New vidcard - need help

[bert8for3]

Sorry to post here about a general tech issue, but I'm busy pulling out what little hair I have left and could use some help.

I put in a Radeon X1650 Pro vidcard a coupla hours ago, just can't get it up and running. I had an older one in before with no problems when I put it in.

The new card didn't want to install from the cd. So I downloaded the Catalyst software and the install ran from that. The screen adjusted (although some desktop items weren't displaying) and I thought I was up and running. rebooted and have done so a lot and each time I get booted into a 600x800 8 bit screen. I get a message saying that Catalyst is not compatible with the graphics driver or something like that. I've checked the Radeon driver and shows installed, although I've reinstalled it anyway.

I'm not coming up with any bright ideas. I was into the bios looking to see if I can disable the onboard graphics, 'cause maybe that's it, but I'm not seeing a bios setting for that.

Anyway any ideas/help much appreciated, will check back in a while.

[Zakalwe]

I would try uninstalling any video-driver found on your system, reboot (then the system should run with the generic standard -vga-driver) and then install the Catalyst software again. Be sure to have the MS frame-network software is installed, otherwise the Catalyst Control center won`t work.

Z.

PS.: IIRC there is a special un-installing software available at ATI.

[bigboywooly]

Make sure you uninstall your old drivers before installing the new ones

[bert8for3]

tks guys, I'll work on it as you suggest.

[bert8for3]

No luck. I uninstalled Catalyst and checked that all the drivers were uninstalled. DotNet is there. I reinstalled Catalyst and it installs fine and reboots into a 1080x764 screen and I can configure the card etc. It shows as installed and working fine in hardware properties and display settings. Oddly, after it's finished setting up, a lot of the desktop icons disappear, leaving only their names on the screen (not that this is a big deal, but I mention it in case it suggests what the problem might be).

After this reinstall, I was curious and popped in a game disk (M2TW just because it loads a lot faster than SH3). Got the game mouse cursor but an otherwise black screen.

When I rebooted after that, it just reboots into a horrible looking 640x480 res and 4-bit colour. The ATI card still shows as being active, but I can't change res.

I'll try it again, but in the meanwhile if anyone has any ideas ...

[bert8for3]

And just in case it has something to do with the problem, I've looked at System Devices in Hardware Manager. Seems to me I used to have an AGP-something device (vidcard is AGP), but now I only show an Intel###### Processor to AGP Controller, whatever that is. So I'm wondering if I have the AGP functionality.

If that's the case, where do I get it?

[slow_n_ez]

had a heck of time when I first upgraded my card to an ATI x-700 ..... you have to do as susgested and UNinstall all old drivers ..... better yet .... remove the card ... put your old one back in .... boot up .... then go into control panel and system hardware and UNinstall all video drivers and devices ........ shut down .........

install new card again .. boot up and windows should tell you new hard ware found and it'll want to set it up DON"T LET IT

go into control panel again and choose the add new hardware icon ..... put you new CD into drive and make it read it ...... if by chance you still can't get the cd to read ... go to a friends house ( if you don't have an extra pc avaible ) and make a CD image of it and upload the image someplace so you can download it ...... once downloaded use a virtual CD to mount the image but close the screen that pops up wanting to install anything ................. run the add new hardware and then point the files to copy from at the virtual cd ......


My ATI Radeon X-700 wouldn't run right until I installed off my cd that came with it ... it still doesn't like most of the new catylast upgades either .. so I just use what came on cd ............


edit : bios will disable onboard graphics at boot up if it detects a video card ..... windows installs a generic video driver to get up a screen to look at ..............

[i_b_spectre]

Originally Posted by bert8for3

And just in case it has something to do with the problem, I've looked at System Devices in Hardware Manager. Seems to me I used to have an AGP-something device (vidcard is AGP), but now I only show an Intel###### Processor to AGP Controller, whatever that is. So I'm wondering if I have the AGP functionality.

If that's the case, where do I get it?

What does your System/Hardware Manager show under Display Adapters further up the list? That's where it'll show your video card info rather than under the System Devices, which shows mostly motherboard level info. I presume the card you replaced was also an AGP?

[JuJuMan]

Hi have been an ATi user for some years now and have never had a problem. You may want to try the following.

The correct procedure for uninstalling an old Ati Driver is as follows;

Under Control Panel/Add Remove Programs

1. Uninstall the Catalyst Control Centre first.

Do not reboot

2. Uninstall the Ati Display Drivers

Do not reboot

3. Uninstall the Ati Software removal utility (this will open up a new window asking you if you want to remove ALL Ati Driver info. Select YES)

4. Reboot your PC.

5. Make sure you have Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 installed (Windows Update to check this one)

5.Install your Catalyst Software Suite. Current version 7.8 (35.4MB) from here http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/xp/radeonx-xp.html

6. Reboot and you should be good to go.

JJM

[bert8for3]

@all

Tks a lot for the advice . Yup it's an AGP card. Right now, after another uninstall/reinstall last night, Device Manager shows the new card and its secondary (whaterver that is) as the display adapter, although I've got the 640x480 4-bit screen again. Display settings also shows the card as active, but it won't adjust the res.

When I uninstall and reboot, the new card doesn't show and for display adapters I get a couple of ?marks with one of them saying vga compatible adapter or something like that which I guess is the basic Windows adapter that takes over.

I'll uninstall again and try what you're all suggesting. I'll try some different combos including yanking the card and putting the old one back in and "re-uninstalling".

I still want to try it several more times before giving up and reformatting/reloading the comp from scratch. While that's not a big deal in some ways, it's still a pain in the neck, and with some risk of losing my present career (and even Bernard was starting to shape up a bit ).

[siber]

Dumb-ass question: Is your monitor able to display the resolutions output from the graphcs card?

[JU_88]

ATI drivers often caused me headaches in the past, I switched to Nvidia a while back -never had a problem since.

[bert8for3]

Originally Posted by siber

Dumb-ass question: Is your monitor able to display the resolutions output from the graphcs card?

:hmm: Good question. I've been assuming that when it's "installed" its displaying output from the card. But that's only because it's displaying in 1024x768, and I haven't actually tried changing the res through Catalyst.

It could be I suppose that it's only displaying the generic 1024x7768 that I get when I uninstall, and that I'm just thinking that it's running the card output. Next time I install, I'll try changing the res and see what happens. This might at least indicate that the card's not actually being installed at all, versus seeming to be but not working properly.

Tks.

PS: btw, ref earlier saying to check that DotNet 2.0 is installed. It's always said that it is. I'm running Windows Update just now for the heck of it and the optional software updates include a DotNet 3.0 ... any prob if I install that?

[i_b_spectre]

It's not a dumb question at all, particularly if he's using an LCD monitor. One of the advantages of CRT monitors was their ability to handle a wide variety of resolutions and vertical refresh rates. LCDs, on the other hand, usually have a "native" resolution at which they are designed to operate and choosing any other rez than that can result in a variety of display issues. Many of the standard rules that applied to setting up for CRTs don't apply to LCDs, such as vertical refresh rates which, on CRTs, were always suggested higher than 60Hz to avoid flickering and eye fatigue. LCDs do not display the same way and 60Hz vertical refresh works fine. The Radeon X1650 Pro is listed as capable of around 2500x1600 max rez, depending on the brand, so it would be logical to assume you could find a compatible rez somewhere along the line.

It is expected that you would see a primary and secondary listed under your Hardware Manager's "Display Adapter" after installing the drivers. If you uninstall them, the computer will revert to SVGA so you can still have a display with which to continue your work (i.e., installing/updating display drivers). You might even want to try an earlier version of the Catalyst drivers. Sometimes the latest isn't always the greatest for your particular card. Good luck, I hope you can sort it out and set sail soon.

[bert8for3]

Originally Posted by i_b_spectre

It's not a dumb question at all, particularly if he's using an LCD monitor. ... You might even want to try an earlier version of the Catalyst drivers. Sometimes the latest isn't always the greatest for your particular card. Good luck, I hope you can sort it out and set sail soon.

Tks ... I've got CRT. If the next attempt doesn't take, I'll try a previous version of Catalyst. Since it didn't want to run install off the cd, I've been trying with a downloaded 7.8 ver of Catalyst, which is the latest.

For now, stuck in port with the main engine in pieces all over the place and a whole lot of bad language coming from the engine room . But things can only get better .