ATI; Can't write software for S---

[Rich]

I pity AMD having to deal with these ass-----.
I picked up a secondary video card to replace and old Radeon 7200.
It's a Sapphire 9600 Pro 256. So, I install it and it's software. It
won't run a video player, screen is blank on the TV but you can see it
on the computer monitor. Read test, remove, re-install (I'm used to
this nonsense after 15 years of ATI) still no go. Tried 4 flavours of
the ATI Control Panel software, no resolution. I email ATI and
process a help ticket. I even included digital images of the problem.
What do I get back? ATI boiler plate about how to de-install,
re-install their crappy software.
So, I re-emailed them, no response. Then, I notice the screen is
"shimmering." I check the refresh rate. 60hz. I jump it up to 85hz.
Same problem. Turns out, some interaction between XP and this ATI junk
is causing the refresh to stay glued at 60hz. So I download a program
called "Reforce" to correct the problem. It still "looks" like the
refresh is low, but it's better.

The only company I've seen with worse software is HP for their
printers. I hope AMD changes ATI's corporate culture to correct this
and helps them produce some decent software.

 

[Tom Horsley]

Turns out, some interaction between XP and this ATI junk
is causing the refresh to stay glued at 60hz.

No, no, no, you only *think* you set the rate to 85hz.
You actually have to play a pixel hunting game ATI
includes free of charge in the control panel .

In "display" page (not "monitor" page) (or maybe it is vice-versa)
if you click on enough things you'll eventually find a
way to set the max refresh rate (which is independent
of the refresh rate it shows over in the monitor settings
page).

 

[VanShania]

Could be just a bad card. I've used 2 of those cards in XP 2100 and XP 2500
systems on MSI boards and didn't have any image problems on the moniters. Do
you have your moniter drivers installed? Those cards came out some time
ago(3 years almost) and maybe the dealer sold you a returned product that
they hope to unload on an unsuspecting victim.

--
A64 3500+, Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939 motherboard
Sapphire X1600 Pro 512 mb AGP
X-Fi Extreme Music, MSI 550 Theatre Pro tuner
Antec 550 watt, Thermaltake Lanfire
2 Gb Dual Channel PC3200 OCZ Platinum 2-3-2-5 CL2.5
2XSATA WD 320gb Raid Edition Raid 0, PATA WD 120Gb HD
Pioneer 110D, 111D, Liteon 1693 Dual Layer burners
XP Media Centre Edition 2005
Sidewinder Precision Pro 2 Joystick
Logitech optical mouse
19 in Viewsonic A91f+

 

[Rich]

Could be just a bad card. I've used 2 of those cards in XP 2100 and XP 2500
systems on MSI boards and didn't have any image problems on the moniters. Do
you have your moniter drivers installed? Those cards came out some time
ago(3 years almost) and maybe the dealer sold you a returned product that
they hope to unload on an unsuspecting victim.

That is a possibility. I'm getting some odd flickering of the image so
I'll swap it out.

 

[bigcid10]

I pity AMD having to deal with these ass-----.
I picked up a secondary video card to replace and old Radeon 7200.
It's a Sapphire 9600 Pro 256. So, I install it and it's software. It
won't run a video player, screen is blank on the TV but you can see it
on the computer monitor. Read test, remove, re-install (I'm used to
this nonsense after 15 years of ATI) still no go. Tried 4 flavours of
the ATI Control Panel software, no resolution. I email ATI and
process a help ticket. I even included digital images of the problem.
What do I get back? ATI boiler plate about how to de-install,
re-install their crappy software.
So, I re-emailed them, no response. Then, I notice the screen is
"shimmering." I check the refresh rate. 60hz. I jump it up to 85hz.
Same problem. Turns out, some interaction between XP and this ATI junk
is causing the refresh to stay glued at 60hz. So I download a program
called "Reforce" to correct the problem. It still "looks" like the
refresh is low, but it's better.

The only company I've seen with worse software is HP for their
printers. I hope AMD changes ATI's corporate culture to correct this
and helps them produce some decent software.

sounds like a stupid user error to me