A7V333 - solve problem of infinite loop

[TheEnigma]

A7V333 - solve problem of infinite loop

[TheEnigma]

After several months of searches and countless attempts frustrated try solve problem of "infinite loop" in A7V333 + GeForce2 MX400 got to find a solution. I tried to install WinXP Pro in Standard PC mode (without ACPI) and with APIC disabled, since then the system comes behaving 100% stable without BSOD, random reboots or freezes. No that this form comes to be a final solution for this problem that is tormenting the all of us users. However it can get up indications that the ACPI mode under WinXP can be the cause of the problem and it can face difficulties in certain cases.

STPGNT (reg 92 bit 7) = Enabled (Ok)
Halt Disconnect (reg 95 bit 1) = Enabled (Ok)
AGP 4x Mode = Enabled (Ok)

I hope this comment can help in some way.

System:
AMD Athlon XP(tm) 1800+
ASUS A7V333 Rev 1.01 Bios 1014.002 (beta)
256MB Samsung PC-2100 DDR CAS 2.5
INNO3D Tornado GeForce2 MX400 64MB
MAXTOR D740X 40GB ATA133
LG CD-RW/DVD Combo
Case Satellite(Int) 400W

WinXP Professional Build 2600 + SP1
VIA 4in1 Service Pack 4.43v
DetonatorXP 40.41  

[Val3r10]

I have EXATCLY the same problem (KX7-333R w/ XP2000+ and Geforce4) with WinXP Pro.

But the unpredictable hangs or reboots or screen locks persist even disableing the ACPI option, if I have understood you well.

Actually, before I had also a Hollywood MPEG-2 interface card I removed guessing it was not compatible with Geforce4 TI4200. Since then, most common screen locks were solved; at least, seemed to me.

Btw I noticed most of the problems raise when I use the IDE disks (IBM DTLA or MAXTOR 60gb) linked to the two HPT RAID connectors (yellow).
If I don't use that disks, my system is almost stable for days. First time I try to transfer from/to one of them some large file, PC often reboots... somethimes hopeless hangs.

Note: I just uploaded the lastest ABIT bios, VIA and HPT drivers ...

Does anybody have more ideas ?
I've been fighting with ribbon-combinations for weeks...

Thanks a lot.
Bye

[Tmagic650]

I thought this "infinite loop" problem was solved many months ago. It was only supposed to be affecting the KT133 and the early KT266 motherboards with the 686A chipset. I really think your problems are with the Nvidia drivers you're using. This driver/compatibility problem is not really a sign of the "infinate loop" problem at all. The G-Force 2 has other known issues with certain motherboards too. The G-force 4 is better in overall compatibility though.  

[Val3r10]

FoA, thanks a lot for your answer.

Actually I always guessed something about my TI4200 G4 card, but tried different versions of drivers (even beta) without success.
So, first I tried the 40.41 drivers (not yet WHQL certified), then the newest 40.71.
Then I went back to 30.82, but - as said - each time I heavly use the HPT372 RAID controller, my system reboots or locks down.

Is there any other trying I could perform ?

Thanks again

[Tmagic650]

Hightpoint RAID!  Theres your problem!! Is this (non-raid) RAID 0? Are you really happy with it?

In that case,
back off any video accelleration a little, and maybe even bios memory settings. Try setting the bios to failsafe default levels.

Let us know what you do...

[Val3r10]

The Abit KX7-V333R has such HPT372 onboard controller as the 3rd and 4rd IDE connectors.
I don't use it in a RAID configuration, simply to connect 6 IDE devices to bus. Not else.

Happy ?   I bought such motherboard and never worked as I'm experiencing the hangs I described above. I couldn't be happy...

I tried many times restoring all the default BIOS settings, but this not solved the problem:
I'm obliged to connect some device to those IDE ports and each time I transfer large files (I guess when UltraDMA starts working...) my pc hangs.
Even simply reading from one of those disks.

CD-roms, btw, aren't recognized at all, if connected to such device.


Well... NOW ?  
Thanks again.


 

[Tmagic650]

It's my understanding that you can't use the extra RAID connection just to add non-Raid drives to your system. If you want to add more than 4 IDE devices, you can purchase a PCI IDE controller for this need. Promise and NewEgg have these resources for you...

[Mudd]

Hi Tmagic650,

Actually you can use the Highpoint RAID controller as just extra IDE ports with no RAID. But you can only hook up hard drives. No CD devices. I run two hard drives off of each IDE port from the HPT372 (no RAID) on my Abit KR7A-133R motherboard with absolutely no problems associated with it. And Paul's Abit motherboard FAQ verifies that also. (see link below)

http://www.sudhian.com/faqs.cfm/fid/7/fcid/7.sud#164


TheEnigma,

A lot of threads I have read here regarding this subject of infinite loop errors seems to point at an inadequite power supply, and I have to agree. A few people pointed out that the reason why some have seemed to have some success with changing the version of the video card driver to overcome this problem is because some versions apparently enable more features/performance out of the card, therefore requiring more power. Where other version are the opposite requiring less power and therefore making the system stable, or more stable than before. Mind you this is just my 2 cents. If you do a search in these forums I'm sure you will find these threads and gain some usefull information for yourself.

Perhaps you should question whether your power supply is up to the task of running this system. You did not list it in your system specs, so I have no idea. It might be a good idea to temporarily swap it out with another power supply to see if this might be the cause of your infinite loop error if you suspect it may be underpowered.

Myself, I wouldn't put a power supply rated under 400 watts in a system like yours. But I know that many people have run similar systems with less and have been ok.

Hope you find this helpfull.  
Take care.

[TheEnigma]

Mudd,

Thank you for having asked about the power supply used, I had really forgotten myself to mention in previous thread and for this I corrected the same. Well, about the "infinite loop" I believe that we have in our hands a quite complicated problem. As well as you I also had the opportunity to read countless threads mentioning to possible solution forms for this problem, and even so I continued facing the problem of the infinite loop in my system. As well as other users, I never had previously problems with Win9x, basing on this idea decided then install WinXP in Standard PC mode (without ACPI) and it was such surprise to see the system to work 100% stable.

I had already tried to change power supply and other versions drivers for my vga card, and even so the problem persisted.  I agree with you about the possibility that the power supply used can be the cause of this problem, however now I believe that ACPI and even the APIC mode they can also cause this problem in certain situations and hardware combinations.

Thanks  

[Val3r10]

<< If you want to add more than 4 IDE devices, you can purchase a PCI IDE controller for this need. <a class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.promise.com" target=blank>Promise</A> and <a class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.newegg.com" target=blank>NewEgg</A> have these resources for you... >>



So, should I disable the HPT controller and buy a new one ?  

Actually I don't think that should be a nice policy for ABIT Developers...
My question: is my problem already known or experienced by anyone ?
Could I expect in a near future some new HPT driver version to address and solve it, or really I should solve myself patching and spending other money to have the same things I should already had ?

I've already removed the Hollywood mpeg to solve some strange incompatibilities with TI4200. Could them be real or simply a side effect of main HPT problem ?

Thanks again and sorry for this 'parallel' thread in this thread...

Bye

[GeorgeBreese]

Just my 2 cent's worth...

I've heard plenty of complaints against the Hollywood decoder cards. Their problems go way beyond compatibility issues with Abit or VIA boards.

My experiences with the HPT 372 have been good, but only after Highpoint released version 2.31 of BIOS and drivers. I've used it with single Maxtor drives, and RAID-0 arrays of up to three drives, with no stability issues. But, when I insert a PCI card into a slot whose INT# pins are tied to those of of the HPT 372, then I have problems. The solution is to move the inserted card to another slot.

I've worked with other RAID controllers that couldn't support CDROM drives, so maybe I'm just used to it. But, since the KX7-333R board comes with two non-RAID CDROM-compatible IDE connectors, is it so vital to use a RAID controller to run CDROM drives?

If I were troubleshooting this HPT stability issue, I would remove all PCI cards from their slots and retest for stability.

[Mudd]

TheEnigma,

   Hey no problem. Sorry I could not have been more helpfull. I do agree with you though that this is a complicated problem, and there are in most likely circumstances many answers to this problem. Unfortunately, such as yourself, it leaves these people shuffling through all these possiblilities to find a solution that makes their system stable.

Your solution may seem strange to yourself. But I have seen something sort of similar to that if it makes you feel any better. *lol* The computer I built for my mother a few years back uses an Epox EP-MVP3G2 motherboard(VIA MVP3 chipset). And in Win98se it would never run correctly with ACPI enable in the BIOS. And ACPI would have a exclamtion point in the device manager. But having more recently installed Win2k and WinXP on this computer, it is just fine with ACPI enabled. Go figure!

I thought when I finally upgraded my computer to an Athlon XP 1800+ from a K6-2 that all my computer problems would be solved. Boy was I wrong! *lol* I can't tell you how many times I have re-installed WinXP Pro due to mysterious problems that I have no clue how to diagnose as they seem to have no corrolation to anything I have altered. Anyway, enough of my ranting. *chuckle*
Take care.

[Val3r10]

<< Just my 2 cent's worth...
[...]
If I were troubleshooting this HPT stability issue, I would remove all PCI cards from their slots and retest for stability. >>



Hi, George!  Pleased to meet you !  
I even tried to install your PCI Latency Patch driver....  But most probably, I'm absolutely off topic, here, as my problem is slightly different.

Ok. I'll try to remove all and put again one by one all the PCI interface cards.
For a better test, I guess, I'll try and reinstall from scratch a clean version of WinXP Pro, trying each time to copy large file to the (not)raid-controlled HDs and evaluating their behavior.


P.S.: I have a similar lockdown problem with WinME (dual boot) ... So it doesn't seem related to the O/S.  Sigh!

Thanks again for your tips.
I'll let you know, all of you.
Bye
 

[Val3r10]

P.S.: could any moderator move the off-topic part of this thread to the more appropriate "Abit MB" section ?

Sorry again for the O-T, but for three weeks I have fighted against my PC and searching I answered to the first thread I found.

Thanks

[Val3r10]

<< If I were troubleshooting this HPT stability issue, I would remove all PCI cards from their slots and retest for stability. >>



Thanks George.

I did it but it hasn't solved my HPT lockup problem yet.

Running only with the AGP TI4200 Gef4 card and a 3COM Network i/f (moved round around slots to miss the #5 ... ), each time I try to copy files to/from any disk on the (not)RAID Highpoint controller, my system hangs !
Even I tried to link different disks to one or both such of yellow connectors, but I obtain always the same behavior.
Sometimes on small files, sometimes on larger ones in different disk positions.

I'm gettin' out crazy !

Even, it seems also such a strange and unpredictable behavior I can't report for a RMA ...

Thanks a lot.

[GeorgeBreese]

Um, I hate to mention it, but the 3COM NICs have some PCI problems... As a rule, DO remove 3COM cards when testing...

But, beyond that, I don't know what to say.

Switching to Samsung RAM can cure a lot of odd problems; the HPT is a busmastering controller with direct access to RAM, after all.

I dunno. My KR7A-RAID is rock solid as a test server on my workbench right now, running MS Small Business Server 2000. I'm not using the RAID ports right now, but I've used them plenty before now.

[Val3r10]

Well.
Then I removed EVERY interface and everything but the video Ti4200 GF4 128Mb card, the only DDR Bank 512Mb 333MHz I have, the Athlon XP 2000+ processor (cooled by original AMD boxed fan) and the KX7-333R itself.

Same, I have frequent lockups - as before - when I transfer files on the HPT controller.
Now, problem seems persisting only in WinXP Pro; instead, hang problems I had under WinME seem solved now due to an incorrect video driver. For the Geforce, now I use both O/S the 4.0.7.2 driver.

Thanks very much again

[TheEnigma]

Val3r10,

Congratulations!

You got to end with my thread about A7V333. . .

[Val3r10]

AS SAID JUST BEFORE:


<< P.S.: could any moderator move the off-topic part of this thread to the more appropriate "Abit MB" section ?

Sorry again for the O-T, but for three weeks I have fighted against my PC and searching I answered to the first thread I found.

Thanks >>


Sorry even to you.
Is there any clean way to move to the Abit related area ?
Thanks

[GeorgeBreese]

I don't think they can split a thread. But, if you start a new thread in that forum, you can link back to this thread.

This thread is http://forums.sudhian.com/messageview.cfm?catid=19&threadid=22841

Or, by clicking the "http " button and pasting...

http://forums.sudhian.com/messageview.cfm?catid=19&threadid=22841  or Link to old thread  

[SoldierOfTorture]

I could never resolve my problems when i had my gf2mx so now i have an ati radeon8500le. Great card no problems at all.

[The_Preacher]

Hi,

the problem was the same for me, but it was definitely solved with the latest Nvidia drivers (30.xx and above) and the latest VIA drivers. Since I had the same problem with my Intel System, I am sure that the cause where the NVidia drivers, not the VIA Chipset...

[Val3r10]

As suggested, I raised the thread in the correct forum HERE

Hopefully I'll have a better luck there.

Thanks