Enemy Territory crashes PC after VGA upgrade (solved)

FUBAR · 2005-02-18 16:00:01

I've replaced my GF2 MX-400 with a GF4 Ti4200 but since then, I can't play RCTW Enemy Territory for more than 15 minutes. The game completely hangs my system when I play it for a while. Sometimes after 5 minutes, sometimes after 10 but always during the actual game.

I've changed the AGP driver from nVidia's NvAGP to Linux' AGPGART but apart from a 600 FPS drop in glxgears things don't change.

With the GF2 MX400 the game played without any problems (slow, but still).

I've also upgraded the kernel from 2.6.9 with ck3-patchset to 2.6.10 with ck5-patchset, problem continues.

Where do I look now? There's nothing in /var/log/messages or /var/log/errors: the system completely hangs and I have to reboot it.

I'm using the nVidia drivers from the repo (v66.29-4).

Fox · 2005-02-18 17:49:40

FUBAR wrote:

I've replaced my GF2 MX-400 with a GF4 Ti4200 but since then, I can't play RCTW Enemy Territory for more than 15 minutes. The game completely hangs my system when I play it for a while. Sometimes after 5 minutes, sometimes after 10 but always during the actual game.
I've changed the AGP driver from nVidia's NvAGP to Linux' AGPGART but apart from a 600 FPS drop in glxgears things don't change.
With the GF2 MX400 the game played without any problems (slow, but still).
I've also upgraded the kernel from 2.6.9 with ck3-patchset to 2.6.10 with ck5-patchset, problem continues.
Where do I look now? There's nothing in /var/log/messages or /var/log/errors: the system completely hangs and I have to reboot it.
I'm using the nVidia drivers from the repo (v66.29-4).

The Nvidia Drivers are build for 2.6.10 -- rebuild them:

pacman -Rc nvidia

wget http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-6629/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-6629-pkg1.run
sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-6629-pkg1.run -x
cd NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-6629-pkg1
wget http://ck.kolivas.org/patches/2.6/2.6.11-rc4/NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-6629-1201042.diff
patch -p0 < ../NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-6629-1201042.diff
sh ./nvidia-installer

FUBAR · 2005-02-23 18:23:29

I've changed the driver like you told me to and I've already been able to play for 30 minutes straight! I haven't played any longer yet but the problem seems solved! If things don't work as they should, I'll post it.

Thanx, Fox!

FUBAR · 2005-02-25 16:34:53

I found out if set

Option          "NvAGP" "0"

to

Option          "NvAGP" "1"

I get about 900FPS more in glxgears, but I can only play ET for half a minute before it looks up my computer.
So I changed it back to 0, and started playing. It went well for 15 minutes before crashing my entire system again.

This sucks huge donkeyballs!

I'll start trying older nVidia-drivers.

iBertus · 2005-02-25 19:57:06

What are the specs for your system? What kind of power supply do you have? I've seen cases where upgrading to a more power draining video card can cause strange stuff to happen when there isn't enough power to run the card. I hate to give standard answers but have you tried it in another system?

FUBAR · 2005-02-25 21:16:19

You're right, iBertus. I've been doing some research and it seems more people with the same mainboard (chipset)- VGA combination as mine are experiencing similar problems.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen anyone running Linux so it's pretty hard to look for a solution. First my specs:

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8363/8365 [KT133/KM133] (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8363/8365 [KT133/KM133 AGP]
00:07.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super South] (rev 40)
00:07.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586/B/686A/B PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:07.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB (rev 16)
00:07.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB (rev 16)
00:07.4 Bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super ACPI] (rev 40)
00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905B 100BaseTX [Cyclone] (rev 30)
00:0d.0 Multimedia audio controller: Cirrus Logic CS 4614/22/24 [CrystalClear SoundFusion Audio Accelerator] (rev 01)
00:13.0 Unknown mass storage controller: Triones Technologies, Inc. HPT366/368/370/370A/372 (rev 03)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV25 [GeForce4 Ti4200] (rev a3)

/proc/cpuinfo

processor       : 0
vendor_id       : AuthenticAMD
cpu family      : 6
model           : 6
model name      : AMD Athlon(tm) XP 1900+
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 1600.121
cache size      : 256 KB
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 1
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse pni syscall mp mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow
bogomips        : 3153.92

sensors

via686a-isa-6000
Adapter: ISA adapter
CPU core:  +1.75 V  (min =  +0.06 V, max =  +3.10 V)   
+2.5V:     +0.35 V  (min =  +2.37 V, max =  +2.62 V)   ALARM
I/O:       +3.40 V  (min =  +3.13 V, max =  +3.47 V)   
+5V:       +4.88 V  (min =  +4.51 V, max =  +5.50 V)   
+12V:     +11.83 V  (min = +10.81 V, max = +13.20 V)   
CPU Fan:     0 RPM  (min =    0 RPM, div = 2)          
P/S Fan:     0 RPM  (min =    0 RPM, div = 2)          
SYS Temp:  +33.1°C  (high =   +45°C, hyst =   +40°C)   
CPU Temp:  +53.0°C  (high =   +60°C, hyst =   +55°C)   
SBr Temp:  +25.6°C  (high =   +65°C, hyst =   +60°C)

Also 3 harddrives (3 x Maxtor 60GB), a DVD-Rom and a DVD-RW, all tucked away in an AOpen HX-08 full tower with 300W power supply. The reading I get from lm_sensors are always very nice: my voltages are pretty close to the ideal figure, my CPU never gets hotter than 55C. I can't read the temperature of my GF4, but before I installed it, I removed the factory thermal compound and put some Arctic Silver on it. I also made sure the heatsink was properly seated on the GPU.
En plus, there´s 120mm blowhole right above the VGA and CPU with a 120mm Papst-fan that blows cool air onto it. I think it's safe to say the GPU doesn't overheat (the fan on the GPU works, I checked it).

But like I (and you) said, there might be a stability-problem with GeForce 4 cards on the older KT133(A) chipset from VIA. Many users reported BSOD's and random lockups on Windows XP during 3D gameplay (even without running games). Some of them were driver issues, i.e. after updating the driver the computer was completely unstable.
While I was fiddling with settings I slowed down my AGP-port to 2x in the BIOS. I ran glxgears and didn't notice a speed drop. So I started Enemy Territory to check if it was stable and I was able to play for quite some time (30-40 minutes) but then the whole thing hang again. I can't even ping the box when it's crashed like that. There's nothing in the logs either so it must be something with the hardware.

I've just finished flashing my motherboard with the latest BIOS which should fix GeForce 4 problems on Windows XP. I hope it helps my Linux aswell.

Abit KT7A-RAID BIOS update
BIOS ID: A9
Fix nVidia GeForce4 Ti 4x00 AGP card compatible issue with Windows XP.
HPT 37x BIOS version 1.11.0402.The RAID function is for KT7A-RAID only. This BIOS version is also for non-RAID boards and HPT BIOS will be automatically disabled while RAID controller chip not detected.
BIOS Compile Date: 7/11/2002.

FUBAR · 2005-03-08 20:02:33

OK, so flashing the mainboard didn't solve my problems. I looked into Sudhian's Abit KT7A-RAID FAQ and I changed the AGP driving strength value in the BIOS to "DA".

This seems to have fixed my instability problems!

Some more information about my setup:

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Files"
        FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi"
        FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi"
        FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/CID"
        FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/TTF"
        FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/artwiz-fonts"
        FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/cyrillic"
        FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
EndSection


Section "Module"
        Load "freetype"
        #Load "freetype2"
        # Load "xtt"
        Load  "extmod"
        Load  "glx"
        #Load  "dri"
        Load  "dbe"
        Load  "record"
        Load  "xtrap"
        Load  "type1"
        #Load  "speedo"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Logitech Wheel Mouse Optical"
        Driver      "mouse"
        Option      "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/input/mouse0"
        Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Gateway keyboard"
        Driver      "keyboard"
        Option      "XkbModel" "pc105"
        Option      "XkbLayout" "us_intl"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Iiyama Vision Master Pro 410 "
 ### Uncomment if you don't want to default to DDC:
        HorizSync    27.0 - 96.0
        VertRefresh  50.0 - 160.0
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "GeForce4 Ti4200"
        Driver      "nvidia"
        Option          "RenderAccel"   "false"
        Option          "NvAGP" "2"
        #Option         "CursorShadow" "true"
        Option          "NoLogo"        "true"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "GeForce4 Ti4200"
        Monitor    "Iiyama Vision Master Pro 410 "
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
                Modes    "1600x1200" "800x600"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

#Section "Extensions"
#       Option "Composite" "Enable"
#EndSection

AGP support

[20:45:20] fubar@ferro:~ $ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status 
Status:          Disabled

nVidia driver

[20:55:50] fubar@ferro:~ $ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/version 
NVRM version: NVIDIA Linux x86 NVIDIA Kernel Module  1.0-6629  Wed Nov  3 13:12:51 PST 2004
GCC version:  gcc version 3.4.3

nVidia VGA (GeForce 4 Ti4200 64MB)

[20:55:27] fubar@ferro:~ $ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/card 
Fast Writes:     Supported
SBA:             Supported
AGP Rates:       4x 2x 1x 
Registers:       0x1f000217:0x00000000

Mainboard settings

[20:55:39] fubar@ferro:~ $ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/host-bridge 
Host Bridge:     VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8363/8365 [KT133/KM133]
Fast Writes:     Not Supported
SBA:             Supported
AGP Rates:       2x 1x 
Registers:       0x1f000203:0x00000000

Kernel

[21:00:08] fubar@ferro:~ $ uname -a
Linux ferro.begaaid.be 2.6.10-ferro_ck5 #4 Fri Feb 25 18:02:40 CET 2005 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) XP 1900+ AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux

mercy · 2005-03-08 22:37:20

A stupid one.. did you set PnP-OS off in the bios and deactivate acpi/apm ?

with my old box i experienced the same troubles and iirc that helped me out

maybe it was also a compile of nvidia against a freshly vanilla to use with arch-std-kernel
*scratch*

if something comes up my mind ill post it... i know how nasty such troubles can be :cry:

FUBAR · 2005-03-09 09:17:11

Reread my previous reply: I already solved it! If I do run into stability problems again, I'll try your solution.

mercy · 2005-03-09 15:09:38

jup i got that - i just wanted to provide more things to try ...

nvidia can be rly tricky

Arch Linux

#1 2005-02-18 16:00:01

Enemy Territory crashes PC after VGA upgrade (solved)

#2 2005-02-18 17:49:40

Re: Enemy Territory crashes PC after VGA upgrade (solved)

#3 2005-02-23 18:23:29

Re: Enemy Territory crashes PC after VGA upgrade (solved)

#4 2005-02-25 16:34:53

Re: Enemy Territory crashes PC after VGA upgrade (solved)

#5 2005-02-25 19:57:06

Re: Enemy Territory crashes PC after VGA upgrade (solved)

#6 2005-02-25 21:16:19

Re: Enemy Territory crashes PC after VGA upgrade (solved)

#7 2005-03-08 20:02:33

Re: Enemy Territory crashes PC after VGA upgrade (solved)

#8 2005-03-08 22:37:20

Re: Enemy Territory crashes PC after VGA upgrade (solved)

#9 2005-03-09 09:17:11

Re: Enemy Territory crashes PC after VGA upgrade (solved)

#10 2005-03-09 15:09:38

Re: Enemy Territory crashes PC after VGA upgrade (solved)

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