Having problems with ATI Radeon 8500

[Dingas]

I am having quite a few problems with a computer at work. When I try to copy data, browse the internet or do any simple task, within 1-2 minutes of me doing so, screen goes to neon'ish colors flashes a few times, and either goes to a blank screen and I get an error saying my video card stopped responding and windows xp reset it, or it crashes completely.

I am running a fresh install of windows xp pro SP1 (hours old) and have installed the Radeon drivers from ATI's site.

I have never dealt with a non Geforce card, and remember reading about problems with ATI's drivers, so I am not sure how to go forward with this.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[DerekBaker]

Best place to post for Radeon problems is:

www.rage3d.com

Though at the moment they're having server problems, so it's a lottery whether you can get onto the forums.


Derek

 

[Dingas]

Atleast clarify this - There is only one set of drivers for the Radeon cards?

 

[tenoc]

Drivers are OS-dependant.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: Dingas
Atleast clarify this - There is only one set of drivers for the Radeon cards?

Um. Yes and no. There is one official series of drivers for Radeon - the Catalyst suite, however there are many versions of the drivers. The newest ones are Catalyst 3.8.

There is also another set of "tweaked" drivers called the "Omega" Catalyst drivers which are the Catalysts that have been altered for video quality and have some other settings built in (such as overclocking and other features).

For business purposes, you definately want to stick to the official ATI Catalyst drivers.


Also, make sure the fan on your video card is working (that almost sounds like an overheating problem). Otherwise install a newer driver - that could be lockups from the early Catalysts.

 

[lifeguard1999]

It does not sound like a driver issue to me. Either the card is getting too hot (how is the case ventilation, dust bunnies, fan on the card, etc.), or the card is dying.