Hi,
Bit of a long one there, and conscious this is my first post, but please please please could anyone help out with the following X700-related problem? It's a bit of a long one, but I though I'd be thorough so if any helpful soul out there is reading they're fully clued up on the problem - my computer's specs are at the bottom....
I bought 512 MB DDR (PC2100) RAM along with a Sapphire Radeon X700 AGP 8x card, (not the Pro or XT model, just the basic X700). The RAM I managed to fit fine with no problems, the"see basic information about your computer" option in Control Panel showing 768 MB RAM (thenew 512 plus my old 256). So no apparent problems there - I mention it in case it's relevant to the problem with the graphics card below (although I doubt it is!).
Before installing the X700, I read up online on hints and tips for fitting graphics cards (no documentation in box!), and so was careful throughout to avoid damaging the contacts or the board by gripping in the right places/being gentle in physically fitting the card, and to avoid static, by doing it on a tiled kitchen floor in bare feet and earthing myself before touching the components of the comp or new card.
First, I de-installed the drivers for my old NVidia GeForce 4 MX400 card, restarted, then switched off and opened the tower up. I took out the old card very easily, no niggles, just a firm pull and it popped out. I put the new board in (again, no problems, the clips clipping into place of their own accord, only a firm push required), connected it to the internal power supply as directed, and powered up. I installed the drivers along with numerous other ATI applications that self-installed, and was prompted to restart, which I did.
When the boot sequence reached the first XP screen (i.e. the one with the sky-blue background and the user account icons and password box), a serious distortion appeared. The top three inches or so of the screen were completely obscured by close-packed multicoloured horizontal lines, and the remainder obscured by wider-spaced sky-blue horizontal lines interspersed with colours which I suppose were bits of the user account icons meant to appear on that screen. The only way I could tell it was the first XP screen was by the sky-blueness of the bottom horizontal lines! After about fifteen secs, the comp *clicked* off, restarted and got me through to the screen prompting for "start in safe mode" or "start with last known settings that worked". Only last known settings worked, and upon getting back into XP, the Found New Hardware wizard popped up telling me to install the drivers (perhaps unsurprisingly seeing as I'd presumably just wiped the old ones by starting with last known good settings!). Also one of those annoying boxes appeared asking me if I'd like to send an error report because my system had just "recovered from a serious shutdown".
I've tried physicaly re-installing the card a few times, and installing the most up-to-date drivers from ATI's website, with no change in the problem. I don't reckon it's the RAM upgrade... I'm not exceeding my RAM limit and the comp shows the RAM properly installed. The only things I'm thinking might be the problem are that:
(1) my AGP slot is incompatable. The x700 is 8x, but my slot is 4x (I looked up the specs for my motherboard at MSI's website,
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p...07-L&class=mb). However, ATI's website itself notes that the 4x slot is OK (at
http://www.ati.com/products/RADEONx7...ONx700series/), and I've heard from online discussion boards that 8x AGP cards are generally compatible with 4x slots, although may run a little slower - so overall I don't think I've got a problem there;
(2) my power supply is inadequate. I think this is the most likely cause - the *click* as the card freezes as it boots up is suggestive, like there's been a power-down. I have a 250W PSU, and ATI "recommends" 300W minimum. However, surely this is only "recommended", not a "minimum" (I'm thinking of the similar system for games where they have min. and recommended system setups for running the game). If 300W was a definite minimum, wouldn't ATI have said? I'm reluctant to give this possible problem an attempted solution by forking out for a
new PSU, unless it's really likely to be the problem;
(3) there's some sort of incompatibility with my monitor. As noted, it's a MITAC LC552 flastscreen, but what's making me think this is less likely the problem is that the X700 has an indentical VGA connecter to my old Nvidia GeForce 4 MX440, and I just unplugged my monitor lead from the old card's VGA connector and re-plugged it into the new card's one. So surely there's no difference and this isn't likely to be the problem?
Please can anybody point me in the right direction or give any hints/tips, especially they're opinion on the likelihood of it being the PSU causing the problem.... desparate to play some new games!
Many thanks
Mark
My system specs are as follows (I'm going to go for overkill in case it's relevant):
MANUFACTURER/MODEL: Microstar (MSI) Model PCMT5
TYPE: ME MT 103
(although note re both of above that system scan tool at
www.crucial.com reveals model (motherboard?) to be MS6507, specs at
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p...507-L&class=mb)
PRIMARY SLAVE: DVD Rom 16x IDE
SECONDARY SLAVE: CD Rom R/W ATAPI
VIDEO: VGA/EGA
DRIVE A: 3.5 Inch, 1.44 MB
DRIVE B: <none>
BIOS: 1.55 (04/24/2002)
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.2 GHz
FSB/MULTIPLICATOR: 100 Hz * 22.0
CACHE: 512K
SDRAM SLOT 0: 512 DDR PC2100
SDRAM SLOT 1: 256 DDR PC2100
FRONTSIDE BUS: 100 MHz
PSU: 250W max
Running Windows XP SP2
Other: BT Voyager 205 ADSL Modem, USB linked to comp, MITAC LC552 flatscreen, basic (supplied with comp) speakers, own power supply.
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