of directx or service pack DOES come out....ill be too scared to install it, and i might be sacrificing essential functionality in the long run...

but at any rate, its running awesome now, and i have the alumni of PR to thank for it, entirely....

thank you, very...VERY much

anime-fan-man · 02-January-04, 10:51 PM

Note to self.....Never buy a kt400 mobo if you are going to run a ATI card with new drivers and such etc.
Bios and vid cards have confilcts quite often and this why the industry keeps speeding ahead to shoot down the problems, but of course you must suffer first, this is progress.
Well im glad to hear that your comp is running smooth and nothing has exploded in the process, the new bios will probly kill off a lot of controls, even cpu clock and oc tools ,etc. I say stick with what works.

02-January-04, 04:52 PM		#1 (permalink)
Fu3lman Light My Fire	KT400 / Radeon issues this isnt so much a complaint as it is an explanation of what i discovered a while back....never thought it might be helpful to anyone else until i realized that im not the only one who had issues using a (probably) newer ATI radeon graphics card on a KT400 (more specifically, the Epox 8k9a2+).... my specs... ================================================== === AOpen 300 watt psu Epox 8k9a2+ 256mb GeiL Golden Dragon PC-3200 CAS=2 (@400mhz DDR @ 2.7V) AMD Athlon XP 1800 Palomino (@ 133x11.5 @ 1.75V) "stock" 20GB WD 72spin ATA1XX PATA on IDE 0 master on IDE channel 1 16X Sony IDE DVD ROM drive on IDE 1 slave on IDE channel 1 Built by ATI Radeon 9700PRO non overclocked SB Audigy Gamer 1 x 120mm panaflo, 3 x 80mm Antec, 1 x red ccfl onboard lan, I/O, audio all disabled ================================================== === ...anyway, the issues started only moments after getting into a clean install of xp, any time i would repeatedly manipulate a 2d desktop object (icons, contact list, taskbar), the system would hang and reboot on its own...mind you, i could play my games allll day long and nothing would happen, but this was unexplainable... did some research and discovered hundreds of posts...some regarding this mobo, but alot of them indicating KT400 as the culprit, i wasnt happy about this because, as alot of you know, i dont have a great deal of money to replace something like that...so i did what any other self respecting geek would have done...i bought myself a 12 pack (of pepsi) and spent some quality time with DarkEternal.... i experimented with combinations of drivers, BIOS revisions, and BIOS settings, but nothing seemed to do any good, i had read that dropping your AGP to 4x would resolve some issues, but these issues involved games crashing, and this was the opposite of my problem... ..i was ready to give up and accept that this mobo just would not work with this beast of a card... ...then something caught my attention, almost magically...AGP 3.0 Calibration Cycle... knowing that it wouldnt do any good, i turned it off, and rebooted, and loe and behold, glorious crash-free goodness.....until i raised my AGP back up to 8x, and made the almost fatal mistake of updating my bios... seems AWARD is hell bent on taking these frivilous settings that appear to do virtually nothing and eliminating them or hiding them...because after updating bios, problems worse than before, and this time, i magically did NOT have the option of disabling AGP 3.0 Cal. Cyc....if AWARD had any fans of their BIOS that day, i was on the moon... heres what it ended up as... > rolled back my BIOS to the second to first they released...temps are reported ~ 5C higher than they actually are but i am ok with that, obviously disabled AGP3.0 Calibration Cycle > tried using ATI's newest drivers, but crashes ensued, so i rolled back to their previous one and presto, beautiful chocolate > am running this card in 4x AGP (even though the option for 8x Is available) within the ATI SMARTGART control panel, with Fast Writes still on... > Windoze XP updated like all get out ....and so far, its running like its supposed to... there is no moral to this story, questions comments and expecially criticism are invited and expected... and f*ck the french

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02-January-04, 05:12 PM		#2 (permalink)
BigAkita n00b-ass reviewer	Hmmm...When my KT400 was still alive, I used to always get lock ups when I tried newer Cat drivers. I always went back to the older ones. Bios updates didn't affect it until the final one that killed it, but the newer vid drivers made it real shaky.

02-January-04, 09:50 PM		#3 (permalink)
Fu3lman Light My Fire	yeah, makes you scared to really do anything to it.... and my main problem now is that if and when a new driver or version of directx or service pack DOES come out....ill be too scared to install it, and i might be sacrificing essential functionality in the long run... but at any rate, its running awesome now, and i have the alumni of PR to thank for it, entirely.... thank you, very...VERY much

02-January-04, 10:51 PM		#4 (permalink)
anime-fan-man Apex Elite Tech	Note to self.....Never buy a kt400 mobo if you are going to run a ATI card with new drivers and such etc. Bios and vid cards have confilcts quite often and this why the industry keeps speeding ahead to shoot down the problems, but of course you must suffer first, this is progress. Well im glad to hear that your comp is running smooth and nothing has exploded in the process, the new bios will probly kill off a lot of controls, even cpu clock and oc tools ,etc. I say stick with what works.