ati 9800 Pro Problem - resolved

[Modeps]

I ordered a 9800 pro the other day, got it today and installed. The install went plenty smooth, and 2d performance is quite nice. However, I've tried both Far Cry and Unreal 2004... Far Cry crashed to desktop, UT2k4 just all out rebooted my machine.

I didnt have these problems before with my ti4400, using latest catalyst drivers.

View sig for rig specs (turbografx16).
Thanks.

 

[Bucksnort]

Sounds like you didnt use driver cleaner to get rid of nv driver. This is steps u should do.
Uninstall ati control panel and do not reboot.
Uninstall ati driver
Reboot and go directly into safe mode.
Open driver cleaner and select Nvidia in the drop down box and clean.
Next select ATI in drop down box and clean.
I would suggest running defrag right now while you are in safe mode.
Reboot and when windows finds new hardware select cancel. (Will find 2 new)
Install cat driver (I suggest 4.3 as 4.4 and 4.5 are causing crashes with some, myself included)
Reboot then install control panel.
Hope that fixes you up. Its nothing serious.
Driver cleaner3: http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/
I just looked at your rig and you have a lot of drives, what power supply do you have?

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: Bucksnort
Sounds like you didnt use driver cleaner to get rid of nv driver. This is steps u should do.
Uninstall ati control panel and do not reboot.
Uninstall ati driver
Reboot and go directly into safe mode.
Open driver cleaner and select Nvidia in the drop down box and clean.
Next select ATI in drop down box and clean.
I would suggest running defrag right now while you are in safe mode.
Reboot and when windows finds new hardware select cancel. (Will find 2 new)
Install cat driver (I suggest 4.3 as 4.4 and 4.5 are causing crashes with some, myself included)
Reboot then install control panel.
Hope that fixes you up. Its nothing serious.
Driver cleaner3: http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/
I just looked at your rig and you have a lot of drives, what power supply do you have?

Driver cleaner?! Never heard of such craziness... But I'll take your word for it!

I'll give it a go, thanks for the step by step. I've got a Vantec ION 400w

 

[TStep]

I had the same problem. Cleaned out old drivers, all was well form that point forward.

 

[Bucksnort]

Driver cleaner is essential for switching from nv-ati or vice versa. I use it each time i update ati driver also. Most do these days to help ensure being trouble free. There is a cab cleaner also in driver cleaner but you dont need to use that. Power supply should be just right so it is definately old drivers causing it.

 

[Modeps]

Any way to stop winxp from auto installing it's own ATI drivers? I couldnt stop it.

 

[Bucksnort]

Yes, disconnect your modem first. Besure to repeat the steps above if it installed a driver (excluding cleaning for nvidia)

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: Bucksnort
Yes, disconnect your modem first. Besure to repeat the steps above if it installed a driver (excluding cleaning for nvidia)

I mean when windows boots, instead of asking me first if i want to install a driver, it just auto does it.... I dont think it has anything to do with my modem

I tried out Far Cry (after windows autoinstalled its own crap) and while it was playing good, when i quit it forced a reboot... ut2k4 still crashed to desktop with some errors from UT.

I've got a Diablo2 session right now, hopefully it wont crash in that!

 

[Bucksnort]

Please just disconnect the line going into the modem. This is so simple and yes it has everything to do with it.

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: Bucksnort
Please just disconnect the line going into the modem. This is so simple and yes it has everything to do with it.

otay, will do on next try. thanks for your help Buck.

 

[Bucksnort]

If for some reason it still installs a driver then you need to run cab cleaner.
I suggest Rage3D for one of the best forums for ATI related questions, problems. Its very good.
http://www.rage3d.com/board/index.php?s=

This is from rage: Before you begin to uninstall, disconnect your computer from your internet or network! If you are connected to the internet, Windows, always impertinently thinking that it knows best, may try and install whatever Radeon driver is on Windows Update. We don't want to let it do this. So, either a) turn off your modem, or b) take out your phone jack (if you're on dial-up).

 

[Modeps]

Ok. Diablo 2 crashed. couple different type things...

So, I uninstalled the ati driver then rebooted to safe mode, cleaned ati drivers, yanked network cable out, rebooted again. it didnt auto install this time, so i cancelled 2 times, then installed the catalysts 4.3 this time... and it's still crashing.

 

[Bucksnort]

If you still have problems after all that is done then connect a molex line that has nothing else connected to it to the radeon. If this is not possible or you already have a free molex connected to it then disconnect a couple of your drives (the molex connector going to them) to free up some additional power and see if that solves the crashes. If so your supply is not delivering enough power for the card. Also some manufacturers suggest using the molex y adaptor supplied with the card running it to the prime hard drive and the radeon.

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: Bucksnort
If you still have problems after all that is done then connect a molex line that has nothing else connected to it to the radeon. If this is not possible or you already have a free molex connected to it then disconnect a couple of your drives (the molex connector going to them) to free up some additional power and see if that solves the crashes. If so your supply is not delivering enough power for the card. Also some manufacturers suggest using the molex y adaptor supplied with the card running it to the prime hard drive and the radeon.

I ended up jumping into my bios and disabling fast writes, that seemed to do the trick for Diablo 2, i'll have to test out a bit more with everything else.

 

[Modeps]

eh, no dice. I'll try out your molex suggestion tomorrow after work.

 

[nick1985]

if worst comes to worst, reformat

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: nick1985
if worst comes to worst, reformat

It's a definate consideration. I'd just rather not have to go through the process of backing up all my wife's emails and docs and stuff.

 

[SickBeast]

Fast writes should not pose a problem with the 9800. Run driver cleaner as others have suggested. It's not the end of the world if XP installs its own crap; just install the latest catalysts on top of them (I've never had a problem that way).

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
Fast writes should not pose a problem with the 9800. Run driver cleaner as others have suggested. It's not the end of the world if XP installs its own crap; just install the latest catalysts on top of them (I've never had a problem that way).

I've tried all the ways mentioned above except the molex connector. Nothing is helping.

 

[Bucksnort]

[Fast writes should not pose a problem with the 9800. Run driver cleaner as others have suggested. It's not the end of the world if XP installs its own crap; just install the latest catalysts on top of them (I've never had a problem that way).]

Good GOD man! sigh
Modeps, what motherboard do you have? What is the motherboard chipset and have you updated them?

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: Bucksnort
[Fast writes should not pose a problem with the 9800. Run driver cleaner as others have suggested. It's not the end of the world if XP installs its own crap; just install the latest catalysts on top of them (I've never had a problem that way).]

Good GOD man! sigh
Modeps, what motherboard do you have? What is the motherboard chipset and have you updated them?

EPOX 8K5A2+ with VIA KT333, I've got the latest BIOS up in there, as well as the latest 4 in 1's installed.

 

[Bucksnort]

Ok, so do this: If you have a molex presently connected that is also connected to another component then disconnect molex from 1 or 2 of your hard drives and from the plexwriter. You may want to also disconnect any usb u are not using at present like scanner. If you continue to have problems then leave those drives disconnected that you disconnected earlier and connect a molex with nothing else on it to the radeon. Still problems then use the adaptor and connect it to your 120 gig drive and the radeon. If any of the above configs do not produce the problem then keep that config and connect 1 of the disconnected drives at a time and test.

Also if you have VPU recovery enabled in the control panel then disable that. It helps nothing and only causes crashes and problems.

 

[Cheetah8799]

Modeps, if you have a spare hard drive lying around, just try doing a fresh install of XP with the latest ATI drivers and see if that works. That may be easier than messing around with a tone of other fixes. If it doesn't help, at least you have ruled out that possibility without messing up anything else on your current installation.

Also, my 9800Pro will crash if it overheats. I overclock, so it's expected, but if you have very little airflow in your case then the stock cooling may not be enough.

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: Cheetah8799
Modeps, if you have a spare hard drive lying around, just try doing a fresh install of XP with the latest ATI drivers and see if that works. That may be easier than messing around with a tone of other fixes. If it doesn't help, at least you have ruled out that possibility without messing up anything else on your current installation.

Also, my 9800Pro will crash if it overheats. I overclock, so it's expected, but if you have very little airflow in your case then the stock cooling may not be enough.

I actually was planning on just formating and doing a fresh install, it's easier than having to keep hooking up everything again.

I've got 2 case fans blowing on the video card, as well as one exhaust fan over top of it, so overheating really should not be a problem.

 

[SilverTrine]

Well I have a Via KT400 and FastWrites definitely DID have a problem with my system, in fact my system was totally unstable with fast writes on and totally stable with fast writes off.

If you havent figured out what I'm suggesting here yet, its turn fastwrites off!

If crashes persist after that its likely a memory problem, AMD systems of your vintage had big problems with memory compatibility.

Download and run memtest x86(google it) and see if your memory is giving errors or not.