Help ! Video card drivers keep messing upI have a Radeon x1950 Pro graphics card wit

[Blacklight]

Hello. Long time Subsim member and lurker here.
I've been posting this question all over the net on tech help pages for the past several weeks and not gotten one response or suggestion for doing anything that I havn't already done. I come here as a last resort.

I have a Radeon x1950 Pro graphics card with the latest legacy Catalyst driver for it and a computer with a fully updated version of Windows XP.
Several days ago, I turned on my computer to find that the screen resolution was set so low that it looked like an old EGA screen.
A window popped up stating that the Catalyst driver is not compatible with this version of Windows XP which is odd because I've been running this thing fine on XP for years. So windows had reverted to it's own "default driver" that doesn't go higher than like 300x600 resolution.
I uninstalled the drivers and the Catalyst software and installed a fresh copy. Everything worked fine... until, I set the screen to 1280x1024 which has always been the screen resolution I have always used. It will look and work fine, until I reboot the computer and the drivers will be gone, Windows will be back to 300x600 resolution again.

So I thought this might be a virus so I reformatted the hard drive, put Windows in, updated Windows so everything was current, put the Catalyst drivers in. Everything fine. Set the screen resolution to 1280x1024. It worked fine. Restarted the computer.... BAM.... back to 300x600 resolution and forced to uninstall and reinstall the Catalyst software again.

The only possibility I can think of is that maybe one of the new Windows updates is screwing with the Catalyst driver. Either that, or something is wrong with the graphics card. It works fine with all the resolutions up to 1260x1024. As soon as it hits that resolution and is rebooted, the drivers die.

In my device manager, my Radeon appears to be functioning properly.
Also, on a whim, I ran a full ScanDisk just in case and no errors were found.

ATI has been no help whatsoever since they refuse to give me any tech support. I have also tried rolling back my drivers to older ones but I still get the same problem.

The exact error message I get when the computer boots and the drivers failed is: "The Catalyst Control Center is not supported by the driver version of your enabled graphics adaptor. Please Update your ATI graphics driver or enable your ATI adaptor using the Display Manager"

It's almost like the drivers uninstall themselves on re-boot after I set them to a higher resolution.

[danasan]

PowerStrip is a little shareware program you should try before getting mad. It is fully functional even as shareware. Look, if that can help you, the program itself is in English language.

Do you use the system recovery function in WIN XP ? That could be a reason as well, especially after a full OS update.

Let us know what happens next...

Edit: Read here... http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/ps.shtm

[Jan Kyster]

Only have some suggestions here...

Re-seat card (take out and put back in) to exclude a possible bad connection.
Same goes with cable to monitor (both ends if detachable from monitor).

I've found that the latest driver, I'm able to get to work flawless with cards below the 6XXX-series (at least when it comes to SH4 ), is version 10.9.

Before trying this or older versions, run "Remove All ATI software" from Add/Remove Programs, reboot and then delete the ATI config folder:
- enable show hidden files
- go to c:\users\your username\AppData\Local\ATI
- delete ATI folder including subfolders

Once done, try original install disc that came with your card.
If that works, make a system restore entry and try 10.9
Working? then make another system restore entry and try above drivers etc.

If no luck, you must test your card in another pc.
And of course try another card in your pc.


Good luck, but please report back for our common knowledgebase

[Arclight]

Can't you install Radeon drivers without CCC? Seem to recall something like that. Resolution can be set in Windows without it, so it's not strictly nescesary. Provided it's indeed CCC that's being problematic, might solve your problem.

Other than that I really don't know what to add to what has already been said. Last time I used a Radeon was with my 9250.

[Blacklight]

I shut off "System Restore" on all drives and that SEEMS to have solved the problem. I've rebooted several times with no problem so far. I'll post again if the problem re-emerges.

[Jan Kyster]

In no way that is a cure and makes no sense whatsoever...





I'm probably going to explode in a couple of minutes...

[Blacklight]

You are absolutely right. I read your statement, restarted my computer again to re-test it (after it had been on for a while) and when it started up, the screen was back to 800 x 600 resolution.
Power Strip is also installed and did not prevent the problem. I just uninstalled it, re-installed the video drivers, again, and it's working properly (at least until I restart where I will probably have to re-load the drivers again.)

The process goes: 1. I start the computer and the drivers have failed and it's at 800 x 600 resolution.
2. I re-install the drivers
3. I re-boot the pc and everything is perfect and functions exactly as it should.
4. When next I re-start the pc... *go back to 1.*

I checked my monitor cables and they're attached tightly. I have yet to pull out and re-seat the graphics card.

Is all this pointing to needing a new graphics card or is this a software issue of some sort ?

[Jan Kyster]

Too early to answer until you've gone through the steps above!

My guess is some of the settings in ATI config folder is messing with your card...





Oh! and I didn't explode!

[Blacklight]

Okay:
1. PowerStrip did not help.
Did not solve the problem.
2. Uninstalled Catalyst Control Center making sure that everything including folders were removed and re-installed it and the drivers using the "full package" installer that ATI has.
Did not solve the problem
3. Installed the drivers manually
Did not solve the problem
4. Lowering hardware acceleration seemed to make it so I could boot a few times with no issue but then the problem came back.
5. Turning off the System Restore seemed to have the same effect as # 4.
6. I uninstalled the card and then installed the drivers that came with the card from the disk and had the problem come back.
7. Checked monitor cables and all are in tight.
8. Tested my graphics with DXdiag with no issues. The card performed perfectly.
9. On a whim, I ran a ScanDisk just to check to see if there might be some bad sectors on the hard drive where the drivers just happen to be falling into (It's happened to me before). ScanDisk encountered not a single error or issue.

10. Going to pop the card out and re-seat it next.

[Blacklight]

Okay. I just took out the graphics card. Cleaned the dust. Put the card back in, screwed those monitor cables in TIGHT and re-started. No error messages so far but then again, it's too soon. Some of the other methods I tried seemed to get me several normal re-boots before the problem re-surfaced again.

[Blacklight]

I decided to re-boot my computer one more time before going to bed and the problem occurred again. Where do I go from here ? I'm not going to be able to try this card out in another PC because everyone I know has laptops only.

[Blacklight]

Okay... latest summery of symptoms and everything I've done to try to track down what's causing the issue.

Okay. This sums up the issue:
The process goes:
1. I start the computer and the drivers have failed and it's at 800 x 600 resolution. There will be an error message that says, "The Catalyst Control Center is not supported by the driver version of your enabled graphics adaptor. Please Update your ATI graphics driver or enable your ATI adaptor using the Display Manager"
Display manager won't let me edit anything. All the configuring stuff will be greyed out.
2. I will uninstall the drivers
3. I re-install the drivers
4. I re-boot the pc and everything is perfect and functions exactly as it should.
5. When next I re-start the pc... *go back to 1.*


Here is my list of everything I've tried so far.

1. I tried the program PowerStrip. It did not help.
2. Uninstalled Catalyst Control Center making sure that everything including folders were removed and re-installed it and the drivers using the "full package" installer that ATI has.
Did not solve the problem
3. Installed the drivers manually
Did not solve the problem
4. Lowering hardware acceleration seemed to make it so I could boot a few times with no issue but then the problem came back.
5. Turning off the System Restore seemed to have the same effect as # 4.
6. I uninstalled the card and then installed the drivers that came with the card from the disk and had the problem come back.
7. Checked monitor cables and all are in tight.
8. Tested my graphics with DXdiag with no issues. The card performed perfectly.
9. On a whim, I ran a ScanDisk just to check to see if there might be some bad sectors on the hard drive where the drivers just happen to be falling into (It's happened to me before). ScanDisk encountered not a single error or issue.
10. Opened up the PC, took out the graphics card, cleaned the dust inside and on the card while I had the case open. I then re-seated the card and screwed the monitor cables in TIGHT.
After a few re-boots, the problem came back.

My next experiment was to totally uninstall the Catalyst Control Center and all drivers, and then I put JUST THE DRIVERS in without the Catalyst Control Center and am using Windows Display Properties to configure things. I don't know if this is going to do anything because that's how I was originally set up before this problem first occured. I'll see what happens when I re-start it in the morning when I get up.

[danasan]

That is a shame. PowerStrip should have forced the hardware to switch to the desired resolution after start up. In my case, it wrote me a specific display driver supporting my monitor.

In the past, some mainboards used to share resources on different slots, f.x. the old AGP slot and the next PCI slot below it. So it was better not to use both of them. But if you did not change any hardware...

System restore function on XP restores missing so called "necessary system files" on start up, even if those copies are messed up, defective or viruses:

Best example was a virus in 2003. After booting a message popped up: "Your machine will be shut down in ...sec". You could clean that virus easily, but with SRF enabled, it was just restored after next boot.
I had it myself and on different machines. I have to look up the name. IMHO, the best restore function is an image of a working installation kept elsewhere.

But this all does not solve the actual problem.

Not all of the patches and updates for XP are good ones, IMHO. I remember one which disabled me completely from using / installing my printer. Good luck was that I installed all the updates manually and could find out which one it was. For having a poor internet connection at that time, I kept those updates on DVD for further installations. That is why I did it that way.

You stated that you:

"So I thought this might be a virus so I reformatted the hard drive, put Windows in, updated Windows so everything was current, put the Catalyst drivers in. Everything fine. Set the screen resolution to 1280x1024. It worked fine. Restarted the computer.... BAM.... back to 300x600 resolution and forced to uninstall and reinstall the Catalyst software again."

So I suspect one of the updates in your case, if

- you did not change any hardware
- tried the same drivers that used to work before
- if you did not install any other 3rd company dx.... stuff than before

What I would do as a last try and last chance:

0. Make sure you have all the drivers you need on HDD, USB stick etc.
1. Unplug internet
2. Format C:\
3. Install XP as it comes from CD without any updates
4. Install only the necessary mainboard drivers etc. until you can fire up the catalyst drivers
5. See what happens without installing anything else, boot several times.
6. If that really works, make an image of that installation at that stage and store it elsewhere. So you are able to start again from that image in future. That saves you a lot of time.
7. If not, sorry, I can't help you.

[Blacklight]

That's actually going to be my next step. So far, installing just the drivers without the Catalyst Control Center seems to be working fine (knock on wood). I haven't had a bad re-boot since I did that but it still may be too early to tell because as I said before, with the other methods, I got several good re-boots and the problem came back.
I agree with your assessment and have been suspecting that as a possible cause. We'll see what happens. I'm hoping that just simply not having the Catalyst Control Center in there and using the Windows Display Manager to run the configuration will solve the issue. I'm cautiously optimistic.

[danasan]

Let's hope the best. Good luck!