Possible utility for checking 9700 Steppings

[Doomtrooper]

I was browsing ATI's site for the old Adapter utility that may help some people from having to remove their Heatsink to see the stepping information..
I found the utility and it did detect my 8500 as A13 under Subsystem ID which was the 8500's final stepping..under adapter information.



Might be worth a shot for someone to test it on a 9700..according to tweaktown AE2 is problem child.

Program is here and also allows problem reports to be filed from it..

http://mirror2.ati.com/drivers/ati-util-july2002.exe

[kyo]

Well I ran the utility but I still don't know which stepping I have though.

http://www.pride.hofstra.edu/~ksung1/r300.jpg

[Ubermensch]

The same info can be found under Settings, Advanced, Options, Details in your display properties. BTW my 9700 has the same IDs as your's kyo.

[Majin Kenshin]

Does anybody know about Sandra, it may be used for benchmarks, but also gives you a lot of system information, from that software you can see the revision number in the PCI/AGP card info section.

[GraveLayer]

powerstrip gives you all the information you need too.

http://www.entechtaiwan.com/ps.htm

[Keeny]

step id

00021002h what stepping is this......................2 ?

[kakarot]

Hmm, subsystem ID is 002. Might have to RMA before upgrading mobo, thanks for the info guys

[Luminescent]

My device version is 4e44 and subsystem id is 002

[Luminescent]

Seems to be all the Ae2's, read on, from tweakers.com:

"ATi Radeon 9700 AE2 Stepping AGP 8x Bug
Published: 12/09/2002 07:08:20 AM
Author: Cameron Wilmot

Since receiving our Sapphire Radeon 9700 graphics card a couple of days ago during testing we have been experiencing a few strange problems – such as continuous system reboots and programs and games crashing back to Windows desktop when used on all SiS 648, VIA KT400 and P4X400 based motherboards with AGP 8X support operational which we currently have testing.

We cannot be 100% sure if this is an isolated problem however can be sure in saying we received confirmation from our contact at Epox Taiwan (who got first hand information direct from ATi) saying the problem is only occurring in AE2 stepping Radeon 9700 chips, and not the newer AE3 chips which are now shipping from the Canadian company, who say fix the problems discussed here. The problem is, the AE2 stepping chips are vast, and thus many made it into the retail market where end-users are no doubt going to suffer. It’s important to note that we had no problems what-so-ever running the AE2 stepping Radeon 9700 on VIA KT333 and Intel 845E/G based motherboards operating in either AGP 2x or 4x modes.

If you have any further information to add we’d appreciate it if you add it to the following thread in our Rumors and Speculation Forum. We’ll be passing the information provided onto ATi and Epox to help remedy the problem."

[Wild_Bill]

Well according to Sandra I have .....

Product Device Name : ATI Technologies Unknown (4E44)
Product Hardware ID : VEN_1002, DEV_0002
Revision / Stepping : A / 1 (0)

Now I have seen reports that state "we received confirmation from our contact at Epox Taiwan (who got first hand information direct from ATi) saying the problem is only occurring in AE2 stepping Radeon 9700 chips, and not the newer AE3 chips which are now shipping from the Canadian company"

So either :-

a. Sandra is reporting wrong!
b. The article is another wind up!

Time will tell.......

[T2k]

Originally posted by Wild_Bill
Well according to Sandra I have .....

Product Device Name : ATI Technologies Unknown (4E44)
Product Hardware ID : VEN_1002, DEV_0002
Revision / Stepping : A / 1 (0)

Now I have seen reports that state "we received confirmation from our contact at Epox Taiwan (who got first hand information direct from ATi) saying the problem is only occurring in AE2 stepping Radeon 9700 chips, and not the newer AE3 chips which are now shipping from the Canadian company"

So either :-

a. Sandra is reporting wrong!
b. The article is another wind up!

Time will tell.......

"If you have any further information to add we’d appreciate it if you add it to the following thread in our Rumors and Speculation Forum."

[sireric]

I don't know what they are talking about in that article, but every single R300 shipped out is an A13 stepping -- There is only one chip shipped to customers, reviewers, etc...

Please, don't damage your boards by removing the heatsink. That is not covered by warranty. Certainly feel free to run any chip ID program you want, if you don't believe me.

AE2 is not known to me, but it might of been an engineering sample stepping 2 -- Those did occur, back a few months, but very few were produced (a few hundred) and they only made it into demo or engineering sample boards.

[Keeny]

so what does 00021002h mean ?

[Doomtrooper]

Originally posted by sireric
I don't know what they are talking about in that article, but every single R300 shipped out is an A13 stepping -- There is only one chip shipped to customers, reviewers, etc...

Please, don't damage your boards by removing the heatsink. That is not covered by warranty. Certainly feel free to run any chip ID program you want, if you don't believe me.

AE2 is not known to me, but it might of been an engineering sample stepping 2 -- Those did occur, back a few months, but very few were produced (a few hundred) and they only made it into demo or engineering sample boards.

Thanks for the information Sereric, yet due to the amount of confusion and issues popping up on 8X AGP it would be wise to get ATI PR to release something to ease the minds of some people having issues...as you can see websites are reporting stepping information, this forum is filled with people claiming ATI says the cards BIOS is the issue...

People would probably feel better if there was a definite answer and know their is a fix coming.
I don't know if these rumors are true and they cold only be rumors...so that is the bottom line...clear up the rumors.

[Bathrone]

Like Kyo, and Ubermensch my info seems to be the same as well.

Sir Eric, my info doesnt mention "A13" at all.

I am totally confused

Below I have attached my info I got from the various proggies;

*** SI-Soft Sandra ***

Revision / Stepping A / 1 (0)

*** RADEON 9700 Series - Properties ***

Graphics Card Manufacturer ATI Technologies Inc.
Graphics Chipset (ASIC) RADEON 9700 Series
Device ID 4e44
Vendor ID 1002
Subsystem ID 0002
Subsystem Vendor ID 1002

Bus Type AGP 1X, AGP 2X, AGP 4X
Current Bus Setting AGP 4X

BIOS Version 8.003
BIOS Part Number 11394206101
BIOS Date 2002/08/02

Memory Size 128 MB
Memory Type DDR SGRAM / SDRAM

Primary Display Yes

Driver File ati2dvag.dll
2d Version 6.13.10.6166
Display Driver Version 7.76-020815b-005727C-ATI
Control Panel Version 6.13.10.3027

Memory Upgrade Modules Not Applicable

*** ATIInfo.exe ***

Graphics Card Manufacturer ATI Technologies Inc.
Graphics Chipset (ASIC) ATI R300
Device ID 4E44
Vendor ID 1002
Subsystem ID 00021002
Subsystem Vendor 1002
BIOS P/N 113-94206-101
Bus Type AGP 1X, AGP2X, AGP4X
Video Memory 128 MB DDR SGRAM
Primary Display Yes
Display Driver Version 7.76-020815b-005727C-ATI

*** ATIInsp.exe ***

ATI R300 AGP
General Info
Software Release Version 7.76-0208156-005727C-ATI
ASIC Type ATI R300 AGP
Video Memory 128 MB DDR SGRAM
VGA Memory Boundary Full Access
DAC Type Not Detected
I/O Base Address 9000h
ROM Version 8.003
BIOS Part Number 113-94206-101
VGA Disabled No
Aperture Status 64 MB @ 3328 M
Memory Upgrade Module (1) Not Applicable
Memory Upgrade Module (2) Not Applicable

[Mojoe]

Same here,cant see that it is a A13 stepping.
So that means that i cant uppgrade to a 8x mobo?

[Bathrone]

BUMP

[Lord Rahl]

using the Trouble report program gave me this report.


BIOS
Version = 8.003
Date = 2002/08/28
Part Number = 113-00000-000
DDC Detected = Not Detected
DDC Support = Not Detected


this is the gigabyte board, I guess that means I'm in the clear for AGP 8x

[vsekh]

Looks like you are in the clear Lord Rahl even though you do not have an AGP8x compatible mobo yet.

[Bathrone]

So we are no where closer to this issue

ATI arent saying crap, their email support is probably going to take a week to get any sort of a response from........

OpenGL seems ok with Catalyst 2.3 and the DX patch. But DX seems to be unstable - bsods and lockups - strangely 3dmark 2001 SE chugs along with error though.

All this news about the A1 and A2 steppings being "bad", and no one can confirm how to properly identify what stepping someone has or indeed what version BIOS you have.......Sir Eric (presumably ATI support guy) on this forum posted in another thread he cant comment..............

This is mushroom factor, keep us in the dark and feed us s**t

[Lord Rahl]

This may be flame bait, but

This may be flame bait, but

I have noticed a drop in the number of posts, while there are still posts, most of them are from people you trying to raise hell and high water to get thier cards working, or people who are waitiing for a part to come in(myself included, the 17th cant get here soon enough). Which makes me believe that the rest of the peeps are happiy enjoying thier gaming. Just because you were among the first, means you got burned the most. I meanwhile will be going back th ut2003, black hawk down and americas army until my mobo arrives.

PEACE

[Elysian]

if i'm not mistaken, it says on the chip itself if it is A13 or not... i dunno where else u would find it... least thats what i get from my experience with ati cards of the past... honestly i don't think everyone should rma the card right away, if ur not running agp 8x, or u are running it, and don't have issues then don't rma it... when u finally upgrade to agp 8x, or are having issues with running agp 8x, then its time to rma, cause then u know u have the faulty one.. seriously, this "issue" is getting blown out of proportion, and mostly by people who don't have agp 8x boards... sure i understand ur probly gonna get one, but honestly, i think u should wait till u have one and can confirm whether u have issues or not... it puts a lot of strain on ati to have to rma everyones board they sell to if everyone is not gonna be having an issue, or does not currently have an issue... think about it...

[X]

I think I agree with Elysian .

If you don't have a problem then enjoy your games.

The longer you wait for the RMA, the more bug fixes there will be :-)


On the other questions about identifying the stepping..... these numbers (shown in the ati program) are the PCI IDs that are used by plugnplay.

Device ID 4E44 << this is the chip

Vendor ID 1002 << This means ati makes the chip

Subsystem ID 00021002 << 0002 is the Subsystem id not the stepping. Don't know exactly how to decode, but this number is used to differentiate cards with different features like an aiw will be different from a graphics only card.

Subsystem Vendor 1002 << sub vendor means that ati made the product

These are the same numbers that appear in the inf file which controls the installation of the display driver. Well that is to say if our card has numbers that match the inf file then the driver will install.

You will see similar numbers on all pci cards. Even the chipset on the mobo has numbers used to identify it to pnp.

[Bathrone]

Thankyou gents, info appreciated.

OpenGL is good, having problems with DX though, strangely not 3dmark2001se.

Perhaps as the drivers mature it will be ok in DX.

Very happy with the OpenGL performance though! Awesome

If the 8x agp rumour is true, then I will RMA the card. ATI marketed the product as having that feature, and if it does not support it properly I am entitled to consumer protection on that. Who knows what I will be running in the months ahead.

[dakota]

Here are the markings on my ATI 9700 retail

R300
215R8CBGA13F
G24527.1
0230AA
Tiawan

[Lord Rahl]

dakota,

Is yours working, any problems or is ti happy gaming

[dakota]

Mine is working great. I can run my usual games - UT2003 Demo, RTCW, MOHAA, Quake3 and 3dmark2001se. Powerstrip id's it as 8x. No locks up. Although now with this being said, I am going to jinx myself.

[MonsterG]

Strange who you guys have DDR ram on your R9700 and I have
Video Memory 128MB SDR SGRAM 1:1 / SDRAM

!

[GraveLayer]

Originally posted by MonsterG
Strange who you guys have DDR ram on your R9700 and I have
Video Memory 128MB SDR SGRAM 1:1 / SDRAM

!

I believe you said you got a "white" box card?? Are you sure its not been remarked somehow? Where did you get it?