mobility radeon x700 problem

JonnyC · Aug 27, 2005, 09:50 PM

i recently purchased an evesham quest roma laptop which features a mobility radeon x700. after setting up the internet and updating windows, i installed the latest mobility drivers (5.8). everything was working fine, games where running great! (one strange thing was that some of the desktop icons where all black, i ignored this at the time).
because the laptop is a power hungry beast, i have been running the laptop off the mains.
yesterday i decided to take the laptop into the living room, so i unplugged it from the mains and windows stopped responding. nothing worked except the mouse, no buttons could be clicked or anything. so i restarted windows and it booted up fine except that the only thing showing was the mouse. everything else was just black. however, windows is running fine in the backgroud and the mouse changes icon when it is moved over shortcuts(which cannont be seen).

so basicaly:

it works fine when plugged into the mains, but when it runs off the battery it doesn't work.

i have uninstalled the ati drivers and the laptop would work fine without the mains.

does anyone know if there is a known problem with the x700 and the latest drivers? and if there is a fix?

here is a picture of when the laptop is plugged into the mains:

JonnyC · Aug 28, 2005, 07:22 PM

ok heres an update:

with the latest radeon mobility drivers installed the laptop works fine with the AC power supply connected.

if i turn down the hardware acceleration down the laptop can be used under battery power without any problems.

could this be a hardware problem, or is the problem that the battery is not outputting enough power to run the advanced features of the graphics card?

swimtech · Aug 29, 2005, 12:32 AM

Could be that you have settings in Power Management set to throttle back your CPU while running on battery power - set them to run full speed, if not already, while on battery power.

If that doesn't get it done for you, you may want to try a bios and motherboard chipset update from the manufacturer.

JonnyC · Aug 29, 2005, 07:23 PM

where can i find the power management setting?

in the control panel there is power options, but there is nothing in there to set power levels.

0N1X · Sep 20, 2005, 02:49 AM

I have the exact same problem with my new MSI-1029. Seems to be the power management in the x700 mobility and 5.8 drivers. Still researching and will let you know if I find anything.

0N1X · Sep 20, 2005, 03:08 AM

UPDATE:
I turned off "POWERPLAY" in the ATi catalyst control center...just disabled it by unselecting the checkbox. I'm tying this running on the battery now. I'll try to switch back and forth like this between batt and power plug and hibernate and sleep to test. Hopefully this is fixed in the 5.9 version.

JonnyC · Oct 5, 2005, 02:39 PM

have you had any luck onix? i am having the same problem with the 5.9 drivers

0N1X · Oct 5, 2005, 09:32 PM

no dice. started a ticket with ATI and they said they are looking into it. I have disabled PowerPlay for the time being. ATI recommended using the manufacturer's custom drivers over theirs as well. I'm using 5.9 for now and hope it is fixed soon.

0N1X · Oct 13, 2005, 04:17 AM

5.10 released today...release notes below:

ATI drivers are already optimized for your product from the initial installation. Installing a new driver is only recommended if you are experiencing issues with your ATI product, including those mentioned below:
- Changing the PowerPlay™ mode to either Balanced or Optimal Battery Life no longer results in display corruption and or the operating system failing to respond
- Moving the mouse cursor while hotkey switching from TV to LCD no longer results in the inability to move the mouse cursor to right or bottom of display
DVD playback no longer appears to lag when the - Catalyst Control Center has been installed on systems containing an ATI Mobility Radeon X700 series
- Using either Windows Media Player or PowerDVD to playback a DVD no longer results in slow performance being noticed when using either AC or DC mode

Enjoy
0n1x

dutty · Oct 13, 2005, 10:34 AM

hey johhny\onix.. is your x700 128mb or 256mb? if it is 128mb could you dump the bios?

Aug 27, 2005, 09:50 PM	#1
JonnyC DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	mobility radeon x700 problem i recently purchased an evesham quest roma laptop which features a mobility radeon x700. after setting up the internet and updating windows, i installed the latest mobility drivers (5.8). everything was working fine, games where running great! (one strange thing was that some of the desktop icons where all black, i ignored this at the time). because the laptop is a power hungry beast, i have been running the laptop off the mains. yesterday i decided to take the laptop into the living room, so i unplugged it from the mains and windows stopped responding. nothing worked except the mouse, no buttons could be clicked or anything. so i restarted windows and it booted up fine except that the only thing showing was the mouse. everything else was just black. however, windows is running fine in the backgroud and the mouse changes icon when it is moved over shortcuts(which cannont be seen). so basicaly: it works fine when plugged into the mains, but when it runs off the battery it doesn't work. i have uninstalled the ati drivers and the laptop would work fine without the mains. does anyone know if there is a known problem with the x700 and the latest drivers? and if there is a fix? here is a picture of when the laptop is plugged into the mains: Last edited by JonnyC; Aug 27, 2005 at 10:06 PM.

Aug 29, 2005, 12:32 AM	#3
swimtech HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: North Carolina Posts: 4,040 Rep Power: 124 System Specs	Could be that you have settings in Power Management set to throttle back your CPU while running on battery power - set them to run full speed, if not already, while on battery power. If that doesn't get it done for you, you may want to try a bios and motherboard chipset update from the manufacturer. __________________ It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

Aug 28, 2005, 07:22 PM	Thread Starter #2
JonnyC DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	ok heres an update: with the latest radeon mobility drivers installed the laptop works fine with the AC power supply connected. if i turn down the hardware acceleration down the laptop can be used under battery power without any problems. could this be a hardware problem, or is the problem that the battery is not outputting enough power to run the advanced features of the graphics card?

Aug 29, 2005, 07:23 PM	Thread Starter #4
JonnyC DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	where can i find the power management setting? in the control panel there is power options, but there is nothing in there to set power levels.

Sep 20, 2005, 02:49 AM	#5
0N1X DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	I have the exact same problem with my new MSI-1029. Seems to be the power management in the x700 mobility and 5.8 drivers. Still researching and will let you know if I find anything.

Sep 20, 2005, 03:08 AM	#6
0N1X DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	UPDATE: I turned off "POWERPLAY" in the ATi catalyst control center...just disabled it by unselecting the checkbox. I'm tying this running on the battery now. I'll try to switch back and forth like this between batt and power plug and hibernate and sleep to test. Hopefully this is fixed in the 5.9 version.

Oct 5, 2005, 02:39 PM	Thread Starter #7
JonnyC DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	have you had any luck onix? i am having the same problem with the 5.9 drivers

Oct 5, 2005, 09:32 PM	#8
0N1X DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	no dice. started a ticket with ATI and they said they are looking into it. I have disabled PowerPlay for the time being. ATI recommended using the manufacturer's custom drivers over theirs as well. I'm using 5.9 for now and hope it is fixed soon.

Oct 13, 2005, 04:17 AM	#9
0N1X DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	5.10 released today...release notes below: ATI drivers are already optimized for your product from the initial installation. Installing a new driver is only recommended if you are experiencing issues with your ATI product, including those mentioned below: - Changing the PowerPlay™ mode to either Balanced or Optimal Battery Life no longer results in display corruption and or the operating system failing to respond - Moving the mouse cursor while hotkey switching from TV to LCD no longer results in the inability to move the mouse cursor to right or bottom of display DVD playback no longer appears to lag when the - Catalyst Control Center has been installed on systems containing an ATI Mobility Radeon X700 series - Using either Windows Media Player or PowerDVD to playback a DVD no longer results in slow performance being noticed when using either AC or DC mode Enjoy 0n1x

Oct 13, 2005, 10:34 AM	#10
dutty DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 21 Rep Power: 0	hey johhny\onix.. is your x700 128mb or 256mb? if it is 128mb could you dump the bios?