mitcho85

Hey guys, First post here, hope I do it right.

Here's my setup:

-Windows Vista Ultimate
-AMD Athlon 64 3200+
-1gb (2x512) Corsair Platinum TwinX XMS4400 DDR 3-4-4-8
-ATI Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 AGP 512 MB GDDR3 Video Card
-DFI Lanparty UT nF3 250GB
-Coolergiant Enermax PS 380w PS

So.... I Just installed windows Vista Ultimate and I can't get my video card to work....I've tried 4 different drivers, including the Hotfix drivers that are stickied on this forum, the latest drivers that are on the ati-amd website, and no luck....I've tried the normal installation procedure and also the obscure method where you go into the System > Device Manager > then into display adapters right click > Update Driver Software > and manually choosing the driver from the extracted files from the driver packet. I'm out of ideas, anyone got any? :P I would appreciate any help, Thanks!

Mitch

Dark Lord

i never picked up a 3850 agp because of all the driver problems with them. ati never officially supported the card, so drivers have been spotty from day one.

now, i would suggest you start reading here, its about the largest group of active 3850 agp users i know of. theyve been fighting driver installs since the start. The HD 3850 AGP User Experience - Page 20 - [H]ard|Forum

now, speaking from personal experience, get rid of the card and drop back to a 1950pro agp. i had a 1950xt agp with an A64 3200+, and the cpu was bottle necking the card. it costs less, you still max out your system, and theres a hell of alot less head aches involved.

__________________

mitcho85

Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it, but I'm beginning to think that either my vista install is bad or something else, i've tried half of the drivers they recommend and I still get a blue screen when I try to start the computer, it goes so fast I can't read/write any of the info on the blue screen. I have to go into safe mode and uninstall the video card from Device Manager screen....sigh

I just bought a stereo for my car too, so I'm broke and won't be able to buy any new stuff for at least a month :*(

mitcho85

I managed to get the bluescreen info....no idea how to read it though, if anyone is interested in deciphering this:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 1000008e
BCP1: C0000005
BCP2: 88D5A1BA
BCP3: 87E6C9BC
BCP4: 00000000
OS Version: 6_0_6001
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 256_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini032709-04.dmp
C:\Users\Mitch\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-62187-0.sysdata.xml
C:\Users\Mitch\AppData\Local\Temp\WER40AD.tmp.vers ion.txt

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I'm just about done and ready to go back to windows XP, since I was able to run the card without any problems using that OS, some guys got the card working on Vista somehow on the [H]ard/Forum.

TheJakeOtt

Tigerdirect's listing for the Sapphire HD 3850 AGP shows the following:

Minimum System Requirements

• AGP based PC is required with one 4X/8X AGP slot available on the motherboard.
• 1GB or greater system memory for better performance.
• 450Watt or greater power supply with 30Amps on 12 volt with 2x4 power connector recommanded.
• Certified power supplies are recommended.
• Installation software requires CD-ROM drive.
• DVD playback requires DVD driver
• HDCP support for playback of protected content requires connection to a HDCP capable display
• Blu-ray/HD DVD playback requires Blu-ray/HD-DVD drive and playback software.

You don't meet the second, third, or fourth requirements/recommendations.

If you're gonna buy something else, get a new PSU. You won't get what you want out of this card until you do.

Besides, the x1950 would've been a much better fit for your system.

Robspace1

Mitch-I have the same rig setup as you. The AMD ATHLON 64 3200 W/ 1 gb.ram. I just unstalled the Sapphire HD 3850 agp card and it works fine but it still will not allow me to run Crysis at the highest settings. That's ok, I'm adding more ram next week but I just ran the Vista upgrade advisor and it said this card "will not work with Vista"! Now, I've been reading others have Vista with this so I don't know what the story is. I had to get the drivers from the Sapphire site as the disk that came with the card would not work and the Radeon driver wouldn't either. So, I also checked the list of cards that are Vista compatible and didn't see this one. It did show the 3850 but it may have been the Pci version. I don't know that it will work and I need to find out before doing the upgrade to Vista. It says on the box that it's VISTA READY!-someones not telling the whole story on this thing.