ATI 3450 Compatible problem

ddufty · Jan 24, 2010, 01:35 PM

Hi. I am not sure if I am posting this question in the right forum section. I have an HP A6000N Pavilion pc. (300 watt power supply, 2G Ram, Vista 32, SP1) The onboard video went out on it. I decided instead of purchasing another mother board or pc, I would instead just purchase a video card instead. I purchased a ATI Radeon HD 3450. I know it is not the best card in the World but it was the cheapest price. I use this pc for my business only. The problem I am having is after I installed the card the pc booted up and worked great but only for a few minutes and then the screen freezes. If I uninstall the driver and reboot then the pc runs fine. The same applies if I reboot in safe mode then it runs all day with no problems. I tried installing a window driver and also the latest driver from ATI with no success. I even tried the older ati drivers with no luck. I just recently tried Modtool and after rebooting I clicked on the modtool on the desktop and the program had three check marks indicating that the installation was a success and then the screen froze again. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

ddufty · Jan 24, 2010, 02:53 PM

There is one step I did not do and that is step 1. I did not download the msl. 6.0 because I was assuming it was default in Vista. (already installed??) Could this be the problem? and if so, do I need all three files? Thanks again

Tyrsonswood · Jan 24, 2010, 03:17 PM

Did you run any driver cleaner and registry cleaner software on your system? .... sounds like you have some old drivers conflicting. Also check in your BIOS and if there is a selection for default video make sure it's not set to onboard video. (I know HP BIOS is limited for choices but see if it's there)

Doing a complete cleaning inside and re-seating of memory, cards, power plugs, etc. and running memtest won't hurt either just to be sure it's not something else.

ddufty · Jan 24, 2010, 07:05 PM

I did check the bios and it was set to pci for the video and I changed that to pci e. I also reseated the card and ran memtest. After memtest finished I rebooted and the screen did not freeze but did as soon as I clicked on any application. Do you know of a good driver cleaner program? thanks again

Tyrsonswood · Jan 24, 2010, 08:28 PM

I haven't used them personally but Driver Cleaner (from this site HardwareHeaven) comes highly recommended and I believe it's $9, and several guys have recommended Driver Sweeper which is freeware. They can be very useful tools, just make sure you read and follow all directions...... You don't want to delete drivers you need.

For a registry cleaner I use CCleaner which is also freeware.

ddufty · Jan 24, 2010, 09:39 PM

I use ccleaner myself. I downloaded the driver sweeper freeware program and wiped out the ati drivers that were installed. I then used the modtool program to modify the ati drivers again, and this time it seems to be working. It has been running now for about an half hour or better without freezing up. Hope I am not speaking to soon here :-) I have been working on and off with pc's for over twenty years and the compatible issues are worse than previous years. Thank you very much for your help.

Tyrsonswood · Jan 24, 2010, 09:55 PM

Glad you got it working, we'll hope it stays that way. Let us know if there's further problems.

Jan 24, 2010, 01:35 PM	#1
ddufty HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	ATI 3450 Compatible problem Hi. I am not sure if I am posting this question in the right forum section. I have an HP A6000N Pavilion pc. (300 watt power supply, 2G Ram, Vista 32, SP1) The onboard video went out on it. I decided instead of purchasing another mother board or pc, I would instead just purchase a video card instead. I purchased a ATI Radeon HD 3450. I know it is not the best card in the World but it was the cheapest price. I use this pc for my business only. The problem I am having is after I installed the card the pc booted up and worked great but only for a few minutes and then the screen freezes. If I uninstall the driver and reboot then the pc runs fine. The same applies if I reboot in safe mode then it runs all day with no problems. I tried installing a window driver and also the latest driver from ATI with no success. I even tried the older ati drivers with no luck. I just recently tried Modtool and after rebooting I clicked on the modtool on the desktop and the program had three check marks indicating that the installation was a success and then the screen froze again. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Jan 24, 2010, 02:53 PM	Thread Starter #2
ddufty HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	Re: ATI 3450 Compatible problem There is one step I did not do and that is step 1. I did not download the msl. 6.0 because I was assuming it was default in Vista. (already installed??) Could this be the problem? and if so, do I need all three files? Thanks again

Jan 24, 2010, 07:05 PM	Thread Starter #4
ddufty HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	Re: ATI 3450 Compatible problem I did check the bios and it was set to pci for the video and I changed that to pci e. I also reseated the card and ran memtest. After memtest finished I rebooted and the screen did not freeze but did as soon as I clicked on any application. Do you know of a good driver cleaner program? thanks again

Jan 24, 2010, 09:39 PM	Thread Starter #6
ddufty HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	Re: ATI 3450 Compatible problem I use ccleaner myself. I downloaded the driver sweeper freeware program and wiped out the ati drivers that were installed. I then used the modtool program to modify the ati drivers again, and this time it seems to be working. It has been running now for about an half hour or better without freezing up. Hope I am not speaking to soon here :-) I have been working on and off with pc's for over twenty years and the compatible issues are worse than previous years. Thank you very much for your help.