Chipset drivers for VIA chipsets

[danball1976]

I really wonder if it is a good idea to install these drivers for the chipset, VIA released an updated driver set back in September for their chipsets. Will it improve performance any since I never bothered to install the drivers, I just used the default drivers that come with Windows.

In fact, I've never installed the chipset drivers for any motherboard I've ever owned.

[Thrax]

That was a big mistake of you to make.

Chipset drivers are specifically designed because the default Windows ones are absolutely awful.

[danball1976]

The only reason why I never installed the drivers was because they used to be so hard to get to install properly. (Soyo 5EMA+ and KT7-RAID).

Although, thinking about it, I only attempted the install in Windows 98/98SE/ME but never in Windows XP.

--EDIT--
Installed the drivers, well, now Windows boots up, then the screen goes blank, and there is a little bit of hard drive activity, and then Windows restarts, then asks if I should start normally or start in safe mode. I'm in safe mode right now.

I booted to "Last known configuration that worked" and uninstalled the drivers. Am I not supposed to install using the setup file? I guess it would be better if I manually installed the driver.

[danball1976]

Ok, I installed the VIA IDE driver first, now testing.

--EDIT 1--
Success, but re-detected everything on the PCI bus, required two re-boots.

--EDIT 2--
Updated driver for VIA Standard Host bridge, no re-boot required

--EDIT 3--
Installed VIA CPU to AGP2.0/3.0 driver, reboot required -- testing

[danball1976]

Ok, I've identified the problem. It is the VIA CPU to AGP2.0/3.0 driver, these ABIT boards aren't really AGP compliant, and haven't been since the KX7-333R.

If you run dxdiag, and see that AGP Texture Acceleration is disabled/not available, the board is running the AGP card in PCI mode, and there's nothing you can do about it.

This time, I am installing the full package, minus the AGP driver.

[Thrax]

The ABIT boards are fully AGP-compliant. They can't have AGP slots if they're not; the standards body would revoke their license.

[danball1976]

Well, with both the KX7-333R and KD7-RAID, I have never been able to get AGP Texture acceleration to work properly with dxdiag, and previous installs of the AGP driver on these boards have always caused the same problem of windows starting --> blank screen --> restart.

[Thrax]

I never had that issue on the KX7. All the VIA 4-in-1s (Back when they were called that) <i>and</i> the Hyperions installed correctly, and I had texture acceleration.

[danball1976]

I wonder why I never did. That is interesting. Also of note: Smartgart doesn't let the video card run in APG 4x/8x mode, if I enable it, and it requires a restart to test it, it goes back to being off.

[danball1976]

Oh, BTW, I found this (http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13861) thread regarding previous AGP problems.

And if it matters, the voltage is 1.54V

--EDIT--
Do you think I should go buy an AGP 2x/4x video card from NewEgg and see what happens? There's nine of them, all under $50.

[Sledgehammer70]

Why even waste a penny on AGP still? Especially 2x or 4x variants? I would spend the $50 to get a PCI-E Board that was compatible with my CPU.

[danball1976]

Well, I am starting my new upgrade at the end of the month, and in February, I am buying my new AM2 motherboard, the EPoX MF570-SLI, later on march, I'll be buying an eVGA GeForce 7950GT PCI-E video card (I like eVGA's policy of exchanging your old video card with a new video card and paying the difference between the two)

--EDIT--
Also of note, I can't run PCI-E in my old KD7-RAID and Athlon XP2600+, so your suggestion wouldn't work.

[danball1976]

Well, with both the KX7-333R and KD7-RAID, I have never been able to get AGP Texture acceleration to work properly with dxdiag, and previous installs of the AGP driver on these boards have always caused the same problem of windows starting --> blank screen --> restart.

I should mention that on the KX7-333R that AGP Texture Acceleration does work properly and is enabled in dxdiag. So, therefore, it seems that I got a a strange anomaly with the KD7-RAID.

[danball1976]

--Bump--

Anyway, there are other questions I have that need to go into other threads about my Mom's computer.