WinXP+Z170/Z370 MB - Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera dont respond on user actions, Games microfreezes

[ruthan]

Hello,
i have strange problems with new Z170, internet browser and Direct3D game(i tested only Wacraft III demo) are unsable i dunno why.. I tried to clean all registry and reinstall them, but it still the same.

Problems summary:

 Now i consider, Win98 as ok. 

WinXP

(last Nvidia 368.81 drivers, during installation get some not WHQL message, maybe there somehow broken.., i tried 365.19 too its the same) and AMD 3450 video card and issue are the same:
- i have very strange browser behavior, there are not useful, except IE 8 is working without problems but its not useful for todays webs..
- Google chrome, Firefox.Opera,Mathon are not working properly
  Google chrome, its simply not react on mouse commands and other application windows started after have some rendering issues, when windows are moved., i got except closing and minimalization, not reaction on mouse commands at all, or very, very slow - 10-30 seconds..
  Firefox51/52  is the same -- its the same very, very slow response on mouse / keyboard commands - 10-15 on click even in options..
  Opera 28/36 - i can go some pages, but for example Msfn - when i got to msfn forum, just got error page.
  Windows update - downloading is strange there are 4% or 5% and its stuck or progress is very slow.
  SDI driver downloader is not able to download drivers.
  I tried USB LAN but is the same, clean installation is the same.  

  
- Warcraft III demo - once broken textures and models in..
- Warcraft III demo - i thing that machine is fast enough for 1600x1200 full details, but even in first Orc mission, i have 2-3 second machine freezes and animation speed or framerate is lots strange, like slowdowned, half a speed.. very often.. When i test the same with Win7, no freezes here.  Even Win98 and slower Geforce 6200 i dont have such freezes.
- When i run - autoruns - i no more see any drivers items in the list, it seems that it freeze in half of detection, i was here before i started some problems uninstallation, i dunno what is broken.
- Diablo II shareware - i getting with Nvidia a Amd menu freeze.

I tried to remove, Geforce 6200 and Vortex 1 from system, if there is not any colision, but i got nothing, im using some universal Realtek GB driver from 2018. 
 I tried Browsers in Safe mode with networking, is the same.

 Quake III, Vampire Redemption OpenGL is fine, Unreal Tournament 99 is too fine, maybe there are very short freezes, but it would be like 100-200 ms, and ocassionally.
 

Win7:
- Windows 7 start - progress update stuck - 2 times. But after that at least 5 hours of usages these days without any problem. // Update: I found out that is some incompatibility with ASM Sata 106x external Sata controller in IDE mode, its other disk controller its ok.
- Once i got not working on board network card - i boot and networking was not working, i reconnected cable, turn on / off switch, but still nothing, after restart it worked.
  Update: I not using Windows 7 too much now, but it seems fixed with new heatsink.

Win 98:
- Unreal Tournament - multiple times after 30-300 seconds of playing // Not tested after heatsink replaced, but it could be Geforce 6200 overheating, or other SW problem (i would bet on this). 
   - Update: With new heatsink i can play whole 2 matches, without freeze, so i hoped that it is solution.
- Quake III broken picture - OpenGL very strange picture and polygons.
    - Update with 77.xx drivers, there is only Geforce 6200 not Geforce 6200 Turbocache option and Quake III is running fine.
Update2: With Geforce 6600 GT, Quake III is now ok, Unreal Tournament working with Direct3D and GLide (nGlide), but not with OpenGL - it can be such "feature" of this game. I dunno if fix was by Geforce 6600 GT instead of Geforce 6200 strange Turbocache feature (i as on Vogons Unreal Tournament demo Opengl is know as broken, there are some patches, but im not sure if they will wrong with demo), or because i used standard PCI.vxd instead rLoews patched version for Nvidia 512 MB Geforce 7 card.

Linux - Mint 18.3
- so far any problem, but just using it for some googling and files copiying..

Before boot:
Memtest86+ 5.01 - when i start multithread test by F2 - i got everytime test freeze - first 2 minutes of testing, even i press F1 for single thread testing its fine.
 I tried multiple memory sticks and ram speed its always the same.
 
  I tried same test on Ryzen 2200G machine and i got same freeze, maybe its this version of Memtest broken, or not compatbile with these machines.
  
 But i tried Passmarks Memtest86 and its running fine.
  
Temperatures:
- CPU is always under 50 C
- HwInfo i thing its bug reports some Temperature 6 senzor - 94 C, but any other tools Aida, HWmonitoring reports all metrics (except Videocars) under 40C, so i thing its bug and is 94 F, not 94C.

Used hardware:
- CPU Intel G4400 cheapest CPU which i was able to get for testing (Ultra slimer, i hope that is not missing some needed instructions)
- GPU - KalmX 730 GT 4 GB (DDR 5), i had not problem with it with other machines, some errors are there even if videocard is not under load.. 
- HDD - Seagate 500 GB - Aida / HWinfo report SMART values as fine, worked with other MB, i not for long time and no some long testing, but all seems to be fine.
- Aureal Vortex 1 PCI sound card - tested with other machines
- Silicon Image 680 PCI controller - but problem were appear even before i added it to system, and other controllers
- Asmedia Sata 106x controller in IDE mode - - but problem were appear even before i added it to system, and other controllers
- Geforce 6200 TurboCache, used only for Win98 and Dos - at least Memtest problem is not related to it, i removed this cards it was the same.
- NEC / Renesas USB3 PCI-E controller, added later later problems, were already here
  
I tried to exchange some HW to be some that problem is not with it:
- I tried 2 Geforce 730 Gpus
- I tried 2 different ram sticks
- I tried different ram slots
- Geforce 730 with DDR3 and 2GB VRAN
- disable in Bios Realtek HD and Nvidia audio
- disablde in Bios VT-d and High-precision timer, i ACPI 214-2019, realtek LAN, Enable Decode Above 4GB, i tried everything.
- at least HW info CPU multithread test is running fine

Which HW could be problem source expect MB:
- CPU is not tested with other MB, its new one..
- Geforce 6200 Turbo Cache, newer was tested with other machines, for long time, - just for boot and it was fine. 

What is stable:
Win7 - never got freeze in game, i tried at least Unreal Tournament III for 15,20 minutes..
WIn7: Unigine Valley was stable for 30 minutes.
Boot - i never got freezing during boot, in exception of Win7 update installation, during boot process  
WinXP - Quake III demo
WinXP - Unigine Heaven - Direct9 - its work fine
Win7 - internet browsers are working fine

Other clues:
Linux, when i reboot to it, i see some senzor with value 56C - im not sure that it is but it could be MB, its heatsink is pretty small and clunky. // Heatsink replaced now i have 46C, but i dont im sure that is not source of WinXP problems.

Edited April 19, 2019 by ruthan

[ruthan]

I tried AMD 3450 PCIE videocard but problems are the same, so its some HW, BIOS issue or some nasty WIndows issues, any ideas are welcomed..

[ruthan]

I have tried clean XP installation is still the same, so it has to be something wrong with:
MB
Bios
CPU - i never used that Pentium G4400 slimer, i not find in bios classic disable core option, to check is problem in multithreading, there is some thread affinity options in Task manager but browsers open new thread quickly..
 My guess is that is MB or Bios, but i cant be sure.

Edited March 9, 2019 by ruthan

[ruthan]

I tried other cpu, its still the same, im out of ideas its mb feature, or half broken Mb or something wrong with acpi patched bios, even than in theory thte could exist some sw fix. Best test would be someone with same mb or get second one..

 

[ruthan]

Ok, i simulated some problem with Z370 MB with ACPI patched bios, when i run same installation in MPS mode, its working fine so its ACPI related.

With Z170 in MPS mode, SDI tool driver download is now working, browsers too and Warcraft III demo speed is fine.. There are some negative MPS instead of ACPI machine type, but at least applications are working..

[Goodmaneuver]

It has been a while but I have labeled some nVidia drivers that work or max version that supports certain cards. Test with Dungeon Siege 1 for correct displaying. I am talking Vista or Win7 but could be same with XP. 175.19 FX5200, 81.95 Xp Quadro NVS, 91.36 Xp Quadro4. I would install 162.50 and check with DS if OK. I would not go any higher in driver vs unless it works flawlessly. I would not go any higher than about vs 280 though. Now you have to install a standard graphics card driver first. Then you have to remove the nVidia files from the system and control panel directory otherwise they will not be overwritten and control panel will not work with older driver files and if driver files not replaced then they do not work as intended when going back in driver version. Hope this helps.

The AMD 3450 should be OK but be weary of too moderner driver. Try drivers that are more relevant to the release of the card. It probably is RAM settings or too higher link transfer speed (have to find correct wording). The auto settings push the limits too far and can cause hardware failure eventually. Check for hard faults in RAM. What I do not like in particular is that Win10 deliberately decides to not access so called inoperative RAM so that when we fix the RAM by slowing down access times we can still loose our complete operating system if we are not aware of what is happening. I have to get all my data off my drive now as I did not know enough after an update. I think this was the web site I used to fix it https://borncity.com/win/2017/10/06/windows-10-update-error-0xc0000017-no-ramdisk-memory/ But I did a system restore after the update went wrong and hence it would not boot after I fixed the error. If choose to do a system rebuild as setup disc option, it says it keeps personal files but the rest of the disc is wiped. (I have just done the reinstall with selecting to keep personal files & I am pleased to say that it did not wipe my programs as it said it would & all is back to normal again.)

The first paragraph remains correct for GeForce 6 series cards. I have not had any trouble with 512MB nVidia graphics cards with WinME, no patches. (Not sure though, if included in MESP1 I could have the patch). I have a 7300 512MB and a 7600 512MB card. I have virtual memory settings of 500MB. Alias a Win98 game will tell you if there is not enough graphics RAM for the settings chosen. It is not hard to go over 128MB. Settlers 6 and Glory of the Roman Empire must use a bit. If not enough virtual memory is employed, Glory will freeze while the info is calculated on the hard drive.

>>But i tried Passmarks Memtest86 and its running fine.

All tests will need to be done and will take a long time. The OSs use different modes of driving memory and can still get errors. I had to boot up and then lock settings of RAM to manual as best I could in BIOS settings then lower the access timing as low as possible on the Win10 machine to get reliable performance; 1333 down to min 400.

>>multithread test by F2

Make sure multi threading is enabled in BIOS as it seems default is disabled.

I did not like the Aureal Vortex driver because it was not compatible with something which I do not remember. It is one of the few sound cards that I have that work though and was difficult to get one that was 64 bit PCI slot compatible. I assume you have tried without this card plugged in.

I do not own any LGA1151 boards so I am not up to speed on the modern stuff.
 

Edited January 12, 2020 by Goodmaneuver
Editted part in brackets