DVDs *will* not Play

[Harkhof]

I just purchases an ATI AIW 9600TX. My previous card wasn an AIW 9000. I
used the 9000's uninstall utility to remove the 9000 and "all" ATI software.
Presumably, given that ATI cards balk at any traces of previous ATI cards,
the uninstall utility wiped up it's mess.

Relevant specs:
MSI NEO2 Plat
AMD 3500+
1024 MB Corsair (512x2)
XP SP2

Other DVD Decoder on machine:

WinDVD 4 (has always worked great).

After the 9000 uninstall, I restarted the machine, canceled out XP's
hardware detect and installed the 9700 from the CD. Everything appeared to
go fine with a few exceptions, the worst of which is that DVD's no longer
play (via ATI's player OR WinDVD). There seems to be a lot of trouble
reading the DVD disc and the movie just halts. Sometimes it will continue
for a few seconds and then freeze again, picture on screen. I tried updating
the DVD decoder with a newer one from ATI's site. No go. I tried
uninstalling ATI's decoder and using WinDVD. No go. I tried uninstalling
WinDVD and using ATI's DVD player, even though ATI's player has no added
features and is pretty much some pathetically written, cheap little app just
like ATI's other software solutions. No go.

Unless I get a viable solution here, I'll most likely remove the board and
restore an Acronis image I made prior to installing the 9600TX and return it
for a refund, after which I'll buy an Nvidia card and a decent PCI TV card.
Please don't tell me that the only solution is formatting and re-installing.
For one thing, if ATI expects all of its customers to jump through those
kinds of hoops to get any of their boards working, I expect them to go out
of business soon and will help that happen any way I can. For another, I
just did a complete re-install about one month ago (a long process on this
machine, since I use it for business), and I refuse to do it again because
the idiots at ATI can't write proper install routines. I shouldn't have to
go through all that for a board I paid $200 for. If I wanted to do ATI's
work for them, I'd apply for a job. <end rant>

Thanks for any ideas,
Hark

 

[Harkhof]

One fact that I should mention is that upon starting the TV program, a
warning message appears stating that DMA is not enabled for the HDs (on the
primary controller of my motherboard). I am using the Nvidia SW IDE drivers
and DMA *is* enabled (Ultra DMA 5-Ultra 100) , but had no problems before
installing the 9600XT.

The DVD Drive (a LiteOn SOHW-812S) is the sole drive on the secondary
controller and is figured as master. Device manager shows as Ultra DMA 2
Ultra 33.

Thanks again,
Hark

 

[Homer]

What version are the drivers? You might want to download the newer drivers
from ATI's web site and give them a try. Remove the cd version first. Don't
use the ones with the catalyst control center. Get the ones with the control
panel. I have the same card in my system and it works great. I have the
remote wonder II with my card. I have heard the 5.2 have a problem with Half
Life 2 so if you play that game don't use them. I am running the 5.1 and the
had a big preformance increase on Doom 3. I installed the ones off the CD
like you did when I bought the card. I installed the video card drivers from
the web site first. Then did a reboot. Then I install the latest version of
MMC reboot. Then I installed the DVD player next reboot. Then install the
remote wonder software if you have that. I would also check the smartgart
settings in the display properties an see if you are running with fast
writes on and what the agp setting is running at. There may be the off
chance your dvd player is going. Also how many watts is your power supply.
Is it a check 350 that came with the case. The 9600 will have larger demands
then your old 9000 card. I run a 450 watt with good amp. ratting on the 5
volt.

Good luck

Homer

 

[Harkhof]

What version are the drivers? You might want to download the newer drivers
from ATI's web site and give them a try. Remove the cd version first.
Don't use the ones with the catalyst control center. Get the ones with the
control panel. I have the same card in my system and it works great. I
have the remote wonder II with my card. I have heard the 5.2 have a
problem with Half Life 2 so if you play that game don't use them. I am
running the 5.1 and the had a big preformance increase on Doom 3. I
installed the ones off the CD like you did when I bought the card. I
installed the video card drivers from the web site first. Then did a
reboot. Then I install the latest version of MMC reboot. Then I installed
the DVD player next reboot. Then install the remote wonder software if you
have that. I would also check the smartgart settings in the display
properties an see if you are running with fast writes on and what the agp
setting is running at. There may be the off chance your dvd player is
going. Also how many watts is your power supply. Is it a check 350 that
came with the case. The 9600 will have larger demands then your old 9000
card. I run a 450 watt with good amp. ratting on the 5 volt.

Good luck

Hi Homer, and thanks for such a detailed response. It actually did turn out
to be the drive. Worked great before I put in the 9600xt. Go figure. I'll
remember your advice regarding games.

Thanks again,
Harkhof