refresh rate with catalyst 3.1

Constant · Feb 17, 2003, 07:03 PM

Hi, I tried updating from the catalsyt 2.1 to 3.1 drivers, but when I did my monitor refresh rate was set to 60hz and I was unable to change it. I've read that this was a problem under 2000/XP but I'm running 98. I've tried everything I can think of like using PowerStrip or other programs to lock the refresh rate but nothing will change it from the 60hz. Normally I wouldn't care and just go back to 2.1 but the 3.1 drivers finally fix the problems I was having with Neverwinter Nights. Well, any help is greatly apprecianted!

Video Card - Radeon 64DDR ViVo
Monitor - Viewsonic PF775
Motherboard - ASUS K7V133
Processor - AMD Athlon 1.133
OS - Windows 98SE

digitalwanderer · Feb 17, 2003, 07:24 PM

I can't get mine over 75Mhz with the 3.1 set or Omegadrives 9x take on the 3.1 set. I went back to the 3.0a set and manually set the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ATI Technologies\Driver\0000\DAL\IDCRegOptionDontUseOS MonitorInfo" key to "00 00 00 00" in the registry and can now again do 85hz fine.

(The above trick does NOT work for me with the cat3.1 set...I'm getting in contact with someone from ATI about the problem and will keep you posted.

)

Ice · Feb 18, 2003, 12:45 AM

It seems the 60Hz-Bug and the 75Hz-Bug are literally the same.
Using a BNC-cable I got nothing more than 60Hz, changing to a standard D-Sub-monitor-cable I was stuck with 75Hz (nothing else had changed).
This could be due to the BNC-cable having no DCC-connection!

I got an eMail from ATI, but it seems they don't know what to do themselves...
So it meant going back to Catalyst 3.0 again...

Constant · Feb 18, 2003, 04:17 AM

Thanks for the responses. I was afraid I was the only one who was having problem liek this. Does anyone know if upgrading to Windows XP would have any effect on this?

Radjan · Feb 19, 2003, 12:04 PM

I don't use XP myself, but what I heard is this. In XP you're supposed to have an additional tab in the Monitor settings where you can explicitly turn of the usage of DDC monitor information. You can then set the maximum refresh for the monitor manually. So, yes, in XP there should not be a 60Hz problem anymore.

I personally would like to stick with Win98, so if anybody finds a solution to the 60Hz problem I would be very thankful. Unfortunately I think there is only slim chance that ATI will fix the problem because it exists at least since Catalyst 2.2 (although in 3.0 and before you could at least use the registry hack) and they didn't bother so far.

Senior Citizen · Feb 19, 2003, 05:28 PM

Try the Omega drivers . It fixed mine.

Ice · Feb 19, 2003, 07:34 PM

Well, I allready tried the Omega drivers, with no success!!!
Strange, that it worked for you...
By the way, on the Omega-homepage there is a Readme concerning the 60Hz bug in Win98, but they describe the DCC switch which does not exist in Windows98, so they somehow don't seem to be completely in the know...

gcogger · Feb 19, 2003, 09:58 PM

This has been discussed on various ATI forums, and yes it is a common problem. Luckily I'm stuck at 75Hz, although the control panel tells me it's 85Hz. I wonder how many other people have the problem but don't realise...

The only known fix is to download Powerstrip and have it run automatically at boot - it seems to override the ATI drivers. Unfortunately it's shareware, so you have to look at a nag screen for a few seconds before it will let you close it. Once it's set the refresh rate, you can shut the program down - but it needs to run when Windows starts.

I've sent 3 support requests to ATI about this, but each time they advise me to read the FAQs and submit another support request. It seems that the customer support that ATI is so proud of is, in fact, non-existent. I doubt I'll ever buy anything from them again, and I may still send this card back.

Senior Citizen · Feb 20, 2003, 01:03 AM

To Ice:
You are correct insofar as the is no DDC switch. I assume you mean in the control panel there is no attributes tab in Windows 98 hence no DDC info.
Have you tried the registry change? Hkey local machine/software/ati technologies/drivers/0000(or some other 00xx). Hightlight the "DAL" subkey locate the following setting "IDCRegOptionDontUseOSMonitorInfo. Right click on the setting and select Modify . Change from 01 00 00 00 to 00 00 00 00 .
I have a minor problem setting my secondary monitor to above 60hz. What I noticed when I went into the display properties to change the refresh rate when I clicked on apply the windows pop up window did not pop up telling me it is going to change the refresh rate. After I click on apply and ok I rebooted my machine and the correct refresh rate was there.
If you notice everytime you change the resolution or refresh rate the screen turns black and come back up with the correct resolution or refresh rate. (When it is working right) I wonder when it blacks out and comes back after you click apply and ok ,is the program rebooting the machine somehow?

Ice · Feb 20, 2003, 09:32 AM

Yes, I've tried that Registry-hack, it worked fine with Catalyst3.0 and before.
Now however ATI must have changed something, ist has no effekt anymore as allready postet e.g. by digitalwanderer (see above).

Draeon · Feb 24, 2003, 10:40 PM

Have a look at this thread I opened to see if it can help solve the 60Hz bug:

I Think I've found a fix for the 60Hz bug with Cat3.1 & Win9x!

Post your replies, good or bad, in that thread please.

kalem · Mar 4, 2003, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Draeon
Have a look at this thread I opened to see if it can help solve the 60Hz bug:

I Think I've found a fix for the 60Hz bug with Cat3.1 & Win9x!

Post your replies, good or bad, in that thread please.

I prefer to use tricks from this thread (from rage3d too) : another fix for the 60hz refresh bug for W9x & Cat 3.1
it works 100% for me !

now I can play any game with different refreshrate (640x480 100Hz, 800x600 100Hz, 1024x768 75, 1280x1024 75) without any pain ! thank's to mczak from 3drage for the inovation

gcogger · Mar 4, 2003, 06:40 PM

I'll second that - I've tried _everything_ and this is the only thing that has helped

Radjan · Mar 16, 2003, 05:02 PM

Everybody who is suffering from the famous 60Hz Win98 problem should look at the following thread on the Rage3D board and supply some information about his monitor and graphics card.
It seems like the guys at ATI finally want to fix this bug in one of the upcoming catalysts and are trying to get some info to reproduce it.

Feb 17, 2003, 07:03 PM	#1
Constant DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	refresh rate with catalyst 3.1 Hi, I tried updating from the catalsyt 2.1 to 3.1 drivers, but when I did my monitor refresh rate was set to 60hz and I was unable to change it. I've read that this was a problem under 2000/XP but I'm running 98. I've tried everything I can think of like using PowerStrip or other programs to lock the refresh rate but nothing will change it from the 60hz. Normally I wouldn't care and just go back to 2.1 but the 3.1 drivers finally fix the problems I was having with Neverwinter Nights. Well, any help is greatly apprecianted! Video Card - Radeon 64DDR ViVo Monitor - Viewsonic PF775 Motherboard - ASUS K7V133 Processor - AMD Athlon 1.133 OS - Windows 98SE

Feb 17, 2003, 07:24 PM	#2
digitalwanderer Colour Commentator Join Date: May 2002 Location: Highland, IN USA Posts: 5,619 Rep Power: 0	Don't feel bad. I can't get mine over 75Mhz with the 3.1 set or Omegadrives 9x take on the 3.1 set. I went back to the 3.0a set and manually set the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ATI Technologies\Driver\0000\DAL\IDCRegOptionDontUseOS MonitorInfo" key to "00 00 00 00" in the registry and can now again do 85hz fine. (The above trick does NOT work for me with the cat3.1 set...I'm getting in contact with someone from ATI about the problem and will keep you posted. ) __________________ WTF is up with the sigs?

Feb 19, 2003, 12:04 PM	#5
Radjan DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	60Hz and Windows XP I don't use XP myself, but what I heard is this. In XP you're supposed to have an additional tab in the Monitor settings where you can explicitly turn of the usage of DDC monitor information. You can then set the maximum refresh for the monitor manually. So, yes, in XP there should not be a 60Hz problem anymore. I personally would like to stick with Win98, so if anybody finds a solution to the 60Hz problem I would be very thankful. Unfortunately I think there is only slim chance that ATI will fix the problem because it exists at least since Catalyst 2.2 (although in 3.0 and before you could at least use the registry hack) and they didn't bother so far.

Feb 19, 2003, 05:28 PM	#6
Senior Citizen DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Texas Posts: 83 Rep Power: 0	Try the Omega drivers . It fixed mine. __________________ p3 1000 Micron 512/133 Abit VH6 Via 4in1 4.45(XP) (4.35 98SE) Radeon 8500 128mb Omega 3.10 (98), Cats 4.8(XP) SB Live X-Gamer Robotics External Modem Dual boot 98/XP Home Dual VGA monitors

Feb 20, 2003, 01:03 AM	#9
Senior Citizen DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Texas Posts: 83 Rep Power: 0	To Ice: You are correct insofar as the is no DDC switch. I assume you mean in the control panel there is no attributes tab in Windows 98 hence no DDC info. Have you tried the registry change? Hkey local machine/software/ati technologies/drivers/0000(or some other 00xx). Hightlight the "DAL" subkey locate the following setting "IDCRegOptionDontUseOSMonitorInfo. Right click on the setting and select Modify . Change from 01 00 00 00 to 00 00 00 00 . I have a minor problem setting my secondary monitor to above 60hz. What I noticed when I went into the display properties to change the refresh rate when I clicked on apply the windows pop up window did not pop up telling me it is going to change the refresh rate. After I click on apply and ok I rebooted my machine and the correct refresh rate was there. If you notice everytime you change the resolution or refresh rate the screen turns black and come back up with the correct resolution or refresh rate. (When it is working right) I wonder when it blacks out and comes back after you click apply and ok ,is the program rebooting the machine somehow? __________________ p3 1000 Micron 512/133 Abit VH6 Via 4in1 4.45(XP) (4.35 98SE) Radeon 8500 128mb Omega 3.10 (98), Cats 4.8(XP) SB Live X-Gamer Robotics External Modem Dual boot 98/XP Home Dual VGA monitors

Feb 18, 2003, 12:45 AM	#3
Ice DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Heidelberg, Germany Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	It seems the 60Hz-Bug and the 75Hz-Bug are literally the same. Using a BNC-cable I got nothing more than 60Hz, changing to a standard D-Sub-monitor-cable I was stuck with 75Hz (nothing else had changed). This could be due to the BNC-cable having no DCC-connection! I got an eMail from ATI, but it seems they don't know what to do themselves... So it meant going back to Catalyst 3.0 again...

Feb 18, 2003, 04:17 AM	Thread Starter #4
Constant DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Thanks for the responses. I was afraid I was the only one who was having problem liek this. Does anyone know if upgrading to Windows XP would have any effect on this?

Feb 19, 2003, 07:34 PM	#7
Ice DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Heidelberg, Germany Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	Well, I allready tried the Omega drivers, with no success!!! Strange, that it worked for you... By the way, on the Omega-homepage there is a Readme concerning the 60Hz bug in Win98, but they describe the DCC switch which does not exist in Windows98, so they somehow don't seem to be completely in the know...

Feb 19, 2003, 09:58 PM	#8
gcogger DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: UK Posts: 18 Rep Power: 0	This has been discussed on various ATI forums, and yes it is a common problem. Luckily I'm stuck at 75Hz, although the control panel tells me it's 85Hz. I wonder how many other people have the problem but don't realise... The only known fix is to download Powerstrip and have it run automatically at boot - it seems to override the ATI drivers. Unfortunately it's shareware, so you have to look at a nag screen for a few seconds before it will let you close it. Once it's set the refresh rate, you can shut the program down - but it needs to run when Windows starts. I've sent 3 support requests to ATI about this, but each time they advise me to read the FAQs and submit another support request. It seems that the customer support that ATI is so proud of is, in fact, non-existent. I doubt I'll ever buy anything from them again, and I may still send this card back.

Feb 20, 2003, 09:32 AM	#10
Ice DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Heidelberg, Germany Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	Yes, I've tried that Registry-hack, it worked fine with Catalyst3.0 and before. Now however ATI must have changed something, ist has no effekt anymore as allready postet e.g. by digitalwanderer (see above).

Feb 24, 2003, 10:40 PM	#11
Draeon DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	Have a look at this thread I opened to see if it can help solve the 60Hz bug: I Think I've found a fix for the 60Hz bug with Cat3.1 & Win9x! Post your replies, good or bad, in that thread please.

Mar 4, 2003, 06:40 PM	#13
gcogger DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: UK Posts: 18 Rep Power: 0	I'll second that - I've tried _everything_ and this is the only thing that has helped

Mar 16, 2003, 05:02 PM	#14
Radjan DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Hurray, the ATI guys seem to have heard our pleas!! Everybody who is suffering from the famous 60Hz Win98 problem should look at the following thread on the Rage3D board and supply some information about his monitor and graphics card. It seems like the guys at ATI finally want to fix this bug in one of the upcoming catalysts and are trying to get some info to reproduce it.