What is the problem with ATI? 2

[denzilla]

I'm using an ATI radeon 7500 64meg AGP card. Over the last few days, I've been getting more and more angry with ATI's cards and their customer support. Over the last couple of months, I've downloaded 2 versions of their almighty catalyst drivers. These drivers are supposed to be so stable with WinXP. Lets see... first set of drivers caused my screen to have a sidespin problem when running games. Second set.... kept getting message that windows was unable to open such and such file on bootup. Browsing the threads at this great site seem to indicate that people with ATI cards have far more problems than those who use the Nvidia line. I've e-mailed ATI customer sevice and all I ever get is a stupid link to their Faq pages that tell you nothing and leave you with more confused than when you started. Am I the only one here that has these problems? I have driven myself mad with troubleshooting, re-installing,e-mailing, checking and rechecking. I may not be the most intelligent PC user in the world but I know enough that I should not have these kinds of problems.

Anyone else care to vent?

 

[KevinAr18]

Did you have a nVidia card on the computer before you had this one on there?

 

[gargouille]

Been wondering about your problem, Denzilla, and am pleased you got it fixed.

Have to disagree with one point you bring up, tho,
"not as fun doing something you like for a living rather than for fun"

It's WAY MORE fun than working.

 

[denzilla]

No Nvidia. Weird problem. I'm just glad its fixed. Now, If only I could cure the 60HZ refesh lock of XP. Refresh Force did jack for me. Thanks guys.

 

[gargouille]

Tried Reforce?
Another comment: copied from elsewhere
[[Alternatively if you run DXDIAG go to MORE HELP and select DirectDraw override you can enter a figure of say 100 and see how you get on. This only works for Direct X games. For OpenGL there is a similar trick (but not
as effective) if you search the web you'll find it.]]

 

[KevinAr18]

XP with SP1 actually defaults to 75Hz I believe - it's a little better than the 60, but still not the final solution.

Did Refresh Force detect your refresh rates correctly before you applied the settings?

 

[denzilla]

Garg:

I'll remember the directx trick. Could come in handy Someday. Just about all my games are OpenGL, so I'll hunt for that fix too. Thanks for the tips!

KevinAR: Refesh force correctly detected settings but still no effect. Tried re-installing the Gfx drivers like they said with no results. I can't use SP1 on my machine as it caused some major problems. Shut down and restart freezes to be specific. SP1 caused me to erase/reload HDD once, not trying it again. Saved SP1 to a disc in case I figure out the problem though.

 

[KevinAr18]

Simple question: did you hit apply?
Just gotta make sure, sometimes I tend to overlook something myself (though when it comes to computers I don't as much).

 

[denzilla]

Fixed refresh problem today! I played around with refresh force and noticed under monitors there were 2 plug and plays listed. Its weird because I'm running only 1 monitor. After upgrading to the catalyst 2.4 drivers I used refresh force immediately after install and boom! everything is as it should be. I can now kill germans in Medal of honor AA with all graphical splendor. Finally starting to like my machine again.

 

[marchristensen]

I am having similar Radeon problems and was hoping that with your thoughtful replies here, you might have some advice for me. Hardware setup is:
Dell P3 - 800 MH desktop
Radeon 9000 Pro - 64MG
758MG memory
2 40GB hard drives
Windows 98SE

I installed the Radeon card about a month ago and it worked just fine and dandy. This weekend I tried to install a second monitor - Primary monitor is analog LCD and secondary monitor is CRT attached to converter attached to DVI connection in card. At first image appeared on both monitors ok. Then I tried to extend the desktop. I could not do it and I then lost the ability to hold the left mouse button down and do anything. Can't drag and drop. Can't highlight extended text. When I try to drag, the computer acts as if I have double clicked. The mouse cursor shakes when mouse is at rest. This is in all applications. Basically I cannot reliably use the computer in this state. I have given up using the second monitor, for now - completly disconnected it. All I am trying to do is to get my computer back to where it was.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled ATI drivers about a million times. I even uninstalled and reinstalled mouse drivers. I changed the mouse. If I boot up in Safe mode, I cannot use the mouse at all. It moves the cursor vertically, a little, but will not move the cursor across the sceen at all.

I really do not want to reformat the hard drive - although I have had the machine for three years and there is tons of junk on it. I try and keep the registry clean.

Based on your recommendation above, I have downloaded SISANDRA which I will try tonight. Would you have any other thoughts that might help?

Thanks
Lynn

 

[KevinAr18]

Could you mouse be going bad?
Have you tried a different mouse that connects to a different port?

 

[Tschibo]

I really ran into major problems using the "great" Catalyst drivers. I got crashes and screwed up graphics under Win2kPro and XPPro as well.
I downgraded back to the latest non-catalyst drivers and all is running well again.
2-monitors work well, too
About the refresh problem:
Install PowerStrip and all your probs are gone
Greetz
Christoph

 

[denzilla]

I can tell you what was causing my problem. If you installed the OEM card drivers that came on the ATI disc, it installs files in the windows or system 32 folder. Catalyst drivers install in their own folder on the C drive. The original OEM drivers leave some files behind after you uninstall them. I believe these files conflict with the files in the Catalyst package. I've been using the new drivers for awhile now and haven't had a problem. I would recommend a reformat/reload anyway. After 3 years, you're bound to have alot of useless junk to clean out. By doing that, you ensure you have no old drivers installed.

Good Luck,

Denzil