SL will not run on AthlonMP

Okay, I have a feeling I'm one of very, very few people with this configuration, and I'm intimiately familiar with the hardware (including the chipset, which I have the docs for.)

Nutshell; SL crashes on login or at first redraw with AGP Checked. Without AGP Checked, SL does not crash immediately, but does fail to display redrawn items and associated bodyparts. So if I change my shirt and pants, I am now a floating head with hands and feet. At which point the game then crashes.

I've got 100% reproduction on all issues, and I've tried more than a few video settings to try and alleviate these issues. No such luck. As far as the drivers go, the AMD762/766 miniport is installed of course, and I've applied the registry fixes for large memory and timing-cranky cards.

Hardware is dual Athlon MP1200, 2GB, Tyan Thunder K7 (AMD762/AMD766), 2x 3Com 3C980 (second disabled,) Adaptec AIC7899 SCSI, ESS Solo1 audiom, nVidia GeForce4 Ti4200 64MB or Ti4200 128MB.

Driver versions are:
AMD762 - 5.33.2195.0 (with Registry patches applied)
Ti4200 - nForce 81.94
AIC7899 - 5.0.2195.6717 Root Control, 5.0.2183.1 Individual
ESS1 - 5.0.2184.1 (Microsoft)

Other applications and games have no issues (City of Heroes/City of Villains, Steam, Source, Freespace2.) No hardware faults found no matter how much I stress it.

I'm out of ideas, but I haven't fired up PCIScope yet. Anyone been through this before and got a fix?
And yes, I've been submitting crashlogs.

Hmmm... wild thing to attempt in addition to all the things you've already tried, and I sure hope you do get in, Ketrien: can you set affinity to just one processor for running SL? Just to see if it goes at all? I'm on a dual-core Opteron that has some problems like stuttering when CPU 0 and CPU 1 are both ticked, and it isn't quite the same, but perhaps it's worth a go.

Did give it a shot on both CPU0 and CPU1, to no avail here. I also attempted the blunt hammer method (that being, remove a CPU so there's only one.) Still no dice.
Strange thing is that this version of the nVidia drivers are known to have specific problems with dual-cores. Can't reproduce these problems on the Athlon MP no matter how I try. My gut instinct is that something in the way SL is drawing player models is ticking off the AMD762MP. (Not MPX, thank gods. Very nasty windowing bugs in that version.)

I have gotten in, which is part of how I found the reproducible redraw. Initially couldn't get past the first 30 seconds of login, so I gave up and installed on a second system here. Which, of course, is too underspecced to enjoy SL.

That's strange, are you sure it's the MP and not something else?

I've been running SL here on a dual Athlon MP 2000+, on the Tyan Tiger MPX motherboard. GeForce 6800, Terratec DMX X-Fire 1024 sound card. Works just fine.

To me it sounds more like a videocard issue.

ok.. since we know its a Geforce4 Ti4200 do you have the latest drivers from nVidia or NGO installed? Do you play any other games besides SL on this computer? If so how do they react?

Not 100% positive, no. However, logically, it's really the only part left that could be causing it. Unless there's a glitch specific to Ti4200's. It could be an undiscovered bug. It's not the 762MPX windowing bug - that I know by heart. Used to have a K7X with a WildcatIII 6120. (And a heatsink from a PentiumIII on the chipset.)

So that said, let's find out. I got a screenshot of me being just a floating head (cue the Talking Heads,) flickering UI not included. So, I fired up PCIScope, set up some register watching goodness, and made the game crash a couple more times.

It's not the AMD762MP or the Ti4200. All registers are staying creen, including both stat regs. Not the Solo1, same thing. It's definitely related to AV rendering, and not surrounding area, though surrounding area does affect it. If I do it at the Taco, Taco teleport landmark, it takes a few runs to make it splat. If I do it inside Dwellget, once or twice at most before it bails out hard. If I limit affinity to one CPU, it won't crash, it simply won't draw any changed parts of my avatar. At all. It's definitely not the AV itself; ran through six different ones, just to make sure. Not a specific texture either.



It's not a video card issue. As stated in my initial post; the system also runs City of Heroes/City of Villains, Steam, and Freespace2. No issues in any other games whatsoever. Drivers are the latest release from nVidia, which arguably is not the best idea, but they are the latest anyways. (Maybe I should just throw the Wildcat 5110G in here to see what happens, besides being unable to play anything other than Steam...)

So, I've definitely got a way to get 100% reproduction of all cases now. Just go to Dwellget, try to change my appearance, crash. And we can rule out hardware interaction fault. So, where to from here?