VIA 133A / AGP 2x to 4x issues

[Rasu]

I have been struggling with this 2X-4X thing for 3 days now, I'm ready to tear out my hair. I'll be brief. My specs:
P3/1G
98se
256 MB RAM
Gigabyte GA-6VX7B-4X (Bios ver. 3.20.00.28)
MSI GeForce 3/Ti200 (Driver ver. 40.72)

I had been using GeForce driver ver. 28.32 and was in 4x running fine, but wanted to try out the new 40.72's so I dl'ed them and installed, when I went to look, alas I was in 2X, and nothing I do gives me back my 4X.
I tried to reinstall the 4 in 1's (ver. 4.32) that didn't work.
I tried to go back to the 28.32 detonators, and reinstalled the 4 in 1's ver. 14.32 this didn't work. So..then I was reading how the 4.35 was stable for win 98se, so I try them, to no avail.
I am noticing some studdery behavior in my 3D games also since doing all this.
Is there anything you can suggest? I'm not a regedit type of person, I tremble at the thought of going into there.
I know there are issues with my chipset and the 2X-4X. I just hope you can lend a hand.
Thanks for whatever you can do to assist me with this...problem I seem to be having.
Rasu

[PersianImmortal]

Basically some older Via motherboards simply will not run AGP4x with stability. This is a voltage issue (clean regulated voltage is required to the AGP port), and I found that on my old P3V4X the following in combination worked to stabilise AGP4x on a GeForce2GTS:

- raise the core voltage (VIO) from default to 3.6 (AGP & RAM runs on this voltage)
- use the 'EnableVia4x' registry entry and set AGP4x in BIOS.
- cool the graphics card and case internals
- turn off fastwrites, and sidebanding
- Set AGP Driving Value to FF (maximum)
- keep the overclocks on the AGP bus and graphics card moderate

The particular detonators and 4-in-1s being run didn't make a huge difference. I believe this is a hardware/voltage issue, so if you can't get your rig to run AGP4x with stability, just leave it be. In my case, I believe using a quality Creative GeForce2 GTS card helped a great deal.

In any case, the practical difference between AGP2x and 4x is negligible (~10% at most) and certainly doesn't warrant so much time and effort and instability.

Just my observations....

[G Smith]

PersianImmortal,
I just wanted to say thank you for the 4 in 1 guide you wrote. Between that, Wiggo's help and Mr C encouraging me to dive into the ABC's of chipset drivers I have updated my Via chipset and I do believe my Radeon is running better.

Wiggo has been helping me with the driver issue. And perhaps I can have the full function of the video card eventually.

You guys have all been great!

[Rasu]

I have solved it, at least for my peticular machine. here's what I did,
http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=guide&dId=68
haha, imagine that my solution was right here, practically slappin me in the face. Thanks, I appreciate being able to just read through the stuff in the forums, I'm still new to all this, but looking at others' problems/solutions really teaches alot!
Again Thanks!:bounce:

[Wiggo]

So the Win2K solution is still valid with XP is it? :?:

If it is then ya've helped a few others as well I'd say. :thumb:

[Maxpowers]

I have the P3V4X and i remember when i had a TNT2 on it when i used the hack it did nothing and i mean nothing when i went to see what it was it was like agp1x or sometimes 2x but never 4x unless i installed the 4in1's in turbo mode. Only problem with turbo mode is that it would stall my pc about 3-4mins after it booted into windows no matter what i was doing. So for the time i just ran it on regular mode and just left it what ever since i noticed there was no grafix/preformance increase/decrease with any of the settings after about 2h of playing with it. About 3 months ago i got a Gf4 4400 for a real good price from a local retailer when they made a giant mistake in the advertising :laugh: and some of you may know the saying "the costumer is always right" i got the card. When i 1st installed i got major problems like lines in windows 98se the whole bit. Then i cleaned out all the tweaks/registy/marks of the TNT2 even being there started it up and it ran fine. installed the 4in1's in Turbo mode and its running stable at 4x no problems with fast writes and sideband addressing enabled. if any are wondering im using win98se, 512mb ram, p3v4x bios ver. 1006.002. , 300wPSU, 1ghz P3

best part about it is that i can LAGlessy play GTA3 and any other new game :thumb:

[PersianImmortal]

*bump*

[Mr. C]

Truth of the matter, at the time of the 133A chipsets (and nice chipsets that they are -- I'm running a Tyan Trinity 400 here.) the AGP 4x was more wishful thinking than an actual feature.

Few cards at that time were actually supported by the 4x. If you really need the 4x, you're best solution is to upgrade to system components which are more capable of actually accomplishing this task.

I'm not being critical here, just stating the facts.
Hardware has come a long way since the day of the 133A. There are good reasons for that.

I long for the day when I can afford a more modern system.

[iliastac]

I have seen through this forum that a lot of people have problems with the AGP speed of the VIA KT133 chipset. I have also the same problem with my new ATI Radeon 9000pro it doesnot run at AGP 4X speed.

I have done everything tweak the register as it was suggested it doesn't work, play with via drivers install new ones and old ones again and again, change the bios multiple times. Unfortunately i have the gigabyte GA-7ZX1 motherboard so i can change any voltage settings or multiplier settings.

Nothing works, i have spend days searching through the internet for suloutions i even email gigabyte and ati about this problem still waiting for reply.

Please help. I am running windows 2K, i have a motherboard based on the via KT133 chipset, i have the ATI Radeon 9000 pro and i cannot make it run at 4X AGP speed it only accepts 2X AGP speed. :(

[PersianImmortal]

Bottom line is, if you've tried everything in this thread and it still doesn't run AGP4x, it's unlikely to run AGP4x at all. The combination of your motherboard and graphics card is unlikely to be favourable.

As much as you don't want to hear it, I would recommend an upgrade for your motherboard if you want to make the most of your graphics card, as this issue is unlikely to ever be resolved by the manufacturers. It's a known issue, but they simply don't care about this chipset anymore.