Radeon 8500 and XP don't play well together.

[Pattycake]

I put together this system:

P4 1.8a/Soyo Dragon P4S mobo
Radeon 8500
256 DDR ram
400 PSU
Thermaltake HS, 3 case fans
2 Maxtor 40g hdds
Not RAIDed or overclocked (yet)
Dual booting w/XP, ME on different drives

The thing runs solid in ME with no problems. In XP it keeps cutting out with corrupt graphics or sometimes just locking up. XP says it's caused by the Radeon drivers, but I have the newest ones supposedly just for XP.

Iv'e swapped out the card for an older All-In-Wonder Radeon and get the same problems. Anyone have a fix for this or do I just have to limp along until somebody gets these drivers right?

[BipolarBill]

Got a crutch? :(

Have you tried Windows Update?

[Pattycake]

Hey Bill

Yes I have. Tried about everything I could think of. I'm usually my own tech support but this one has me stumped. Good thing I dual booted it and know my system is good or I'd be tearing the box apart at this point.

[BipolarBill]

Use the Driver Update tool and select from a list. See what drivers are available to you.

[Pattycake]

I just tried that. All the old ones are there and I chose the most current. It looked as though it would work but after 5 mins. it went black again. It's almost as if the drivers don't hold....

[BipolarBill]

I really love these little Intel/AMD and nVidia/ATI testosterone wars. They are very entertaining, but they miss a point. Compatibility. Intel knows Windows and chipsets. Intel knows thermal control. Intel makes the world's best x86 chipsets.

We can say the same for nVidia. nVidia drivers flat work. So do Matrox's.

ATI has a way to go before it supplants nVidia because it's drivers stink.

[Pattycake]

Testosterone wars? Maybe it's time for your Lithium or I've missed something here.

I'm just looking for help to get my system going and you act like I'm trolling?

Guess I'll go back to my old sites and look for help there. I'm disappointed in this one.

[Pattycake]

ps It's hard for me to get into a testosterone war since I'm female.:p

[BipolarBill]

Originally posted by Pattycake
Testosterone wars? Maybe it's time for your Lithium or I've missed something here.

I'm just looking for help to get my system going and you act like I'm trolling?

Guess I'll go back to my old sites and look for help there. I'm disappointed in this one. It's not our fault the drivers don't work, Pattycake. We didn't write them. If the drivers are not getting along with your system, I would suggest updating the drivers for all of your other devices or disabling the other drivers one at a time until the ATI works.

BTW...you could always use ATI support. We don't owe them or you a thing.

Please refrain from personal comments. It's rude and immature. If you hung around long enough to help someone yourself, you'd understand what I meant about "the wars".

[Pattycake]

If this is how you greet new members, I have to conclude that you are the immature one. Just because your advice didn't cure my problem, you needn't be rude.

The only reason I came here in the first place is that your site was mentioned in a computer mag. It's obvious they don't know what they're talking about.

Adios.

[BipolarBill]

When was I rude? Quote me.

Don't let the door hit you in the behind.

[Pattycake]

It's rude to edit your post to make yourself look better.

And for your information, I did stop to help someone with a post as I always do when asking for info for myself. Unlike some people I have a real life and it is Mother's Day.

You missed a chance at having an interesting and knowledgeable new member. Too bad.

[[KMAC] STAN]

Pattycake - come back!

I have a Radeon 8500 with XP and my experience with the ATI drivers is that they have always been very good / stable - none of the things you are experiencing. (admittedly my PC is Athlon/AMD not P4/SIS).

I have a couple of questions

1, was it a clean install of XP ie no chance of driver conflicts? I am guessing it was but just checking...

2, did you install the SIS AGP driver? latest version here
http://www.soyousa.com/drivers/p4s-drivers/SiSAGP1.09f.zip

3, does it happen in 3D apps only, or 2D also?

BTW - welcome to SYSOPT

[BipolarBill]

She could also check System Information > Hardware Resources > IRQs to see if the ATI is sharing an IRQ with another device. She could then disable one or both Com ports in BIOS setup and reset ESCD (Configuration Data). That would probably separate two cozy hardware devices.