My ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 & Doom 3

[Zadig Galbaras]

Hi U all

I got Doom 3 on friday 13.th, and that's what's causes a lot of trouble I
guess )

The game keeps on freezing. That is, the picture is freezing, but the sound
keeps going for a while
The only solution is to turn the computer off by holding down the OFF-button
in at least five seconds or so.

It freezes during those movieclips and play

Why?

I have upgraded DirectX to the 9c version.
I have chosen lowest screen resolution choice in the system settings i.e.
480*640 and the lowest possible setting on details.
I have disabled the upper most choice in the advanced window.
I have not reinstalled after upgrading DirectX. Should I?

A cut from the DXDIAG.EXE logfile:
------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 8/15/2004, 21:44:14
Machine name: FANUEL
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack
1 (2600.xpsp2.031208-2000)
Language: Norwegian (Bokmål) (Regional Setting: Norwegian
(Bokmål))
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Inspiron 9100
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A01
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
Memory: 512MB RAM
Page File: 212MB used, 1468MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.0001.0904 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9700
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9700 AGP (0x4E50)
DAC type: Internal DAC(350MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4E50&SUBSYS_017C1028&REV_00
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Standardskjerm


------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 2: The file btaudio.sys is not digitally signed, which
means that it has not been tested by Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality
Labs (WHQL). You may be able to get a WHQL logo'd driver from the hardware
manufacturer.
Music Tab: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.
Network Tab: No problems found.

Can anyone of you experts out there help me?
Shall I reinstall after the Directx uppgrade?

 

[JD]

Is there an AGP 4X vs 8X setting on that laptop? I had similar issues with
my desktop which were solved by going from 8X to 4X. Also, does it have the
latest AGP driver (or any agp driver)?



What area of Norway are

 

[bob]

Hi Zadig.

It's not nescessarily your DX upgrade.

I had similar symptoms with the Dell Inspiron 8200 model.

These only occurred when running Flight Sim,
the only app I use which drives the processor at 100% utilisation
for all of the time it's running, (though not whilst launching the app).

I'd noticed the lockups occurred regularly
when I carried the laptop from my cold computer room, into my lounge,
where I'd left the gas fire on high, (probably 15 deg C higher).

Traced back to overheating of the C/GPU,
& lack of sufficient BIOS control of the fan speeds.

Resolved by using the ISKFanGUI fan controller utility,
(don't know if it's available for the Inspiron 9100)



Have you had the laptop for long ?

Has this ever occurred previously ?

If so, was it when running any other processor intensive apps ?
e.g. Flight Sim, etc.

Use Task-Manager to check your CPU utilisation,
leave it running on top, (options - always on top),
then launch Doom 3 & wait till it's running.

Is A01 the latest BIOS for the 9100 ?
Are you running the latest video drivers for your model ?
Initially check on the Dell website.

I suggest you have a look on the Dell forums on their website,
specifically in the forum for the 9100,
if not then try the Inspiron forum,
(search for ISKFanGUI).

For video drivers -
you could download the latest ATI RADEON 9700 desktop driver,
then use ATIModder to convert it to an ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9700 driver.

HTH

 

[Mark Stidham]

Unnecessary. I have a Dell Inspiron 9100, with the 64MB Mobility
9700. I had the same problem: Game would freeze, but the audio
wouldn't. Tried everything. The solution is to upgrade your video
drivers to Catalyst 3.9beta. For the Mobility 9700, however, you'll
need to use the Omega drivers (built-in support for the Mobility
chipset; there's no need to do this 'mobility mod' crap):
www.omegadrivers.net

Doom 3 runs perfectly now: 800x600, Medium Quality, 45FPS in
'timedemo demo1'.