Hi Doug,
Great and very informative post. It sounds like you have probably nailed the
problem with the computer builder. I ended up changing to an IWill VD-133
motherboard which as I posted they couldn't get a SBLive to work with. I was
getting under some time restraints so I went and got the system without a sound
card or a video card. Just figured I would set it up.
I still couldn't understand the problem with the SBLive so I had to try it
myself. Bought a new SBLive, a new VooDoo 3 3000 stuck em in and it worked
perfectly. I had to disable some stuff in the device manager is all and away it
went. BUT here is an interesting thing and the second time I had heard of this
problem.
Apparently all PCI slots are NOT created equal. When I was purchasing the SBLive
the clerk told me he had a problem getting the SBLive to be recognized by his
motherboard. He had been told to try each of the PCI slots and he tried all 4
and the card would only work in the 4th one he tried. It happened to be the slot
right next to the AGP slot. I had read about this in the past and this was the
second time I had heard that PCI slots can behave differently.
The slot next to the AGP slot was the first one I tried and the metal slot guard
had not been broken so I know the shop didn't try this slot. Might have been a
coincidence or a bad card or whatever but I thought I would let you know what I
found out and wondered of you had any similar experiences with using different
slots and having them behave differently.
Thanks again for the help
Larry
Thanks John M
> Hi Larry,
> VooDoo3 cards have been scarce as hen's teeth since before Christmas. We
> run a small computer store and are registered with ten suppliers, and nobody
> could get us any for a long time, they're just starting to trickle in again
> now. The only places getting them were the big chain stores that would
> order a thousand or more at a time.
> I suspect the heat problems with the P3-500 have nothing to do with the Abit
> board. It's likely that the store you're buying from uses OEM processors,
> then attaches their own fan/heatsink. These units come with a little
> sil-pad attached to the heatsink, which is crap. You have to completely
> remove the pad, scrape the heatsink down to the anodizing, then apply
> proper, good quality heatsink compound. I know many here won't believe
> this, but doing so can drop your CPU operating temps by 30C. I wouldn't
> have believed it myself, but we had several BF-6 boards trigger the
> temperature alarm after about 60 seconds of operation until we started
> scrapping those crappy sil-pads. There's nothing wrong with the
> BE-6II/P3-500 combo, we sell many and they work fine together, very nice,
> stable motherboard.
> The problems they're having configuring the SBLive most likely come down to
> resource conflicts. The VD133 has UDMA/66 support, which can be tricky to
> set up if you've never done it before. If you do it improperly, as we also
> found out, any time you plug in the SBLive you receive the blue screen of
> death with a fatal exception error. Once you sort out the DAM/66
> controllers, the card installs and runs normally, on a BE-6II as well.
> All the components you originally selected are great choices and will work
> well together. The store you've chosen is the problem. I'd back away if
> you still can, and look for a shop with more experienced/qualified
> personnel.
> Doug
> > I have a bit of a problem. I am purchasing a new system and it is being
> > built as I write this. I spec'd the following:
> > Abit BE62
> > PIII 500
> > 13 Gig HD
> > 128 meg RAM
> > VooDoo 3 3000
> > SB Live
> > CD RW
> > I use the machine for business and of course, GPL. That's why the VooDoo
> > and SBLive cards. The computer store called and first told me they had
> > the VooDoo 3000 on back order so there would be a delay, would I like an
> > ATI all in wonder - NOT and explained the VooDoo was important for my
> > purposes. I said no problem if it is going to be too long for the 3000
> > give me the system without the card as I can pick one up OEM retail for
> > only a few bucks more.
> > I called yesterday and was told the BE62 was developing some heat
> > problems with the PIII 500 and would I accept an IWill VD-133
> > motherboard. I did a little research and the IWill seemed like a good
> > board even though it uses the VIA chip set instead of the Intel 820? Has
> > good expansion lots 2 ISA; 5 PCI; and 1 AGP. So I say go for it.
> > Last night they called and said they couldn't configure an SBLive card
> > with the current set-up. I have no idea how this could be and it brings
> > me to my question.
> > Have any of you had a similar problem configuring an SBLive card? I mean
> > how hard could THAT be? Is the IWill motherboard and VIA chip-set weird?
> > What could the problem be?
> > Another question, although I love my current SBLive and want another but
> > is their another card that works well? The Diamond Monster 3 is supposed
> > to have a great game port. Any experience with a similar system and
> > set-up?
> > As always thanks very much in advance.
> > Larry
