NF7-M nasty video crash...! :(

[PriestJPN]

Finally got round to assembling my new machine yesterday:

2400+ XP (not overclocked)
NF7-M
2x256 Corsair Value Select (slots 2 and 3, Dual channel enabled)
GF4 MX IGP (32Meg shared)

However, upon playing a DVD or MPG2 file in PowerDVD 4 / 5 or a DivX505 in WMP, the whole machine freezes up or I get BSOD shortly after the video plays for about 2 second with loads of short, multi-coloured, horizontal lines all over the screen. Playing MPG4 video files is file tho, so this is extremely puzzling. Machine does eveything else fine, just not playing some types of video files.

Installed WinXP + SP1.
Installed the nForce drivers on the CD.
Installed nvidia drivers version 45.23, 28/07/2003 (not latest, btw)
Installed USB update on the CD.
Even tried getting rid of the newer video drivers (using the nvidia nasty file remover) and using the old ones on the CD.

All to no avail. Can anyone suggest anything? This really is annoying..

[TiG]

PriestJPN,

May I suggest one thing before you go any further on a software level, IGP can and maybe fussy about RAM, just make sure it is working fine by running Memtest86 on the memory and making sure there is no errors on it.

IT may just be the video is stressing out something in Memory that the other things you are doing are not.

Rule that out before moving on imo
Good Luck
TiG

[SilentDeath]

what fsb are you using? iirc 333 was the highest you should use with the onboard video.. try underclocking it, as that might fix. also if it is software problem have a look at your codecs, make sure youve got good ones installed.
also try different program, i think media player classic can do dvd etc.. and its also imo a lot better than WMP.

[PriestJPN]

OK, had a quick single pass in memtest and it seemed OK.. I'll run it for longer later, just to be sure...

FSB is standard 266 - I haven't changed it from the defualt; the mobo recognises the cpu OK, so I left it at that.

I know that the first thing you should do install the latest drivers, but I'm on a 28.8 dialup connection (don't ask, long story) and I can't hog the phone line atm. I'll DL the certified nVidia drivers and the latest nForce 2 bits later today.

It seems that the video problem is just down to MPG1 (VCD), MPG2 (DVD/SVCD) and DivX... Playing a standard MS MPG4 stream is fine. I've tried with WMP6 (the old fave), WMP7 and PowerDVD, so I don't think its the player software, but I will try WMP Classic too, just to be sure. Its a fresh install of XP Pro, so only DivX505 and PowerDVD's own codec have been installed. Doesn't matter whether I play files from CD or hard disk...

TBH, I'm a little surprised as I'm not doing anything strange with the hardware, stressing it or anything, I'm using quality components (so I believe) and I'm sure I've done things by the book...

[Pita^Norf]

I used to have an EPoX 8RGA+, one if the things I remember being informed by an EPoX tech is that the is that Detonator drivers are not designed for IGP. Moreover only the IGP drivers from the cd should be used or BOSD problems will be encountered. I'm pretty sure this would also be true of nf2 boards with IGP.

HTH

[TiG]

Hmm I'm not entirely sure of that Pita^Norf, my sn41g2 is running IGP and that works fine with the latest versions of the Dets. Always has done so far and its been updated enough times. IGP can be pretty picky on memory sometimes and it seems strange that its a specific app that does it.

TiG

[Pita^Norf]

Hmm I'm not entirely sure of that Pita^Norf, my sn41g2 is running IGP and that works fine with the latest versions of the Dets. Always has done so far and its been updated enough times. IGP can be pretty picky on memory sometimes and it seems strange that its a specific app that does it.

TiG

This was straight from the horses mouth in an EPoX UK affiliated forum (AoA forums) - so I had no reason to doubt what was said and it was for a similar issue, so I hope he wasn't jesting with us

Also I agree IGP is tricky especially when overclocked due to the high FSB and shared memory, but the OP isn't overclocked.

Best bet is for the OP to post a similar thread on a Abit tech forum and take their cut on what could be causing this issue ?

[PriestJPN]

I'm gonna run memtest for about 4 hours while I'm out and then I'm gonna do a full wipe and re-install...

Surely if the memory was bad it would fail with other apps too, so why on earth it fails just on certain video formats is just insane. I'm not using any aggressive memory timings, video & mobo bios aren't cached.... AGP at 4x... ?

[kaillum]

its gonna be the memory m8e... I had the exact same problem with the NF7-M... and upon first building it had 2x256Mb Corsair ValueSelect Ram in slots 2 & 3.. it ran during setup ok.. installed the GFX drivers and up'd the res to 1024 and it crashed with a blue screen.. re-booted.. up'd to 1024 and crashed again.. now the weird thing is that it would run ok at 640 and 800.. would run 3d Mark and memtest fine.. but as soon as I up'd it to 1024 it would crash.

changed the memory for 2 x 256 Crucial and its been running fine at 1024 since...

[PriestJPN]

Thanks for the info, all of you. I ran memtest for 4.5 hours and everything seems fine. I'll try once more from scratch, but if it still doesn't cure it I'm gonna send the ram back ASAP.... Dammit. Is the Corsair value stuff really so crap that it causes these problems?

And to think I'd been trying to decide between Crucial and the Corsair Value stuff!!

I must be jinxed... seriously.

[SilentDeath]

it wont be the mem causing it!!!!
any problems with shared mem (what youve got) WONT show up in memtest - the mem that is shared is allocated by the bios and therefore if compleatly hidden from memtest and cant be tested. thats true for all (1) mobo with onboard gfx, i assume all others would be done in same way.
secondly, i doubt the mem is faulty, just incompatable. i also doubt that is whats happenening. what timings are you using on your mem as that could be whats casuing it. try 7-3-3-2.5 or slower. dont send the ram back, it is not faulty.
look through your bios, set all pci/agp bios shadows off, etc.. and also try different settings for agp aperature that may affect it... also see if the nb/onboard gfx/igp chip is getting hot either by touching the heatsink or the back of the mobo (best way). mayeb reseat the heatsink.
resons mpeg1/2/divx only could be causing it is that most gfx have some kind of hardware decoding for those formats. might be that that part of the chip isnt making proper contact with heatsink while the rest is (have you seen how bad abit put thermal paste on? both my nf7-s boards just had a TINY amount just in the corner)

imo if that doesnt sort it, send the mobo back and get something decent

[PriestJPN]

Right - I'll have a play with the bios settings and HS like SilentDeath mentions and get back to you... I have eliminated the following tho:

- Everything seems OK if I try Win98 instead of XP
- Latest bios, nForce drivers, and GFX drivers make no difference

Thanks for your help... its gonna be a long night....

[PriestJPN]

Put in an old AGP GFX card and tested that - surprise, surprise, everything works OK. The complete 512Mb was tested with memtest and still everything was OK. I lowered the memory timings as far as possible, but that still had problems with the onboard gfx.

The mobo is gonna be removed tonight so I can check the HS on the nb and I probably will send the memory back just so I can be doubly sure. Knowing my atrocious luck with hardware, it'll be the sodding mobo thats knackered.

<rant>
This was supposed to be my stable "workhorse" machine, but its turned out to be anything but. I've been well overdue a hardware upgrade and now that I've had the spare cash, everything turns to crap. It was my belief that Abit and Corsair are some the best quality parts available, but its not the case it seems... I would have thought at least the Corsair PC3200 matched RAM (even tho it is Value Select), would have been up to the job of running a non-overclocked machine. If it turns out to be the mobo then shame on you Abit...

Apologies, but I'm rather annoyed after having spent the best part of the last 48 hours, installing, reading manuals, installing XP again and again and again to try and find out what is wrong. Then I get the joy of having to return stuff to companies who'll probably take ages to refund me...
</rant>