Date: Sat, 20 Jun 1998 11:13:43 +0200 (CEST) From: Søren Schmidt <sos@FreeBSD.ORG> To: cr@jcmax.com (Cyrus Rahman) Cc: smp@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: S3 video cards Message-ID: <199806200913.LAA05181@sos.freebsd.dk> In-Reply-To: <9806191952.AA19235@corona.jcmax.com> from Cyrus Rahman at "Jun 19, 98 03:52:56 pm"
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In reply to Cyrus Rahman who wrote:
> > I have just changed the videocard once again in one of those machines to
> > an old Diamond Viper PRO video (P9100 based) and it hasn't failed yet, in
> > fact I'm writing this in a xterm on it....
> > I have a wierd feeling that these boards don't like S3 cards, all the
> > others we've tried where different vinatage S3 boards.
> > Well we'll see what happens, but it hasn't that stable with any of the
> > other cards...
> > Anybody else seen problems with S3 cards ??
>
> After extensive testing, we concluded that S3 cards (and all derived
> chipsets, at least as of one year ago) don't address memory over 64mbytes
> correctly. So they do trash your os if you install them and use X.
>
> So the moral of the story is:
>
> Using an S3 card with more than 64mbytes of memory will crash your system as
> soon as you start DMA'ing memory around by raising and lowering windows in X.
>
> Those funny looking areas that should have been solid black are kernel
> pages, and your buffer cache is now black with a 10 point Courier font
> (actually, we never saw file corruption, but we worried about it during
> testing).
>
> Let me know if this sounds like it could be your problem.
Hmm, I'm not so sure about your findings, I run a S3ViRGE/DX 4M cards in
my other box (also a TYAN but the 1662 AT formfactor board) with 256M
memory and I've NEVER seen it fail.
The exact same S3 board fails horribly in the 1668 (ATX form factor)
even with 32M memory, so it doesn't fit you description....
BTW the machine has now been up for 24+hours with the P9100 card, so the
video card has something to do with the problem...
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Søren Schmidt (sos@FreeBSD.org) FreeBSD Core Team
Even more code to hack -- will it ever end?
..
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