9700 Pro has corrupted video upon boot, reboot fixes problem

[dg]

Sometimes when I turn on my PC, the BIOS video is corrupted, and continues
to be corrupted all the way into windows. I can then shutdown or reboot the
PC and usually all is well. Other than this occaisonal problem, the card is
great. I put the system together earlier this month and this is my only
problem.

There is an infobase #4075 that describes this problem and suggests a
powersupply being underpowered but I use an Antec 430watt supply which
should be plenty. Does this problem plague the 9700 Pro series? Should I
try to return the card and get something better? I would be happy if I
could trade for a working 9700 Pro, I don't really NEED a better card as
long as I can get a working card. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
--Dan

 

[Christian Atteneder]

Sometimes when I turn on my PC, the BIOS video is corrupted, and continues

to be corrupted all the way into windows. I can then shutdown or reboot the
PC and usually all is well. Other than this occaisonal problem, the card is
great. I put the system together earlier this month and this is my only
problem.

I have exactly the same problem with a Radeon 9700 Pro from Sapphire. This
never happens with a 9800 Pro (in the same rig). In most cases a reboot is
all I need, but sometimes I have to shutdown the system to recover. It is
quite seldom but is annoying when it happens. My PS is an Enermax 350W and
that should be more than enough.

So If anyone has a clue I would be interessted too...

Bye, Chris

 

[redTed]

Sometimes when I turn on my PC, the BIOS video is corrupted, and
continues

card

I have exactly the same problem with a Radeon 9700 Pro from Sapphire. This
never happens with a 9800 Pro (in the same rig). In most cases a reboot is
all I need, but sometimes I have to shutdown the system to recover. It is
quite seldom but is annoying when it happens. My PS is an Enermax 350W and
that should be more than enough.

So If anyone has a clue I would be interessted too...

I would think it's motherboard related. Probably a voltage issue. I had the
exact same problems until I upgraded my mobo to a MSI K8TNeo.
Perhaps the line voltages can be adjusted in the BIOS settings..I'm not
sure.

 

[dg]

I have an email in to ATI about the problem, if I get a reply I will post
back here. I may try changing the voltage just a bit to see if that helps,
but there is no telling when the problem will occur.

Thanks,
--Dan

 

[Stefan Brueggemann]

Sometimes when I turn on my PC, the BIOS video is corrupted, and continues
to be corrupted all the way into windows. I can then shutdown or reboot the
PC and usually all is well. Other than this occaisonal problem, the card is
great. I put the system together earlier this month and this is my only
problem.

There is an infobase #4075 that describes this problem and suggests a
powersupply being underpowered but I use an Antec 430watt supply which
should be plenty. Does this problem plague the 9700 Pro series? Should I
try to return the card and get something better? I would be happy if I
could trade for a working 9700 Pro, I don't really NEED a better card as
long as I can get a working card. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
--Dan

Hi Dan!

I've got quite the same problem! But I've got a Powercolor 9800 Pro
with the Radeon 9800 Pro chipset. A few minutes ago when I turned on
my computer for the first time today: totally messed up video output.
Turning off and then turning on resulted in the same mess. After
disconnecting the power supply and then turn the computer on it worked
correctly. And I have a 530W power supply. What a f#?*! And the best
thing at all: When I install the card to an older computer with 330W
power supply it works every time! ARGH!!!!

Stefan

 

[Steve Bell]

While I was waiting for delivery of my 9800Pro a coupla weeks ago I read
somewhere that Antec power supplies have a problem with some ati cards.
Luckily, touch wood, my 380W Truepower in a Sonata case seems OK.

Have a look on the Antec site and maybe email them for info.


steve b

Durham UK

 

[John Hall]

My Antec True Power 550 W power supply has absolutely no probem with my 9800
pro.

JK

 

[Kill Bill]

Why would it?

My Antec True Power 550 W power supply has absolutely no probem with my 9800
pro.

JK

Should

 

[Themroc]

Could be a sync problem between the card and the NB.I had this sometimes with
my KT133a mobo,and once in the month i have a K8T800 mobo.(a VIA
problem?).Sometimes a hard reset helps.Didn´t become more frequent in over a
year,so no symptom of impending doom.(...and the PS produces nuff juice,btw.)
This behaviour is independent from BIOS settings(except probably AGP drive
strength,which i didn´t modify).
Anyhow,it reminds me strongly of the VIA northbridge bug several years ago(not
the famous southbridge/686b issue!).

 

[Stefan Brueggemann]

Could be a sync problem between the card and the NB.I had this sometimes with
my KT133a mobo,and once in the month i have a K8T800 mobo.(a VIA
problem?).Sometimes a hard reset helps.Didn´t become more frequent in over a
year,so no symptom of impending doom.(...and the PS produces nuff juice,btw.)
This behaviour is independent from BIOS settings(except probably AGP drive
strength,which i didn´t modify).
Anyhow,it reminds me strongly of the VIA northbridge bug several years ago(not
the famous southbridge/686b issue!).

Hmmmmm, but the NB is the Intel 875P Canterwood! I'm really pissed now
because of this crap. PSU IMHO cannot be the problem. I've got a 530W
PSU here and when I put the card in my old computer with a Duron 1200,
3 HDDs, full PCI-slots and only a 235W PSU it works perfect, but in my
main computer not. Perhaps a few more details:

P4C 3.2MHz
Soyo P4I875 Dragon 1.0
Corsair TwinX 3200LL 1GB Ram (2x512MB modules) with 2-3-2-6 timing
2x 160GB Hitachi SATA HDDs
550W PSU

I already tried to increase the AGP voltage to 1.6V but without any
effect. When the computer is off for a longer time (say 1+ hour) and I
turn it on the card won't initialize correct. After I turn it off and
on again a few times, the card initializes correct and does so for the
time the computer is not turned off for more than an hour. That means
when I turn it off a few minutes and turn it on again it works. And if
I do not connect the 12V additional power the problem is the same.

I just put back in my old GeForce3 Ti500 because I don't want to play
roulette every time I turn on my computer. I think I'll send back the
card and try with NVidia again if not someone has a good idea how to
get this thing working.

Stefan

 

[dg]

Yep, same motherboard here, D875PBZLK. You say you have a 530w power
supply, what brand? Antec? Mine is Antec also, however it is the 430. I
have an email in to Antec about the issue as well abou the rumor that Antec
has problems with ATI cards. So far my original vendor is offering RMA for
the card and so is ATI. I just don't know if that will change the situation
any as it seems like ALL the 9700s have this problem. I would like to see
what ATI will do as far as letting me upgrade to a more stable card, or if
Antec is sure their power supply is the culprit maybe they have another
model that is SURE to work with the 9700. Hard to say whos fault it is.

--Dan

 

[J. Clarke]

Why would it?

FWIW, there appears to be a problem with the combination of ATI 9700/9800,
certain motherboards, and certain power supplies. Nobody has managed to
characterize which specific combinations cause the problem or why, but if
you go over to <http://www.avsforum.com> you'll see extensive discussion
the problem. There've been several cases in which someone swapped several
Antec power supplies of different capacities with no success then put in a
different brand and the machine ran fine. Antec, however, is not the only
brand of power supply that sometimes has problems.

 

[Stefan Brueggemann]

Yep, same motherboard here, D875PBZLK. You say you have a 530w power
supply, what brand? Antec? Mine is Antec also, however it is the 430. I
have an email in to Antec about the issue as well abou the rumor that Antec
has problems with ATI cards. So far my original vendor is offering RMA for
the card and so is ATI. I just don't know if that will change the situation
any as it seems like ALL the 9700s have this problem. I would like to see
what ATI will do as far as letting me upgrade to a more stable card, or if
Antec is sure their power supply is the culprit maybe they have another
model that is SURE to work with the 9700. Hard to say whos fault it is.

--Dan

The PSU is not from Antec. It's some sort of Q-Tech since my old one
said good bye with a stinky smell some weeks ago - on a saturday
afternoon where I was happy even to find a shop still open and selling
PSUs. ;-)

This is really a mess with ATI. I put the damn card in an 2 year old
ECS K7S5A with a Duron 1200 and an even much older PSU with a total
output of 235W max. And guess what: The damn card initializes flawless
even with every damn components in the system connected.

So smashed the Radeon "I will work only when I like!" 9800Pro back
into the package, the package back in the packet and the packet back
to the post office to get a f?*#ing RMA, invest a hundred bucks more
and try with an NVidia 5900Ultra. I'm very excited if that thing is
gonna work! ;-)

Stefan

 

[Edward Lee Ah Yen]

You would never believe me if I told you that I had similar problems
with an ATI 8500 128 MB on both an ABIT SA6R and an ASUS CUV266, until I
removed the Afreey DVD-ROM drive! BTW I use an Enermax 465 psu.

 

[dg]

I had also emailed Antec about the issue to see what they had to say, here
is their response:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------
Dear Sir,

We have issues with ATI Radeon 9800 series but not with the 9700 series.

Something else other than compatibility is causing your video display to
garble. It may also be that your video card is starting to fail.

Antec Technical Support
1-800-22ANTEC

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
So, apparently they don't believe there is an issue with the 9700 series. I
just may take up the video card RMA with my vendor and see what happens.
Its either that or I just suck it up and deal with rebooting on occaision to
fix the problem. Or try to get ATI to help me out with some kind of upgrade
to a 9800, but then I might have an Antec/9800 issue,
AAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!

--Dan

 

[Stefan Brueggemann]

You would never believe me if I told you that I had similar problems
with an ATI 8500 128 MB on both an ABIT SA6R and an ASUS CUV266, until I
removed the Afreey DVD-ROM drive! BTW I use an Enermax 465 psu.

I just fixed the problem: Today came my new Leadtek A350U with NVidia
GeForce FX5900 Ultra. Card in the AGP-slot, power on, works at once!
Not that stupid sticking aroung with mysterious problems with ATI
cards. Okay, this monster of a card is two slots high and more than
half the maximum length long, but who cares when it works and runs
like hell!?!? ;-)

Stefan