From owner-freebsd-smp Sat Jun 20 02:13:57 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id CAA01112 for freebsd-smp-outgoing; Sat, 20 Jun 1998 02:13:57 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-smp@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from sos.freebsd.dk (sos.freebsd.dk [212.242.40.180]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id CAA01107 for ; Sat, 20 Jun 1998 02:13:54 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from sos@sos.freebsd.dk) Received: (from sos@localhost) by sos.freebsd.dk (8.8.8/8.8.8) id LAA05181; Sat, 20 Jun 1998 11:13:43 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from sos) Message-Id: <199806200913.LAA05181@sos.freebsd.dk> Subject: Re: S3 video cards In-Reply-To: <9806191952.AA19235@corona.jcmax.com> from Cyrus Rahman at "Jun 19, 98 03:52:56 pm" To: cr@jcmax.com (Cyrus Rahman) Date: Sat, 20 Jun 1998 11:13:43 +0200 (CEST) Cc: smp@FreeBSD.ORG From: Søren Schmidt Reply-to: sos@FreeBSD.ORG X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL38 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-freebsd-smp@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org 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? .. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-smp" in the body of the message