KT7A-RAID & NIC Card Issues

[Kawika]

Hi there...

Anyone familiar with a way to resolve common issues with KT7A-RAID mobos & NIC Cards? Specifically I am using a Linksys LNE100TX Ver. 5.1 card. Most of the known issues I have revolve around games dieing...especially Age of Empires 2. Apparently this is a common problem with Linksys cards & the KT7A-RAID mobo...but I haven't been able to find a viable solution for it. If anyone can help...it would be greatly apprecaited.

Thank you for your time.

Kawika

[AmStoned]

Hmmm... could you specify the prob? crash? BSOD? high ping? BTW, could you list your OS too? Oh yeah, what are you using for LAN? Hub or Switch if applicable.

[TheHeretic]

I had a Linksys card in a KT7A-RAID board and had no problems with it. I had it in the very bottom PCI slot. I dont remember if I manually assigned an IRQ for it or not.

Have you tried manually IRQ for the card?

I was running Win2K Pro and actually had better performance than any of my previous machines with it. Just make sure you have the latest Drivers from MS for the card.


TheHeretic

[Kawika]

Pings are great as I use a cable modem connection...the router I am using is a Linksys BEFSR41 V.2 with the latest firmware upgrade. The main problems we encounter revolve around OOS errors...which I am pretty sure is due to NIC interrupts or dropped information packets thus causing the game to crash.

Kawika

[Kawika]

I believe I have the NIC in slot 3...maybe if I move it to the last slot it would work out? I also have a SB Live! sound card...so that can cause issues with KT7A-RAID mobo as well...

Kawika

P.S.

I am running Win 98

[James]

Really need more info
is sound playing
are you online
have you installed the newest drivers for the NIC
have you tried to give the SB it's own IRQ in bios

[Kawika]

Not a problem...I can get you all the info you need...just let me know exactly what you need to know. Game runs perfectly...the problem is sporadic...but once it starts...it basically kills the game. If you have played AOE2 at all...you are familiar with an OOS...it is a error built in to the game to prevent people from cheating and/or ensure that all users in the game receive game information...if an error occurs...the game goes OOS (Out of Sync)...saves a copy of the game and boots everyone out. You can restart the game using the saved copy of the game...but from experience...most games that go OOS once will continue to go OOS through out the game.

I can play the game on my own or over my network without it going OOS...the problem only occurs when I attempt to play online with other players.

As for setting my own IRQs...no...I have not attempted to specify IRQ's for any of my peripherals (i.e., sound card, NIC, etc). I am also using the latest driver for the NIC...

Thanks...

Kawika

[James]

First is there a patch at AOE2 home site?
Second is someone your playing with cheating?
# 2 seems to be your problem!
let us know!

[Kawika]

Yes...there is a patch for the game...everyone in our clan is up to the latest patch. As for is anyone cheating...though I cannot answer this question positively since I am not sitting behind each and everyone of the guys during the game...we are a group of middle aged guys who have been playing AOE2 together for the last 2 years...it is highly unlikely that any of us would resort to cheating just to win a game. I guess to give you a little more direction with things...when the guys play without me...almost no OOS occur at all...however...when I do get in a game...9 times out of 10 the game will go OOS at one junction or another. Since I have read that there are issues with NIC cards and the KT7A-RAID boards...I was just wondering if anyone has run across this problem and solved it...moving the NIC to another slot might be a good option to try. Another suggestion I was given was to try increasing the PCI Timeout Value to one higher than 10. Is this something I set in the BIOS?

Kawika

[026TB4U]

Kawika,

Right click My Computer and select properties. Then click on the device manager tab and select properties again. This will tell you what IRQ your NIC is using. See if anything is sharing the same IRQ with your NIC.

Is anything sharing with your NIC?

[Rando]

Do try moving one, or both your NIC or SB, as I remember reading somewhere that SB and NIC sharing the same IRQ can cause probs. You might also want to try running without the SB to see if it may be the cause. The way I remember, IRQ sharing is as follows:

slot 1 - AGP
slot 2 & 3 - ACPI
slot 5 - Highpoint
slot 4 & 6 - USB

I too, use the 100TX and SB Live! in my box here at work, 100TX in slot 3, and SB in slot 5, both on IRQ 11, and have no problems, however, as Heretic said, you may want to try assigning a seperate IRQ. Alternately, try the troubleshooting section of the 100TX manual.

[Kawika]

Thanks for the tips guys...I'm at work at the moment...but when I get home I'll check & see on the IRQ situation with the NIC.

Rando...have you tried to play AOE2 online with your box at work? My system works just fine otherwise...it just seems to hang up when playing AOE2. Currently I have a AGP Videocard, SB Live! sound card & the NIC card in my system. I'm not positive what the set up is as far as which slots the sound card & NIC card is in....but I followed the instructions from the viahardware.com website in regards to what would give the least amount of conflicts with my setup. I'm assuming that something might have gone wrong.

I also noticed that the LNE100TX card has reported problems with AMD chipsets...so that may be the problem as well.

Thanks...

Kawika

[TheHeretic]

are the rest of the guys you play behind routers as well. it is possible that the Linksys router is not forwarding the packets in a more timely manner. check to see which port your game uses. than in the router setup forward that port to your particular machine. I had problems with ICq until this was done. I realize that AOE2 is a game and not chat proggy but it may be a similiar problem. If they are behind routers as well than just disregard this message. :)



TheHeretic

[026TB4U]

K,

I had a very similar setup to yours and found that the soundblaster live in pci 3 and the nic card in 6 gives the best results. This way nothing is sharing with the video card and the sound card, and only usb is sharing with the nic. If you think it's a nic problem, try isolating the nic by using it on 3 and sb live on 6.

Make sure nothing is sharing with your hpt comtroller. This creates serious problems.

[Kawika]

Thanks for the tip...I'll definitely try to rearrange things so that the SB card is in slot 3 & the NIC in slot 6 & see how that works...

Thanks...

Kawika

[Kawika]

As for the question on the routers...yes...other players play behind routers...some use the same Linksys router as I do (with no problems)...others use different routers...with no problems. As for the packet forwarding...I researched it & found out which packets to forward...and I set up the router to forward it...but it didn't help any. According to the router documentation...I should not need to use port forwarding (although I can if I want to) since the router also gives you the option to designate one pc as a DMZ Host.

Thanks...

Kawika

[Rando]

Nope, I don't do AOE2 at work, so can't help ya there:(
And 0-60 is right, do NOT put anything on the same controller as the highpoint, that's my boo-boo, DOH! I added a decoder card to the inventory about three weeks ago, and it moved my SB to slot 5, however, I've had no problems, but do leave it empty anyway.

Also, after you move your cards, enter bios, in "PnP/PCI configuration" section, set "Force Update ESCD" to enabled, the way I understand it, it ensures newly added or moved cards are assigned IRQ's correctly. You may also want to upgrade to the latest KT7A bios.

0-60 Thanks for the reminder bud!:D
With my luck, I'll move the SB from 5 and start having probs:(

[Kawika]

Thanks for all the tips...I'll have to give it a go later tonight. As a side note...do any of you use Win 98 and use more than the alloted 512 RAM? I have another 256 stick of RAM available...but haven't installed it since the last time I tried...I got some Windows errors. I think there is a tweak or something I can do to the system to override the 512 RAM limitation on Win 98...has anyone made the fix on their PCs?

Thanks...

Kawika

[Kawika]

Well...I think we can safely assume that my problems are related to my IRQ situation...here's the way things are presently on my system:

00 System timer
01 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
02 Programmable interrupt controller
03 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
03 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
03 Linksys LNE100TX(v5) Fast Ethernet Adapter
03 Creative SB Live! series
03 VIA VT83C572/VT82C586 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
03 VIA VT83C572/VT82C586 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
04 Communications Port (COM1)
05 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
05 NVIDIA GeForce 2 Ultra
06 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
07 Printer Port (LPT1)
08 System CMOS/real time clock
09 SCI IRQ used by ACPI bus
10 Creative SB16 Emulation
11 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
11 HPT370 UDMA/ATA100 RAID Controller
12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse Port
13 Numeric data processor
14 VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller
14 Primary Bus Master IDE controller (dual fifo)
15 VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller
15 Secondary Bus Master IDE controller (dual fifo)

I'm not too well versed with all of these items...and I notice that several of them are duplicated...anyone know how I can fiz and/or optimize my system a little better?

I plan to pop open the back of my PC to verify how the PCI cards are set up...

Thanks...

Kawika

[026TB4U]

K,

You'll see ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering sharing once you seperate your devices. That's ok.

One more thing. Go into bios and disable Com1 and Com2 unless, of course, you are using them (serial mouse, etc...). This frees up more IRQs.

Place the cards in the slots previously mentioned and disable com1 and 2 and you should be in good shape.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[Cool Canuck]

Also get rid of "10 Creative SB16 Emulation"

[Kawika]

Well...I popped open the case...and found my setup to be as follows:

AGP Video card
Slot 1 Empty
Slot 2 NIC
Slot 3 Empty
Slot 4 SB Live!
Slot 5 Empty
Slot 6 Empty

Taking the advice given from this thread...I went ahead and changed my setup to as follows:

AGP Video card
Slot 1 Empty
Slot 2 Empty
Slot 3 NIC
Slot 4 Empty
Slot 5 Empty
Slot 6 SB Live!

The system seems to be running just fine...but upon inspecting the IRQ settings...I've noticed that none of them have changed. As noted above...the SB Live! card and the NIC are still sharing IRQs. I assume that this will still cause a problem. Do I need to reset something to have the BIOS redistribute IRQs?

Thanks...

Kawika

[James]

Yes,set the SB live as a legacy device ,on IRQ 5 in the bios,also change the OS from PAP to non PAP,enable ESCD.

[AmStoned]

I knew it, those moflicking IRQs. I've also tried switching the damn devices around the PCI slots, but no matter which spot I allocate the damn component to, it stuck with the IRQ# that it had before the switch. Hmmm... I got a question. Now what if you're running one of them super integrated mobos with video, sound, and nic. Well aren't you fsck if there's an IRQ conflict? I mean there's no way you can unsolder the... oh never mind.

James: What does diabling PnP OS in BIOS do again? So I can manually assign IRQ? But my mobo's not of the new EPox variety, it doesn't have the manual IRQ to begin with in the BIOS.

[Rando]

Regarding your question about using more than 512mb RAM in 98, this (http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/windowstips/story/0,24330,3337233,00.html) Q & A addresses the issue, and lists the workaround.:D

[026TB4U]

K,

Is PnP OS enabled in your bios? Try that. My IRQs change when I move my cards around, maybe that's why.

[Kawika]

I took James advice and set the SB live as a legacy device on IRQ 5 in the bios, changed the OS from PAP to non PAP & enabled ESCD. The resulting IRQ set up is as follows:

00 System timer
01 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
02 Programmable interrupt controller
03 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
03 NVIDIA GeForce 2 Ultra
04 Communications Port (COM1)
05 Creative SB16 Emulation
06 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
07 Printer Port (LPT1)
08 System CMOS/real time clock
09 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
09 Creative SB Live! series
09 VIA VT83C572/VT82C586 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
09 VIA VT83C572/VT82C586 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
10 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
10 Linksys LNE100TX(v5) Fast Ethernet Adapter
11 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
11 HPT370 UDMA/ATA100 RAID Controller
11 SCI IRQ used by ACPI bus
12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse Port
13 Numeric data processor
14 VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller
14 Primary Bus Master IDE controller (dual fifo)
15 VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller
15 Secondary Bus Master IDE controller (dual fifo)

In any case...the configuration has definitely changed...here's hoping that this solves the OOS problems we have been having with AOE2 online games. Our next get together is tomorrow night...so I'll know more about the situation then. Thanks for all the help...

Kawika

P.S.

Rando...thanks for the tip on the RAM question...I'll see if I can get it to work when I get home from work tonight.

[Kawika]

Well...we tried the game tonight...and the same Out Of Sync (OOS) problem occurred. It happens a good 40 mins into the game...and then the game just signals OOS...and disconnects everyone. After restoring the game...it will continue for another 5-10 mins...and then another OOS will occur...disconnecting everyone. We try about 5 times to restore with OOS continuing after each restore before we finally quit.

I'm not sure what else it might be. Could it be that I have a Linksys card? Could it be my Linksys router? Guess I'm back to square one again...

Kawika

[026TB4U]

K,

I would try swapping the sb and he nic. This way the sb is on it's own IRQ.

Are you overclocked? You sure it's not heat? Are you running raid? And are you sure it's hardware related?

[Kawika]

Okay...I'll move the SB Live! card to Slot 3 and the NIC to Slot 6 when I get home tonight & give it another try. I don't have anything in my system overclocked. I'm not well versed enough in the subject to want to undertake overclocking at the moment...and the system should be fast enough to satisfy my needs at this time. I am also not running a RAID setup. As for it not being hardware related...I've already checked through the software package...even uninstalled & re-installed AOE2 completely and re-installed all of the patches with the same results. Could it be something to do with my BIOS setup or my network settings in Windows?

Kawika

[Kawika]

Here's more info from another forum:

From AOK Heaven Forum:

AOK uses the UDP subset of the TCP/IP protocol for multiplayer communications. That is good for communication speed, but you pay for the speed increase by not including resending of lost datagrams. Meaning, if your computer is tied up running a program that takes alot of processor time, certain game data packets might be lost, with no recovery being notified to the transmitting entity. That is the drawback of UDP. Hence, you will get OOS errors.

[Kawika]

Any one know what would be the ideal set up for the NIC & SB Live! card in my set up? Last instructions I got was to put the NIC in Slot 6 and the SB Live! card in Slot 3. Is that the consensus?

Thanks...

Kawika

[026TB4U]

K,


Since you are not using you HPT controller, you could disable it which would free up another IRQ. As far as what I recommended, it works :D. At least with a 3com NIC it does.

[Kawika]

I actually am using my HPT Controller...I have all 4 drives as masters on all 4 connections...I am also using 1 USB connection & 1 serial connection...

Kawika

[Cool Canuck]

3 & 6 should be OK. I usually stick the sound card in 2. That would leave you 4 or 6 . My NIC is in 6.

2 & 3 share IRQ.
4 & 6 share IRQ.

[prod]

I am running a KT7A Raid with SBLive in slot 2, realtek NIC in slot 4. No problems with any games, but I dont play AOE2.
I am thinking its the router. Have you tried that machine direct to the internet, not through the router?

[TheHeretic]

it may be a quirk. I played AoE2 online through MSN and didnt have those problems. My system is a KT7A-Raid as well my SB was (got a philips now) in slot 3 and the NIC is in 6.

I would also try it without the router as Prod suggested.


TheHeretic

[Kawika]

Well...I rebuilt the system on Friday night...and upgraded to Win 2K & swapped the Linksys NIC for a new D-Link NIC in hopes of solving the OOS issues in AOE2. Unfortunately...on Sunday afternoon during our regular Sunday game, the game went OOS again. I still played the game through the router...so I guess my next attempt will be to eliminate the router from the equation & see if that solves the problem.

Are there any specific settings I should set on my NIC for optimum performance? I recall reading something about increasing the PCI Timeout to something higher than 10 and setting the PCI Latency to 32...are those both in the BIOS? I recall seeing something for the PCI Timeout but not anything for the PCI Latency.

If it turns out to be the router causing the problems...I have already purchased a D-Link router to replace the Linksys I am using now...will let you know what happens...

Thanks...

Kawika