Question about GPL and Monster 3D II

Hi all, I suffered some strange lockups in GPL and after A LOT of playing around with BIOS and clock settings I have found out that the reason for that was the 75Mhz mainboard speed (and thus 37.5Mhz PCI bus speed) I was using. What happens is that the picture in GPL freezes while the sound continues as normal and I can still hear the car reacting to my input on the wheel. It is not a heat related problem as the lock up sometimes occurs before I have completed a single lap. Neither it is a memory speed problem, since I have already tried to reduce the access speed to the main memory but that didn't solve my problem... Also it has nothing to do with the internal processor clock, since the same lock up happens at 75x3.5 (262.5Mhz), which is below the speed my CPU is rated. As soon as I reduce mainboard speed to 66Mhz (PCI 33mhz) everything is fine. So, my question is: Is it at all possible that my Diamond Monster 2 8MB can't handle the 37.5 Mhz PCI bus speed ?????? It's almost the only possible reason left, but I still can't quite believe it, since it is not exactly an old design..... On top of that I have to add that GPL is the only game I have this problem with. Every other 3dfx/glide application runs just fine at the higher bus speed.... I'd be glad to hear from anyone who had a similar problem or (even better) from anyone who has solved it... :-) And just FYI, here's the hardware I use: Intel P2 266 Mhz / Abit LX6 board / 64 megs SDIMM RAM Matrox Productiva G100 AGP 8MB / Diamond Monter 3D II 8MB No PCI card other than the Monster in system....... Anybody ? Cheers ! Cris

I experience similar symptoms as well. I can sometimes get 10 laps around the 'Glen, and sometimes I can't complete the pit out lap. Very frustrating. My video freezes, but the game is still reacting to my wheel input, and the PC is still cranking out sound. Neither ALT-TAB nor the Windows key will bring me out of the GPL window, only by bringing up the task list, and ending both Papyrus Window and GPL will I get back to the desktop. I can crank up GPL again, but on the second startup, there will be no 3D hardware support. My hardware list follows: -- Dell PII 300mHz processor -- 96MB EDO SDRAM -- SB AWE64 sound card -- Matrox MilleniumII AGP 2D card with 8MB on board -- Monster 3D PCI card with 2MB on board. I have applied the latest drivers for the video and sound cards, but the problem continues to plague me. Hopefully someone has successfully dealt with this problem and wishes to enlighten us......... "I won't give up 'til I've no more to give"

Hi Cris, If your running Win98, I would say that is the problem. I found that GPL will crash if the screen starts displaying a triangle starting in the upper-left corner of the screen. This is easily noticed because the letter-box leaves the top of the screen black. Usually the graphic anomilies start when I crash. The solution: 1. Don't crash. 2. When the graphics start corrupting, exit the race using ESC and restart the race. Other than that, wait for the full version. Jason.

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> Hi all, > I suffered some strange lockups in GPL and after A LOT of playing around > with BIOS and clock settings I have found out that the reason for that > was the 75Mhz mainboard speed (and thus 37.5Mhz PCI bus speed) I was > using. > What happens is that the picture in GPL freezes while the sound > continues as normal and I can still hear the car reacting to my > input on the wheel. > It is not a heat related problem as the lock up sometimes occurs before > I have completed a single lap. Neither it is a memory speed problem, > since I have already tried to reduce the access speed to the main memory > but that didn't solve my problem... > Also it has nothing to do with the internal processor clock, since the > same lock up happens at 75x3.5 (262.5Mhz), which is below the speed my > CPU is rated. > As soon as I reduce mainboard speed to 66Mhz (PCI 33mhz) everything is > fine. > So, my question is: Is it at all possible that my Diamond Monster 2 8MB > can't handle the 37.5 Mhz PCI bus speed ?????? It's almost the only > possible reason left, but I still can't quite believe it, since it is > not exactly an old design..... On top of that I have to add that GPL is > the only game I have this problem with. Every other 3dfx/glide > application runs just fine at the higher bus speed.... > I'd be glad to hear from anyone who had a similar problem or (even > better) from anyone who has solved it... :-) > And just FYI, here's the hardware I use: > Intel P2 266 Mhz / Abit LX6 board / 64 megs SDIMM RAM > Matrox Productiva G100 AGP 8MB / Diamond Monter 3D II 8MB > No PCI card other than the Monster in system....... > Anybody ? > Cheers ! > Cris

-- -------- Jason Monds (Please remove 'no extra spork' when replying)

Do you have "Don't sync buffer swaps to monitor refresh rate" selected in your Monster 3D II settings? Selecting this solved this problem for me. Jim

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> >What happens is that the picture in GPL freezes while the sound > >continues as normal and I can still hear the car reacting to my > >input on the wheel. > I experience similar symptoms as well. I can sometimes get 10 laps around the > 'Glen, and sometimes I can't complete the pit out lap. Very frustrating. > My video freezes, but the game is still reacting to my wheel input, and the PC > is still cranking out sound. Neither ALT-TAB nor the Windows key will bring me > out of the GPL window, only by bringing up the task list, and ending both > Papyrus Window and GPL will I get back to the desktop. I can crank up GPL > again, but on the second startup, there will be no 3D hardware support. > My hardware list follows: > -- Dell PII 300mHz processor > -- 96MB EDO SDRAM > -- SB AWE64 sound card > -- Matrox MilleniumII AGP 2D card with 8MB on board > -- Monster 3D PCI card with 2MB on board. > I have applied the latest drivers for the video and sound cards, but the > problem continues to plague me. Hopefully someone has successfully dealt with > this problem and wishes to enlighten us......... > "I won't give up 'til I've no more to give"

That could definitly be the problem! The PCI standard is designed for 33MHz. Any frequency higher than that can cause problems. Manufacturers do not have to support more than 33MHz. It should also say so in the manual of you mainboard. At least mine does. Mine even says that the chipset on the mainboard itself is not garanteed to work at 75Mhz. And it doesn't :-) // Johan

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> Hi all, > I suffered some strange lockups in GPL and after A LOT of playing around > with BIOS and clock settings I have found out that the reason for that > was the 75Mhz mainboard speed (and thus 37.5Mhz PCI bus speed) I was > using. > What happens is that the picture in GPL freezes while the sound > continues as normal and I can still hear the car reacting to my > input on the wheel. > It is not a heat related problem as the lock up sometimes occurs before > I have completed a single lap. Neither it is a memory speed problem, > since I have already tried to reduce the access speed to the main memory > but that didn't solve my problem... > Also it has nothing to do with the internal processor clock, since the > same lock up happens at 75x3.5 (262.5Mhz), which is below the speed my > CPU is rated. > As soon as I reduce mainboard speed to 66Mhz (PCI 33mhz) everything is > fine. > So, my question is: Is it at all possible that my Diamond Monster 2 8MB > can't handle the 37.5 Mhz PCI bus speed ?????? It's almost the only > possible reason left, but I still can't quite believe it, since it is > not exactly an old design..... On top of that I have to add that GPL is > the only game I have this problem with. Every other 3dfx/glide > application runs just fine at the higher bus speed.... > I'd be glad to hear from anyone who had a similar problem or (even > better) from anyone who has solved it... :-) > And just FYI, here's the hardware I use: > Intel P2 266 Mhz / Abit LX6 board / 64 megs SDIMM RAM > Matrox Productiva G100 AGP 8MB / Diamond Monter 3D II 8MB > No PCI card other than the Monster in system....... > Anybody ? > Cheers ! > Cris

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>I suffered some strange lockups in GPL and after A LOT of playing around >with BIOS and clock settings I have found out that the reason for that >was the 75Mhz mainboard speed (and thus 37.5Mhz PCI bus speed) I was >using. >What happens is that the picture in GPL freezes while the sound >continues as normal and I can still hear the car reacting to my >input on the wheel.

My PC doesn't lock up but there is a period of several seconds when the sound is running but the screen is still switching between 2D and 3D video cards (both ways). I put that down to my slow processor - a mere 200MHz Cyrix - but maybe I should check the bus speed. I'm using a Techworks 12M Voodoo2 card. Tony Whitley Running the demo only because I can't find the warez beta. The real thing is on order from Sierra.

I had this problem till I disabled my screensaver :-) Mark

Quoted text (42 lines)

> Hi all, > I suffered some strange lockups in GPL and after A LOT of playing around > with BIOS and clock settings I have found out that the reason for that > was the 75Mhz mainboard speed (and thus 37.5Mhz PCI bus speed) I was > using. > What happens is that the picture in GPL freezes while the sound > continues as normal and I can still hear the car reacting to my > input on the wheel. > It is not a heat related problem as the lock up sometimes occurs before > I have completed a single lap. Neither it is a memory speed problem, > since I have already tried to reduce the access speed to the main memory > but that didn't solve my problem... > Also it has nothing to do with the internal processor clock, since the > same lock up happens at 75x3.5 (262.5Mhz), which is below the speed my > CPU is rated. > As soon as I reduce mainboard speed to 66Mhz (PCI 33mhz) everything is > fine. > So, my question is: Is it at all possible that my Diamond Monster 2 8MB > can't handle the 37.5 Mhz PCI bus speed ?????? It's almost the only > possible reason left, but I still can't quite believe it, since it is > not exactly an old design..... On top of that I have to add that GPL is > the only game I have this problem with. Every other 3dfx/glide > application runs just fine at the higher bus speed.... > I'd be glad to hear from anyone who had a similar problem or (even > better) from anyone who has solved it... :-) > And just FYI, here's the hardware I use: > Intel P2 266 Mhz / Abit LX6 board / 64 megs SDIMM RAM > Matrox Productiva G100 AGP 8MB / Diamond Monter 3D II 8MB > No PCI card other than the Monster in system....... > Anybody ? > Cheers ! > Cris

>>What happens is that the picture in GPL freezes while the sound >>continues as normal and I can still hear the car reacting to my >>input on the wheel. >I experience similar symptoms as well. I can sometimes get 10 laps around the >'Glen, and sometimes I can't complete the pit out lap. Very frustrating. >My video freezes, but the game is still reacting to my wheel input, and the PC >is still cranking out sound. Neither ALT-TAB nor the Windows key will bring me >out of the GPL window, only by bringing up the task list, and ending both >Papyrus Window and GPL will I get back to the desktop. I can crank up GPL >again, but on the second startup, there will be no 3D hardware support. Mine was doing exactly the same until I disabled the screensaver ... I suggest you try the same :-) Hena