ATI Video Card -- Aquarium SMEARING? - Page 2

ttaylor555 · 08-16-2004, 05:59 PM

I just downloaded the new 4.8 catalyst released today from ATI and it did not help. I think I'll drop down to the 4.3 catalyst and try that.

Q-Beam · 08-20-2004, 06:14 PM

I just installed the latest drivers for my radeon 9500 Pro.
They don't work right either. Here is how I got around it.

Use the Catalyst remover programs from this page;

http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/m...lystutils.html

use the smart-gart uninstall too.

run your driver install program next.
let it unpack to whatever folder you want.

cancell installation at this point. (my computer froze if I went further)

Try installing the 'back way' this worked for me at least. :-)

right click on desktop
go to Properties
settings tab
advanced tab
adapter tab
Properties button
Driver tab
Update Driver tab
INSTALL FROM SPECIFIC LOCATION tab
point to ati folder, within this is another folder called XPDRV I think. (this has the .inf files in it)
Click next.
drivers will install.
when asked to reboot say no.
go to my computer
c: drive
your ati folder that the drivers are in
cpanel folder
setup.exe
this will install the control panel options so you can tweak away.
don't make any changes this time.
when asked to reboot, say yes.

I know this was not actually the preferred way, but it worked for me. This SHOULD give you clean drivers and a default (SAFE) setting for your control panel for 3D.

Let us know. We are all here to help.

<q-Beam>

ttaylor555 · 08-21-2004, 12:49 AM

OK Q-Beam - I tried your way but had no luck. I also tried the 4.3 driver with no results. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that I set up my hard drives with NTFS and not FAT32. I thought I read somewhere that the Aquarium does not work with Windows NT. I have XP Pro but I set my files up with the NTFS and not FAT32. I don't understand why the background light in the aquarium will not change. I can't make it lighter, it just stays black. Are there some tweaks or changes I should make in the control panel?

Jim Sachs · 08-21-2004, 01:00 AM

The Aquarium didn't work with the old NT only because NT didn't have Direct3D capability. XP does. The file system doesn't matter.

Still no ideas regarding your problem here.

Tiny Turtle · 08-21-2004, 02:57 AM

Sorry. Been working too much to get home and try things out at my setup. Thursday and Friday I shut the computer down at work at midnight and the weekend will probably be pretty much the same. I'll get around to it eventually though.

/Tiny Domestic Presence

Q-Beam · 08-21-2004, 09:02 PM

OK. FAT32 or NTFS doesn't matter. This is not the cause of your problem. The file system has absolutely no effect on video cards.

***
Did you try a different copy of the Aquarium?? (earlier version)

***
Do you have a spare Hard drive around??
format it.
put XP on it
install video drivers
try Aquarium screen saver.
***

Can you try an openGL saver from www.reallyslick.com

do you have the same problem with these??

I am racking my brain over here.

***
try different refresh rates????

***
Last but not least; it could be the card itself. Can you RMA it??
Don't lose faith in ATI, I think they are just as good as nVidia.
(personal opinion, but hey..) :P

ttaylor555 · 08-22-2004, 12:20 AM

OK I think this ATI graphics card sucks! I went to that reallyslick.com and tried some of those screensavers there and these are the ones that did not work: lattice, solarwinds, and skyrocket. Lattice and solarwinds were both completely black and skyrocket was distorted. I tried them on my kids computer with the cheaper NVIDIA card and it played all those screensavers perfectly. I tried the GLsetup but it says page cannot be displayed. What is OpenGL anyway, I don't totally understand it?

Jim Sachs · 08-22-2004, 01:00 AM

The Aquarium does not use OpenGL. It is a Direct3D application.

Tiny Turtle · 08-22-2004, 03:34 AM

TTaylor,
When you say "this ATi...card" do you mean the specific card you have in your box or the 9600XT as a model? It sounds like you think the latter to which I would like to point out that not everybody have problems with it. I'm leaning towards you being unfortunate in getting a faulty card.

/TTurtle

Q-Beam · 08-22-2004, 11:48 AM

ok. I was just checking with that openGL stuff.

You definately have a bad card.

can you return it??

get an nVidia. I think you will be happier.

<qbeam>

ttaylor555 · 08-22-2004, 03:04 PM

Guess what? I believe I do have a bad ATI card. I stuck an old NVIDIA GeForce 3 in my computer and the Aquarium works perfectly. I can't return the ATI to the store cause I've had it since April so I'm going to have to go through ATI. Are they pretty good about replacing bad cards? What do I tell them is wrong with this one? I think I'll give them a chance to make good on this. If not, I'll replace it with NVIDIA. What NVIDIA do you recommend if I'm doing alot of video editing and pulling in TV with a turner card?

Tiny Turtle · 08-23-2004, 12:22 AM

Why would he be happier Q? (Curious – not hoping to start a war, but you said they were equal in your previous post

)

I think one of them "All-in-Wonder" cards from ATi would be right up your alley. Do you game much? Want to play Doom³? Half-Life2 Got a budget?

/Tiny Quiz

ttaylor555 · 08-23-2004, 09:25 AM

Actually I found the NVIDIA drivers must easier to load and uninstall. The ATI drivers don't seem to uninstall the whole way; even with the catuninstaller. I don't game much. I just want my screen savers and videos to work. I was actually looking at an NVIDIA FX5200 Personal Cinema cause it has an AV pod to bring in VHS. I want to bring in home videos of my kids and put them on DVD. Anybody had experience with this card? Oh yea, and Tiny Turtle, I am a she, not a he.

Surferminn · 08-23-2004, 09:36 AM

ha-ha, you go girl!!

a belated welcome to the forum, btw.

minn

p.s. don't forget to look at ttaylor555's question above.

patscarr · 08-23-2004, 10:58 AM

I just got the NVIDIA GeForce FX5200 Magic card but do not have much experience with it yet. The screen savers look much better than on my old NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX 400 card is about all I can say so far, but that's something.

cjmaddy · 08-23-2004, 11:23 AM

I have a GeForce FX 5200 Ultra 128MB, I think it's superb! - I think Jim has/had one also, - so it can't be bad!

ttaylor555 · 08-23-2004, 10:47 PM

ATI gave me an RMA today for my graphics card so I'll be sending it to them tomorrow to be repaired. Hopefull all will go well. I will keep you all posted. Thanks to each one of you for your help.
Tami

Tiny Turtle · 08-24-2004, 02:22 AM

Sorry, Tami. Now I know better.

About that video camera, is it an analog (VHS/VHS-C/Hi-8) or some sort of digital format (DV)? If it's the latter you might be able to get your recordings digitally to the computer using a IEE1394 (aka Firewire aka iLink) port.

Glad to hear about the RMA. Hope everything works out now.

/TTurtle

ttaylor555 · 08-24-2004, 07:25 PM

I do have a digital camera and I have brought video in through an IEE1394 and put it on a DVD, and it turned out great. The problem I have is that I have lots of analog VHS tapes from 14 years ago of my kids and I want to preserve them onto DVD. I'm just not sure of the best thing to use to pull it in. I've been using ULead DVD Movie Factory for editing, which I really like. I do have an old Dazzle DV Creator 80 sitting around that I've had for years. Maybe I could get that to work. What do you recommend?

Tiny Turtle · 08-25-2004, 12:59 AM

I see. I'm not that knowledgable in video matters really – printed stuff like magazines is where I earn my living – so I can't really recommend anything specific. Just making sure you had the general comcept as it would be pretty dissapointing if you bought a video card with incorrect expectations, right?

/Tiny Belt & Braces

08-20-2004, 06:14 PM	#22
Q-Beam Chi Rho Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Littleton, Colorado Posts: 298	try this I just installed the latest drivers for my radeon 9500 Pro. They don't work right either. Here is how I got around it. Use the Catalyst remover programs from this page; http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/m...lystutils.html use the smart-gart uninstall too. run your driver install program next. let it unpack to whatever folder you want. cancell installation at this point. (my computer froze if I went further) Try installing the 'back way' this worked for me at least. :-) right click on desktop go to Properties settings tab advanced tab adapter tab Properties button Driver tab Update Driver tab INSTALL FROM SPECIFIC LOCATION tab point to ati folder, within this is another folder called XPDRV I think. (this has the .inf files in it) Click next. drivers will install. when asked to reboot say no. go to my computer c: drive your ati folder that the drivers are in cpanel folder setup.exe this will install the control panel options so you can tweak away. don't make any changes this time. when asked to reboot, say yes. I know this was not actually the preferred way, but it worked for me. This SHOULD give you clean drivers and a default (SAFE) setting for your control panel for 3D. Let us know. We are all here to help. <q-Beam>

08-21-2004, 01:00 AM	#24
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,816	The Aquarium didn't work with the old NT only because NT didn't have Direct3D capability. XP does. The file system doesn't matter. Still no ideas regarding your problem here. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

08-21-2004, 02:57 AM	#25
Tiny Turtle is pleased Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 7,365	Sorry. Been working too much to get home and try things out at my setup. Thursday and Friday I shut the computer down at work at midnight and the weekend will probably be pretty much the same. I'll get around to it eventually though. /Tiny Domestic Presence Thanks to Morgan, Tiny Snapshots is up and running again with "Tiny Järvafält" as the latest addition – Go have a look and tell me what you think. "We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another." /Robert Oppenheimer on witnessing the first thermonuclear detonation in history.

08-22-2004, 01:00 AM	#28
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,816	The Aquarium does not use OpenGL. It is a Direct3D application. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

08-22-2004, 03:34 AM	#29
Tiny Turtle is pleased Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 7,365	TTaylor, When you say "this ATi...card" do you mean the specific card you have in your box or the 9600XT as a model? It sounds like you think the latter to which I would like to point out that not everybody have problems with it. I'm leaning towards you being unfortunate in getting a faulty card. /TTurtle Thanks to Morgan, Tiny Snapshots is up and running again with "Tiny Järvafält" as the latest addition – Go have a look and tell me what you think. "We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another." /Robert Oppenheimer on witnessing the first thermonuclear detonation in history.

08-16-2004, 05:59 PM	#21
ttaylor555 Registered Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Fresno Posts: 17	I just downloaded the new 4.8 catalyst released today from ATI and it did not help. I think I'll drop down to the 4.3 catalyst and try that.

08-21-2004, 12:49 AM	#23
ttaylor555 Registered Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Fresno Posts: 17	OK Q-Beam - I tried your way but had no luck. I also tried the 4.3 driver with no results. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that I set up my hard drives with NTFS and not FAT32. I thought I read somewhere that the Aquarium does not work with Windows NT. I have XP Pro but I set my files up with the NTFS and not FAT32. I don't understand why the background light in the aquarium will not change. I can't make it lighter, it just stays black. Are there some tweaks or changes I should make in the control panel?

08-21-2004, 09:02 PM	#26
Q-Beam Chi Rho Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Littleton, Colorado Posts: 298	OK. FAT32 or NTFS doesn't matter. This is not the cause of your problem. The file system has absolutely no effect on video cards. * Did you try a different copy of the Aquarium?? (earlier version) * Do you have a spare Hard drive around?? format it. put XP on it install video drivers try Aquarium screen saver. * Can you try an openGL saver from www.reallyslick.com do you have the same problem with these?? I am racking my brain over here. * try different refresh rates???? *** Last but not least; it could be the card itself. Can you RMA it?? Don't lose faith in ATI, I think they are just as good as nVidia. (personal opinion, but hey..) :P

08-22-2004, 12:20 AM	#27
ttaylor555 Registered Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Fresno Posts: 17	OK I think this ATI graphics card sucks! I went to that reallyslick.com and tried some of those screensavers there and these are the ones that did not work: lattice, solarwinds, and skyrocket. Lattice and solarwinds were both completely black and skyrocket was distorted. I tried them on my kids computer with the cheaper NVIDIA card and it played all those screensavers perfectly. I tried the GLsetup but it says page cannot be displayed. What is OpenGL anyway, I don't totally understand it?

08-22-2004, 11:48 AM	#30
Q-Beam Chi Rho Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Littleton, Colorado Posts: 298	ok. I was just checking with that openGL stuff. You definately have a bad card. can you return it?? get an nVidia. I think you will be happier. <qbeam>

08-22-2004, 03:04 PM	#31
ttaylor555 Registered Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Fresno Posts: 17	Guess what? I believe I do have a bad ATI card. I stuck an old NVIDIA GeForce 3 in my computer and the Aquarium works perfectly. I can't return the ATI to the store cause I've had it since April so I'm going to have to go through ATI. Are they pretty good about replacing bad cards? What do I tell them is wrong with this one? I think I'll give them a chance to make good on this. If not, I'll replace it with NVIDIA. What NVIDIA do you recommend if I'm doing alot of video editing and pulling in TV with a turner card?

08-23-2004, 12:22 AM	#32
Tiny Turtle is pleased Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 7,365	Why would he be happier Q? (Curious – not hoping to start a war, but you said they were equal in your previous post ) I think one of them "All-in-Wonder" cards from ATi would be right up your alley. Do you game much? Want to play Doom³? Half-Life2 Got a budget? /Tiny Quiz Thanks to Morgan, Tiny Snapshots is up and running again with "Tiny Järvafält" as the latest addition – Go have a look and tell me what you think. "We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another." /Robert Oppenheimer on witnessing the first thermonuclear detonation in history.

08-23-2004, 09:25 AM	#33
ttaylor555 Registered Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Fresno Posts: 17	Actually I found the NVIDIA drivers must easier to load and uninstall. The ATI drivers don't seem to uninstall the whole way; even with the catuninstaller. I don't game much. I just want my screen savers and videos to work. I was actually looking at an NVIDIA FX5200 Personal Cinema cause it has an AV pod to bring in VHS. I want to bring in home videos of my kids and put them on DVD. Anybody had experience with this card? Oh yea, and Tiny Turtle, I am a she, not a he.

08-23-2004, 09:36 AM	#34
Surferminn Senior Puddle Jumper Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: California Posts: 6,017	ha-ha, you go girl!! a belated welcome to the forum, btw. minn p.s. don't forget to look at ttaylor555's question above. Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes. Last edited by Surferminn; 08-23-2004 at 10:51 AM.

08-23-2004, 10:58 AM	#35
patscarr Pet Shark Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Back in Buffalo Posts: 5,460	I just got the NVIDIA GeForce FX5200 Magic card but do not have much experience with it yet. The screen savers look much better than on my old NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX 400 card is about all I can say so far, but that's something. Patrick

08-23-2004, 11:23 AM	#36
cjmaddy Registered Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Lancashire, UK Posts: 7,854	I have a GeForce FX 5200 Ultra 128MB, I think it's superb! - I think Jim has/had one also, - so it can't be bad!

08-23-2004, 10:47 PM	#37
ttaylor555 Registered Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Fresno Posts: 17	ATI gave me an RMA today for my graphics card so I'll be sending it to them tomorrow to be repaired. Hopefull all will go well. I will keep you all posted. Thanks to each one of you for your help. Tami

08-24-2004, 02:22 AM	#38
Tiny Turtle is pleased Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 7,365	Sorry, Tami. Now I know better. About that video camera, is it an analog (VHS/VHS-C/Hi-8) or some sort of digital format (DV)? If it's the latter you might be able to get your recordings digitally to the computer using a IEE1394 (aka Firewire aka iLink) port. Glad to hear about the RMA. Hope everything works out now. /TTurtle Thanks to Morgan, Tiny Snapshots is up and running again with "Tiny Järvafält" as the latest addition – Go have a look and tell me what you think. "We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another." /Robert Oppenheimer on witnessing the first thermonuclear detonation in history.

08-24-2004, 07:25 PM	#39
ttaylor555 Registered Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Fresno Posts: 17	I do have a digital camera and I have brought video in through an IEE1394 and put it on a DVD, and it turned out great. The problem I have is that I have lots of analog VHS tapes from 14 years ago of my kids and I want to preserve them onto DVD. I'm just not sure of the best thing to use to pull it in. I've been using ULead DVD Movie Factory for editing, which I really like. I do have an old Dazzle DV Creator 80 sitting around that I've had for years. Maybe I could get that to work. What do you recommend?

08-25-2004, 12:59 AM	#40
Tiny Turtle is pleased Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 7,365	I see. I'm not that knowledgable in video matters really – printed stuff like magazines is where I earn my living – so I can't really recommend anything specific. Just making sure you had the general comcept as it would be pretty dissapointing if you bought a video card with incorrect expectations, right? /Tiny Belt & Braces Thanks to Morgan, Tiny Snapshots is up and running again with "Tiny Järvafält" as the latest addition – Go have a look and tell me what you think. "We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another." /Robert Oppenheimer on witnessing the first thermonuclear detonation in history.