G400 instability with Windows XP

I have a new motherboard and processor and now I am having problems with my
Matrox card (G400) with Windows XP and the latest drivers. Once in a while
the display becomes a bit fuzzy and everything hangs. Sometimes this happens
after a few minutes, sometimes it takes an hour. It only happens when you
are doing something. Occasionally XP catches the error. This can happen in
two ways:
- after the screen has been fuzzy there comes a prompt that XP has catched
an Matrox driver error. Than the display is set back to 640x480 at 16
colors. Next time you start up it has its old values.
- after I have pressed the reset button and the system has restarted XP
comes with a prompt about an error in the previous session and wants to mail
a report to Microsoft. Sometimes in the message something can be found about
the Matrox driver.
In most cases neither of the two happens.

When I boot under windows ME the system is stable and I have no problem.The
XP partition has worked OK on an older system. For the new motherboard (Asus
A7V8X-X) I had to upgrade to servicepack 1, but other than that there were
no software changes.

I tried disabling hardware acceleration and "simultaneous access" and
changing a bios setting from PCI VGA to AGP VGA, but that had no effect.

Does anyone know what this could be and how I could repair this?

Thanks,
Wim

Have you tried updating to the latest bios on the G400.

"Wim Rafera" <> wrote in message
news:cb1b89$m38$...
> I have a new motherboard and processor and now I am having problems with
my
> Matrox card (G400) with Windows XP and the latest drivers. Once in a while
> the display becomes a bit fuzzy and everything hangs. Sometimes this
happens
> after a few minutes, sometimes it takes an hour. It only happens when you
> are doing something. Occasionally XP catches the error. This can happen in
> two ways:
> - after the screen has been fuzzy there comes a prompt that XP has
catched
> an Matrox driver error. Than the display is set back to 640x480 at 16
> colors. Next time you start up it has its old values.
> - after I have pressed the reset button and the system has restarted XP
> comes with a prompt about an error in the previous session and wants to
mail
> a report to Microsoft. Sometimes in the message something can be found
about
> the Matrox driver.
> In most cases neither of the two happens.
>
> When I boot under windows ME the system is stable and I have no
problem.The
> XP partition has worked OK on an older system. For the new motherboard
(Asus
> A7V8X-X) I had to upgrade to servicepack 1, but other than that there were
> no software changes.
>
> I tried disabling hardware acceleration and "simultaneous access" and
> changing a bios setting from PCI VGA to AGP VGA, but that had no effect.
>
> Does anyone know what this could be and how I could repair this?
>
> Thanks,
> Wim
>
>

On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 01:24:36 GMT, "Tod" <>
wrote:

>Have you tried updating to the latest bios on the G400.
>
>"Wim Rafera" <> wrote in message
>news:cb1b89$m38$...
>> I have a new motherboard and processor and now I am having problems with
>my
>> Matrox card (G400) with Windows XP and the latest drivers. Once in a while
>> the display becomes a bit fuzzy and everything hangs. Sometimes this
>happens
>> after a few minutes, sometimes it takes an hour. It only happens when you
>> are doing something. Occasionally XP catches the error. This can happen in
>> two ways:
>> - after the screen has been fuzzy there comes a prompt that XP has
>catched
>> an Matrox driver error. Than the display is set back to 640x480 at 16
>> colors. Next time you start up it has its old values.
>> - after I have pressed the reset button and the system has restarted XP
>> comes with a prompt about an error in the previous session and wants to
>mail
>> a report to Microsoft. Sometimes in the message something can be found
>about
>> the Matrox driver.
>> In most cases neither of the two happens.
>>
>> When I boot under windows ME the system is stable and I have no
>problem.The
>> XP partition has worked OK on an older system. For the new motherboard
>(Asus
>> A7V8X-X) I had to upgrade to servicepack 1, but other than that there were
>> no software changes.
>>
>> I tried disabling hardware acceleration and "simultaneous access" and
>> changing a bios setting from PCI VGA to AGP VGA, but that had no effect.
>>
>> Does anyone know what this could be and how I could repair this?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Wim
>>
>>
>
I have similar unpredictable errors. In my case I suspect it has to do
with the seating/fitting of the board in my old Aopen AX6BC MB AGP
slot. Reseating the card does the problems go away for longer periods
normally.

I've been using 586 now for over a year in XP Pro (G450), using two monitors
with UltraMon software, with total stability. I wouldn't even consider
upgrading to anything else. (If it ain't broke....)

You can download the older 586 driver here:
http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/dr...s/2kxp_586.cfm



"Wim Rafera" <> wrote in message
news:cb1b89$m38$...
> I have a new motherboard and processor and now I am having problems with
my
> Matrox card (G400) with Windows XP and the latest drivers. Once in a while
> the display becomes a bit fuzzy and everything hangs. Sometimes this
happens
> after a few minutes, sometimes it takes an hour. It only happens when you
> are doing something. Occasionally XP catches the error. This can happen in
> two ways:
> - after the screen has been fuzzy there comes a prompt that XP has
catched
> an Matrox driver error. Than the display is set back to 640x480 at 16
> colors. Next time you start up it has its old values.
> - after I have pressed the reset button and the system has restarted XP
> comes with a prompt about an error in the previous session and wants to
mail
> a report to Microsoft. Sometimes in the message something can be found
about
> the Matrox driver.
> In most cases neither of the two happens.
>
> When I boot under windows ME the system is stable and I have no
problem.The
> XP partition has worked OK on an older system. For the new motherboard
(Asus
> A7V8X-X) I had to upgrade to servicepack 1, but other than that there were
> no software changes.
>
> I tried disabling hardware acceleration and "simultaneous access" and
> changing a bios setting from PCI VGA to AGP VGA, but that had no effect.
>
> Does anyone know what this could be and how I could repair this?
>
> Thanks,
> Wim
>
>

Next time you have the card out, take a pencil eraser, preferably the white
kind, intended for erasing ink, and buff up the gold contacts on the edge
connector of the card.

Bill Crocker




"Poelepetaat" <> wrote in message
news:4al l.nl...
> >
> I have similar unpredictable errors. In my case I suspect it has to do
> with the seating/fitting of the board in my old Aopen AX6BC MB AGP
> slot. Reseating the card does the problems go away for longer periods
> normally.