Radeon 8500 install problem in XP

[movinslow]

EDIT: Format worked. Installed display drivers and control panel, then reboot. No problems. Haven't installed my chipset drivers and SP1 yet...hopefully they won't cause a problem.
Thanks for the help everyone!

OK, so I have a retail Radeon 8500 128mb. I put it in, and everything seems ok. I downloaded the catalyst 2.5 drivers and installed the display drivers. Reboot. Login, before I get to the desktop, I get pop-up errors like "Delayed Write Failed" and mentioning "C:\$Mft" or maybe "C:\Windows\System32" or maybe anything else like "C:\Program Files\SETI" and that I should try saving the file elsewhere.

So, I rebooted into safe mode and uninstalled the drivers. Tried a few more times with the 2.5 catalyst drivers, I could get to the desktop, but the errors would still come up as "ballon" pop-ups. So I tried catalyst 2.4 and 2.3 with the same results...

I had a Savage4 32mb card before. Since the only "drivers" were the ones provided by Microsoft, I only had a couple things in the program list to uninstall, which I did. I don't think I uninstalled the actual driver in device manager. I tried putting the card back in, and no problems. Went ahead and uninstalled the driver then...

So any suggestions??? I'd rather not format and reinstall xp.

Enermax 350watt
ECS K7S5A
Athlon XP 1700
2x256mb Crucial PC2100
Samsung 60 gig 5400rpm
XP Pro w/ Service Pack 1

 

[ProfessorFate]

bump

 

[ScrewFace]

I'm afraid you're gonna have to reformat and reinstall everything. It's the best thing to do whenever you get a new videocard.

 

[JeremiahTheGreat]

Sounds like something is corrupting your hard-drive files..

anything could cause this really (software or hardware) .. try the format first!

 

[merlocka]

Perhaps another "benchmark" reported in reviews is whether or not a fresh OS install is required to properly install the drivers

Although I enjoy having a good graphics card as well as playing some games, I refuse to re-install an OS just for a piece of hardware. That's absurd.

I consider any device driver which can't be reliably installed properly (without a fresh OS install) to be fundamentally flawed.

 

[movinslow]

Well, alright then. Format gets the vote.
I might play with it a little more, but I'll keep that in mind.

Thanks.

Any other ideas perhaps???

 

[BFG10K]

You might like to try searching your registry for any "S3" entries and deleting those that pertain to your video card.

Also make sure you have the latest BIOS and chipset drivers for your system, and try a skeleton boot - remove everything non-essential from your rig - to see if it's a compatibility problem between hardware.

 

[NEVERwinter]

if you installed WinXP SP1, Windows will recognize your card and add install MS's Radeon driver. After that, you can update the driver with catalyst =)

 

[movinslow]

Originally posted by: NEVERwinter
if you installed WinXP SP1, Windows will recognize your card and add install MS's Radeon driver. After that, you can update the driver with catalyst =)

OK, I do have SP1 and Windows does automatically recognize the card. When I tried updating with Catalyst, I got the errors...

 

[tenoc]

Don't have XP but under 98se and ME I go to Settings>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs.

Remove ATI Drivers and ATI Contol Panel. Reboot.

Ignore Windows attempts to install drivers.

In Windows, install downloaded drivers first. Reboot.

Then install new Control Panel. Reboot.

Works for me, although some say there is no need to reboot between the two installs.