Author Topic: ATI 9500 Pro problem (Read 376 times)

mauser · « **on:** July 13, 2003, 11:18:05 PM »

I was able to get a 9500 Pro a couple of weeks ago. I've been trying to fix a problem where 3D-screensavers like the "Serene Screen Aquarium" will kick in when I ask it to, but after a few minutes the screen gets like this:

This also happens when I try to run the ATI DX9 demo I downloaded.
Sometimes hitting any key on the keyboard will bring the desktop back (but there is a blue screen before that describing a "Fatal exception 0E at 0028:000003E1"). But usually I need to do a hard reset which is kinda annoying. I could just choose not to use a screen saver but that just tells me something is wrong with my setup. Games like AH and Ghost Recon seem to run ok for the most part, although I had two CTD's the last time I tried to play AH. 3DMark2001 sometimes works and sometimes gives me a "Timer Sanity Check" error near the last few tests. Last successful bench gave me about 10500 pts. To solve this I've tried:

1) Used detonator destroyer to remove my old GForce 2 Pro drivers.
2) Made sure Fast Writes is Off.
3) Set AGP to 2x (mb max is 4x).
4) Tried both 128 MB and 256 MB agp aperture.
5) Gave the card a dedicated power connector - no other devices branched.
6) Upped AGP voltage to 1.7.
7) Installed DX9.0a over DX8.1
8) Reinstalled my VIA 4in1 v.4.35
9) Removed all video drivers and re-installed starting from plain SVGA.
10) Tried the "Omega" drivers.
11) Uninstalled "Smartgart".

Here are my system specs:

MSI KT3 Ultra 2
Athlon XP 2000
300 Watt power supply
256 MB Corsair brand RAM
ATI Radeon 9500 Pro
Catalyst 3.5 drivers
DX8.1 now DX9.0a
Win98SE

I was foolish to press my good luck with components and wrote the card's "102" product number on the back of my manual so I probably can't return it now. I've heard that the Catalyst drivers in XP are more stable? I've been trying to avoid getting XP for as long as I can. But I'm not sure what else I can try to fix this annoying problem.

mauser

Shamus · « **Reply #1 on:** July 14, 2003, 09:12:10 AM »

Mauser

Looks like you have tried just about everything there. Your setup sucks a lot of juice, that 300w power supply may not be cutting it, you seem to be having stability problems when the card is working hard.

shamus

mauser · « **Reply #2 on:** July 14, 2003, 12:17:46 PM »

Hiya Shamus!

Last night after I wrote that post I let the 3D screensaver kick in and went to watch TV. Came back almost 1/2 hour later and it was still going. So then I cut the screensaver and ran the DX9 demo I had from ATI. It ran longer than I previously noticed, however after taking a shower I saw that it had blue-screened. When I hit a key the screen disappeared and the desktop returned, but it appears the system reset itself while the bluescreen was up. Strange. I had just turned the system on to type up my original post, so then I started to wonder if it's heat related (things start going wrong only after doing 3D stuff for a while). Insufficient power was in the back of my head, but I wasn't sure if that could be it (I have a PowerMan PS which was supposedly approved for AMD use). Will go that route next, thanks Shamus!

mauser

qts · « **Reply #3 on:** July 14, 2003, 03:54:41 PM »

Try XP.

Arfann · « **Reply #4 on:** July 14, 2003, 04:45:52 PM »

I've had similar vid problems since I installed an ATI Radeon 9000. After a lot of fiddling I've come to the conclusion it's heat related. I now have the side off the case and a "turbo" fan from Walgreens aimed at it. No CTD since.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #5 on:** July 14, 2003, 05:36:06 PM »

The 9500Pro does run hot and does like power.

It could be heat or power. Heat is easy though. Pop open the case, point a big fan at it and see if it is cured.

If not, power is the best bet. That system of yours would do well with a 430W Antec Tru-Power supply.

I am betting it is power related.

mauser · « **Reply #6 on:** July 14, 2003, 07:00:36 PM »

Thanks all for the suggestions. I'll give the heat portion a try tonight if I have time and follow with a new power supply if necessary. Hope it works out ok - I liked the idea of having what basically amounts to a slightly detuned 9700 Pro at almost 1/2 the price.

mauser

mauser · « **Reply #7 on:** July 28, 2003, 04:23:37 PM »

Update: The "tonight" turned into a couple of weeks, but I finally got 3DMark03 to finish and get everything stable. I took the case cover off and ran it that way for a day and it seemed to be reasonably stable for a while, but the funny screen still occurred - just took a lot longer to happen. I had also reinstalled my MB temperature monitoring software - and discovered that my cpu temperatures were running around 67 C with the cover on and about 56 C without. When I first put that system together with the older GeForce 2 Pro, the cpu temps were usually around 55 C. After cleaning out all the dust from the case and power supply fans(took my old 300W apart to clean it), it didn't make any difference. So I got the Antec 430W Tru-Power installed it, and put everything back together including the case cover. I was hoping the extra PS fan would help decrease the temps enough without having to resort to running with the case cover off. Tried to repeat the weird screen I had before. It didn't take very long for me to succeed

. So now that I was fairly sure everything was getting enough power, I took the case cover off again. It's finally stable now. It must have been a combination of heat and insufficient power. I'll eventually get a better case - the INWIN case I have is about five years old. It was approved for the Athlon systems back then but lacks some of the ventilation properties of the newer cases.

Thanks again all for your responses!

mauser