problems with audigy/gf4/amd/xp setup

Strief

Got a couple problems here ...

Configuration

AMD 2000+
MSI motherboard (the one with raid array and usb 2, kt3 aru i think)
MSI gf4-ti4200
SB Audigy Platinum EX

DriverSet:
Latest WinXp stuff (there was an AMD fix which I applied)
Latest Audigy stuff
Latest nVidia stuff (am considering Omega drivers if ppl think this will help)
Mobo -- I am not sure that I have any particular motherboard drivers installed. I did install PC-Cillin, a stock pc monitoring program.

ISSUE 1:
A crackling crash where everything just hangs, sometimes with a looping sound. Kind of at random, always in a game though. Now, someone mentioned that my raid array and audigy might be conflicting, so I am going to see if I can turn off the raid array in the bios (i don't use it anyhow). I have suspicions about this being linked to EAX as well ...

ISSUE 2:
CounterStrike causes reboot, often when I hit ESC to go to the console. No sound or hang, just straight to reboot. Quite odd and seemingly limited to counterStrike. Seems somewhat related to a crash I can get when alt-tabbing from openGL games in general.

ISSUE 3:
Ok I lied. Third issue -- little 'catch-all' here. Various games on the "7 in 1" demo disc that came with my MSI vid card cause insta-crash, lockup, or in forgiving cases, a swift kick in the a$$ straight to the desktop. In particular, Comanche 4 demo and Ballistics demo do this very very consistently. Upon investigation I may find that the demo versions themselves are needing an update, but these are second priority.

Commentary:
Around 1997, I sold my 486, and didn't buy a computer again until last week, gaming solely on IBM-issued thinkpads with no 3d capability. I had been told the waters were safe in terms of IRQ conflicts etc etc and so last week picked up this new pc. It is dazzling me with the pretty lights, but I was expecting to see less crashes .... ;-)


thanks for any help!

strief
1.2

DallasStar

Just wondering... by "the latest Audigy stuff", do you mean the latest drivers from CREATIVE's site?

Necrosis

How are your pci cards arranged in your rig? I think some folks are having issues with the firewire port on the Audigy + USB 2.0. Start from the PCI slot under your AGP slot and count that as number. List which cards you have where; sounds like your Geforce & Audigy are sharing IRQ's. Does the board have onboard sound; if so did you disable it in the bios? Every bit of info. you can give us helps.

Strief

on another DriverHeaven forum members advice, I'm going to change a couple things and see if that helps.
tonite I did the following:
updated mobo driver
disabled ac97 onboard sound and raid array in bios.

let u know how it works out.

to the other poster: yes, so far I am using the latest audigy drivers from Creative's site. let me know if you have a better idea for drivers (that has been tested in XP).

vid card -- still using the released nVidia drivers too (29.42, the one on the official site).
Omega's drivers sound fun but to be honest, I'm a bit skittish until he has a rabid legion of XP testers slaving away for him ;-)

ok. time to test how this helped!

s
1.2

shuki

VIA latency patch. ver 0.19 is stable. but as always, use at your own risk... ! Backup, disk image, restore point all your choice before following anyones free advice on forums. If something goes south please dont come back in here yelling at people that are just trying to help..... Nothing personal, just see this happen way to often. Also, for raid array the 0.20 latency patch is supposed to be awesome. But since I don't have raid I can't comment....

info thread: http://forums.viahardware.com/messag...threadid=17011

D/L link: http://www.networking.tzo.com/net/software/

Strief

shuki,

thanks for all the help, but I am not actually running my raid array .... my motherboard just came with it, as well as a few other goodies ...

s
1.2

shuki

so you should install the 0.19 latency patch then. go to the d/l link I posted earlier and read through the FAQ and then decide...

Strief

ah yes, ok, i see it now. at first it seemed to be mainly something for Raid users.

one thing -- George (the developer) notes chipset compatibility up to kt266.
mine is kt333 ... foresee any problems there?

also, does this interfere with the via drivers I installed recently? the .... 4in1 is it called?

since disabling onboard sound and raid array things have been much more stable, only crashed once last nite, alt-tabbing into and out of counterstrike.

starting to think that I am just going to have to live with not using alt-tab when in an OpenGL game.

s
1.2

shuki

yea, it is completely compatible with the 4in1 drivers. and will work fine on 333 mobos. the patch is for any and all mobo using VIA chipsets (including your 333). If you're pretty stable now, you may wanna hold off on installing the latency patch. But if you continue to have probs or are annoyed at further crackling problems, try this patch as your next step.

in the meantime, browse through this forum for posts, threads and info on the latency patch and real life users experiences with it...http://forums.viahardware.com/categories.cfm?catid=19