how tell if your ATI video card is defective?

[redstar]

ie how can you tell if all your memory is working
and such?

i upgraded from geforce 2 to ati 9600 pro radeon.
Since then all kinds of problems..lockup issues.
(i've ruled out driver installation/power supply/over heating.)

when i first ran the card in my system it scored 8100 in 3dmark se test. But ever since then it averages only 7400.

the big difference being the sprite test...where i went from 15.2 to 8.2 (the same as my geforce 2!)

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6736510

this compares to a similiar system
.
and i think at around 7300...it equates to an ati 8500 performance.

So is my card broken? i have 2 days left where i can return it. But this is a last resort.

TIA

(oh ya..the reason i think memory might not be all there is because of UT2003.
If i play it at 1024*768*32*75 hz at anything above normal video settings...the game becomes unplayable...its like a 4000 ping lag and very hard to exit the game.

Or worse, as soon as i click to begin...the hdd just keeps whirring away till i finally press reboot.

I have an AMD.1.3 gig athalon on a MSI ms6380 board..512 2700 ram. ati 9600 pro. I would have thought i could play at higher settings.)

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by redStar on 08/16/03 03:47 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[SHARKMEAT]

If you put your gf2 back in does it run smooth??.If it was me I would take the card back.I would get either ATI 9700 of any sort or a GF4 4600x8x4 or higher like a FX 5600 Ultra or better,I no some have a price range and that is a limiting factor of what you can get.It is a hard choice to get a card at this time with all the changes going on in the games that have to run on the cards.I know that X8 (most turn it off)want be needed for awhile so it will be there if you do need it.I don't think DX9 will matter that much on over all game play.At least for the games that are released in the next few months.

TREAD SLOWLY IN DANGEROUS WATERS

 

[redstar]

ya, those cards are outta my price range..plus they use the hotter 150 process.

the fx5600..i have seen quite a few of those owners also complaining about lockup issues.

here is another problem that might get closer to the cause.

when playing half life..if i press escape to get to menu. ...

the screen goes BLACK. so i have to use console and type quit. But in open gl mode, that menu does come up like it should.

Previously, with my geforce 2 card..i had reverse problem (menu did NOT come up when in opengl mode)

-------

and yes geforce 2 works like it did.

 

[ianmills]

That's a a known driver issue
Catlyst 3.4's don't have that problem..
The problem might have returned in the newer Cat's though (so if you are using 3.6's or something, that might be your problem)... I can't remember. I'm sure somebody else here can help you.

 

[sargeduck]

Sometimes when you remove Nvidia's drivers, there are bits and pieces of the driver that hang around in the registry. These have been known to cuase havoc when one installs an ATI card. This probably isn't the cure...but it might help. When I got my 9600Pro, I formatted my hd, to get rid of all of Nvidia's stuff. There are also some programs which completely erase drivers (can't remember the names, maby someone else can?) Havn't had a problem with my card yet, and I love it. Stick with teh 9600 Pro, it is a good card.

Like I said, this may not be the answer, but it might help.

 

[redstar]

i'm using the cat drivers created in june but shipped in july.

3.6

I removed all nvidia entries from registry (only had nvclock leftover --overclocking installed with original MSI provided drivers) nothing left in system 32 folder or anywhere else for that matter.

Thanks for your responses...I have not been able to get ut2003 lockup (where the picture suddenly became black and white wide vertical stripes) more than 1ce now (unless i use those very high detail settings) ...leaving only enemy territory as the game that locks up...but usually not for over an hour of play. It does not lock up on the video settings menu anymore.

Its hard to pin down, though, as the lockups don't happen for a significant amount of time...and i've not had a chance to play all my games for hours yet

so for now..i think i have game specific issues...alot of them though. It kinda reminds me of the problems when i used to own a savage 4 card.

-------

but i would really like to know how you make sure all your memory on the card is working properly.

(esp as my score dropped 1000 but then picked up 400 with no tweaking in between...that sprite scor eis still bothering me)




<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by redStar on 08/16/03 06:54 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[scottchen]

I always format after adding new hardware, because too many drivers always messes up my computer's performance.

I hate Computers! My P4 2.4C won't go above 3840mhz. My Sapphire 9800pro core/mem speed won't go above 490/790. I really hate computers!

 

[redstar]

well i thought things were really running smoothly just now..i was able to raise a couple of the ut2003 detail settings to high with no problem..

so i decided to test again.

and.. BAM 8147 (from 7400 average over about 6 tests)!

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6889273

I don't know why my tests are all over the place..and it proves first test was no fluke.

all very baffling to me

 

[redstar]

well after that...from that time till now..i have increasing frequent semi-lockups to lockups in ut2003/wc3/enemy territory (or all the games i have played in this time frame).

but the final straw was the monitor loosing signal just now and the speakers making a strange static like sound.

first time tha has happened and the first time enemy territory has crashed within minutes of playing.

I don't get it though..not a single error message. and the card has never failed in 3dmark tests.

i'm convinced now that the card is defective or incompatible with my motherboard

 

[Willamette_sucks]

I think your card is fine, and the memory on the card is definately fine. Sounds like a platform related issue, motherboard, ram, or possibly even some corrupted HD stuff.

Try it in another computer if it works fine, then it is fine.

"Mice eat cheese." - Modest Mouse

"Every Day is the Right Day." -Pink Floyd

 

[endyen]

I had similar problems with 98se and 512 megs of ram. Took out half the ram, no more problem. Went to XP put the ram back, no problem. Just to make sure it's not driver related, I hear Driver Heaven has a good cleaning utility. You also may as well load agp drivers, card drivers, and DX again, in that order.

 

[lhgpoobaa]

In some unfortunate cases a full reinstall of windows is needed (as was the case with me).

<b>My Car comes with Hyper Threading enabled:
1970 General Motors Holden HT Kingswood Wagon
Regards,
Mr no integrity coward.</b>

 

[Flinx]

<A HREF="http://content.guru3d.com/index.php?page=detonatorrip&menu=0" target="_new"> Remove Nvidia </A>

The loving are the daring!

 

[SHARKMEAT]

All that link gave me was a round robin,well I just say this link didn't work for me!!.I Think they are pushing the new clean driver program instead!!.I use the unistall that I got with the FX5900 Ultra it renoves the old drivers befor installing the new drivers .
BTW reason I mention that program was;maybe he has a friend with a FX card from PNY,with the remover on it.

TREAD SLOWLY IN DANGEROUS WATERS<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by SharkMeat on 08/17/03 03:14 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[redstar]

hi ya and thanks for all your responses.
I used the file/registry checker:
It confirms there was nothing left of Nvidia.
My HDD is fine according to both windows and IBM's smart guard --a progie that can determine if the HDD is gonna fail soon.
Its not memory as that would impact windows also (not just the 3d games) + installing my old video card removes all the problems. If memory then, the problems should have continued.
Losing video signal...seems to be directly hardware related.
some defect in the card (which i agree seems unlikely) or due to incompatibility between the 9600 pro and the motherboard (i have an ms 3680 -MSI K7T 266 pro-r).

Now in the ATItech support pages, it does mention that the card is incompatible with the KT133. My chipset is the KT266.

I do wish i did have another platform that i could test this 9600 pro on.

Now, i have 15 days to return it..instead of the 7 i originally thought. So i will be phoning ATI (since they are not responding to my emails) and see if they can help me out.

 

[redstar]

well ..i've run out of time and no response from ATI.

its not driver/hdd/powersupply/memory/hdd/ O/S /4 in 1 hyperions/overheating/BIOS

which means this card is either defective or is incompatible with my motherboard

 

[redstar]

well after all that the problem is solved..thanks to ati support.

the guy noticed that my agp driver seemed old for me having just installed latest hyperion 4 in 1 drivers (only for via chipsets).

so i asked about it on viaarena. the reponse showed me that the installation had not been successful afterall...and showed how to manually install them.

(and 4.29's were released just last week)

anyway: bottom line: User's fault. The drivers are now properly installed.

my ati 9600 pro is working great .. sccoring 8100-8200 again.

YAY1

end of story.

except for the lesson ...even if software installs successfully...check the dates of the actual drivers installe d