HELP! 3dfx Voodoo3 2000 vs ATI Radeon 9000

[texasarizona]

Howdy!
I don't know whether anyone can really help me here
Here's the thing. My motherboard is a MSI "MS-6168", socket Intel 440BX/ZX (Intel through this socket reportedly discriminated against AGP by omitting an AGP port, but also against PCI graphics cards, in the way I'm concerned: I can't disable the onboard graphics controller).
There's a '3dfx Voodoo3 2000 8MB' embedded board supposedly AGP. In fact there's a 2X AGP bus on the motherboard (no AGP port). Because I wanted to upgrade my graphics capabilities, I bought an ATI Radeon 9000 64MB on PCI port. The issue though is that I need to wait 5-7 minutes before rebooting my computer, otherwise the new graphics card sort of comes into conflict with the onboard graphics controller and also the Windows driver for the ATI card is not loaded, and the display comes off very bad, 60hz refresh rate...
There is no apparent BIOS option to modify in order to fix this. I just know that whenever I don't wait long enough, there's the word "update" that appears at the end of the second line in the BIOS booting phase, right before Windows XP loads, looks like as if I'd modified something in the BIOS but I'd just started the computer.
If I waited long enough and in order to use the Radeon as my main display device, I had to disable the AGP/PCI bridge in Windows XP device manager (also suppressing the Voodoo from the list).

If ever you got any suggestions or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. So far I have never run into anybody having the same symptoms.
The whole thing has really been giving me a royal pain, mainly because I can't restart my system, but rather have to turn it off, wait 7 minutes or more and then turn it back on and it's getting old.

Hardware:
Packard Bell TKF700
Intel PIII 700Mhz
256 MB of RAM
ATI RADEON 9000 64 MB PCI
Audigy 2 6.1 PCI
RealTek Network Controller RC8139 PCI
DVD Player Samsung SD-608 + CD-R/RW writer
Windows XP Professional SP2 RC2 (RC2 is irrelevant)

[SilentDeath]

Dunno if it would help, but try moving the pci card into a different pci slot, this might give it a different IRQ number which might prevent any conflicts from happening..
you migh talso be able to change the IRQ in the bios.. I dont know if that will fix the problem.

Have you got hte manual for your motherbaord? if theres not a bios option to disable the onboard then theres usually a jumper on the board itself which should.

60hz is defualt for windows XP and it usually sets this if it has just installed drivers for a card or something. You need to use a modified monitor.inf (or a program like reforce to do it for you) in order to force a higher refresh rate for opengl/d3d, as windowsxp doesnt allow them otherwise.

[texasarizona]

Thank you for the reply. I had already tried inserting the graphics card into different pci slots but wouldn't fix the problem at all. About the IRQ thing or moving jumpers in/out, I unluckily found nothing in the motherboard manual indicating how to switch this damn onboard controller off. Sounds like we shouldn't even consider upgrading this part, since 8MB is apparently largely sufficient - plus, no agp port and bogus use of the pci port as graphics port. I really don't know. What I know on the other hand is that because of a BIOS setting update, the normally-functional ATI display driver (working great and
showing good gaming performance) is unloaded and a default Windows display driver is loaded instead, stating in the Device Manager that there's an unknown pci device and no display device!
Something which doesn't happen if I wait about 7 min.
Any other suggestions?

[ERU]

texasarizona you might get a better response if you leave the text at default.
ARGH my eyes ........

[SilentDeath]

^ I agree

Try reinstalling the drivers, that should fix it.. though I guess youve already tryed that...

[texasarizona]

Sure thing. This is a motherboard issue. In Windows, after waiting 7 minutes:
-the onboard controller, Voodoo3 2000 will not be listed in the device manager _ because I've disabled the AGP/PCI bridge
-ATI Radeon 9000 will be the display device and Catalyst driver will be loaded and work all right.
Any other ideas? 7 minutes is a pretty long time to wait everytime I reboot!

[oralpain]

There should be a way to disable it. Probably a jumper on the motherboard.

[Zebo]

er, doesn't a pci graphics card need a pci p.c?
maybe i got it wrong but i just got a new dell with pci express, which is a new cpu graphics card interface [i hope] it basically eliminates parts of the older agp processes, so, no pci express mb, no point having a pci graphics card??

[Zebo]

p.s new dell is good for the money, £700, i see you're putting up your specs so, 3.4p4 ht
1024x400 ddr
ati radeon pci x800
160 gb 7000??? hd
er.... a keyboard, mouse and a monitor
not overly impressed with the graphics, maybe i haven't got them set up right, and i could use some help, i fly il2sturmovik online alot and i still can't get the graphics on perfect without realy low[unacceptable] frames, not running a real high res, 1280 by [whatever it is] so it should be fine, maybe it's being lagged by the host, but if anyone knows good sets for this card on this game,please tell me

[Atomic]

no pci express mb, no point having a pci graphics card??

PCI and PCI Express are different ports

edit: stop thread jacking this poor blokes thread. If you want help with your computer POST YOUR OWN THREAD!

edit2: back on topic - if the mobo is intergrated you may not be able to turn off the onboard gfx.

There maybe an option to boot the mobo from the PCI slot first that might fix the problems?

[texasarizona]

Thanks Atomic for your answer. In the BIOS settings, PCI is the default graphics controller location, but it ain't enough. I still have to wait 5-7mn before turning it back on.
But you're right if I leave it to AGP, I have to plug the VGA cable onto the VGA port of the onboard graphic controller.
Therefore I came to the conclusion that the solution is in the box! There has to be a secret switch on the motherboard, though it is not indicated on the manual. I don't dare to destroy the chip itself...

[Defiant]

ok couple of ideas.

1. Check the surface of the motherboard you may find a jumper setting for disabling the AGP port. You will be able to find out how to do this if you get a motherboard manual. If I remember correctly.... Parkard bell never made there own motherboards. Gigabyte was a supplier of boards to Parkard. get the model number from the board and do a searching on the web for the manual. that should give you the hardware and Bios options. This option may be hiden.

2. It sounds like windows has noticed that the drivers are incomplete when it boots, the AGP/PCI bridge driver is required part of the drivers as it control that part of the motherboard. But you need to disable the 3dfx card as it will take primary control unless you disable it.

3. Buy another P3 Motherboard! they cost peanuts these days, I bet you will just need a another case and thats you set. about £30 for both.

[texasarizona]

Thanks defiant a whole lot for taking the time to write some suggestions.
1/ the motherboard is a MSI MS-6168 and its manual doesn't include any means to disable the onboard controller.
2/can you please develop your solution about the AGP/PCI bridge driver.
At the present time I've disabled it in the device manager of Windows XP, which consequently removed the Voodoo3 2000 in the display devices' section.
The computer boots as follows: (with no 7-minute wait)
- the central unit is turned on
- a beep is heard, the system enables the monitor plugged on the VGA-out of the PCI RadeOn 9000 card as part of the BIOS PCI initialization process
- because I haven't waited 5 up to 7mn, the BIOS interprets this as a modification made in the BIOS settings and "update" appears at the end of the BIOS boot process, right before the OS is run.
- Windows XP runs its logo until the welcome screen appears, the display looks like no display driver was installed (60hz refresh rate and abnormal position of the desktop on the monitor screen: black bands on the four sides...); I think it's called VGA mode
- If I log onto my session and go to the device manager:
the RadeOn card is no more listed as display device (the words "display devices" are not listed) and in lieu an unknown pci device with a yellow triangle appears below.
--> my interpretation of all this is that if I don't wait a while before turning the system back on or if I do a simple restart, Windows does not apply the catalyst driver to the RadeOn card, because at some point of the boot process the BIOS comes with conflicting information, like there are more than 1 display controllers in the house! But why waiting 5-7 mn fixes this, I got no clue
If I wait 7mn before switching the computer on, the system boots as you'd expect it to: no BIOS settings update happens, Windows starts smoothly and the display (position of the desktop and refresh rates) is flawless!

3/ I had already thought about that, but I wouldn't invest more money into that aging system than I already did, trying to breathe new life into it. I would rather replace the whole lot!

Thank y'all for the suggestions and any further that you could make

[Ravens Nest]

Perhaps if you flash the latest BIOS onto it it may have an option to disable onboard video.

I've found a link to the last BIOS released for it
(Even though it says PII not III for the motherboard, it's the same model number)
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/suppor...UID=268&kind=1

I would do this as a last resort though..

[texasarizona]

Thanks but I already have the latest BIOS version. I flashed version 1.3, that's been the latest revision for 3 years.

[Defiant]

I hate to say this m8, but it doesn't look as if your system was meant to be upgraded. Packard bell are a real crap company when it comes to there PCs, they really locked down the system design so to make sure you need a upgrade as soon as possible.

options as I see it m8:

1. find a cheap or second hand motherboard for your kit
2. replace the lot as you said, you may be even happier with a better spec pc.