Radeon 9700 Driver Catalyst 2.4

[Boethius]

Hi, just got a new comp,
ASUS A7V8X
Via4in1 latest
latest sound drivers
BIOS ver. 1008

Corsair PC3500 512MB DDR x2

120 WDJB

AMD Athlon XP 2400+

ATi RADEON 9700 Pro
catalyst 2.3 (ATI)

Windows XP
ALL winxp updates
DX 8.1

I have been noticing that my system freezes completely when running Directx 8 utilizing software: UT2003, 3DMark2001SE and so on, but QuakeIII works fine, as its DX7. Now i believe that it is because of my Radeon driver which is 2.3, and looking at anand and tom's i find they are using 2.4. Now, ATI only provides 2.3 on their website. I think this might solve the problem, however, i have not found the driver anywhere on the internet? Does anyone have version 2.4 or know where to get it???

Also, I have 8x AGP capabilities, however, 3DMark2001SE and the Driver details show that it is currently at 2x. I tried to enable it in BIOS, but this seems not to work... Does anyone know how to enable it? Might also be a key factor.

Tertiary, my ATI card maybe be freezing due to heat, but i am A: in a cold room, B: running fans inside the comp, C: it doesnt lock up using DX7. I think the main problem is getting the drivers up to date.

PLZ help, i just got this amazing comp, and I would really deeply appreciate all the help i can get... THX

 

[Budman]

but QuakeIII works fine, as its DX7.

I beleive Q3 uses Opengl not DirectX.

 

[Boethius]

oops, yeah, that further prooves my point that its driver related... THX though...

 

[Adul]

quake 3 is open gl based not direct x.

www.rage3d.com for the newest drivers

Also some mb and/or ATI 9700 cards had issues with 8x AGP. try 4x and it should run fine. Not much of a difference anyways. Also newer rev of the 9700 have the issue with 8x agp fixed.

Oh flash you bios to the lastest rev. I believe asus also had some sort of bug they fixed

 

[Budman]

Did you try these?

RADEON 9700 PRO 128MB - Direct3D games experience hangs or display corruption

 

[vailr]

Try here for drivers dated 10/20/2002: Text
They show as catalyst version 2.2, but are actually newer than the 2.3's on ATI's site.

 

[John]

I have been using the 6193's for several weeks now and they are solid.

 

[Boethius]

Thanks for all your help, but the game seems to be crashing nevertheless... Also, I seem to be unable to change my AGP mode from 2x to 8x resp. 4x. I have tried all the drivers recommended on the page, but at any given moment, the game still crashes...

I am beginning to think that there is a hardware compatibility issue with the A7V8x board and the ati 9700, regardless of AGP speed... also, could the BIOS settings for clock frequences have any effect? Maybe the default clock settings for 2GHz don't work with the ATI?

Anyway, I still greatly appreciate any help...

 

[Maverick]

I got an RMA on my radeon 9700 but apparently I fixed my problem the day after I called in the RMA Oh well at least I'll get the latest bios.

Just get the beta drivers that shipped with Lord of the Rings...they're linked on Rage3D. Those fixed all my problems.

 

[Pink0]

since the card works with opengl games but not directx, have you considered that directx might be the culprit?

 

[Adul]

Originally posted by: Boethius
Thanks for all your help, but the game seems to be crashing nevertheless... Also, I seem to be unable to change my AGP mode from 2x to 8x resp. 4x. I have tried all the drivers recommended on the page, but at any given moment, the game still crashes...

I am beginning to think that there is a hardware compatibility issue with the A7V8x board and the ati 9700, regardless of AGP speed... also, could the BIOS settings for clock frequences have any effect? Maybe the default clock settings for 2GHz don't work with the ATI?

Anyway, I still greatly appreciate any help...

have you tried seeing if there is a new bios for your mb?

 

[BFG10K]

There are no Catalyst 2.4s; the latest offical drivers are 2.3. However there have been several leaked beta drivers since the last official ones. Also:

Do you have the latest BIOS and chipset drivers for your system?
Are you using safe settings in the BIOS?
Any overclocks?
Is your power supply strong enough to handle all of your components?

The above list will usually fix the vast majority of problems.

 

[dszd0g]

Have you tried raising your AGP voltage to 1.6V or 1.7V and seen if all of your Direct3D lockups go away. I had to raise mine to 1.6V, and almost all A7V8X users have to raise theirs to either 1.6 or 1.7V to get the mb to work with a Radeon 9700 Pro. Plug and Play OS enabled solves issues for some people too, I would think most people would have that enabled anyways though.

Also, I recommend the 6178 drivers at a minimum, but the 6193 would be better.

There is a ton of information about these types of problems on the Rage3d forums. Here are two threads that I believe may be relevent:

First Lockup Experience, and the cure
ATI Radeon 9700 problems on a7v8x, my solution and concerns
My R9700 and A7v8x Running Stable Now

This thread is kind of long, but is probably worth reading as an A7V8X owner:
The A7V8X Build Thread

 

[Boethius]

I have the latest BIOS rev.
No overclocks,
but i am definatley going to try the voltage change on the AGP board.
BIOS settings are the default settings

Thanks for all your help, oh, could the USB drivers be a possibility? Since there was a yellow exclamation mark on the device but it worked. Anyway, tried unreal this morning and it seemed to work fine with the updated USB drivers, however i have not had time yet to test it thoroughly.