Driver issues, be ware when you buy an ATI

[gtd2000]

Originally posted by: BoberFett
I installed a 9100 on a GF2 setup, driver installation was flawless, and it's run everything I've thrown at it.

I say ATI drivers are fine.

I'd probably agree in my experience - but at the end of the day the hardware/software (hardware I suspect) was incompatible with my system for reasons unknown to me.

These are all YMMV scenarios.

 

[Quixfire]

Are you sure this is a 9700 Pro and not a modded 9700 Non-Pro?

When overclocking the memory on my ATI video card I sometimes get random lock-ups and crashes to the desktop, after turning the memory speed down the problem goes away.

If someone sold you a modded card it might be the video cards memory speed is set to high and causing the lock-up and or crashes.

 

[1ManArmY]

9700 Pro no problems here. I have upgraded driver's from 3.2 through 3.6. I did encounter a decrease in benchmarks but I discovered driver's were never removed from the registry after I used driver cleaner and that I had 3 ATI folders on my C drive from previous upgrades to include Omega's 3.6 (24.74) I cleaned those folders up along with the registry and did a re-install of 3.6 smooth sailing

BF 1942, DC mod, Ravenshield, MOHAA, Spearhead, GTA Vice City, Doom III alpha, HL counterstrike. Play with AA at 4x and AF at 16X

 

[Thor86]

Hmm, your mobo is an IS7 correct? There are known issues with the 9700 Pro and NP regarding FastWrites under the SMARTGART tab for the ATI control panel under your video properties. Try disabling FastWrites, and this may solve your problem. This issue is regarding earlier generation ATI cards that had FastWrites compatibility issues with Intel Dual Channel DDR memory chipsets.

Before blaming your hardware/software/drivers/companies, I'd suggest you do some research. Starting with going to http://www.rage3d.com forums and read all of the technical posts to help solve your ATI issues. There wasn't a gaming issue that I couldn't solve from doing some research. If you don't feel like troubleshooting hardware, then I suggest you sell your PC and get yourself a gaming console. Less headaches that way.

 

[ICMAN]

Originally posted by: WA261
8500 - 9600p - 9700p - 9800p - and i have had ZERO driver issues. I think the "issues" are with the dumb fuc*s who install the cards/drivers wrong.

I think I will not post anything here anymore. I really can't beleive a grown up man/women would say this. If you read what I said carefully then you would understand it is not the process of installation you #$%&@^#@.

If you were in front of me, then I would deal with you deserve. Software engineer for ATi? it that who you are?

 

[Sideswipe001]

Did you install the latest motherboard drivers in all of this mess?

Intel puts out drivers.

Just to make sure you're covering all the bases.

 

[chsh1ca]

Originally posted by: ICMAN
I think I will not post anything here anymore. I really can't beleive a grown up man/women would say this. If you read what I said carefully then you would understand it is not the process of installation you #$%&@^#@.

If you were in front of me, then I would deal with you deserve. Software engineer for ATi? it that who you are?

Wow, I think anandtech should just change the video forum's name to "Land of Irony".

Specifically, I highly doubt your claims of contacting the appropriate company. I have never written ATI even for some small tidbit if info without receiving an automated response within an hour of writing them. Either you configured your mail client wrong (invalid From: address, or bad reply-to address) or you are lying. I prefer to believe in ignorance before deceit, so going on that, I suggest you triple check your mail client configuration and settings. I have no personal experience with Gigabyte tech support, but I have a fair bit with ATI. While they may not always fix the issue, they certainly are good at responding.

In addition to that, out of sheer curiosity, I went to ATI's customer care site, and did a search, and came up with this:
http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/3988.html <-- Problems with 7000 through 8500s, but no mention of 9700s.
http://www.codemasters.com/support/faqs.php?gameid=72 <-- Problems listed for all dual-output radeons.
Your radeon exhibits neither of these known bugs, so I suggest you report it to Codemasters -- who will likely just tell you to buy the newer version. If the card works just fine in 90% of the games out there, I fail to see how blaming the hardware vendor is the immediate intelligent decision. What's more is that other people with the same card in different system configurations are not experiencing the same difficulties you are.

If you are truly interested in resolving the issue, and not just making wild statements about the quality of certain software engineers, which is the sum of what you have stated thus far, I would contact Codemasters about it. They have the ability/responsibility to troubleshoot it (if they care) and then work with the manufacturer to resolve any issues.

 

[Pete]

ICMAN, I think the main lesson to be learned is not to buy expensive, cutting-edge video cards of less-than-brand-name manufacturers off of eBay. If you had bought this from a reputable e-tailer, you could have at least worked with them to exchange the card.

Sorry, I have no patience to reread the thread, but did you mention what sound card you're using? Did you try uninstalling it (and playing games without sound)?

The main issue is CMR2, I see. Did you try installing and running it in Compatability Mode in Win2K? Did you try out CMR3? The fact that everything crashes in W98 doesn't nec'ly point to ATi being at fault. I think another errant driver, or even W98 itself, could interfere with ATi's drivers and bring the whole system down. (There's a reason ppl migrated to W2K: stability.)

You could also wait for CMR4. It's due soon, and may be worth the wait, as the comments for the EuroGamer screenshots indicate CMR3 was worse than CMR2. Maybe try Rallisport Challenge? Or Rally Trophy?

 

[nRollo]

Icman:
It is time to buy a copy of XP. 98SE is no longer supported, and I think I can almost guarantee your system will run better if you use a modern OS.
I was trying to stick with ME myself, the last MS OS I had bought a full version of, but the $89 I spent on an upgrade copy of XP Home was well worth it.
Nobody writes drivers or software with Windows 98SE in mind anymore.
You have to start with a fresh install of a usable OS before you can say anyone's drivers suck. Your post is the equivalent of "My damn 9700 Pro won't work in OS2 Warp, and I've installed the latest service pack from IBM!"

I see in a later post you are also using Win2K. Same thing, although supported. Win 2K was never the "gamers OS" and always had more compatibility issues.

Sometimes you just have to open your wallet or buy an XBox.

 

[MDE]

I've never had problems with ATI OR Nvidia drivers. Just let this thread die already. It's just a flame war that looks to have been started by one raving lunatic that wouldn't shut up about his one bad experience with a video card. If you had such serious problems in the first place, you should have returned it. Complain to ATI and Gigabyte, not us, we can't magically give you a new card.

 

[mindless1]

I always assume that some part of ATI's driver is broken, and forget about expecting an AIW to do "everything" it's supposed to do without crashing. Come to think of it, half the systems here have ATI drivers still installed after the cards were pulled because the !@#@#@# uninstall won't even work without crashing... don't even try to tell me there's a system config problem causing an uninstaller to crash when all other programs install and uninstall fine... that's just really poor programming on ATI's part.

 

[nick1985]

i vote for problem between the chair and keyboard.


i have installed a 9700pro and a 9800pro for 2 different friends. 0 problems