ginit

Hi guys, thx if you are even willing to read this!

first of all my setup:

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CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual 4600+
RAM: 1GB of Kingston ValueRAM (2x512MB)
Mobo: Sapphire PURE Crossfire Advantage (PC-A9RD580Adv)
GPU: ATI Radeon X1900XTX 512MB

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Ive installed Dark Messiah (=DM) a week ago, patched it to the latest version (1.12) and sometimes my screen goes black, and the game crashes to desktop without any displays of errors.
Then, sometimes after it crashed, or after I played it and closed it off properly, other games wont boot. Programs like Word, or Photoshop do, but games wont. I double click on an .exe, the game starts,
you can see the screen get maximized, but then, you get a black screen, and after one sec you are back on yr desktop.. I believe it's got something to do with the fact that DM changes my video mode
(or how is it called: OpenGL/Direct3D) which is not supported by these other games i guess like CS:S, GTA1, ... I also hear the sound windows gives when you disconnect (or connect?) hardware when i start
up CS:S. Usually the screen goes black and the game crashes to my desktop (like DM) without any errors...

So i figured it was a driver-related problem.
I downloaded the latest Catalyst, version 8.3 and installed them ontop of the older ones (i believe 7.12). Stupid i know, i shouldve uninstalled the older ones first. I think i cancelled during setup since i knew i should uninstall
the older drivers first. Anyway, i uninstalled them afterwards and reinstalled the catalyst v8.3.

Now when i try to install this, the ATI WMD & Southbridge Setups stop responding. The ATI WMD setup starts up, it looks like its doing something but you cant see a progress bar,
and then you get the ugle greenish screen .. but nothing happens .. so ive waited for a while, and then clicked on the "close" button and it i got a windows error saying that ATI WMD Setup stopped responding.
After i click on the "dont send rapport" button i get the message: "Cannot run WMD setup, cannot find RCP" (or something like that). So i click on "OK" which is the only option, and it continues installing the other things, like the
southbridge setup. But exactly the same happens with the Southbridge setup. The weird thing is, that it actually installs the drivers. Because if I dont run the WMD setup, I get "new hardware has been found" when i boot. After i ran the setups of both the WMD & southbridge,
and clicked "close" and "dont send" and "ok" in the error dialogs of both setups, it recognizes the hardware which was found on the previous boot. (after i reboot ofcourse).

I tried different versions of Catalyst, i tried to start the setups from the original directory and not the main setup .. but none of these things work. I also tried to select only the display & ccc in the custom install mode,
but when i reboot i get the message "new hardware has been found" which i think refers to the WMD setup.

So i got fed up with it, and tried the omega drivers. Problem is, that you still need to download the WMD Setup individually from the ATI site. So i installed omega drivers, and tried the WMD Setup (version 7.12 because the latest
omega drivers are based on the Catalyst v7.12). But as you can guess the setup stopped responding. Anyways, like i said before it kinda installs it anyway, even though its not responding & i close the setup.

Anyways, i tried some games, like CS:S and DM (which seemed to work fine) but then it crashed, just the same way. But i could boot it again! and other games! without them too crashing to desktop. Anyway, i rebooted my system
at one point and just played cs:s, i closed it a few times and started it up again .. and i got a blackscreen, the powerled of my screen went orange (like when its on standby) and i continiously hear the sound of hardware
beeing disconnected(or connected). The screens led turns back green, and then back orange (with the sound) and i keeps doing this, as if its in a loop... So THIS time its got nothing to do with DM.

Now, i have got aaabsolutly no idea whatever the problem is .. but my guess is i messed up the drivers when i installed them ontop of the others back in the beginning. ANyways, i uinstalled the omega drivers & other stuff, and installed the ATI Chipset
from the site of my MOBO supplier (Sapphire). It included a WMD setup & southbridge setup .. but again, setups stopped responding, but it installed both though .. But those drivers are very old (anno 2005).

Is there anyone who can help me?!

Cheers,

someone with only a spark of hope left

whisperedecho

I've had some problems with games before where my screen goes into power saving mode and the sound and game is still going but I cannot get my monitor to come back online until I restart my computer.

Judging from your problem and what you have already tried, you might have to reformat your computer unless it is a hardware issue that is causing your problem.

If it is a driver related problem, reformatting should solve it.

Have you made sure that you completely cleaned out your drivers when you uninstalled them? Try using DriverCleaner next time.

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Judas

i'd probably suggesta format and reinstall to... that usually has a habit of completely solving a considerable number of problems with a pile of positive side effects...


but the problem your talking about doesn't seem at all related to the video card.. but to the system.. itself...

Programs being unable to open.. such as word or other simple programs.. sounds like either the memory in the system is corrupt/damaged/erroring... or the software and os have corrupted to the point of requireing a full on repair...

I'd suggest going to Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool and downloading the burnable ISO of the 2.01 testing program... reboot with the cd in the drive.. and let it run for a pass or 2... if any errors appear at all. you've got faulty/bad memory.

if not... post back.

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ginit

My god, guys thx for the reply!

@ Judas the problems do open, i know my sentences are sometimes hard to read ..

@ Judas & whisperedecho

i think i should format then ... sigh .. format nr 1001

Judas

Yeah.... at first i hated reformating.

now i make it nearly a monthly occurance..... my computer is always fresh....

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ginit

Seems like the format did the job.

Btw, this mind sound silly, but i think i forgot to install the chipset driver (express 3200). I think this might've been the problem causer! Ive installed that one and things -sofar- work like a charm.
Maybe this helps people ...

Problem: ATI WMD drivers & ATI southbridge drivers installs stop responding?
Solution:

1. Format
2. goto Drivers & Software --> select your OS --> select integrated/motherboard and download the chipset which you need for your mobo (goto mobo manufractures site and check what chipset you need)
3. install these drivers (mine were called "8-3-igp_xp32_dd_ccc_wdm_sb_gart_enu_59746", to give you an idea)

**note: you need .netframework2.0 for CCC!!


Many thanks Judas!

Judas

i'm pretty sure that even the desktop package includes the southbridge chipset drivers as well....

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ginit

Yes, they did, but they would'nt install properly ... all of my hardware was recognized after i installed the drivers corresponding my GPU, but there were weird 'issues' like crashes to desktop, games not booting ..

Ahh well it works for now I'm glad ... i've been having problems with this computer since x-mas so .. you can understand how relieved i am

OldBuzzard

OH...just so you know..with the newer Cats, it really isn't necessary to uninstall. Installing on top is just fine. The new ones do a bit of uninstalling as they load.

In fact, since the 5.x somethings, I've never uninstalled the drivers before installing the new ones. I did have to uninstall the Control Panel/CCC, up until recently, as that would cause an install to hang, but as for the drivers, I neved uninstalled.

I've never had driver related problems doing it that way. The only driver problem I've encountered since my first 9500 Pro was with the 7.5.s to the 7.11's or 12's, and that was a driver bug that only occured with 2 x monitors running an OGL application at greater than 1024x768, and only with the 2nd monitor oriented to the left side in the CCC. Weird one, but it did get fixed eventually

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When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

glazenuts

Hi,
First off. Rule #1 always install the chipset driver after the OS on a fresh install "Before" you install any other hwd. This tells the OS how to configure your hardware. You didn't say wither you tried the Memtest x86 and verified your memory? Another thing most people dont' know is a faulty power supply can mimic any problem you find. I always check the power supply first as it can save you time chasing your tail.

Hope this helps someone,