Graphic's card problem

[adham]

I have been having problems with my Radeon 9550 256 mb graphics card
made by Sapphire. Sometimes when im browsing the internet, i notice
that when i click a link, or on a picture, the screen goes black
because it is not recieveing a signal from the graphics card. I know
that because shortly after a "no signal" msg is displayed. Then i
began to download a few games from my direct to drive account. The
first game i had trouble with was swat 4. When i finneshed installing
it and attempted to play, i nocticed that loading took long for an AMD
3200+, 2000 MHz, 1 gig ram computer. When the menu finally came, all
the text was disfigured in the sense that they would contantly be
flickering and changing. The background picture was fine. Then when i
tried to play a game, it would take its time to load, again with the
disfigured text. When the game would load, it would usually play for
about a minute and then freeze. Then id have to restart my computer.
this happened every time i played it, and my computer had more then
the minimum hardware requirements to play the game. I then downloaded
Return to castle wolfenstein, and when attempting to play the
multiplayer game, the computer would freeze, and the screen would go
black because there is no signal. While this was happening the
background music would continue to play for about 30 seconds more,
then id have to restart it. Then i tried with Star Wars knights if the
old republic, and this time there was no disfigured text, but all but
the quit option on the menu would appear. when i tried to play the
game, it would play for a while, and then go into the same state, with
the monitor going black because of the graphic card. My mother board
is not more then 4 months old, and my graphic card is even newer. I
tried downloading the new driver, but it wont install due to an NSIS
error. Can anybody help please?

 

[CBFalconer]

I have been having problems with my Radeon 9550 256 mb graphics card
made by Sapphire. Sometimes when im browsing the internet, i notice
that when i click a link, or on a picture, the screen goes black
because it is not recieveing a signal from the graphics card. I know
that because shortly after a "no signal" msg is displayed. Then i
began to download a few games from my direct to drive account. The
first game i had trouble with was swat 4. When i finneshed installing
it and attempted to play, i nocticed that loading took long for an AMD
3200+, 2000 MHz, 1 gig ram computer. When the menu finally came, all
the text was disfigured in the sense that they would contantly be
flickering and changing. The background picture was fine. Then when i
tried to play a game, it would take its time to load, again with the
disfigured text. When the game would load, it would usually play for
about a minute and then freeze. Then id have to restart my computer.
this happened every time i played it, and my computer had more then
the minimum hardware requirements to play the game. I then downloaded
Return to castle wolfenstein, and when attempting to play the
multiplayer game, the computer would freeze, and the screen would go
black because there is no signal. While this was happening the
background music would continue to play for about 30 seconds more,
then id have to restart it. Then i tried with Star Wars knights if the
old republic, and this time there was no disfigured text, but all but
the quit option on the menu would appear. when i tried to play the
game, it would play for a while, and then go into the same state, with
the monitor going black because of the graphic card. My mother board
is not more then 4 months old, and my graphic card is even newer. I
tried downloading the new driver, but it wont install due to an NSIS
error. Can anybody help please?

Ignored because of monolythic block of characters. To make your
posts intelligible use paragraphs in future.

 

[adham]

Ignored because of monolythic block of characters. To make your
posts intelligible use paragraphs in future.

I have been having problems with my Radeon 9550 256 mb graphics card
made by Sapphire. Sometimes when im browsing the internet, i notice
that when i click a link, or on a picture, the screen goes black
because it is not recieveing a signal from the graphics card. I know
that because shortly after a "no signal" msg is displayed.

Then i began to download a few games from my direct to drive account.
The
first game i had trouble with was swat 4. When i finneshed installing
it and attempted to play, i nocticed that loading took long for an
AMD
3200+, 2000 MHz, 1 gig ram computer. When the menu finally came, all
the text was disfigured in the sense that they would contantly be
flickering and changing. The background picture was fine. Then when i
tried to play a game, it would take its time to load, again with the
disfigured text. When the game would load, it would usually play for
about a minute and then freeze. Then id have to restart my computer.
this happened every time i played it, and my computer had more then
the minimum hardware requirements to play the game.

I then downloaded Return to castle wolfenstein, and when attempting to
play the
multiplayer game, the computer would freeze, and the screen would go
black because there is no signal. While this was happening the
background music would continue to play for about 30 seconds more,
then id have to restart it.

Then i tried with Star Wars knights if the old republic, and this time
there was no disfigured text, but all but
the quit option on the menu would appear. when i tried to play the
game, it would play for a while, and then go into the same state,
with
the monitor going black because of the graphic card. My mother board
is not more then 4 months old, and my graphic card is even newer. I
tried downloading the new driver, but it wont install due to an NSIS
error. Can anybody help please?

 

[pen]

I have been having problems with my Radeon 9550 256 mb graphics card
made by Sapphire. Sometimes when im browsing the internet, i notice
that when i click a link, or on a picture, the screen goes black
because it is not recieveing a signal from the graphics card. I know
that because shortly after a "no signal" msg is displayed.

Then i began to download a few games from my direct to drive
account.
The
first game i had trouble with was swat 4. When i finneshed
installing
it and attempted to play, i nocticed that loading took long for an
AMD
3200+, 2000 MHz, 1 gig ram computer. When the menu finally came, all
the text was disfigured in the sense that they would contantly be
flickering and changing. The background picture was fine. Then when
i
tried to play a game, it would take its time to load, again with the
disfigured text. When the game would load, it would usually play for
about a minute and then freeze. Then id have to restart my computer.
this happened every time i played it, and my computer had more then
the minimum hardware requirements to play the game.

I then downloaded Return to castle wolfenstein, and when attempting
to
play the
multiplayer game, the computer would freeze, and the screen would go
black because there is no signal. While this was happening the
background music would continue to play for about 30 seconds more,
then id have to restart it.

Then i tried with Star Wars knights if the old republic, and this
time
there was no disfigured text, but all but
the quit option on the menu would appear. when i tried to play the
game, it would play for a while, and then go into the same state,
with
the monitor going black because of the graphic card. My mother board
is not more then 4 months old, and my graphic card is even newer. I
tried downloading the new driver, but it wont install due to an NSIS
error. Can anybody help please?

The NSIS error means the installer is corrupt. See this URL.
http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Why_do_I_get_NSIS_Error
or just try again from here;
http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/xp/radeonx-xp.html

 

[adham]

"NSIS error" is covered a bit here. Apparently Windows has an installer
package, that other companies can use if they want. I guess this would be
like InstallShield, only written by Microsoft. This doesn't suggest what
the root cause might be, merely to try upgrading via a Microsoft download.
I picked up this particular upgrade from Windows Update at some time in
the past.

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/ethereal/users/60630

The ATI driver usually has a tab in the Control Panel called "SmartGART".
In there, you can select the features you want to enable or disable,
at the AGP slot level. Since the card supports AGP 4X and 8X, I'd try
using the SmartGart, to select 4X as the speed of the slot. That should
take effect on the next reboot. As the desktop first appears, is when
SmartGART tries hardware settings. The settings end up at whatever is
stable, so sometimes SmartGART has a mind of its own.

Are you careful, when changing video cards, to always uninstall the driver
before removing the old card. Then install new card, and install the new
driver ? Failure to be disciplined when dealing with graphics cards,
can lead to a mess (ask me how I discovered that :-( ). I even uninstall
and reinstall, when changing from one Nvidia card, to another Nvidia card.

Other than playing with SmartGART, or with driver versions, you could try
taking a spare disk, and put a clean install of Windows on it. I have a
multibooting system, but I achieve it at the BIOS level, by having one
OS per disk, and selecting the disk to boot from via the BIOS boot selection.
If I want to add a new OS, I disconnect all other drives, connect only the
blank drive, and install a new OS on it. That saves the time of doing a
real reinstall, yet gives you a fairly clean environment to work in.

You could also try a different video card, to see if the problem still
exists or not. The first part of solving any problem, is gathering enough
information so you understand the problem first. It helps to have
all sorts of odds and ends, to allow swapping out and testing.

Other tests I'd try would include memtest86+ (to see if it is a RAM problem),
Prime95 (to see if it is RAM or processor), or use one of the versions of
3DMark, such as 3DMArk2001SE build 330. That is a more or less standard
test for whether the video is healthy or not. And does about as much for
you, as playing some game.

By the way, what motherboard is this ?

Paul- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thank you for replying Paul, but the problem seems to have been
resolved using this method:

"* In the Device Manager, System Devices, find the "CPU to AGP
Controller" and manually update it (Update Driver, Select from list,
Don't Search- I will choose, etc.etc.) to "PCI standard PCI-to-PCI
bridge" (http://www.techspot.com/vb/all/windows/t-36952-Sapphire-
Radeon-9550--Driving-me-insane-with-System-Hangs.html)

i do not know how this work, but it did

regards
adham

 

[Paul]

I have been having problems with my Radeon 9550 256 mb graphics card
made by Sapphire. Sometimes when im browsing the internet, i notice
that when i click a link, or on a picture, the screen goes black
because it is not recieveing a signal from the graphics card. I know
that because shortly after a "no signal" msg is displayed.

Then i began to download a few games from my direct to drive account.
The
first game i had trouble with was swat 4. When i finneshed installing
it and attempted to play, i nocticed that loading took long for an
AMD
3200+, 2000 MHz, 1 gig ram computer. When the menu finally came, all
the text was disfigured in the sense that they would contantly be
flickering and changing. The background picture was fine. Then when i
tried to play a game, it would take its time to load, again with the
disfigured text. When the game would load, it would usually play for
about a minute and then freeze. Then id have to restart my computer.
this happened every time i played it, and my computer had more then
the minimum hardware requirements to play the game.

I then downloaded Return to castle wolfenstein, and when attempting to
play the
multiplayer game, the computer would freeze, and the screen would go
black because there is no signal. While this was happening the
background music would continue to play for about 30 seconds more,
then id have to restart it.

Then i tried with Star Wars knights if the old republic, and this time
there was no disfigured text, but all but
the quit option on the menu would appear. when i tried to play the
game, it would play for a while, and then go into the same state,
with
the monitor going black because of the graphic card. My mother board
is not more then 4 months old, and my graphic card is even newer. I
tried downloading the new driver, but it wont install due to an NSIS
error. Can anybody help please?

"NSIS error" is covered a bit here. Apparently Windows has an installer
package, that other companies can use if they want. I guess this would be
like InstallShield, only written by Microsoft. This doesn't suggest what
the root cause might be, merely to try upgrading via a Microsoft download.
I picked up this particular upgrade from Windows Update at some time in
the past.

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/ethereal/users/60630

The ATI driver usually has a tab in the Control Panel called "SmartGART".
In there, you can select the features you want to enable or disable,
at the AGP slot level. Since the card supports AGP 4X and 8X, I'd try
using the SmartGart, to select 4X as the speed of the slot. That should
take effect on the next reboot. As the desktop first appears, is when
SmartGART tries hardware settings. The settings end up at whatever is
stable, so sometimes SmartGART has a mind of its own.

Are you careful, when changing video cards, to always uninstall the driver
before removing the old card. Then install new card, and install the new
driver ? Failure to be disciplined when dealing with graphics cards,
can lead to a mess (ask me how I discovered that :-( ). I even uninstall
and reinstall, when changing from one Nvidia card, to another Nvidia card.

Other than playing with SmartGART, or with driver versions, you could try
taking a spare disk, and put a clean install of Windows on it. I have a
multibooting system, but I achieve it at the BIOS level, by having one
OS per disk, and selecting the disk to boot from via the BIOS boot selection.
If I want to add a new OS, I disconnect all other drives, connect only the
blank drive, and install a new OS on it. That saves the time of doing a
real reinstall, yet gives you a fairly clean environment to work in.

You could also try a different video card, to see if the problem still
exists or not. The first part of solving any problem, is gathering enough
information so you understand the problem first. It helps to have
all sorts of odds and ends, to allow swapping out and testing.

Other tests I'd try would include memtest86+ (to see if it is a RAM problem),
Prime95 (to see if it is RAM or processor), or use one of the versions of
3DMark, such as 3DMArk2001SE build 330. That is a more or less standard
test for whether the video is healthy or not. And does about as much for
you, as playing some game.

By the way, what motherboard is this ?

Paul

 

[CBFalconer]

.... snip ...


I have been having problems with my Radeon 9550 256 mb graphics card
made by Sapphire. Sometimes when im browsing the internet, i notice
that when i click a link, or on a picture, the screen goes black
because it is not recieveing a signal from the graphics card. I know
that because shortly after a "no signal" msg is displayed.

Then i began to download a few games from my direct to drive account.
The first game i had trouble with was swat 4. When i finneshed
installing it and attempted to play, i nocticed that loading took
long for an AMD 3200+, 2000 MHz, 1 gig ram computer. When the menu
finally came, all the text was disfigured in the sense that they
would contantly be flickering and changing. The background picture
was fine. Then when i tried to play a game, it would take its time
to load, again with the disfigured text. When the game would load,
it would usually play for about a minute and then freeze. Then id
have to restart my computer. this happened every time i played it,
and my computer had more then the minimum hardware requirements to
play the game.

I then downloaded Return to castle wolfenstein, and when attempting
to play the multiplayer game, the computer would freeze, and the
screen would go black because there is no signal. While this was
happening the background music would continue to play for about 30
seconds more, then id have to restart it.

Then i tried with Star Wars knights if the old republic, and this
time there was no disfigured text, but all but the quit option on
the menu would appear. when i tried to play the game, it would play
for a while, and then go into the same state, with the monitor going
black because of the graphic card. My mother board is not more then
4 months old, and my graphic card is even newer. I tried downloading
the new driver, but it wont install due to an NSIS error. Can
anybody help please?

Much better - even understandable. Note the improvement in
response.

 

[Paul]

Thank you for replying Paul, but the problem seems to have been
resolved using this method:

"* In the Device Manager, System Devices, find the "CPU to AGP
Controller" and manually update it (Update Driver, Select from list,
Don't Search- I will choose, etc.etc.) to "PCI standard PCI-to-PCI
bridge" (http://www.techspot.com/vb/all/windows/t-36952-Sapphire-
Radeon-9550--Driving-me-insane-with-System-Hangs.html)

i do not know how this work, but it did

regards
adham

Yes, but what that does, is disable a portion of the protocol set used
in the AGP slot. The AGP slot uses a superset of both AGP and PCI
protocols. Using the PCI driver, drops you back to only the PCI ones.
As far as I know, that is close to the same thing as dropping the AGP
rate to 1x (which you can experiment with in SmartGART in the ATI panel).

In the past, with VIA chipsets, there was a drive strength value in the
BIOS. With an ATI driver, they could override this in Windows if they
wanted, so no guarantee that changing the BIOS setting would do anything,
if SmartGART is present. SmartGART will override the AGP speed setting
used in the BIOS (so the BIOS doesn't have total control of whether 4X
or 8X is used).

http://groups.google.ca/group/alt.c..._frm/thread/31e363c9dce70792/abf60c3929476445

What drive strength does, is crude impedance matching on the AGP bus.
The drive strength consists of two hex digits. When they say "DA",
the "D" controls, say, the upper drive transistor, and the "A"
controls the lower drive transistor. Being hex values, the allowed
values are 0123456789ABCDEF, where presumably F is the strongest.
The stronger the drive, the lower the impedance. Of course, the scale
is not calibrated in any meaningful sense. All we know is the
default value for upper and lower transistor drive strength is not
equal, and tends to be closer to F.

The usual method for adjusting drive strength, would be to change it
by one count, for either of the digits. Which could take a while
to test, if you do it properly. And there are no guarantees it
will be any better, once you've scanned a few values.

Also, there is not even a guarantee the drive strength changes are
linear. I don't know for sure what method they use in a case like
this - years ago, they might have placed four transistors in parallel,
where one transistor was sized 8X, one 4X, one 2X, one 1X. They switch
on the drive, by enabling or disabling the transistors. Which means the
hex code above, controls the enables on the transistors directly. For
the effects of a hex digit change to be exactly linear in some sense,
would require the 8:4:2:1 ratios to be exact. If the actual values
were something like 8:6:2:1.5, then as you go through the hex
counting sequence, the results would go all over the place. Drive
strength is a fine concept if it is linearized or tightly controlled,
but past experience was it was almost useless for fine tuning.

That doesn't mean you should stop trying to fix your problem. If your
BIOS did have drive strength, an adjustment could fix it - but I
couldn't predict what the exact values might be. Since the defaults
are up on the higher end, like DA, I would not expect the correct
setting to be 11 for example, as that would be much too weak to
work properly. The final result should still be up towards the ..DEF..
end of things.

You still didn't say what the motherboard is, so I still don't know
if this is a VIA chipset, and what the BIOS has got in it.

Paul