Radeon x1950 problem

[Rusky]

I think this is the right place to ask this. I believe my problem is related to drivers rather than hardware,but we'll see I suppose.

I have a Radeon x1950 pro card,and for some reason,the drivers I'm installing aren't working. It started a few days ago. I'd left my computer on while I went out,and when I came back the display was skewed. I'm not sure how to describe it,but essentially,the screen was displaying lines of different colours,but not anything you would recognise. I rebooted,but the problem continued. Booting into safe mode was the only way to bypass it. I uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled them,which seemed to fix it the original problem.

However,there is still a problem. Scrolling,whether in a browser or in explorer stutters. And expanding/minimising windows takes some time. Finally,when something is asked to go full screen,for example a video,it stutters also,taking a minute or so to begin playing normally. I'm assuming that this is related to the original problem in some way,but I'm out of my depth.

[Caliban]

Greetings, Rusky, and welcome to MajorGeeks...

From your report:

X1950 Pro.ATOM71\TE.RV570.PCI_EXPRESS.DDR3...X1950 Pro 16*32*8 B
    C000:00C0  IOS 700m/575e                                         ..   ...YO
    C000:0100  U HAVE NOT CONNECTED THE POWER CABLE TO YOUR VIDEO CARD.PLEASE R
    C000:0140  EFER TO THE 'GETTING STARTED GUIDE' FOR PROPER HARDWARE INSTALLA
    C000:0180  TION....(C) 1988-2005, ATI Technologies Inc.

Please check that your power cable is indeed connected to the Radeon card - if it is, try reseating the cable, see if you get a change in symptoms...

If his turns out to be a driver problem, you might consider downloading and running Driver Sweeper to cleanse your system of all traces of the old drivers, and then reinstalling the newest ATI package...

[Rusky]

Well,now I feel rather stupid. And to add to that...how exactly do I check that the power cable is connected up properly?

[DavidGP]

Originally Posted by Rusky

Well,now I feel rather stupid. And to add to that...how exactly do I check that the power cable is connected up properly?

Hi

From your Power Supply you should have a small 6-pin 12v connection cable that will need to be plugged into the graphic card and on yours it should be at very back edge of the card can see it in the Image HERE

To check is to make sure first its plugged in, if it is already then unplug and replug it in.

[Rusky]

I'm sorry for the late reply. I haven't had access to the problem PC in the past few days. Anyway,I followed your advice,unplugging and then replugging what I can only assume was the lead I was after.

Seems to have made no difference,as the stuttering still occurs,and after asking Everest for another report,it still says that it is no plugged in correctly. I was under the assumption that I wouldn't get any display at all,if that was an issue though.

[Caliban]

Ok, so the cable's probably not the problem...

Have you uninstalled the video drivers, run Driver Sweeper and reinstalled the ATI package?

[satrow]

I suspect that the PSU has become too weak to power the x1950, it was something of a power guzzler in it's day, 450/500W with 30A+ on the 12v rail minimum PSU requirement?

Do you have access to a good PSU of 500W or another PC (with a good, high powered PSU) to test the x1950 in?

[Rusky]

I don't believe so. My house mates all have laptops,or macs. I don't suppose there is any other way of testing this,no?

[satrow]

Very difficult to rule in or out problems with either the graphics card or PSU without other hardware to swap with to test.

I think your motherboard does have a built-in graphics chip, an Intel GMA 950. Look at the back of the PC for the output for it near the USB/network connectors.

If so, you can enable it from the BIOS (keep tapping the Del key after boot), once you've found the setting in the BIOS and enabled it, allow 64MB+ for it to use and set it as the boot VGA device, use F10 to select save and exit the BIOS then reboot. Then switch your monitor output cable to it (you may need an adapter or cable), to test.

If successful, shutdown and remove the x1950 (while you have the case open, write down the exact PSU make/model and all the stats from the sticker on it).

[Rusky]

You're right of course,and my motherboard does have an inbuilt graphics chip,which is now enabled and working. The problems still occur,but I suspect that's normal.

I've taken the graphics card out,so now I'm assuming I just have to shop around to buy one that suits,correct?

[satrow]

Could you describe the signs/symptoms you're currently getting?

Did you get the data from the sticker on the PSU and the make model?

Now that you're using an older built-in graphics chip, you'll probably need to check that the web browsers are set not to use hardware accelleration. It should improve scrolling somewhat, similar for your movie players (if you can find the settings).

Can you check in Device Manager, in the Properties for your IDE/SATA channels, that your drives are all using DMA 5/6 (probably 2 for optical) not PIO. If you see PIO, reset them to use DMA then reboot and check again.

I don't want to suggest you buy anything until we're reasonably sure of what's really at fault here (a good PSU might get the gfx card back working for another year or so and make a good base for the rest of the computer with a replacement gfx card).

[Rusky]

The symptoms are mostly still the same as before;mostly the 'stuttering' when opening and closing windows. I'm not sure if that makes sense really. On my laptop,when I half a browser,so that it isn't taking up the entire screen,it's a quick transition. On the PC,it goes in stages,with the window visibly shrinking.

I'm sorry,but I have had to go home for the time being,so won't have access to the PC for some time. Come to think of it,this was a rather bad time to post asking for help. Sorry about this, and thank you for helping me this far.

[satrow]

No worries about time shout out when you get back and we'll continue from there.

[Rusky]

Okay,finally back.

The PSU is a Thermaltake TR2-420 PP. I've got the details written down from the sticker.

I'm not sure how to check the IDE channels however. And I don't seem to have any SATA channels,at least,not that I can see.

[satrow]

A quick look around the 'net suggests that PSU wasn't a very good model/range when it was new, it's probably borderline for your current system (inc. x1950) given that it must be 6+ years old now.

For a good explanation of the possible IDE problem and how to fix it, take a read of http://winhlp.com/node/10

[Rusky]

Ah I see. It's worked up until now, so is it just a case of it finally giving up the ghost?