ATI Driver Question?

[Withheld at Owners Request]

Does any of the setting in the Cat's 'stick' on the video card or are they
only for the windows drivers once Windows loads?

I am asking becuase I just installed the ATI AIW x800 XT - and get nothing
on screen during the boot process - the first time the DVI input hits the
monitor is at the XP login screen - black/blank until then. My prev card AIW
9800 PRO worked fine at boot.

Googl'ing around I found that the DVI freqency for 640x480 (the boot
resolution) may be too high? - my question is are the settings in the CAT
CP - Alt DVI and/or DVI Fequency good only when windows boots or do they
program the card?

My goal is to solve the blank boot screen - any advice on that would be
great.

Doug

 

[NoNoBadDog!]

Does any of the setting in the Cat's 'stick' on the video card or are they
only for the windows drivers once Windows loads?

I am asking becuase I just installed the ATI AIW x800 XT - and get nothing
on screen during the boot process - the first time the DVI input hits the
monitor is at the XP login screen - black/blank until then. My prev card
AIW 9800 PRO worked fine at boot.

Googl'ing around I found that the DVI freqency for 640x480 (the boot
resolution) may be too high? - my question is are the settings in the CAT
CP - Alt DVI and/or DVI Fequency good only when windows boots or do they
program the card?

My goal is to solve the blank boot screen - any advice on that would be
great.

Doug

The drivers have nothing to do with the boot process...even without any
drivers installed you should be getting the boot screens displayed.

I have the same card on one of my computers attached to a 20" DVI flat
panel.
I get all the screens during boot, so I suspect you have other issues...

Bobby

 

[Paul Murphy]

Does any of the setting in the Cat's 'stick' on the video card or are they
only for the windows drivers once Windows loads?

I am asking becuase I just installed the ATI AIW x800 XT - and get nothing
on screen during the boot process - the first time the DVI input hits the
monitor is at the XP login screen - black/blank until then. My prev card
AIW 9800 PRO worked fine at boot.

Googl'ing around I found that the DVI freqency for 640x480 (the boot
resolution) may be too high? - my question is are the settings in the CAT
CP - Alt DVI and/or DVI Fequency good only when windows boots or do they
program the card?

My goal is to solve the blank boot screen - any advice on that would be
great.

Doug

Having experienced similar issues with my AIW Radeon (Original 32 MB
version) and had it resolved with new ATI firmware, you need to let ATI know
of the problem so they can get to work on firmware specific to match your
TFT monitor, either that or try a different TFT monitor that runs at
different frequencies. As Bobby mentioned in his response this is not at all
driver related. If the card came with a DVI to D-Sub adapter and your
monitor is dual input, as a workaround you could use the other input when
you need to access the BIOS setup or view POST screens.

Paul

 

[Withheld at Owners Request]

Thanks - I can use the vga connector when I need to see the screens - but
what a pain in the butt. I called ATI and they told me that all cards prior
to the X1000 series are set w/ the VGA output as the primary/first in order
and DVI is down in the order below that. They were basically no help - they
showed me a kb article with standard bs that never works. The fact that my
9800 worked really po's me... if anyone has some help let me know... I have
heard it may be also MB related... I have a MSI NEO2 Plat MB... if that
helps anyone.

 

[Paul Murphy]

Thanks - I can use the vga connector when I need to see the screens - but
what a pain in the butt. I called ATI and they told me that all cards
prior to the X1000 series are set w/ the VGA output as the primary/first
in order and DVI is down in the order below that. They were basically no
help - they showed me a kb article with standard bs that never works. The
fact that my 9800 worked really po's me... if anyone has some help let me
know... I have heard it may be also MB related... I have a MSI NEO2 Plat
MB... if that helps anyone.

No its NOT motherboard related but is specifically associated with the
signal frequency that the card puts out vs the frequency that the monitor
can cope with for a given (boot) resolution. While what ATI have told you
about boot priorities may be true, this is a red herring and is not the
reason for this problem you're getting. If you pause the boot process say
at the post screen or by entering BIOS setup, why doesn't the screen
eventually appear? Think about it, why does my card with the updated BIOS
work when the exact same card with older BIOS had this problem?

If you let ATI know that you are aware this issue has been addressed with
firmware updates in the past and that you want them to address it, you
should get past the first level "brush off". This general area is something
that ATI are well aware of and have the ability to fix!

You need to put your foot down with them (it took me about 10 emails and
several months of waiting to eventually get this issue fixed). They wouldn't
email me the new card BIOS file and flasher utility but instead insisted on
me sending back my card for them to replace with an identical unit with a
newer BIOS (even though I've worked as a computer technician and I'm
familiar with flashing cards and motherboard BIOSs).

Hang in there and persist - it will pay off in the end!

Paul

 

[Withheld at Owners Request]

No its NOT motherboard related but is specifically associated with the
signal frequency that the card puts out vs the frequency that the monitor
can cope with for a given (boot) resolution. While what ATI have told you
about boot priorities may be true, this is a red herring and is not the
reason for this problem you're getting. If you pause the boot process say
at the post screen or by entering BIOS setup, why doesn't the screen
eventually appear? Think about it, why does my card with the updated BIOS
work when the exact same card with older BIOS had this problem?

If you let ATI know that you are aware this issue has been addressed with
firmware updates in the past and that you want them to address it, you
should get past the first level "brush off". This general area is
something that ATI are well aware of and have the ability to fix!

You need to put your foot down with them (it took me about 10 emails and
several months of waiting to eventually get this issue fixed). They
wouldn't email me the new card BIOS file and flasher utility but instead
insisted on me sending back my card for them to replace with an identical
unit with a newer BIOS (even though I've worked as a computer technician
and I'm familiar with flashing cards and motherboard BIOSs).

Hang in there and persist - it will pay off in the end!

Paul

Paul - that is what I am going to do... thanks. Off to call ATI now... as a
work around I found that if I attach both the dvi and vga adapters it iwll
boot on the vga - show the post info - then at the windows login screen
switch to the dvi input..