AGP Write set to "Off" in Smartgart

Buddahpest · Dec 6, 2004, 08:29 PM

Starting with the Catalyst 4.10 driver set, all the way through to the latest 4.12 beta's, Smartgart will not let me enable AGP Write. It is always off. If I turn it on and let the system reboot to retest the settings, it still says off. If I use the 4.9's on down, it works just fine. I've formatted the hd, tried installing the chipset drivers again, installed all updates, and it still does the same thing. Has anyone else noticed this problem?

westsidebud · Dec 11, 2004, 09:50 PM

yes i have noticed that too and would love to know

why thats happening and if there is something we can do about ?

greeneg · Dec 11, 2004, 10:44 PM

Question might be, do you want to do something about it? Most people seem to feel that enabling FastWrites adds very little to performance at the cost of often major system instability.

That's sure true for my setup.

Shuflie · Dec 12, 2004, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greeneg

Question might be, do you want to do something about it? Most people seem to feel that enabling FastWrites adds very little to performance at the cost of often major system instability.

That's sure true for my setup.

They were talking about AGP write not fastwrites, although their problems may be related to fastwrites being enabled. Buddahpest and westsidebud, try disabling fastwrites in your bios setup and retest everything in smartgart again.

greeneg · Dec 13, 2004, 01:53 AM

My bad. Mis-read it. Sorry all.

Abyz · Dec 14, 2004, 06:03 PM

I'm experiencing the same problem. I've always left FastWrites disabled in both the BIOS and during the Omega setup process. I discovered how to force on AGP writes by editing the registry, but doing so caused no end of graphics freezes and BSODs, so I am thinking that maybe it's some deficiency in the graphics card itself (9700 Pro). Any thoughts or comments?

By the by, if you _really_ want to force on AGP Writes, this is how you do it.

Open up regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Video
Now you should have a few keys under here (at least two, and maybe more), and they are randomly named so you'll have to look in each of their "video" sub-keys. The ones for your ATI card will have the "Service" entry set to "ati2mtag". There will be two of these (there's one for the "Secondary" video card too). To find out which is the one you need to edit, look in their "0000" sub-keys and find the entries called "RequestedBusCaps" and "TestedBusCaps". You're looking for where they're both equal - if you have all options in Advanced SmartGart on except AGP Writes, they'll both be set to 07 00 00 00. Change both of them to 0f 00 00 00, close regedit, restart, and cross your fingers. AGP Write will be turned on, but I have no promises as to how stable your system will be.

--Brandon Siegel

Dec 6, 2004, 08:29 PM	#1
Buddahpest DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 218 Rep Power: 0	AGP Write set to "Off" in Smartgart Starting with the Catalyst 4.10 driver set, all the way through to the latest 4.12 beta's, Smartgart will not let me enable AGP Write. It is always off. If I turn it on and let the system reboot to retest the settings, it still says off. If I use the 4.9's on down, it works just fine. I've formatted the hd, tried installing the chipset drivers again, installed all updates, and it still does the same thing. Has anyone else noticed this problem? __________________ Intel Core2 Quad Q9650 @ 4GHz / Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R / 8 GB (2GB x 4) G.Skill PC2 8500 / eVGA GTX 280 / Soundblaster Audigy 2 / 2x74GB Western Digital Raptor 10000 rpm in Raid 0 / 250GB Western Digital 7200 rpm / Plextor PX-716A DVD-RW / 1100W BFG PSU / Klipsch 4.1 Promedia / HP w2408h LCD / Windows Vista Ultimate x64

Dec 11, 2004, 10:44 PM	#3
greeneg DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 64 Rep Power: 0	Question might be, do you want to do something about it? Most people seem to feel that enabling FastWrites adds very little to performance at the cost of often major system instability. That's sure true for my setup. __________________ Ed Green RFP Team http://www.panelshop.com/Banners/DEV.jpg gigabyte 8INXP HT Enabled Intel P4 3.06 2048 PC266DDR ATI Radeon x850Pro 256 PRO CAT 8.3 Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Sound Win XP SP3 500W PS Lot's of FANS!

Dec 13, 2004, 01:53 AM	#5
greeneg DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 64 Rep Power: 0	My bad. Mis-read it. Sorry all. __________________ Ed Green RFP Team http://www.panelshop.com/Banners/DEV.jpg gigabyte 8INXP HT Enabled Intel P4 3.06 2048 PC266DDR ATI Radeon x850Pro 256 PRO CAT 8.3 Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Sound Win XP SP3 500W PS Lot's of FANS! Last edited by greeneg; Dec 13, 2004 at 01:54 AM. Reason: Misspelling

Dec 11, 2004, 09:50 PM	#2
westsidebud DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 64 Rep Power: 0	yes i have noticed that too and would love to know why thats happening and if there is something we can do about ?

Dec 14, 2004, 06:03 PM	#6
Abyz DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 14 Rep Power: 0	I'm experiencing the same problem. I've always left FastWrites disabled in both the BIOS and during the Omega setup process. I discovered how to force on AGP writes by editing the registry, but doing so caused no end of graphics freezes and BSODs, so I am thinking that maybe it's some deficiency in the graphics card itself (9700 Pro). Any thoughts or comments? By the by, if you _really_ want to force on AGP Writes, this is how you do it. Open up regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Video Now you should have a few keys under here (at least two, and maybe more), and they are randomly named so you'll have to look in each of their "video" sub-keys. The ones for your ATI card will have the "Service" entry set to "ati2mtag". There will be two of these (there's one for the "Secondary" video card too). To find out which is the one you need to edit, look in their "0000" sub-keys and find the entries called "RequestedBusCaps" and "TestedBusCaps". You're looking for where they're both equal - if you have all options in Advanced SmartGart on except AGP Writes, they'll both be set to 07 00 00 00. Change both of them to 0f 00 00 00, close regedit, restart, and cross your fingers. AGP Write will be turned on, but I have no promises as to how stable your system will be. --Brandon Siegel