AGP-card doesn't work properly, Win98 will not start

A3K · Thu May 27, 2004 8:38 am

Hello there,

My neighbour has a Chaintech MoBo with an Intell 440bx-chipset.
BIOS 11/6/98-I440BX-W977TF-2A69KC39C-00
we put in a AGP-card (NVidia Gforce2 64mb) instead of the 16Mb PCI card (Banshee), but i can't get it to work....
W98 hangs up when the logo appears. When we start up with the step for step feature it seems it has a problem with ASPIENUM.VXD, but i'm not certain about that.
Can anyone help?

Greetz A3

Thu May 27, 2004 2:12 pm

Did you perform a full uninstall of the previous Banshee drivers?

A3K · Thu May 27, 2004 3:18 pm

ajzchips wrote:Did you perform a full uninstall of the previous Banshee drivers?

No, I didn't...
Looks like something I haven't tried yet, so back to work!
Do U think there are some divers/components that corrupt this installation? U could be right! I'll be back...

Fri May 28, 2004 12:36 am

Could be. Usually, before you replace a VGA card, it's very convenient to install the Standard VGA drivers first. This'll remove all of the previous drivers' entries from the registry.

Ritchie · Fri May 28, 2004 12:33 pm

If what AJZ does not work, which may well solve the problem, boot into Safe Mode, and then manually remove any left over monitors and video cards from device manager. Remove the monitors first, because removing the video cards first hides the monitors associated with those video cards meaning you cannot remove them using device manager.

However, note that each item you uninstall should bring you closer to getting the AGP card to work, however if it is unsucessfull it may also bring you a step closer to where you cannot get the system to fully boot at all, with either card, if Windows gets itself too confused and corrupted, so there is a risk factor.

A3K · Thu Jun 10, 2004 11:13 am

ajzchips wrote:Did you perform a full uninstall of the previous Banshee drivers?

Couldn't locate these drivers...

So we've tried to install the Standard VGA drivers first, and that worked...
The registry seemed to be 'cleaned up'
Next thing is to install the 'new' AGP-card, that also worked, BUT..
when we restarted the system (as requested) the windows logo still freezes up

So now we're back to square 1, i've installed the PCI-card again...
Can it be that the MoBo doesn't support the AGP-card the way it is supposed to do?
Tnx anyway for the tips!
A3

Thu Jun 10, 2004 1:21 pm

I know of some BX boards which required a 1999 BIOS update to support the Geforce2 properly. Might be time for a flash.

BiosMan · Thu Jun 10, 2004 2:06 pm

I ran into a similar problem here just recently.

I have an HP 8750C (PhoenixBIOS) with Win98SE installed that will boot and run with my Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 PCI (S3 325 chip), but it will freeze when I install it's little brother Trio64V+ (S3 756 chip) as soon as the Windows Desktop appears.

All I can come up with is that it is a compatibility issue, though I really can't imagine that with such older cards...

Both cards run fine in my DFI...

Thu Jun 10, 2004 11:03 pm

S3 Trio chips are somehow incompatible with some boards. I'm using S3 Trio 64V+ 1MB PCI card for testing purposes - and I've seen lockups on i440BX and i815 based boards when running in 16-bit (or more) color depth. The workaround (suitable for testing) is to use 8-bit only (256 colors).

Ritchie · Fri Jun 11, 2004 9:21 am

Sounds like possible BIOS / VGA incompatibility as others are suggesting.

Possibly just Windows corruption preventing it from handling the new card correctly. One thing that might be worth trying is booting into Safe Mode with the AGP card present, using display settings to manually set it down to 640/480, 16 colors (or a basic mode similar to this that is available) and then rebooting. Maybe Windows is just having difficulty with the display mode. If the most basic mode is already set, change it up, then change it down, then apply, then OK and then reboot, to make sure the setting takes effect. May also be worth removing the monitor from device manager while you are in safe mode, before changing any display settings, and removing the old VGA card if present (although this could make it more difficult to revert back to the original card if necessary).

BiosMan · Fri Jun 11, 2004 1:58 pm

Mine won't boot in Safe Mode either. Freezes just after you see the Safe Mode warning screen. (That mode uses the Standard VGA driver...right?)

Rainbow - did you switch the card drivers first, then install the card? When I did mine, I removed the current add-in card in Windows, shutdown, removed the old card and installed the Trio, rebooted, card detected fine, automatic reboot, machine freezes.

Fri Jun 11, 2004 10:03 pm

I use that card for testing purposes only - with a testing installation of Windows 98SE - for testing some boards and other hardware, reinstalling when it crashes. Drivers are Windows default. Mine works fine in safe mode, with "Standard VGA" driver and with S3 driver using 8-bit color. It also works in >8-bit color on many other boards. The crashing/non-crashing might be linked somehow with both cards and boards BIOS versions too.