Issues upgrading to Radeon x1650 pro

[Deznz]

Hi all,

I've been trying to upgrade my graphics card on my comp for a few weeks now and am running into all sorts of trouble..

Specs are as follows,
Mb = Gigabyte 7vt600p-rz
CPU = AMD Athlon 2600+
Ram = 1.5gb (1gb stick and 512mb stick)
Power supply = thermaltake xp550np 430watts (new to me, but second hand)

At first i was running a Geforce FX5200, which ran fine for years.
I bought a geforce 6200 online and installed which for the first boot went well, after a restart i couldn't get the VGA output to display to my monitor. (after some research, i went down the path of an under powered PSU, so bought the thermaltake one mentioned in my specs.

This didn't solve anything, and i thought i may have wreaked the card so bought a Radeon x1650 pro.

The first time i booted, again everything went well. Display was working fine and monitor (vga) and tv(dvi), but after a reboot the display went all funny (green lines running vertcally down the screen)....

I've removed the drivers and installed older ones, then newer ones using Driver Sweeper.
At times it will come right but not for long..

Anyone with any thoughts on the issue... Its doing my head in...

Thanks in advance.

Oh and ps... I can put the old fx5200 in and everything works fine..


EDIT: did a full format and reinstalled windows. On first boot the display came up fine using standard vga drivers, then installed ati drivers and when rebooted it was all garbled again... So i did a quick and reinstalled again... But screen came back garbled again....

Put fx5200 back in and given up for now feeling a bit defeated...

[Blín D'ñero]

Completely wipe out nvidia drivers before putting in an ATI card (in cases like this, a format / reinstall of Windows from scratch with the new card in place always works the most reliable)...

Uninstall ATI drivers before putting in a newer ATI card.

It seems you removed drivers after putting in the new card,

What you need now is a complete cleaning:

1. Uninstall ATI drivers via control panel -> add/remove programs
2. Reboot into safe mode (hit F8 at boot)
3. Start cmd with admin privileges
4. Type in the command prompt:
   • set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
   • start devmgmt.msc
5. In Device Manager, enable show hidden devices
6. Uninstall each display adapter in the list (present or non-present/hidden - appearing transparent); by right-click > Uninstall. (Make sure to check the box to remove driver files if possible)
7. Uninstall any non-present/hidden "PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge" devices from system devices.
8. shut down, take out the videocard
9. reboot into normal mode
10. Let windows finish finding new hardware
11. Power down and plug in the new card (and its power cord)
12. Install newest Catalyst

Please inform us what OS you're on as well.

[Deznz]

I've done a complete full format and re-install of Windows XP.... Three times now, as the first time when it installed the display came up fine, but then i installed the ati drivers and rebooted. Once thbe computer restarted the lines were back.. I reformatted the couple more times to see if i could get it to do it again but no...

[Blín D'ñero]

Ye olde XP huh?
SP3? All updates and fixes?
DirectX? Chipset drivers? VC++, .Net Framework installed and all fully updated?

[Deznz]

Yep had everything re-installed..

I dont think its a software issue because im getting the lines from boot.. Bios, xp booting and in xp itself..

Im thinking its a power supply issue (after googling similar issues) or ive stuffed up the card during install (the only thing stopping me from going down the stuffed card track is that at times it comes right for a second or 2 during boot)

[Blín D'ñero]

Hmm. Have you tried:
RESEATing the card, could be that it's not sitting perfectly in its slot.

Also could be a bad cable, or that the connector isn't seated tightly.

[Deznz]

The card has been in and out numerous times now, so the seating has been reset lots of times...
I've tried another cable also.

I'm picking it won't be the connector also as i get the exact same screens outputing from vga on monitor and dvi on tv screen..

[Blín D'ñero]

Which Catalyst driver (suite) version exactly are you running with the card?

[Deznz]

At first i installed v10.1 ( the auto scan thing on the amd website downloaded them.) loaded them up and everything was fine for a while. I got my monitor and tv working... Then i shut down for the night and when i rebooted the lines started appearring.
I then installed v9.1 thinking it maybe the drivers, but no.

But i'm getting the lines from bios and after a full format and XP re-install.. So i dont think it is a driver issue..

[Blín D'ñero]

Agreed.
And with your latest two posts i too would think it's the card. The Radeon x1650 pro was a used card?

[Deznz]

Yeah it is second hand.. All im trying to do is get XBMC (a media centre) going and my old 5200 didnt have the requirements for it...

Ive done a bit of googling and found this... Sound the same as the trouble with the x1650..
http://lifehacker.com/5823227/save-d...ke-in-the-oven

I'll give it a go and let ya know how i get on.... By the sounds of it i have nothing to lose...

[Blín D'ñero]

I wish you Good Luck with that!
Yes, report the result please.

Personally i always buy new videocards. Cost more, but save trouble.