Hi

I have just bought a Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card. People speak highly of
the card but the software it uses looks like garbage. The installation
process has been painful with deficient instructions that omit critical
steps (e.g. connecting power to the card), and multiple weird error messages
when I install the drivers. I cannot get the installation process to work
at all and would appreciate any tips from anybody who has wrestled with one
of these cards recently.

One error that keeps appearing in the installation process is:
'SEVERE
Zero Display Service Error'

Does anyone know what this means? I have googled it but without any luck -
lots of people with this problem but nobody with a solution...

TIA

Ben

"Ben C" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:cl6s22$94n$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi
>
> I have just bought a Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card. People speak highly
of
> the card but the software it uses looks like garbage. The installation
> process has been painful with deficient instructions that omit critical
> steps (e.g. connecting power to the card), and multiple weird error
messages
> when I install the drivers. I cannot get the installation process to work
> at all and would appreciate any tips from anybody who has wrestled with
one
> of these cards recently.
>
> One error that keeps appearing in the installation process is:
> 'SEVERE
> Zero Display Service Error'
>
> Does anyone know what this means? I have googled it but without any
luck -
> lots of people with this problem but nobody with a solution...
>
> TIA
>
> Ben
>
>
Had exactly the same problem two times. In one case, just ignoring the
message was enough and I could normally proceed with the install.
In another case, it did not work. I found the solution on the Sapphire site.
Before installation, you have to delete all existing video drivers and
software, then just install the default Windows driver. After that, you can
install the latest Catalyst software without problems.

>> One error that keeps appearing in the installation process is:
>> 'SEVERE
>> Zero Display Service Error'
>>
> Had exactly the same problem two times. In one case, just ignoring the
> message was enough and I could normally proceed with the install.
> In another case, it did not work. I found the solution on the Sapphire
> site.
> Before installation, you have to delete all existing video drivers and
> software, then just install the default Windows driver. After that, you
> can
> install the latest Catalyst software without problems.
>
Hmm, tried that, but no luck. Somebody has suggested that my power supply
unit might be too weak (it's 300W), and that could cause the card to
malfunction. Perhaps this is related to the cryptic error message. The
instruction manual says nothing about power whatsoever, despite the fact
that the card has a power socket on it. I'm going to try upgrading the PSU
but this is getting expensive - I never realised I'd be paying so much just
to play Doom 3!

Try some Omega drivers for the card. They work better for me on my R9700
witch has the same core design.




"Ben C" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:cl8ml0$733$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> One error that keeps appearing in the installation process is:
>>> 'SEVERE
>>> Zero Display Service Error'
>>>
>> Had exactly the same problem two times. In one case, just ignoring the
>> message was enough and I could normally proceed with the install.
>> In another case, it did not work. I found the solution on the Sapphire
>> site.
>> Before installation, you have to delete all existing video drivers and
>> software, then just install the default Windows driver. After that, you
>> can
>> install the latest Catalyst software without problems.
>>
> Hmm, tried that, but no luck. Somebody has suggested that my power supply
> unit might be too weak (it's 300W), and that could cause the card to
> malfunction. Perhaps this is related to the cryptic error message. The
> instruction manual says nothing about power whatsoever, despite the fact
> that the card has a power socket on it. I'm going to try upgrading the
> PSU but this is getting expensive - I never realised I'd be paying so much
> just to play Doom 3!
>

"Clob" wrote:
> Try some Omega drivers for the card. They work better for me on my R9700
> witch has the same core design.

Actually the 9700 is based on the R300 core, while the 9800 is based on the
R350 core. They are similar, but not the same.

Jon

>
> "Ben C" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:cl8ml0$733$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >>> One error that keeps appearing in the installation process is:
> >>> 'SEVERE
> >>> Zero Display Service Error'
> >>>
> >> Had exactly the same problem two times. In one case, just ignoring the
> >> message was enough and I could normally proceed with the install.
> >> In another case, it did not work. I found the solution on the Sapphire
> >> site.
> >> Before installation, you have to delete all existing video drivers and
> >> software, then just install the default Windows driver. After that, you
> >> can
> >> install the latest Catalyst software without problems.
> >>
> > Hmm, tried that, but no luck. Somebody has suggested that my power
supply
> > unit might be too weak (it's 300W), and that could cause the card to
> > malfunction. Perhaps this is related to the cryptic error message. The
> > instruction manual says nothing about power whatsoever, despite the fact
> > that the card has a power socket on it. I'm going to try upgrading the
> > PSU but this is getting expensive - I never realised I'd be paying so
much
> > just to play Doom 3!
> >
>
>