Trouble getting drivers to work for modded Mobility Radeon 9600 on Dell Inspiron 8500

BrazilNut · Mar 16, 2006, 07:00 AM

Hello,
I've been looking for a solution for this problem for a while now, and haven't been able to find one, so I'm hoping one of you knowledgeable chaps might be able to help me out...

I have a Dell Inspiron 8500 laptop that according to
http://www.bay-wolf.com/8500video.htm
can be upgraded to use an ATI mobility radeon 9600 after doing some modding shown here:
http://www.bay-wolf.com/8500videoheat.htm

Well, I went ahead and did all this but am having trouble getting it to work with any drivers. I've tried the following things drivers:
Omega Drivers version 3.8.221
Patje's utility used with the latest 6.2 Catalyst desktop drivers
Dell's drivers written for the Inspiron 8600

All of them result in the same thing:
Upon rebooting after the install, right when the WindowsXP login screen should show, the system pretty much bombs (fans and HD seem to turn off) and the LCD screen suddenly grows white with a very thin horizontal line of black, then it slowly fades. All I can do is turn the laptop off and turn it back on and tell Windows to boot the last known good configuration (ie dump the 9600 driver).

Has anyone else seen this problem or have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.

patje · Mar 16, 2006, 02:04 PM

hmm, those drivers, did they work before the mod?
My advice is to run drivercleaner first and then install any of the mentionend drivers.
The mod seems harmless, unless you did something wrong with installing it back?

BrazilNut · Mar 16, 2006, 08:36 PM

Hi Patje,
I used drivercleaner and deleted everythin ATI and also cleaned out the cab files. Then I installed the Omega drivers and rebooted and got the same problem as before. As for installing it, I'm pretty sure I did nothing wrong. A bit more on the card:
I bought it used from a guy in New Zealand who had modded it using the technique already mentioned. He said he'd had it working in desktop, but that in 3d games it wouldn't last more than 10 minutes. I first installed it onto my machine before checking his mod job. At the time I searched for various drivers, some working better than others. I could usually get to the desktop, but it would die quickly in a 3d game. At some point trying different drivers it started doing this white screen thing upon booting, so I thought I would check his mod job. I think he didn't do a very good job as he had too much thermal grease in there. So I cleaned it up and redid it all, but it doesn't seem to have helped.
Any other ideas?

Mar 16, 2006, 07:00 AM	#1
BrazilNut DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Trouble getting drivers to work for modded Mobility Radeon 9600 on Dell Inspiron 8500 Hello, I've been looking for a solution for this problem for a while now, and haven't been able to find one, so I'm hoping one of you knowledgeable chaps might be able to help me out... I have a Dell Inspiron 8500 laptop that according to http://www.bay-wolf.com/8500video.htm can be upgraded to use an ATI mobility radeon 9600 after doing some modding shown here: http://www.bay-wolf.com/8500videoheat.htm Well, I went ahead and did all this but am having trouble getting it to work with any drivers. I've tried the following things drivers: Omega Drivers version 3.8.221 Patje's utility used with the latest 6.2 Catalyst desktop drivers Dell's drivers written for the Inspiron 8600 All of them result in the same thing: Upon rebooting after the install, right when the WindowsXP login screen should show, the system pretty much bombs (fans and HD seem to turn off) and the LCD screen suddenly grows white with a very thin horizontal line of black, then it slowly fades. All I can do is turn the laptop off and turn it back on and tell Windows to boot the last known good configuration (ie dump the 9600 driver). Has anyone else seen this problem or have any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Mar 16, 2006, 02:04 PM	#2
patje Former Mobility Modman Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Belgium / Antwerp Posts: 1,475 Rep Power: 66	hmm, those drivers, did they work before the mod? My advice is to run drivercleaner first and then install any of the mentionend drivers. The mod seems harmless, unless you did something wrong with installing it back? __________________

Mar 16, 2006, 08:36 PM	Thread Starter #3
BrazilNut DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Hi Patje, I used drivercleaner and deleted everythin ATI and also cleaned out the cab files. Then I installed the Omega drivers and rebooted and got the same problem as before. As for installing it, I'm pretty sure I did nothing wrong. A bit more on the card: I bought it used from a guy in New Zealand who had modded it using the technique already mentioned. He said he'd had it working in desktop, but that in 3d games it wouldn't last more than 10 minutes. I first installed it onto my machine before checking his mod job. At the time I searched for various drivers, some working better than others. I could usually get to the desktop, but it would die quickly in a 3d game. At some point trying different drivers it started doing this white screen thing upon booting, so I thought I would check his mod job. I think he didn't do a very good job as he had too much thermal grease in there. So I cleaned it up and redid it all, but it doesn't seem to have helped. Any other ideas?