HELP! 9600All in Wonder (pro) Problems

[Bigdaddybrat]

I have been having problems with ATi... To tell the story in short... I originally purchased my computer with a 9000AIW pro... The card worked great for 2 years and then gave up the ghost to my dissmay . I used the ATi RMA service and they sent me back a 9600 AIW Pro which I thought was great... however, It has never worked... I have gone through a TONNE of BULL SH_T and have had 4 different cards go back and forth all with the same problem. after a short period of time the card would stop working and I would have a un-readable screen with vertical lines going through it... The cards also had this problem when I would re-boot the computer in VGA mode

After the second card that was sent to me was garbage I thought maybe it is my MOBO.... I took it back to my point of purchase and they sent it in to ASUS (P4P800) which they sent back a week later and said no problems.

I am now on my 4th 9600 AIW card from the RMA service and I recieved my MOBO sent back to ASUS (second Time)... and they have checked everything over and sent it back (Im not sure what they fixed on it).

Here is the kicker... The guys that have been working on my computer ran the computer for two days straight (24hrs a day) with 2 different cards (one being a standard Ati 9600) in it and updated drivers... there was no problems. I get it home put the 4th card from ATi in and I get the vertical lines right after installing the drivers. I have installed new drivers and old drivers and nothing works!

Is it possible that my MOBO just wont work with the AIW 9600?

This is my system...

Intel P4 2.4
ASUS P4P800
1 Gig of RAM
Windows XP Home
AIW 9600 pro
latest ATI drivers and Media Center.

Anyones thoughts would be greatly appreaciated... This has been on going for 3 months.

Thanks in advance.

[dwill123]

I have a similar setup (P4P800-E Dlx, P4 3.2E, 1gig ram, XP Prof sp2, ATI 9600xt AIW). My 9600 has worked perfectly from day one. Some quick thoughts - the Asus P4P800 is a pretty finicky board. Not that it's unstable (mine is very stable) but it does do some strange things at times. Check your motherboard bios (load the most current). This one is a bit of a leap but from what I've read the P4P runs better with more power. I run a 480 watt psu. If your running a 350 or less you might consider an up grade. The last thing - where did you get your updated drivers from? Did you get them from ATI or Windows Update. In the distant past I tried using new drivers from Windows Update (the next one that works will be the first). Make sure you get yours from ATI. Good luck.

[Bigdaddybrat]

Hi dwill123 thanks for your reply.

I have been updating the drivers straight from ATi's web site.... Actually, I had posted a reply to another thread here about using Omega drivers... but I have never tried them... worth a shot maybe

You bring up an interesting question about the power supply... I think it is a 350... but I can't remember... the only thing is that it will run other cards with no problems... just the 9600 AIW that I get throught the RMA service with ATi have been giving me the troubles... the guys looking at the computer now have put brand new cards in and they run fine. That is what is sooo confusing.
However, I have been thinking of upgrading the powersupply to a quiter one...maybe I should.

Do you think an under powered supply could also fry the card like what has been happening with the others that I have recieved?

[mastersmurfie]

This sounds amazingly similar to a problem that I had with my old ATI AWI 128 (which I still use to this day...) After installing the card and drivers, I would get what looked to me like an old TV with the verticle hold messed up. Uninstalling the drivers and rebooting, everything was fine. Then after installing the drivers again, got the same thing.

Now...here's the kicker. I changed out the monitor that I was using at the time, reinstalled the drivers, and voila!!! No verticle lines!! I don't know if this relates to your problem or not...just uncanny that it seems so similar.

[dwill123]

Two other areas to check came across my mind today. One, 9600 get hot (fast). Mine had a fan that I replaced (original fan worked it was just too loud). I replaced it with an Artic Cooling ATI Silencer (for the 9600). See if you have enough cooling going on. Two, I've never had much luck with the latest drivers from ATI. I've always had to back off a version or two to get things working 100%. Maybe you could try an older version of the drivers and see if that helps.