Michael...
First, let me say....I have almost the exact "rig" as you....only its brand
new, and I'm using a CL Creative GeForce 2 ULTRA vid card. I have "no joy"
on getting this "platform" to work.....so far. But, building computers with
AMD platforms is a new deal to me.....so my learning curve is vertical at
the moment. Here's some things I've uncovered that may help your situation:
There's a couple things you can "check"....just to eliminate them as your
"problem" with the steering lag. But first, if you don't have this "lag"
problem in GPL....I'd be surprised if the problem is caused by anything in
N4 programming verses N4 FPS. It is more likely something with regard to N4
reading the data flow off your SB Live gameport. Be that as it may, check
to make sure your voltage at the SB Live gameport is correct (voltage
supplied by the SB live gameport is correct for the needs of your homemade
controller....and I'd have no clue as to what that is...or should be.....but
you must). Also, make sure the SB Live Series and SB 16 Emulation are not
sharing IRQ's with anything (other than PCI Steering).
Other things to check (did you build this system yourself?):
1. Have you assigned IRQ #5...in the BIOS, "reserve IRQ 5 for
Legacy"....??? That would be a prime cause of gameport lag. This is
required since the A7V doesn't have any ISA slots....and the SB 16 Emulation
needs an "ISA type" IRQ assignment.
2. Have you upgraded the VIA "chipset, 4-in-1" drivers to version 4.28
yet? They were released by VIA only a few days ago..."final" version is
available on their website.
3. Have you checked that your "jumper" setting for the RAM core voltage
(+3.3v) is not incorrect. ASUS sent out a whole bunch of A7V mobos with
these jumpers set incorrectly......and this doesn't matter even if you are
using "Jumper Free" mode. Go to the Hardware Doctor in the system BIOS (if
you don't already use another hardware monitoring program) and look at your
+3.3V reading....is it 3.3x or more like 3.5x volts? If it is not 3.3x
volts...your RAM core voltage jumpers are set wrong. Some manufacture's RAM
can deal with this.....less expensive RAM can not.
4. Have you tried reinstalling DX (are you using DX 8.0....or DX 8.0a -
just released by MS a few days ago?)....upgrade to DX 8.x if you are not
using it now (DX 7.x has some gameport problems....as well as several
others).
5. If you built your own controller....consider changing it to a USB
connection if possible.....the "gameport" drivers for many platforms and
hardware are currently not being worked on much at all. Everyone is
scrambling to get their USB devices working properly......the standard
"gameport" stuff is old news....and the "future" is in USB. You might as
well make the change to that "sooner rather than later"......you know?
You should be "ok" with the SB Live card in PCI slot #3 on the A7V mobo,
since this is the only "slot" that does not share an IRQ with anything else.
But, better check all that just to make sure!
As I mentioned at the top........I have nearly the same CPU/Platform as you
(1.2gig Athlon T-bird....and my SB Live card is a 5.1Xgamer).....but I'm
trying to get a GeForce 2 ULTRA to work with this rig.......and it's "no
joy" after 10 days. If you did build your own system, can you send me your
email address... .....I may have a few questions for you about how your set
up is configured. I have three systems right now....and can put a V5 5500
in this "AMD/A7V" rig.....and do some testing for you....as a way of
"returning the favor" of you giving me some info on your setup....it would
be much appreciated.
Regards,
Tom Pabst
PS: If you happened to have dl'd the new VIA chipset, 4-in-1 drivers
already....but ran into a "xxxxx.cat file, can't find it" error message on
the install.....send me an email and I'll send you the "fix" for this. I
just found it this morning.....and its somewhat complicated so I don't want
to waste your time if you've not got the new VIA drivers yet anyway.
