Any PC Wizards / Tech savvy in here?.

I recently upgraded one of my 386SX Amstrad Mega PC's (16MB) with a Cyrix cx486srx2+ utililty and unfortunately one of my favorite MS-DOS games stopped working. The game in question is "Fifa International soccer". I've heard this is a somewhat problematic DOS game but I've never had any issues with it until now :Panda: .

http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/...psibkgavvu.jpg

Basically, the game always played great while the Mega PC was still a 386SX 25Mhz with a SBpro2 sound card and it was all configured no problem. But now all I get is a memory protection fault error when I try to run it:

http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/...psj0ce6upk.jpg

http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/...psvpqkkwls.jpg

http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/...psqjtwd4bt.jpg

I removed the Cyrix cx486srx2 off the motherboard just to double check and the game worked again, reinstalled it and the issue came right back. I also ran some diagnostic tools on the cx486srx2 and it passes all of the tests, so it seems to be installed properly and working as it should. Things I've tried so far: disabling the cx486srx2 1K cache, removing the Intel 387 coprocessor, to no available :( .

The weird thing is that the game some times will start and play at random, but for the most part all I get is the error. Any ideas of what can be done to solve the problem? I'm all ears and thanks in advance for any replies.

http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/...psetoqxprp.jpg

http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/...psf1ztbd64.jpg

I hate when that happens, I have no idea what could be causing it.

I do remember when I upgraded my 133mhz Cyrix to a 233mhz Pentium and all of a sudden my entire memory config was messed up.
Had to completely redo it to get back optimal memory settings.

Has your memory config changed? how much memory do you have?

You said you disabled cache, did you do this by going into the bios or with a cache disable program?

Have you tried a program to slow your cpu? like moslo.

Just throwing options out there, I'm sure someone else will have a better solution.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NeoVamp

Has your memory config changed? how much memory do you have?

You said you disabled cache, did you do this by going into the bios or with a cache disable program?

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Nothing else has changed other than adding the upgrade and it has 16MB. The chip comes with a software util that let's you disable the cache in case a problem is to arise like a timing loop which I was indeed having but was able to fix with the manual instructions, but that it doesn't seem to be related to the FIFA game.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NeoVamp

Have you tried a program to slow your cpu? like moslo.

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At this point I'm willing to try anything, I'm not entirely familiar with moslo but I'm going to look into it thanks. From what I've read the only way to play this game in DOSbox for example is to type: cputype=386_prefetch

I haven't heard the name Cyrix, in forever.

I remember Cyrix kind of well from back then and I remember stuff like this is why I avoided the things. Lawsuits, patents, harassment...intel had such a choke hold on stuff the two other competitors AMD and Cyrix had to invent their own process and they were not 100% accurate to the locked down intel model. There were enough notable cases especially with Cyrix where games and apps would completely fail if it was installed/enabled but would work fine on intel and usually amd as well. I don't recall all the garbage behind it, but in the gaming circles I was in on and offline people shunned it because of performance both in it not being all that good but primarily incompatibility.

If all you're saying here is that you put it in, the game fails, and again removed and it lives again -- it's the crappy chip. I doubt you'll find much online unless you find someone with documents or a photographic memory of stuff from the earlier-mid 90s who could really answer that question at a forum site like VOGONs where some live.

Apparently FIFA will only run on intels, AMD procs also have problems

http://www.planet3dnow.de/vbulletin/...00-kompatibel?

Cyrix == Iffy.
It's not supposed to work well and much less to provide a stable environment.

I remember older computers liked to shit the bed a lot if you didn't use the EXACT RIGHT species of SIMM. Since EDO and non-EDO SIMM RAM is dirt cheap, maybe buy a set that is the opposite of what you have?

Also, MemTest86+ can scan RAM pretty well to look for weirdness or dead cells.