ISSUES/FIXES for the 9700!!

[**G.I.BRO**]

Okay,
After reading through the form, im sure everyone is starting to get lost on where abouts they seen the fix for this and for that.

So this thread is going to be the OFFICIAL 9700 ISSUES/FIXES Thread.

What I need from you guys, is to fallow this format.

1. Problem ( MORE detail the better )

2. The Fix ( if not and If you know of a solution, please quote the problem and post the fix )

3. The link to the Fix. ( If applicable )

I only want to see posts that fallow this setup. If any other posts are listed, THEY WILL BE DELETED!

I need your guyz help on this...

AGAIN
THANKS!
G.I.

Special thanks goes to
jima13!


NOTE.
im sure some of these fixes may not work for everyone... PLEASE dont come back here and say the solutions did not work for you.

[**G.I.BRO**]

Heres an example: ( BUT, Try to have REAL solutions that work.. no ifs and maybes )

1. 9700 not working with certain Mobos
2. ATI and these companies are working together to solve this. Either by drivers by ATI or from a BIOS flash.
3. Heres the link to the thread.

Nice and clean!

[Crisler]

http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4072.html

The above link is for a short term solution to the 60Hz refresh rate issue in XP.

Edward

[CoolasMoo]

Crisler, the above link is fine and works great, but i would just like people to be aware that ,that particular fix is for Direct X only.

And to note that WINXP SP1 FINAL does indeed fix 60Hz bug in Direct X, but not OpenGL

RefeshLock does still work with the 9700, if you need the fix for both DX and Open GL and can be downloaded from HERE

[**G.I.BRO**]

1. Unreal Tournament Texture Compression fixed...UT S3TC not working!
2. Humus found a way
3. You can find it all here

See...

[Big Bad Alex]

I was getting a pause on screen a couple of times a second while running 3Dmark 2001se on my 9700, I traced it to the diagnostics prog for my Alcatel DSL modem running in the background. The prog doesn't need to be running anyway so after disabling that: smooth as you like!

Alex
(off back to SOF2 deathmatch...)

[BS911]

Rogue Spear was running VERY choppy and sparatic in Windows XP with the 9700.

Had to run the game in Windows 98/ME compatability mode and now it runs flawless.

-BS911

[Scoot]

Don't know if it works for all configs but at least it works for me...


Problem: Battlefield 1942 lock ups

Fix: Disable shadows in video menu (Con't forget to hit the
save button!!!)

[FragMagnet]

Problem: 9700 Pro stuck @ 60hz in 2d
Fix: same as 8500
http://66.224.5.66/board/showthread....eadid=33605164

[AndrewS]

From OCWorkbench....

------------------------------------------------------------------------

ABIT SR7-8X Updated BIOS
Posted by overclocker at 6:05

sr7ba.exe Fix occasionally hangs up issue with SiS Xabre AGP 8X graphic card.
Enhance the system performance.
Auto detect the multiplier factor for P4 Willamette CPU.
Fix occasionally boot into Windows XP slowly.
BIOS compile Date: 8/26/2002

http://fae.abit.com.tw/eng/download/...=sr7/sr7ba.exe

ABIT SR7-8x boot problem with Xabre 8X cards solved.
Posted by overclocker at 5:56

A couple of weeks ago, a local retailer was telling me that they had some problems getting their Xabre 200 and Xabre 400 cards to POST on the ABIT SR7-8X. After some investigation, they finally got it working. What they did was to use a 4x card and then change the BIOS setting BOOT from AGP instead of the default PCI.

The board POSTED immediately and they're able to get it running on far.

[Majin Kenshin]

Well as one of the people here with this graphics card and mobo combo, I'll try that, I've already updated the bios, got rid of the stutter problem in 3D by disabling my DSL control applet, but it still crashes, I'll set it to boot from PCI and see what happens, I'm hoping for the best.

Thanks for the tip.

[Volcane]

Problem : Conflict Desert Storm demo missing the ground and buildings, with only the character models and foliage showing up.

Fix : Fixed it by turning off detail textures, though it would be nice to have detail textures, but atleast I can play it now, and it is smooth as silk with quality settings in Control Panel.

[Azra3L]

Problem: Warcraft3 crashes a couple of seconds after the intro video (shortly after, or during the time the menu is descending).

Fix: Deactivating AGP Read here: atiprbxx.exe /g

[euan]

GAME == Giants, and probably others.
PROBLEM == PC Hangs very quickly after starting a game.

FIX:
1. Run dxdiag.exe (from run in start menu)
2. Goto sound tab, turn off Hardware acceleration.
3. Buy non Creative Labs soundcard.

Problem narroed down to the sound of walking (I kid you not). Too crunchy for the Audigy.

[Majin Kenshin]

Game --- Grand theft Auto 3
Problem ---- Game stutters and crashes

Fix :

1) Check D3D hardware support is enabled in sound properties

2) Download GTA3 1.1 update, I downloaded it from P2P(Direct Connect) as I couldn't find a direct link.

Edit: Lied.......sorry!, worked for one day, gamer running for abour 4 hours odd(went out), came home, shut down, never worked that well again.

[Wild_Bill]

1. 9700 not working with Battlefield 1942, Mafia, The Thing.
2. Download the ATI Patch.
3. http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4081.html

L8ters

Bill

[Captain Beige]

Game Unreal Tournament
Problem freezes when changing resolution or colour depth

Fix manually enter settings in UnrealTournament.ini file

[GraveLayer]

Originally posted by euan
GAME == Giants, and probably others.
PROBLEM == PC Hangs very quickly after starting a game.

FIX:
1. Run dxdiag.exe (from run in start menu)
2. Goto sound tab, turn off Hardware acceleration.
3. Buy non Creative Labs soundcard.

Problem narroed down to the sound of walking (I kid you not). Too crunchy for the Audigy.

My Audigy has NO problems. No crashes in ANY game. Maybe its your combination, not the Audigy !?

[mAcOdIn]

Homeworld having bad mouse lag in D3D mode

Fix:
Disable heirarchal Z and hyper Z with Rage 3d tweak.

Not exactly the most elegant fix, but you can make an automatic homeworld profile that only disables it for homeworld and reenables it on exit.

[euan]

Originally posted by GraveLayer
My Audigy has NO problems. No crashes in ANY game. Maybe its your combination, not the Audigy !?

Yes it is a combination thing. It's posted here so that people remember to check. I've seen a number of people on the board with the same problem.

[jima13]

Here's My experience with the P4S8X and the 9700.

I installed p4 2.53ghz chip, set up mobo, HD, DVD ROM drive, etc. Booted up, Installed window XPs, installed all my SiS drivers, installed XP SP1, installed catalyst drivers.

Everything seemed great, so I ran 3dMark and got a 13700!

Thought I was all set. I then tried to run MAFIA, and on the first frame, it locked up. Then I tried AC2, same thing...Wolfenstein, same thing, MOHAA, same thing.

At this point I contacted ATI. The first technician told me i needed to register my product online, blah blah blah...After I did that, I called back, and this time the technician had me install the Mafia/1942/Madden fix, and if that didnt work, try some bios fixes that were emailed to me (attached below) and told me to call back. No luck, so I called back and Third Technician told me straight up:

"We are aware of the issue, and the only way we can fix it is through an RMA."

I asked what the problem was and the tecnician told me there was a problem with my 1.1 bios and I would need a 1.3 bios, and that there is no way to flash the bios locally. I would have to either send it to them, or drop another $400 bucks and they would send me a new one, and my money would be refunded when I sent my old card back. They couldnt commit to a date when they could send a good card out.

At this point i decided to take matters into my own hand. It just seemed really strange to me that I could run 3dMark without any problems and not games. So here's what I did.

-Installed newest beta version of my mobo bios, 1004.002.
-Installed a beta of the SiS AGP 1.11 driver
-Set "AGP Fast Write" to disabled in my bios as suggested by tech.

At this point, I could play the games for 2-3 minutes but they still crashed. So I tried one more thing, and this worked perfectly. I SET THE REFRESH RATE TO 85. It was at 65 before. Since then, no problems whatsoever. I'm not sure if this was causing the problem all along, but it could have been, though my same radeon9700 worked fine at this rate in my old Intel 850 mobo....

Anyway, its running perfectly now, and I still cant believe how good this card is. It was incredible in my old 1.5ghz PC, but in my new system it really really impresses me.

Here is a copy of the bios suggestions made by the ATI techs.

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


----- Original Message -----
From: ATI Technical Support (Canada)
To: 'XXXXX@XXXXX.net
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2002 3:34 PM
Subject: RE: ATI Technical Assistance


Dear XXXXXX,

Please try the BIOS settings provided below, then retest.

You may also wish to download and install drivers for your motherboard's chipset. These drivers can be downloaded from

http://www.sis.com/support/driver/utility.htm

An updated patch for DirectX is available

If problems persist, please submit an ATI problem report. Information on generating a problem report can be found at

http://www.ati.com/support/problem/win9x.html

Please quote your ATI Customer # XXXXXXXXX, in any future correspondence.

Regards,

Vaughn Shideler
Technical Support Canada
ATI Technologies, Inc.

http://www.ati.com for Sales/Marketing and Product Information
http://support.ati.com for Technical Support, Driver Download, FAQ's, etc.

NOTE: these options may vary depending on the type/version of your system
BIOS:

1. Video BIOS Shadow and Video BIOS Cacheable - DISABLED
2. C8000-CBFFFF Shadow and CC000-CFFFF - ENABLED
3. AGP Aperture size - 64 MB (128 MB if you have 512 MB of RAM or greater installed)
4. AGP Turbo - DISABLED
5. VGA Frame Buffer and Primary Frame Buffer - DISABLED
6. PnP OS installed - YES
7. Assign IRQ for VGA - ENABLED
8. Resource Control - AUTO
9. AGP Bus Mastering - ENABLED
10. VGA Palette Snooping - DISABLED
11. Video Shadowing - DISABLED
12. Disable any USWC or Write Combine options in the CMOS
13. Try forcing the External Cache to use the Write-Through method, not the Write-back method
14. Disable any manual configuration of PCI by setting these options to AUTO
15. Init Primary Display - AGP
16. System Bios Cacheable - ENABLED
17. Video BIOS Mode Cache - UC
18. AGP Fastwrite - DISABLED

http://rage3d.com/board/newreply.php...eadid=33634403

[padrino]

Problem: Hard lockup in Dungeon Siege.
Solution: Changed SDRAM latency settings.

System: Asus A7V333 (PC2700) SDRAM.


The following worked for me...

After much reading and re-configuring, I got Dungeon Siege working very well!

Here is what I had to change. I had to change my SDRAM Timing from "Turbo" to "Optimal". I have had it set to fast timing (2,2,2) and have had no problems in the past but I can live with a slightly slower memory setting if it makes things more stable. I did have the turbos (2,2,2) SDRAM timing when I ran D.S. stable with a GeForce however? Strange, but at least I can play D.S. now with 4xAA at 50+fps. I will have to re-run 3DMark2001 and see if it effects performance in general. My guess is not by much (I hope).

In case that was not clear, the SDRAM Timing that works for me is "Optimal" or 2.5 [3,3,6]. With this setting D.S. is running fine.

[Crazy Legs]

Problem: Windows XP loads until the user profile/login screen and then the monitor indicates no signal.

This was occuring roughly 3-out-of-5 times I booted up the computer.


Solution: I was using an unshared power connection from my power supply (with the Radeon adapter). I switched to one that was being shared by one of my hard drives (still using the adapter). I also uninstalled the ATI control panel and the media control panel (but I think the power cable did it).

[konvict]

Originally posted by Crazy Legs
Problem: Windows XP loads until the user profile/login screen and then the monitor indicates no signal.

This was occuring roughly 3-out-of-5 times I booted up the computer.


Solution: I was using an unshared power connection from my power supply (with the Radeon adapter). I switched to one that was being shared by one of my hard drives (still using the adapter). I also uninstalled the ATI control panel and the media control panel (but I think the power cable did it).

very interesting. I have had a few problems with mine which is piggybacked with a harddrive. I was told to use a power cable that wasn't being used by anything else. I do get black-outs on my screen every so often for just a few seconds. Then everything's back to normal. it's not specific to running heavy 3d games though. It seems random.

[DigitalMan]

A friend of mine was having lockup problems with his ATI Radeon 9700. It would run 3DMark fine, but crashed in games with either a kick back to windows, freeze, or in most cases, restart. After going over a couple possibilities, I remembered some issues with my old Voodoo5 and we decided to swap out his 300w PSU with a 350. He immeditally saw a 3000 point increace in score and we havn't seen a lockup since. Alot of people might want to check their PSUs, as this is now a factor. 3Dfx people might remember this, as the Voodoo5 is the only other card to have had an external power connector.

[Smithe]

For anyone experiencing lockups in DUNGEON SIEGE, I was having a hard system lockup in the in-game intro movie every time I launched the game. Used Dungeon Siege's video display configurator (see the Troubleshooting folder in the Dungeon Siege Start Menu folder) to change the default display mode from "Hardware T&L" to "Hardware" (under "Video Driver"). *No* crashes so far (played for about three hours).

However, I still think there must be an underlying Radeon driver issue here. Doesn't seem right to me that a game should be able to send a command to a video card in routine gameplay that causes a hard system lock-up that CTRL-ALT-DEL can't escape from. Seems like the card should fail more elegantly than this.

[rcoden]

I experience random lock ups, screen freezes, and crashes due to ATI2DVAG.DLL. I have a slightly older motherboard, a MSI K7T266 motherboad and an Athlon XP 2000. I have 2 sticks of Crucial DDR, a Netgear NIC, and a Buslink USB 2.0 controller for, and for a PSU an Antec Truepower 330 w. My OS is Windows XP Pro with SP1. I format often, so I don't have a bad driver install or any legacy software on my HD. If anyone has a solution, please let me know ASAP. I am planning on purchaseing a Gigabyte GA-7VRXP KT333 board this weekend and I prey this fixes the issues above.

[mAcOdIn]

Originally posted by rcoden
I experience random lock ups, screen freezes, and crashes due to ATI2DVAG.DLL. I have a slightly older motherboard, a MSI K7T266 motherboad and an Athlon XP 2000. I have 2 sticks of Crucial DDR, a Netgear NIC, and a Buslink USB 2.0 controller for, and for a PSU an Antec Truepower 330 w. My OS is Windows XP Pro with SP1. I format often, so I don't have a bad driver install or any legacy software on my HD. If anyone has a solution, please let me know ASAP. I am planning on purchaseing a Gigabyte GA-7VRXP KT333 board this weekend and I prey this fixes the issues above.

You may be at the verge of your PSU's power and I think you'll still have the issues with the new mobo. Or maybe IRQ conflicts as well, goto your device manager, view, and then resources by type and expand the IRQ tree. Is there any sharing with your video card or soundcard?

[price]

FYI:

Update on things that DON'T solve the problem.

1.) I've just upgraded my power supply from 300W to 431W.

THIS DOES NOT SOLVE ANY PROBLEM!


2.) I've moved my PCI cards arround to make sure the AGP is not sharing any.

This stopped the freezes, but gave a constant stutter while playing BF 1942 (no degredation in 3DMark2001)

[going to move them some more..... seems to indicate a sharing issue]


3.) Upgraded to latest SB Audigy drivers

This did not solve any problem.



Regards,

[DanB]

PROBLEM = Computer freezes when trying to install Catalyst drivers, or error reporting software on a system with a Tyan Thunder K7 Dual Athlon motherboard.

FIX = Disable the onboard ATI Rage XL chip by closing jumber J85 on your motherboard.

LINK = http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthre...eadid=33637166