arcade vga and xp

[revelcet]

Hello everyone, I have an arcade vga card and I am running xp pro, when I have it hooked up to my arcade monitor xp locks up as soon as it reaches the desk top , but if I have it hooked up to the computer monitor it runs fine, I am convinced it is a driver issue with the ati drivers but I dont know how to fix the problem, does anyone have any suggestions?

[jerryjanis]

From the ArcadeVGA FAQ( http://www.ultimarc.com/avgainst.html ):

Windows XP, 2000 and 98.

Start Windows. The Windows screen should be displayed at 640 X 480 interlaced, 16 colours. To use the ArcadeVGA built-in modes the ATI driver needs installing. Insert the Ultimarc CD. Run the driver Setup program in the correct folder (98 or XP or 2K). Reboot as prompted. Windows may ask if you want to replace newer files with old. You MUST choose to replace all the files. After re-boot, install the ATI control panel by running Setup in the "Cpanel" folder on the CD.
Right-click on the desktop, select "properties" and set the colour depth to "32 bit colour".
Blue Screens in XP/2000 Windows XP may try to invoke the built-in Microsoft ATI driver and this will not work with the ArcadeVGA card, and causes a blue-screen error. If you see this, simply re-start and hold down "F8" and choose to start in Safe Mode, then install the ATI driver from the ArcadeVGA CD and re-boot.

[revelcet]

Yes, I read this also, and I have the drivers installed but I cant even begin to do anything because xp locks up as soon as I move my mouse, so I cant right click on the desktop. I dont get a blue screen, my screen freezes on the desktop.

[pointdablame]

Your system is blue screening in safe mode?

[paigeoliver]

Works fine on my computers. You probably have a crappy motherboard or a poor power supply.

[revelcet]

No the computer is not blue screening at all, it simply freezes on the desktop, I have tried a couple of different power supplies and had the same result with all, not sure if my motherboard is "crappy" or not and since I dont have a spare not sure how to eliminate that possibility , I think it is an abit but im not sure, it was the only one I had with an agp slot. Is running the arcade vga card memory intensive? I have 128 meg of ram installed, thought that would be enough. I have two other mame cabs that have tvs but  when I found an old contra cab with a good monitor for 25 dollars, I thought I would give it a new home, its like stone soup, you start out buying one or two parts and then your committed to the build and 2 weeks later the wife wont speak to you and your broke, but you still need more parts.

[Flinkly]

i haven't had a problem with my avga card yet, other than just working my computer to death with tasks...but thats my fault.  i've never had it just freeze up for no aparent reason...i don't know what could be causing it though, just that i don't have that problem.

[jerryjanis]

The ArcadeVGA isn't memory intensive, but Windows XP sure is!  With only 128 megs of ram, Windows XP will be SLOW SLOW SLOW.  I've been happy with 256 megs of memory on machines that don't do a heck of a lot (Mame/older games only), but if you're trying to run very many things or any bigger games, you should have even more than that.

I find that even older, slow machines will run Windows XP decently as long as you have a 256-512 megs of ram.

[revelcet]

I borrowed a computer today so I will test the crappy theroy, its one of the new alien ware gaming rigs, and I will try  512 m. of memory to see if that helps. thanks everyone for the help.

[Craig]

For those interested, I have found that on all machines I've tested that about 128 MB RAM is used just starting up Windows XP, therefore another 128 or more is really essential.

[wboy]

I've built 1 pc with the old Radeon 7000 based AVGA without a problem.

Just about to build one with the new 9200 based AVGA.

Best bet is to start clean (fresh install).

I used an old PCI based card to get XP installed initially.

Then throw in the AVGA....  boot straight into safe mode.   Cancel any add new hardware wizard.

Install the drivers from the CD.  shutdown.  remove the PCI card.  On restart, ensure your BIOS settings are set to AGP for primary video device.  Boot as per normal.

In a nutshell, thats its.  I dont think lack of ram is causing your problems, though XP does love atleast 256MB of RAM.

If anything, make a bootable CD or Memtest86 (google for it) and make sure your ram passes all tests.  Let it run for a while to ensure RAM is not faulty.   I had a stick that never appeared to have a problem under 98, but fail frequently under XP.  Additionally, I've experienced the occasional old motherboard that really didn't like XP either.

[revelcet]

The problem was a agp slot problem, the computer runs fine with a pci video card but when I put in a agp video card, (Ive tried 3 different brands) the computer boots fine to the desktop and then hangs, so paigeoliver was right, I have a crappy motherboard, my new one will be in later this week, oh and it ran great with the ailen ware computer, shame I had to give it back. Thanks for the help everyone.