SmartGart

[Phoenix AG]

Hi,

I believe it is better to disabe Fast Writes for optimal performance
with ATI cards. The thing is, I can find and disable Write Combining
in Display Properties.

But there is no option in my BIOS to disable Fast Writes!
Then I heard that it could also be done throught the SmartGart thing.
Well, I went into C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel
and tried to open the shortcut lying over there.
And SmartGart doesn't open! The busy cursor just comes for about a
second and then goes away. Nothing happens at all!

Am I doing something wrong? How do I access SmartGart?

The reason why I want to disable FW is I have been having some
stability problems of late.


***
....the Phoenix shall rise...

 

[Jim]

You may need to install or reinstall the control panel application again.
If you downloaded the driver, the control panel and driven may be separate
downloads.

 

[Phoenix AG]

You may need to install or reinstall the control panel application again.
If you downloaded the driver, the control panel and driven may be separate
downloads.

I have downloaded the 25MB Cat 3.9 Drivers, which include the CP.
I had them installed earlier, and it didn't work then :-(
Then I uninstalled them and installed 3.7 Driver and CP. It didn't
work then :-(
Then I uninstalled 3.7 Driver and CP (cos it wasnt working for me) and
installed Cat 3.9 Drivers and CP and Multimedia. It's still not
working :-(

Btw, I have an XP system with SP1.

Any way to access it?


***
....the Phoenix shall rise...

 

[Rene Lamontagne]

I have downloaded the 25MB Cat 3.9 Drivers, which include the CP.
I had them installed earlier, and it didn't work then :-(
Then I uninstalled them and installed 3.7 Driver and CP. It didn't
work then :-(
Then I uninstalled 3.7 Driver and CP (cos it wasnt working for me) and
installed Cat 3.9 Drivers and CP and Multimedia. It's still not
working :-(

Btw, I have an XP system with SP1.

Any way to access it?


***
...the Phoenix shall rise...

Had the same problem, Had it in 3,8 but no SmartGart tab in 3.9.
Uninstalled 3.9 and CP then ran driver cleaner to insure that ther were no
remnants in the registry, then reloaded 3.9 and this time I have the
SmartGart tab.
My theory is that something in the registry was telling the install routine
that smartgart was already installed and not to install again, ( maybe!)
Give it a try and keep us posted.

 

[Strontium]

-
Rene Lamontagne stood up at show-n-tell, in
D0Iyb.540739$9l5.115663@pd7tw2no, and said:

Had the same problem, Had it in 3,8 but no SmartGart tab in 3.9.
Uninstalled 3.9 and CP then ran driver cleaner to insure that ther
were no remnants in the registry, then reloaded 3.9 and this time I
have the SmartGart tab.
My theory is that something in the registry was telling the install
routine that smartgart was already installed and not to install
again, ( maybe!) Give it a try and keep us posted.

My experience with the SmartGart tab was similar. Sometimes, Driver Cleaner
wouldn't even help! Seems like hit, or miss.

 

[Phoenix AG]

Had the same problem, Had it in 3,8 but no SmartGart tab in 3.9.
Uninstalled 3.9 and CP then ran driver cleaner to insure that ther were no
remnants in the registry, then reloaded 3.9 and this time I have the
SmartGart tab.
My theory is that something in the registry was telling the install routine
that smartgart was already installed and not to install again, ( maybe!)
Give it a try and keep us posted.

Thanks for the reply. The way I understand it from your post,
SmartGart is supposed to have its own separate TAB in the display
properties??!?!?

See, its like this. I had an nVidia mx 400 card before this. I
uninstalled the nVidia drivers, removed its traces manually as best as
I could, then I installed ATI Cat 3.9. I didn't have the SmartGart tab
anywhere in the properties (didn't even know it was supposed to be
there).

After I got some problems, I uninstalled 3.9 and loaded 3.7 with CP.
Didn't get the SG tab then too...3.7 were problematic for me and gave
me lower scores as well...
So I immediately uninstalled them, and reloaded the 3.9 drivers,
complete with CP and Multimedia drivers. I have the 25mb download.

I have never seen the SmartGart tab and have only heard about it being
accessed through the C:\Program Files folder.

I am a first time ATI user and the first time I installed the 3.9
drivers, even then the tab wasn't there.

What do you suggest? This is all very strange.


***
....the Phoenix shall rise...

 

[Jim]

There are utilities to uninstall all of the files for both of your cards,
this is an important step. First run the one for the old card then the
one for the new card, install the latest AGP driver for the motherboard
then try to install cat 3.9 again.

You can find the uninstall utilities at Rage3D and ATI.

 

[Phoenix AG]

There are utilities to uninstall all of the files for both of your cards,
this is an important step. First run the one for the old card then the
one for the new card, install the latest AGP driver for the motherboard
then try to install cat 3.9 again.

You can find the uninstall utilities at Rage3D and ATI.

Ok...you think this will help?
And btw, is SmartGart supposed to come up as a tab or something?
Or is it supposed to come up as a separate program?
I'll try to remove all traces of the drivers then install them
again...then see..

But I am not that optimistic. As before installing the Cat 3.9s for
the first time, there were absolutely NO (obviously) traces of them on
my system.

Lemme try out this stuff...I'll let you know if I have any luck.


***
....the Phoenix shall rise...

 

[Jim]

I have Cat 3.9 installed. I do not have any short cut to smartgart from the
start menu. There is a Tab in the ATI control panel that can be reached
via the tray icon or the advanced tab from the Windows display properties
box.

From the tray icon
Right click tray icon
Select "Settings"
Select "ATI Display Settings"
The Windows display properties box opens and them the ATI display
properties box opens.
The SmartGart tab is on this window.


From the Desktop
Right click any open place on the desktop
Select "Properties"
Select "Settings"
Select "Advanced"
The ATI diplay properties box opens, SmartGart tab is in this
window.

The display drivers add so much crap to the system that it is difficult to
uninstall it all without a utility or step by step instructions.

Let us know how it turns out.


Jim

 

[Rene Lamontagne]

Ok...you think this will help?
And btw, is SmartGart supposed to come up as a tab or something?
Or is it supposed to come up as a separate program?
I'll try to remove all traces of the drivers then install them
again...then see..

But I am not that optimistic. As before installing the Cat 3.9s for
the first time, there were absolutely NO (obviously) traces of them on
my system.

Lemme try out this stuff...I'll let you know if I have any luck.


***
...the Phoenix shall rise..

Right click desktop for display properties, then click settings tab, then
click advanced button.
This should bring up all your ATI tabs including Smartgart, click Smartgart
and you should be there, Also the Options tab will give you your Catalyst
version and other driver info.

 

[Phoenix AG]

I have Cat 3.9 installed. I do not have any short cut to smartgart from the
start menu. There is a Tab in the ATI control panel that can be reached
via the tray icon or the advanced tab from the Windows display properties
box.

From the tray icon
Right click tray icon
Select "Settings"
Select "ATI Display Settings"
The Windows display properties box opens and them the ATI display
properties box opens.
The SmartGart tab is on this window.


From the Desktop
Right click any open place on the desktop
Select "Properties"
Select "Settings"
Select "Advanced"
The ATI diplay properties box opens, SmartGart tab is in this
window.

The display drivers add so much crap to the system that it is difficult to
uninstall it all without a utility or step by step instructions.

Let us know how it turns out.


Jim

Thank you both for such excellent instructions. I am now thoroughly
shocked. For I have no such tab at all!
Let me list the tabs I have. They are (in order):
General
Adapter
Monitor
Troubleshoot
Color Management
Displays
Color
Options
Overlay
3D
VPU Recover

That is ALL! From the first time I ever installed Cat drivers till the
time when I uninstalled them then installed them again, I have NEVER
had any SmartGart tab. What's wrong with me?

In the options, it says Cat 3.9 so that's ok.
I have downloaded the full 25 mb install file and installed everything
it had.

Furthermore, from suggestions in this thread, I went to the ATI site
and downloaded these two utilities.

smartgart-uninstall.exe
cat-uninstaller.exe

Should I run the SG one first and then the Cat one? Then finally run
the full setup of Cat 3.9 again?
Or is there another utility which will help? Can you please point me
out to it, in that case.

To clarify matters more, there isn't any shortcut in my Start Menu.
But there is a shortcut in the folder where ATI installs its stuff to
SmartGart. Running that is of no help either.

I am running a P-4, 1.6 Ghz.
XP SP1
Gigacube 9600 Pro

Should I contact ATI? I am not sure if they will help due to the fact
that I am not using a "made by ATI" card.


***
....the Phoenix shall rise...

 

[Jim]

Most of the time people have problems with the ATI drivers its because of
old stuff left behind by there last video card install. Did you get to the
Rage3d site and get the Nvidia uninstaller ?

ATI recommend to uninstll previous version of there software as well but
that is not as important as removing the old NVidia stuff. I usually
update my ATI driver right over the top of the old ones without any trouble.
If I did have trouble I would use the uninstaller of course.

Another area that causes problems is the AGP gart driver for the
motherboard. Have you got an up to date version of that Installed ?

Whos card do you have ? Are you using dirvers from ATI or from the card
makers site ? They may have slight differences like missing Tabs.

 

[Phoenix AG]

Most of the time people have problems with the ATI drivers its because of
old stuff left behind by there last video card install. Did you get to the
Rage3d site and get the Nvidia uninstaller ?

No, I haven't as yet. I cannot, for the life of me, find the damn
uninstaller on their site. I believe the url is www.rage3d.com, right?
They fail to link to a downloads section on their site. I cannot see
any nvidia uninstaller there. Can you please point me to it?
I found the Rage 3D Tweak. It too, refuses to run and says that my
card is not supported.

ATI recommend to uninstll previous version of there software as well but
that is not as important as removing the old NVidia stuff. I usually
update my ATI driver right over the top of the old ones without any trouble.
If I did have trouble I would use the uninstaller of course.

I made sure the old nVidia stuff was out, deleting folders and
registry keys. However, I must have missed something to have this
problem. I would be very grateful if you could point me to the
uninstaller.

Another area that causes problems is the AGP gart driver for the
motherboard. Have you got an up to date version of that Installed ?

I have no idea what this means
I have downloaded a flashing utility and the latest BIOS flash from
the ASUS site (my MB make is ASUS). But, reading the readmes, I can
only see processor support added and a few things of little
consequence.

Whos card do you have ? Are you using dirvers from ATI or from the card
makers site ? They may have slight differences like missing Tabs.

I have a GigaCube 9600 Pro card. I am using drivers straight off the
ATI site. My card is recognised as a 9600 Series card, not a Pro or
non Pro.
In an earlier thread, this was discussed thoroughly.

I got this card as a gift from an uncle. It seems that Gigacube
incorrectly labels their cards as PRO etc when in fact, my card is a
"semi-Pro". The core runs at 400 Mhz and the memory speed is 250 Mhz
(500). So it is a 400/500 card instead of a 400/600 card. But it says
Pro on the card surface.

I have the cat uninstallers, the SG uninstallers, the BIOS flasher
utils, etc. standing by. I only await your word on what to do next
I will get the nVidia uninstaller too as soon as I hear from you.
Then we will proceed.

Right now, everything seems to be running fine except for one game
(America's Army), the details of which I expressed in another post
(9600 Pro restarts computer!). The solution posted by an unofficial
source on the official forums stated something to the effect of
accessing SmartGart and changing some settings.
In addition to this, I am highly eager to disable Fast Writes as well.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Thank you for all your help till now.


***
....the Phoenix shall rise...

 

[Anthony Rondon]

http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/

No, I haven't as yet. I cannot, for the life of me, find the damn
uninstaller on their site. I believe the url is www.rage3d.com, right?
They fail to link to a downloads section on their site. I cannot see
any nvidia uninstaller there. Can you please point me to it?
I found the Rage 3D Tweak. It too, refuses to run and says that my
card is not supported.


I made sure the old nVidia stuff was out, deleting folders and
registry keys. However, I must have missed something to have this
problem. I would be very grateful if you could point me to the
uninstaller.


I have no idea what this means
I have downloaded a flashing utility and the latest BIOS flash from
the ASUS site (my MB make is ASUS). But, reading the readmes, I can
only see processor support added and a few things of little
consequence.


I have a GigaCube 9600 Pro card. I am using drivers straight off the
ATI site. My card is recognised as a 9600 Series card, not a Pro or
non Pro.
In an earlier thread, this was discussed thoroughly.

I got this card as a gift from an uncle. It seems that Gigacube
incorrectly labels their cards as PRO etc when in fact, my card is a
"semi-Pro". The core runs at 400 Mhz and the memory speed is 250 Mhz
(500). So it is a 400/500 card instead of a 400/600 card. But it says
Pro on the card surface.

I have the cat uninstallers, the SG uninstallers, the BIOS flasher
utils, etc. standing by. I only await your word on what to do next
I will get the nVidia uninstaller too as soon as I hear from you.
Then we will proceed.

Right now, everything seems to be running fine except for one game
(America's Army), the details of which I expressed in another post
(9600 Pro restarts computer!). The solution posted by an unofficial
source on the official forums stated something to the effect of
accessing SmartGart and changing some settings.
In addition to this, I am highly eager to disable Fast Writes as well.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Thank you for all your help till now.


***
...the Phoenix shall rise...

 

[Rene Lamontagne]

Snip...

The point that Jim made about the motherboard Garth driver is very
important, If you have a none Intel MB you need to download and install the
chipset drivers before installing the Video card and drivers.
For instance a motherboard with a VIA chipset will require the latest VIA 4
in 1 drivers version 4.xx, SIS and ALI or Nvidia boards require each their
own Miniport drivers.

What model of Asus MB do you have? and what CPU are you using?
This will tell us if you need these drivers.


Rene

 

[Jim]

Try this one if your still looking
http://www.guru3d.com/detonator-destroyer/

I couldnt find it at that other site either sorry.

 

[Phoenix AG]

The point that Jim made about the motherboard Garth driver is very
important, If you have a none Intel MB you need to download and install the
chipset drivers before installing the Video card and drivers.
For instance a motherboard with a VIA chipset will require the latest VIA 4
in 1 drivers version 4.xx, SIS and ALI or Nvidia boards require each their
own Miniport drivers.

What model of Asus MB do you have? and what CPU are you using?
This will tell us if you need these drivers.

Thanks Jim and Anthony for the URLs.
Rene, I have a P4B-M motherboard. It is a 1.5 year old system, running
a P-4 1.6 Ghz 478 pin CPU.
The link to the manufacturer site is:

http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/p4b-m/overview.htm

I have went to the download section and have downloaded the Aflash
util, with the latest (1005) flash. Let me know if the use of these is
needed.

Furthermore, I will now proceed to uninstall the ATI drivers off the
system. Then I will uninstall the nVidia crap left, if any. Then I
will reinstall ATI drivers. Hope it works.


***
....the Phoenix shall rise...

 

[Rene Lamontagne]

Thanks Jim and Anthony for the URLs.
Rene, I have a P4B-M motherboard. It is a 1.5 year old system, running
a P-4 1.6 Ghz 478 pin CPU.
The link to the manufacturer site is:

http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/p4b-m/overview.htm

I have went to the download section and have downloaded the Aflash
util, with the latest (1005) flash. Let me know if the use of these is
needed.

Furthermore, I will now proceed to uninstall the ATI drivers off the
system. Then I will uninstall the nVidia crap left, if any. Then I
will reinstall ATI drivers. Hope it works.


***
...the Phoenix shall rise.

OK, you have an Intel 845 chipset on your MB so the other MB drivers should
not be needed.
If you have the original bios it is probably ver 1002, sometimes flashing to
the latest bios rev does cure some problems, But be aware that flashing your
bios can be disastrous if done incorrectly or if something goes wrong. I
always flash to the latest and after some dozens of flashes over the years
I've never had a failure. If it's your first time do some reading and follow
instructions.
Another utility for removing Nvidia stuff is called "Detonator Destroyer",
available in many download locations. I used it some time back when I
switched to ATI.
Good Luck, Hope our little input helps.

 

[Phoenix AG]

OK, you have an Intel 845 chipset on your MB so the other MB drivers should
not be needed.
If you have the original bios it is probably ver 1002, sometimes flashing to
the latest bios rev does cure some problems, But be aware that flashing your
bios can be disastrous if done incorrectly or if something goes wrong. I
always flash to the latest and after some dozens of flashes over the years
I've never had a failure. If it's your first time do some reading and follow
instructions.
Another utility for removing Nvidia stuff is called "Detonator Destroyer",
available in many download locations. I used it some time back when I
switched to ATI.
Good Luck, Hope our little input helps.

Well well...
This is the sequence of events that took place.
I ran the Driver Cleaner 2 utility. Cleaned nVidia stuff. Ran the
Detonator Destroyer utility. Cleaned.
Then ran SmartGart uninstaller.
Then ran ATI Cat uninstaller.

After I uninstalled the Cat drivers, I noticed that the screen did not
go back to 640x480 as it usually does with no driver present. At
least, thats what used to happen if I uninstalled nVidia drivers. ATI
may be different. The screen res remained at 1024x768. I usually use a
screen res of 1152x(something).

Anyway, After uninstalling the Radeon from device manager as well, I
rebooted and proceeded to install the Cat 3.9 drivers, downloaded from
ATI site. They are the complete 25mb shit.
After everything went smoothly, I restarted and came back to my
desktop to find...

.....that the SmartGart tab had not come, even after all this trouble.

Btw, one thing I did find strange was that after I had installed the
Cat drivers, when I went to change the screen res to 1152, I noticed
that it had already changed the refresh rate to 75hz (my monitor
cannot go more than 75 on 1152). This was surprising as usually it
defaults back to 60 after a driver uninstall then install.

It is maddening!


***
....the Phoenix shall rise...

 

[Anthony Rondon]

Phoenix,

Just a thought here, do you have the Cat 3.8 drivers, CP and Capture drivers
handy? I had a prob with the 3.9's where it would not install any of the
components. I am currently using 3.8's right now and I would recommend using
them to see if all installs on your machine. HTH