AIW 9700 Causes Power Down

[StewRat]

I have a DFI Lanparty 250g for Athlon 64 (Socket 754) in an Antec Sonata
case w/ 360W supply, and it runs very well as I originally built it to be an
HD multimedia machine (XP Pro). Using an Abit vguru Radeon 9550 jumpered to
be a 9600 (almost pro clocking), running a 3000+ Newcastle(?) clocked to
2.4GHz, 1 stick of 512M of Geil UltraX 4400 DDR at 253MHz, and an ATi HDTV
Wonder PCI card. It records whatever I get unscrambled over the air without
too much trouble, but it *could* be better.... Plays WMV-HD disks/files
quite nicely, even at 1080p. HD avi files are kinda choppy driving a Toshiba
dlp tv, though.

So, I was wondering if it would help to step up the video horsepower. The
only card I have handy with any higher horses is an AIW 9700 Pro. I can't
test it, though, because I can't even turn on the computer with that card
plugged in!!! CPU fan spins for a second, and then stops.

Two questions -

1. Why won't this card let me boot? It works just fine in two other pcs
where I've placed it, and I *did* connect the power adapter... <g> Might it
be the HDTV Wonder doesn't like the competition??

2. If/when I get a better card working in this system, how much is enough to
play files like the avi hd that stuttered its way accross the Toshiba's
screen?

Appreciate all guidance y'all might be able to give. Thanks!!

 

[First of One]

1. Why won't this card let me boot? It works just fine in two other pcs
where I've placed it, and I *did* connect the power adapter... <g> Might
it
be the HDTV Wonder doesn't like the competition??

Well, the easiest way is to take out the HDTV Wonder and see if it'll boot.

2. If/when I get a better card working in this system, how much is enough
to
play files like the avi hd that stuttered its way accross the Toshiba's
screen?

Try enabling AGP Fast Writes with your Radeon 9550, if you haven't done so
already. For some odd reason this activates DXVA with the ATi drivers, in
all media player programs. It made a huge difference in playing 1080p
content for my 9800Pro.

 

[DaveL]

Hey FoO,

That's a good point. I'll have to write that down because my cheapie
refurb 9800 Pro AIW arrives today!

DaveL

 

[First of One]

One word of caution: enabling DXVA will turn the colors psychadelic,
depending on which renderer is used. In Windows Media Player and Media
Player Classic, there is a choice of renderers (default, overlay, VMR9...).
If you see the crazy neon greens, try the different renderers; at least one
will work normally.

Also, depending on the renderer used, FSAA may multiply the workload, esp.
with ripped subtitles. At the same time, SmartShader effects (porthole,
sepia, etc.) can be activated.

 

[Tom S]

StewRat: Fast Writes serve no purpose whatsoever for ATI
hardware and drivers, and will usually cause system instability
when enabled. FW create a PCI buffer for video that can talk
directly to a CPU, but this isn't necessary (or even desirable)
for drivers that properly implement an AGP command set
(such as ATI's).

DXVA coming active on your system was coincidental to
something else, not enabling Fast Writes.. e.g. installation of
the MS patch required for it. Here's the complete procedure:

Knowledge Base
ATI Customer Care > How to Use > System Settings and Configuration >
How to enable DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) in Windows Media
Player 10

The following steps will help you enable DirectX Video Acceleration
(DXVA) within Windows Media Player 10

1. Install Catalyst 5.6 or higher. Drivers before Catalyst 5.5 do not support
DXVA acceleration
1a. Reboot

2. Install Windows DRM update, from:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=73C2650F-BE61-4BD6-8408-1FD6E7827CD8
2a. Reboot

Note: Please refer to this article for more information:
Update for Windows Media Digital Rights Management-enabled players
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/891122/

3. Install the following Windows Media Player Hotfix
a. http://download.microsoft.com/downl...c0/windowsmedia10-kb888656-x86-global-enu.exe

Note: Please refer to this article for more information on the Hotfix:
Update to enable DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) of Windows Media Video
content in Windows Media Player 10
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;888656

4. Go into Catalyst Control Center. Switch to Advanced view

5. Go to the Video, All Settings

6. Scroll to the bottom of the Catalyst Control Page to find the
Windows Media Setting option and ensure Windows Media Video
Acceleration is checked on.

7. Start Windows Media Player 10, go into Tools, Options (if the
menu bar is not available, double the click title bar to display)

8. Open the Performance tab and click Advanced under Video
Acceleration

9. Ensure Use high quality mode is selected. Click OK, OK.

 

[First of One]

StewRat: Fast Writes serve no purpose whatsoever for ATI
hardware and drivers, and will usually cause system instability
when enabled. FW create a PCI buffer for video that can talk
directly to a CPU, but this isn't necessary (or even desirable)
for drivers that properly implement an AGP command set
(such as ATI's).

That is what I thought, too, until I tried it myself. Toggling FW on and off
and playing the same 1080p video definitely made a difference (CPU
utilization dropped from 100% to 70%, with no skipped frames). However,
enabling FW also caused some flashing stencil polygons in Doom3, until the
Catalyst 5.7 drivers.

Search for posts made by Tony DiMarzio back in June, in this NG.

DXVA coming active on your system was coincidental to
something else, not enabling Fast Writes.. e.g. installation of
the MS patch required for it. Here's the complete procedure:>

Officially, you need the MS patch plus WMP10. However, whether by intent or
by accident, they are not really necessary. (Good thing, since the MS patch
adds a crapload of DRM shit - best to stay away...)

And yes, I know DXVA is being activated. If I use the overlay renderer in
WMP9, the colors become neon-green and pink (YUV->RGB conversion, or lack
thereof), and I get an error log named "dxva.sig" in the video file's
folder.

 

[GinTonix]

StewRat wrote:
....

1. Why won't this card let me boot? It works just fine in two other pcs
where I've placed it, and I *did* connect the power adapter... <g> Might it
be the HDTV Wonder doesn't like the competition??

As someone else already suggested, easiest would be to remove the HDTV
Wonder (including its drivers, and do this before installing the
9700AIW) and see if the combination is guilty for the problem. Another
issue is the PSU - maybe it is not up to what it is required? It
_should_ be adequate but maybe the specimen is of the weaker side of the
pack. OTOH, if you remove the HDTV Wonder and the system starts working
OK it might mean that a) the combination would not work or b) one
component removed leaves the others enough juice to operate.

2. If/when I get a better card working in this system, how much is enough to
play files like the avi hd that stuttered its way accross the Toshiba's
screen?

The stuttering might be result of some piece of software requiring too
much attention from the CPU as well as some general confusion of the
system. Do you have any indexing services or anything like that usually
running in the background? Sometimes they think you are not doing
anything if you don't fiddle with your keyboard or mouse and start doing
in the foreground whatever evil tasks they usually do in the background.
This might result stuttering playback.

 

[patrickp]

I have a DFI Lanparty 250g for Athlon 64 (Socket 754) in an Antec Sonata
case w/ 360W supply, and it runs very well as I originally built it to be an
HD multimedia machine (XP Pro). Using an Abit vguru Radeon 9550 jumpered to
be a 9600 (almost pro clocking), running a 3000+ Newcastle(?) clocked to
2.4GHz, 1 stick of 512M of Geil UltraX 4400 DDR at 253MHz, and an ATi HDTV
Wonder PCI card. It records whatever I get unscrambled over the air without
too much trouble, but it *could* be better.... Plays WMV-HD disks/files
quite nicely, even at 1080p. HD avi files are kinda choppy driving a Toshiba
dlp tv, though.

So, I was wondering if it would help to step up the video horsepower. The
only card I have handy with any higher horses is an AIW 9700 Pro. I can't
test it, though, because I can't even turn on the computer with that card
plugged in!!! CPU fan spins for a second, and then stops.

Two questions -

1. Why won't this card let me boot? It works just fine in two other pcs
where I've placed it, and I *did* connect the power adapter... <g> Might it
be the HDTV Wonder doesn't like the competition??

Sometimes makes a difference to ensure that nothing else is on the
power adapter lead from the PSU, StewRat.

2. If/when I get a better card working in this system, how much is enough to
play files like the avi hd that stuttered its way accross the Toshiba's
screen?

Appreciate all guidance y'all might be able to give. Thanks!!

Patrick

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