9700 Boot Problem

[jgbishop]

I'm having a problem with my Radeon 9700 Pro. First, here are my system specs:

* Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz, 800 MHz FSB
* Asus P4P800
* 1 GB Crucial DDR PC3200
* PowerColor Evil Commando 2 (Radeon 9700 Pro)
* Antec 430 Watt "True430" power supply

Every so often, maybe two or three times a month, I get a corrupt display on boot. The letters on screen appear corrupt, with little blocks all over them. Even more rarely, I occasionally get brown, vertical lines all over the screen. I never allow it to boot all the way into Windows, although I did allow it one time when I got the little brown lines. The lines appeared in Windows also, so I know that problem is not just a POST issue.

I have read the FAQ on this problem at the ATI website (Corrupted display when system is started), but they only recommend changing the power supply. My Antec "True430" power supply got great reviews on the web, which is why I bought it. I don't keep real close tabs on the voltages, but last I recall they were fairly accurate. I am going to install the Asus PC Probe and monitor them more closely.

I also don't think it is a temperature issue. I do not overclock, and I have an aluminum case with ample space inside (and several case fans). Does anyone have any ideas as to what this may be?

I have the latest Intel chipset drivers, my motherboard BIOS is version 1014 (1016 is the latest, IIRC), and I'm running the Catalyst 4.2 drivers.

A few other questions:

* Is my card defective?
* Does the 9800 series have this problem? I don't see it mentioned on the ATI website.
* Could it indeed be my power supply? If so, how do I verify this (not having another supply available)?

Thanks!

 

[Evdawg]

Have you tried a new video card? It may not be your 9700 Pro, it could be your ram, or chipset.

Try a new video card of your friends or something of that nature, and see if any of these problems occur.

If you want to try a new PSU, drop by best buy, or compusa... pick up a cheap crap one that will work for the time being, and then if this solved the problems, take it back then buy one according to your needs.

Good luck, I hope it all works out

 

[JackieChan]

I am having the same "display corruption on cold boot" problem for a week now. I have 9800 Pro in dell 8300.

 

[LTC8K6]

Is the card on it's own power supply cable by itself?

I vaguely recall this being mentioned somewhere as a possible fix.

 

[Engineer]

I've got to follow this thread...as I installed an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro in my Dell 400SC a few weeks ago and, upon a reboot (or cold boot), my desktop has artifacts and lines....after a few seconds, the screen goes black and reappears with no problems. All games run correctly. It's not overclocked, but does share a line with the HD. Hmmm.....

Maybe the Dell PS is too small upon boot?

 

[jgbishop]

Is the card on it's own power supply cable by itself?

I honestly don't remember. If it is not, I'll make the change and see if the problem crops up again. I'll post back once I check the status of the power cable.

 

[rbV5]

After several months of using my Antec truepower 480 with my HTPC gamer rig(AIW 9700pro), I would get sudden, random image corruption in Windows...reboot would be fine. Started watching my voltages with ASUS probe, and noticed that my +12.0v would drop down to ~10.7v out of the blue, to be quickly followed by image corruption. Replaced it with a 350watt enermax I had laying around and its been perfect for several months now again with no image corruption. Oddly, the Antec works flawless in my budget gamer rig, and the +12.0v Rail is stable.

 

[JackieChan]

Originally posted by: rbV5
After several months of using my Antec truepower 480 with my HTPC gamer rig(AIW 9700pro), I would get sudden, random image corruption in Windows...reboot would be fine. Started watching my voltages with ASUS probe, and noticed that my +12.0v would drop down to ~10.7v out of the blue, to be quickly followed by image corruption. Replaced it with a 350watt enermax I had laying around and its been perfect for several months now again with no image corruption. Oddly, the Antec works flawless in my budget gamer rig, and the +12.0v Rail is stable.

Looks like dell PSU is the chief suspect in this thing (which is strange since my dell psu has max power output 305W)...oh man, big mistake to buy this 8300. I have to upgrade so many things, I might as well build my own.

 

[futuristicmonkey]

Your problem might be your mobo. The P4P800 (or at least the Deluxe version)'s manual says to use a 9500Pro/9700Pro card version: PN xxx-xxxxx-30 or later, for optimum performance and overclocking stability. I hope this helps.

 

[JackieChan]

I got my replacement card from dell today. Put it in so far no problem but the true test is tomorrow morning when I cold boot the computer. let's see what happens.

 

[JackieChan]

For the 1st time in a week, my computer cold booted fine, without any display corruption. At this point, I think the video card was the problem.

 

[jgbishop]

Well, I checked my graphics card and it is indeed on a power cable by itself (the cable is not connected to any other device). I just booted up and got the graphical corruption again. Let it boot into Windows and checked the Asus probe readings for my power supply. Everything looks normal:

+12V: Ranged from 11.9 to 12.03.
+5V: Ranged from 4.9 to 5.0.
+3.3V: Ranged from 3.3 to 3.4.
VCore: 1.6V

My graphics card's PN is not of the form xxx-xxxxx-30, so that might be part of it.

Does anyone know of a reliable Asus board that does not have this requirement, yet supports a Pentium 4 2.8-GHz and 1 GB of DDR PC3200 RAM? I might switch motherboards to see what happens...

 

[futuristicmonkey]

Did you try putting the card on a different power cable?

 

[c0oKi3]

jgbishop... I have the very same problem.
and my specs are not all that different from yours too (cept for the manufacturer)

P4 3.2G
Abit IC7-Max3
1GB corsair twinx
Sapphire 9800pro AIW
Antec 430W psu

I read from sapphire's forum a couple months back.
There was this REALLY long posts regarding this issue.
Their solution was turning off fast-write (cant find the option on my mobo tho) and running it at 4x agp
upgrade your mobo bios and to request the latest bios for your vga card from ati
i did all that and this is what they replied

Hi,
I checked the PN, your video bios on card should be the latest. The hardware
issue should be concerned in this case. Pls contact your local dealer (where
you bought the card) for warranty.

regards
Tech Support

oo btw.... the really weird thing, after i upgraded my mobo bios, everything was fine for about 3 minutes
i have tried it on a different system and it still give corrupted boot
so... mine have been sitting in its box for quite sometime (bought it from overseas, so i cant return it)
and now... for some reason the long post is no longer in their forum
either every1's problems is fixed, or they just delete it cos its getting too long ^_^

 

[futuristicmonkey]

If you want to turn of fastwrites, do this: Right-click on the desktop and go to properties->Settings->Advanced->and click on the SmartGart tab. You will then be ablke to turn fastwrites off.

 

[c0oKi3]

Originally posted by: futuristicmonkey
If you want to turn of fastwrites, do this: Right-click on the desktop and go to properties->Settings->Advanced->and click on the SmartGart tab. You will then be ablke to turn fastwrites off.

cant find smartgart tab
there is a "enable write combining" option in the "troubleshoot" tab
is that the one?
if it is, then i'll give my 9800 pro another try

one other thing...
i m now using a PCI 9200
if i uncheck the option, would that apply to both agp and pci card
or would it be only for the pci (cos i currently only installed drivers for the pci)

 

[futuristicmonkey]

You sure you cant find the tab?

Take a look at this:Advanced Settings

And do try disabling Write Combining if this doesn't work. From the pop-up block explaining it, it may help.

Good luck

 

[BFG10K]

Try setting your AGP speed to x4 in the BIOS. Also make sure you have the latest chipset drivers for your system.

 

[c0oKi3]

Originally posted by: futuristicmonkey
You sure you cant find the tab?

Take a look at this:Advanced Settings

And do try disabling Write Combining if this doesn't work. From the pop-up block explaining it, it may help.

Good luck

Thank you for your help...
but i still cant find that tab.
When I 1st installed the system, i'm pretty sure that i have sth like that (3 rows of tabs)
but i didnt notice a smartgarb tab
now i only have 2 rows
I've tried re-installing the 9800pro
but after rebooting, the screen turned black with blue blocks all over the screen.
i just tried the omega driver.... same results.

Originally posted by: BFG10K
Try setting your AGP speed to x4 in the BIOS. Also make sure you have the latest chipset drivers for your system.

changing the agp to 4x makes things even worse... during the windows startup... the bar didnt have the blue thingy running accross it
and it would just stay at that screen forever
I have updated all the chipset bios

I have given up on this issue several months ago...
just hoping this time it'll actually work
i didnt know that the fastwrite is not part of the mobo bios
but... cant seem to find it in the advance display settings either

 

[Megatomic]

I have an option to turn on/off Fast Writes in my system's BIOS, granted it's not an ASUS P4 motherboard but I do have the option.

 

[c0oKi3]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
I have an option to turn on/off Fast Writes in my system's BIOS, granted it's not an ASUS P4 motherboard but I do have the option.

btw mine is also an abit mobo (IC7-MAX3)
how do you turn it off from the bios?

 

[futuristicmonkey]

Hmmmm....when u reinstalled your 9800Pro did you do these steps:


Step1ownload Catalyst 4.3 (or whatever version is your fav) onto your computers' hard drive
Step2:go to control panel and add/remove programs, remove drivers and control panel
Step3:unplug internet cable, restart in safe mode and use driver cleaner to wipe drive of drivers
Step4:restart computer and install drivers that u saved to your hard drive


also, you could go to www.atitech.ca or www.ati.com (both the same) and just download the control panel for your current version of drivers

I hope that this solves your problem

 

[c0oKi3]

Thx. I did EXACTLY that
and it gives me the blue blocks screen
it installed fine (cept everything have lines across the screen due to the corrupt display)
it was until i reboot the system
btw, i just need to remove all that starts with "ATI" using the driver cleaner rite?

i have managed to run smartgart thru start->run->smartgart
but the options are "PCI Write/Read" and "AGP Write/Read"
and the agp write/read are both deafult at off.

 

[futuristicmonkey]

That sounds like your problem, turn both on and see what happens. I hope that THIS works.


Oh, I just tried pressing the "Basic AGP Settings" button, and it took me directly to the SmartGart tab. Try that.

 

[c0oKi3]

Originally posted by: futuristicmonkey
That sounds like your problem, turn both on and see what happens. I hope that THIS works.


Oh, I just tried pressing the "Basic AGP Settings" button, and it took me directly to the SmartGart tab. Try that.

nope... when i turned on both the system seems to become less stable and the corruption is still there
when i pressed the "basic agp settings" it just takes me to the 2 rows of tabs thingy
i've tried reinstalling windows and used the driver given in the cd
still 2 rows.... i wonder how i did manage to get three a couple of weeks ago
i've tried playing WCIII with it (with the corruption of course)... everything looks so nice
smooth even at the highest setttings with everything set to high
if only i can get rid of the corruption.... it would've been a really good card...
is there any other way to disable fast write? other software perhaps