Solution for AMD m/b & GeForce 2 MX probs

morte

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Feb 2, 2001
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I am hearing a lot of probs with GeForce 2 MX cards on recent Athlon-based motherboards - from what I can tell so far, it is perhaps a BIOS update issue, probably AGP interface related? Once the BIOS gets updated, the reported probs (usually hanging/freezing) go away - <font color=red>can anyone else confirm this or otherwise?</font color=red>
<font color=green>(I have even been told not to buy a GeForce2MX card with an AMD based motherboard by a large computer system retailer here in Queensland, Australia)</font color=green>

It doesn't help that every review of GeForce 2 MX cards I've seen here in TomsHardware have been done on Pentium III test setups. :frown:

If only this issue could be addressed by the TomsHardware people with all the test systems and components at their disposal, rather than having everyone here in the forums individually bring forward their seemingly unrelated problems, without the common thread being identified! :eek:

I realise that there are also power probs with some setups, but I hear that some problems are not just to do with the power supply unit itself, but with the AGP slot power supply, which is why some motherboards now have the AGP-Pro slot to adequately power the high-drain graphics cards. And that doesn't seem to be the issue in this case anyway, because I'm talking about 250W and 300W systems with AGP-Pro slots. They just happen to be AMD cpus, and Geforce 2 MX graphics cards.
Some users have been running on AGP 1x or 2x to get around some of the more constant hanging, but that's not a real solution. It really only points more towards the AGP interface and/or driver being the problem.
And the problem also doesn't seem to be graphics card driver related - they are apparently running latest drivers...

<font color=blue>I'll be extremely grateful if anyone can give me the name of a working setup with AMD cpu and Geforce 2 MX card - if you can, please tell me the name of the motherboard model, BIOS revision, and the 2 MX card vendor and model.</font color=blue>

Thanks!
 
G

Guest

Guest
I'm running a 1000 mhz T-bird on an Abit KT7-Raid with an Asus v7100 Geforce2 MX card and all is well. I am even running a MX300 sound card that was reported to be incompatible with VIA. I applied the VIA fix that has been distributed and it works perfectly. I am running the latest Abit bios (WW i belive) and version 4.25a VIA drivers. I have the card running with 4X AGP enabled and it runs flawlessly. I have yet to have a single lockup playing Half Life and Soldier of Fortune for hours on end. I guess I can say that I have probably one of the most dreaded combinations out there and have no compatibility issued at all. HTH.
 
G

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I think that you need to be so paranoid about compatibility. I'm running with a FIC AZ11 and hercules prophet II MX no probs. I wouldn't suggest that MB though, nothing wrong with it but there are better ones out now. If you're still going to be overly cautious, buy a MB, and get the video card from someone who will let you return it, no strings attached. (maybe they'll let you try it in the store) Being forced into 2X AGP is certainly not a poor solution. 4X AGP does absolutely nothing for you, check out some benchmarks if you don't want to believe me. Power consumption is a non-issue with the MX. It has probably the lowest power usage (something like 2W) of any video card in the past couple years.
 

Bills22

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My Abit KT7-Raid and my CL Annihilator2 MX run fine.
Sb Live MP3, Promise ATA100 Controller Card. Ethernet Card, Modem.
Bill
 

montgods

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I have the ASUS A7v, Athlon 1Ghz, GeForce Ultra, high-quality PC133 CL2 memory, 300w power supply, running Win2K. I AM having the intermittent freeze that others seem to have with the ASUS/GeForce/Win2k combo. I have not tried the latest A7V bios (I have tried everything else). I will try it tonight and report back.
 

Berman

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I have an MSI K7T Pro m/b, TBird 700 and an ASmart Smartview Geforce2 MX. I've tried a bunch of stuff (different drivers, BIOS updates etc), and I still can't get it to stop crashing D3D games.
 

Berman

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Just wanted to get this topic back to the top, so it can get some attention :)
I really need to get this thing to work, cos I recently found out that the place I bought it from doesn't do refunds, so I'm desperate.
 

Berman

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I think I fixed it!

I did a bit of research into AGP, and realised that 4X was just ridiculously fast, like, TOO fast. So I went into the BIOS setup and disabled AGP 4X. And now my GF2MX seems to actually work! I've played Tourney for about three hours straight with no probs, and a bunch of other stuff, all fine.

So if anyone is still having that freezing/hanging problem with the GF2MX on an Athlon-based motherboard, try this and see how you go!
 

owais

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Feb 12, 2001
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I have some crappy via mobo (I think it is PCCHIPS) with a Duron 700 chip. I also have a Geforce 2 MX and the system has the same problems. In D3D and OpenGL games, the system would freeze. I had all the latest drivers and all that crap. It was set to 4x AGP. As soon as I set it to 2x, it worked flawlessy. However, I have read that it does reduce some what performance. So is there a way around this?
 
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Guest

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I've got a FIC AZ11 with a hercules prophet II mx which was working perfectly until recently. When I OCed the core it started crashing. I tried it intially @ >200mhz which worked but crashed. Even 190mhz crashed, which seems wierd because of the range in which it would operate in. Ever since my system has been less stable. I went months without a single crash! Should have left well enough alone, the mem is what really speeds stuff up and it's @ 215mhz.
 

Berman

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Well I haven't noticed any performance changes since I disabled AGP 4X. 2X is still an extremely fast speed, and since the card has plenty of memory (32mb), there really shouldn't be much difference.