P4P800Dlx W2K Won't Run 2 Video Cards

Hi,

I've posted this on the ATI ng as well, a few hours ago, but perhaps the
issue is more related to the mobo so I'm posting it here for any comments.

Any help you can shed on this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Basic setup before this afternoon was Asus P4P800 Dlx Mobo with P4 2.2 GHz/
1Gig PC2100 Micron DDR RAM, ATI Radeon 8500LE 128MB with the slow RAM,
bought from Crucial about 18 months ago (card, P4, RAM transferred to this
Mobo a month or so ago from an earlier system). I have been running a very
slight overclock (~15% on the FSB/P4/RAM), 30 passes MEMTEST86 at this
setting with no errors. Also, had Rage3D Tweek installed with modest OC on
the ATI card (201/301 vs. default of 150/250, if I recall). Everything was
rock hard stable.

I had just purchased a 2nd Dell 20" LCD Monitor (new one, being used as
primary, is 2001FP, older one is 2000FP). I knew I needed a PCI card (in
addition to the AGP 8500LE) to power the 2nd monitor if I wanted to use Win
2000 Extended Desktop, and also if I wanted to run both monitors off of the
DVI connectors. I posted on the ATI ng a week or so ago asking if I would
be able to put a 2nd Radeon into the box, if there would be software
conflicts, etc., and the advice I got was "no prob." I wasn't looking for a
screemer of a card, so after hunting around I settled on the ATI 9100 Pro
128 MB DDR card that Tiger Direct is closing out for ~$50 after rebate,
plus shipping. The afforementioned 9100 card arrived today.

Since then, I have been unable to get the box to boot up more than once, and
the 2nd time it freezes right after putting in the user password -- my
desktop wallpaper picture shows up, there is the message about your
"personal settings," but the screen is frozen and the system needs a hard
reboot after which the only way to get it to boot successfully is via W2K
Safe Mode. The only thing that works at that point is to uninstall all the
ATI software. After reinstalling the software (latest downloaded complete
Catalyst set which claims to be compatible with both cards), I can get it to
recognize both cards, and then when I reboot it might come up the next time
and it might not. In any event, it won't come up twice, locking up as I've
described, right after putting in the user password.

At this point I have tried everything that I can think of, including (1)
removing all overclocks on processor/FSB/RAM/Video Card; (2) removing the
cards one at a time and rebooting without any ATI software installed,
reloading the software for one remaining card in place (either the AGP or
the PCI card), seeing the system is stable for multiple reboots, and then
introducing the other remaining card, and (3) have tried the PCI Radeon card
in 2 or 3 of the PCI slots. None of these maneuvers have worked. I've even
tried removing all the software with both cards in place then reinstalling
it -- once again the system may boot up 1 or 2 times but then the system
locks up after password entry by the 3rd time it is booted. Previously the
AGP aperture was set at 128 MB (mobo default is 64) but I set that back to
64 in the bios also, and this does not help. The bios has the aperture
priority as AGP/PCI, which is default and which I've never changed. I've
gone through
the BIOS several times and can't find anything to change that looks
pertinent.

Sometimes during the 1 or 2 times the system will initialize with both cards
in place, it seems like the system is running fine in extended desktop mode,
as if all drivers and setups are correct and solid. Sometimes it has not
gotten beyond the driver loading stage and only the main monitor or the 2nd
monitor seems to be working.

I have established that either card runs fine by itself, but that the system
will not work, will not boot, other than for 1 or 2 times, with both cards
in place. After the first time the system won't boot with both cards in
place, it will never boot again until all drivers are removed in safe mode.

My sense without formal testing is that the 9100 card, even though it is
PCI-based, may be faster than my older Crucial 8500LE card, but I haven't
tried to overclock it, just to see if it will work and it seems that it does
as long as the AGP 8500LE card is not in the box simultaneously.

What have I overlooked? The problem appears to be software related. Are
these two cards incompatible in one box, or, as
I suspect, is there some sort of software glitch in there that is screwing
up the final stable install of the cards to coexist in one box?

Any suggestions you can give me would be greatly appreciated; I have already
wasted at least 3 hours on this project and I'm coming to the end of my
toleration for this sort of nonsence!

Best,

ken

In article , "Ken Fox"
wrote:

Hi,

I've posted this on the ATI ng as well, a few hours ago, but perhaps the
issue is more related to the mobo so I'm posting it here for any comments.

Any help you can shed on this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Basic setup before this afternoon was Asus P4P800 Dlx Mobo with P4 2.2 GHz/
1Gig PC2100 Micron DDR RAM, ATI Radeon 8500LE 128MB with the slow RAM,
bought from Crucial about 18 months ago (card, P4, RAM transferred to this
Mobo a month or so ago from an earlier system). I have been running a very
slight overclock (~15% on the FSB/P4/RAM), 30 passes MEMTEST86 at this
setting with no errors. Also, had Rage3D Tweek installed with modest OC on
the ATI card (201/301 vs. default of 150/250, if I recall). Everything was
rock hard stable.

I had just purchased a 2nd Dell 20" LCD Monitor (new one, being used as
primary, is 2001FP, older one is 2000FP). I knew I needed a PCI card (in
addition to the AGP 8500LE) to power the 2nd monitor if I wanted to use Win
2000 Extended Desktop, and also if I wanted to run both monitors off of the
DVI connectors. I posted on the ATI ng a week or so ago asking if I would
be able to put a 2nd Radeon into the box, if there would be software
conflicts, etc., and the advice I got was "no prob." I wasn't looking for a
screemer of a card, so after hunting around I settled on the ATI 9100 Pro
128 MB DDR card that Tiger Direct is closing out for ~$50 after rebate,
plus shipping. The afforementioned 9100 card arrived today.

Since then, I have been unable to get the box to boot up more than once, and
the 2nd time it freezes right after putting in the user password -- my
desktop wallpaper picture shows up, there is the message about your
"personal settings," but the screen is frozen and the system needs a hard
reboot after which the only way to get it to boot successfully is via W2K
Safe Mode. The only thing that works at that point is to uninstall all the
ATI software. After reinstalling the software (latest downloaded complete
Catalyst set which claims to be compatible with both cards), I can get it to
recognize both cards, and then when I reboot it might come up the next time
and it might not. In any event, it won't come up twice, locking up as I've
described, right after putting in the user password.

At this point I have tried everything that I can think of, including (1)
removing all overclocks on processor/FSB/RAM/Video Card; (2) removing the
cards one at a time and rebooting without any ATI software installed,
reloading the software for one remaining card in place (either the AGP or
the PCI card), seeing the system is stable for multiple reboots, and then
introducing the other remaining card, and (3) have tried the PCI Radeon card
in 2 or 3 of the PCI slots. None of these maneuvers have worked. I've even
tried removing all the software with both cards in place then reinstalling
it -- once again the system may boot up 1 or 2 times but then the system
locks up after password entry by the 3rd time it is booted. Previously the
AGP aperture was set at 128 MB (mobo default is 64) but I set that back to
64 in the bios also, and this does not help. The bios has the aperture
priority as AGP/PCI, which is default and which I've never changed. I've
gone through
the BIOS several times and can't find anything to change that looks
pertinent.

Sometimes during the 1 or 2 times the system will initialize with both cards
in place, it seems like the system is running fine in extended desktop mode,
as if all drivers and setups are correct and solid. Sometimes it has not
gotten beyond the driver loading stage and only the main monitor or the 2nd
monitor seems to be working.

I have established that either card runs fine by itself, but that the system
will not work, will not boot, other than for 1 or 2 times, with both cards
in place. After the first time the system won't boot with both cards in
place, it will never boot again until all drivers are removed in safe mode.

My sense without formal testing is that the 9100 card, even though it is
PCI-based, may be faster than my older Crucial 8500LE card, but I haven't
tried to overclock it, just to see if it will work and it seems that it does
as long as the AGP 8500LE card is not in the box simultaneously.

What have I overlooked? The problem appears to be software related. Are
these two cards incompatible in one box, or, as
I suspect, is there some sort of software glitch in there that is screwing
up the final stable install of the cards to coexist in one box?

Any suggestions you can give me would be greatly appreciated; I have already
wasted at least 3 hours on this project and I'm coming to the end of my
toleration for this sort of nonsence!

Best,

ken

I think you've done enough work, that you should contact ATI tech support
and Asus tech support. With Asus, possibly the better route is to phone
them, as email frequently doesn't work. Asus will collect all the data
you offer them, but don't expect an instant answer.

I don't see anything in that AMI BIOS worth trying. On other motherboards,
you could play with Video Memory Cache Mode (UC/USWC) and so on, but the
AMI BIOS doesn't seem to have options like that.

You could try some previous Catalyst drivers, because you might get
lucky :-)

For more ideas, try the forums of rage3d.com -

http://www.rage3d.com/board/index.php

HTH,
Paul

I had to set PCI as the first or priority device when i tried out a 3rd
monitor with a second video card. Although i am running Windows XP not
Windows 2000. My AGP video card is a 9600 Pro, the PCI was just an old
4Mbyte card.
I once was using a Vodoo5 3dfx video card but i could never get it to work
with a second video card.

"Ken Fox" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I've posted this on the ATI ng as well, a few hours ago, but perhaps the
issue is more related to the mobo so I'm posting it here for any comments.

Any help you can shed on this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Basic setup before this afternoon was Asus P4P800 Dlx Mobo with P4 2.2
GHz/
1Gig PC2100 Micron DDR RAM, ATI Radeon 8500LE 128MB with the slow RAM,
bought from Crucial about 18 months ago (card, P4, RAM transferred to this
Mobo a month or so ago from an earlier system). I have been running a
very
slight overclock (~15% on the FSB/P4/RAM), 30 passes MEMTEST86 at this
setting with no errors. Also, had Rage3D Tweek installed with modest OC
on
the ATI card (201/301 vs. default of 150/250, if I recall). Everything
was
rock hard stable.

I had just purchased a 2nd Dell 20" LCD Monitor (new one, being used as
primary, is 2001FP, older one is 2000FP). I knew I needed a PCI card (in
addition to the AGP 8500LE) to power the 2nd monitor if I wanted to use
Win
2000 Extended Desktop, and also if I wanted to run both monitors off of
the
DVI connectors. I posted on the ATI ng a week or so ago asking if I would
be able to put a 2nd Radeon into the box, if there would be software
conflicts, etc., and the advice I got was "no prob." I wasn't looking for
a
screemer of a card, so after hunting around I settled on the ATI 9100 Pro
128 MB DDR card that Tiger Direct is closing out for ~$50 after rebate,
plus shipping. The afforementioned 9100 card arrived today.

Since then, I have been unable to get the box to boot up more than once,
and
the 2nd time it freezes right after putting in the user password -- my
desktop wallpaper picture shows up, there is the message about your
"personal settings," but the screen is frozen and the system needs a hard
reboot after which the only way to get it to boot successfully is via W2K
Safe Mode. The only thing that works at that point is to uninstall all
the
ATI software. After reinstalling the software (latest downloaded complete
Catalyst set which claims to be compatible with both cards), I can get it
to
recognize both cards, and then when I reboot it might come up the next
time
and it might not. In any event, it won't come up twice, locking up as
I've
described, right after putting in the user password.

At this point I have tried everything that I can think of, including (1)
removing all overclocks on processor/FSB/RAM/Video Card; (2) removing the
cards one at a time and rebooting without any ATI software installed,
reloading the software for one remaining card in place (either the AGP or
the PCI card), seeing the system is stable for multiple reboots, and then
introducing the other remaining card, and (3) have tried the PCI Radeon
card
in 2 or 3 of the PCI slots. None of these maneuvers have worked. I've
even
tried removing all the software with both cards in place then reinstalling
it -- once again the system may boot up 1 or 2 times but then the system
locks up after password entry by the 3rd time it is booted. Previously
the
AGP aperture was set at 128 MB (mobo default is 64) but I set that back to
64 in the bios also, and this does not help. The bios has the aperture
priority as AGP/PCI, which is default and which I've never changed. I've
gone through
the BIOS several times and can't find anything to change that looks
pertinent.

Sometimes during the 1 or 2 times the system will initialize with both
cards
in place, it seems like the system is running fine in extended desktop
mode,
as if all drivers and setups are correct and solid. Sometimes it has not
gotten beyond the driver loading stage and only the main monitor or the
2nd
monitor seems to be working.

I have established that either card runs fine by itself, but that the
system
will not work, will not boot, other than for 1 or 2 times, with both cards
in place. After the first time the system won't boot with both cards in
place, it will never boot again until all drivers are removed in safe
mode.

My sense without formal testing is that the 9100 card, even though it is
PCI-based, may be faster than my older Crucial 8500LE card, but I haven't
tried to overclock it, just to see if it will work and it seems that it
does
as long as the AGP 8500LE card is not in the box simultaneously.

What have I overlooked? The problem appears to be software related. Are
these two cards incompatible in one box, or, as
I suspect, is there some sort of software glitch in there that is screwing
up the final stable install of the cards to coexist in one box?

Any suggestions you can give me would be greatly appreciated; I have
already
wasted at least 3 hours on this project and I'm coming to the end of my
toleration for this sort of nonsence!

Best,

ken