Screen blanks with SP2, Radeon 9700, GA-8KNXP

My P4 system has been running great with SP1, hardly any crashes. After
installing SP2, however, I frequently get a blank screen while or after
playing a video or playing a DirectX game. The system keeps on running
(i.e. I hear sound) but there is no video output. If I hibernate and
then restart the machine during this blackout the graphics will come
back but all acceleration is disabled (i.e. screen refreshes are slow).

All current Windows Updates are installed. I have downloaded the latest
Catalyst driver and installed it after installing SP2. The card is
running at 8x AGP, have not tried slowing it down yet.

Any recommendations other than uninstalling SP2 again ?

On 16 Dec 2005 00:47:13 -0800, grubertm@gmail.com wrote:

> My P4 system has been running great with SP1, hardly any crashes. After
> installing SP2, however, I frequently get a blank screen while or after
> playing a video or playing a DirectX game. The system keeps on running
> (i.e. I hear sound) but there is no video output. If I hibernate and
> then restart the machine during this blackout the graphics will come
> back but all acceleration is disabled (i.e. screen refreshes are slow).
>
> All current Windows Updates are installed. I have downloaded the latest
> Catalyst driver and installed it after installing SP2. The card is
> running at 8x AGP, have not tried slowing it down yet.
>
> Any recommendations other than uninstalling SP2 again ?

I've used only ATI cards since XP was released - currently running X700
AGP. Overall, I've been quite happy with them. Based on what I've seen with
these adapters, I believe that what you're seeing is an ATI driver issue.
It does not happen often but appears once in a while with certain driver
releases.

ATI usually is pretty keen on replacing versions with poor performance
quickly so would keep an eye out for a newer version. Meanwhile, you could
revert to an older driver version that did not exhibit the problem.

Another thing to try/check is re-seating the card and making sure that
monitor connections are snug.

NOTE: I usually skip the Catalyst Control Panel and install the driver/ATI
control panel package instead. Catalyst is nice looking and offers some
useful settings but since seems to be prone to errors (on my pc anyhow), so
I pass on it.


--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User

I've been quite happy with my Radeon too, it ran flawlessly under SP1.
This blank screen problem first occured when I installed SP2 last year.
I then uninstalled SP2 again to have a stable system. Due to security
concerns I went back to SP2 3 days again and updated to the latest ATI
drivers (Catalyst is currently not installed) but the problems are
still there. I doubt that ATI would leave this problem unresolved for a
year so it's likely someplace else. There have been very similar
reports in other XP newgroups but no good solutions. One poster
mentioned throttling down the AGP port to 4x, but that's a hack and not
a solution.

On 16 Dec 2005 11:26:17 -0800, grubertm@gmail.com wrote:

> I've been quite happy with my Radeon too, it ran flawlessly under SP1.
> This blank screen problem first occured when I installed SP2 last year.
> I then uninstalled SP2 again to have a stable system. Due to security
> concerns I went back to SP2 3 days again and updated to the latest ATI
> drivers (Catalyst is currently not installed) but the problems are
> still there. I doubt that ATI would leave this problem unresolved for a
> year so it's likely someplace else. There have been very similar
> reports in other XP newgroups but no good solutions. One poster
> mentioned throttling down the AGP port to 4x, but that's a hack and not
> a solution.

I haven't seen anything on my system to suggest this is related to Service
Pack issues. Older drivers can "develop" problems with newer service packs
but a newer driver that is compatible with the current service pack usually
squelches those in no time flat. I see that the latest driver at the ati
site is dated 12-8 and the one I'm running is from November. Am
successfully using the November driver with a dual monitor setup and SP2.
Motherboard is an older but reliable Abit AN7. Using 8x settings.

I'll install the December drivers later today to see if there's any problem
with them here. Sometimes keeping up with ATI updates feels like a full
time job

Another thought, try a different power connector for the card. If the one
being used now is not delivering "clean" power or is supplying power to too
many devices, the Radeon's performance may be suffering.

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User

Does your bios have a setting for Aperture or Graphics aperture? If so, try
raising or lowering it to see what effects that has. It should be at least
half of what your video card memory is but you might try to set it for the
exact figure of your video card's memory. If your card is 256mb, then change
aperture to 256 and so on.

For me though, I had to set it to half of my memory to get the screen to
stop being blank. This is a longshot, but one symptom of aperture being too
low or too high is a screen blanking.

"Sharon F" <sharonfDEL@ETEmvps.org> wrote in message
news:O9lzVH0AGHA.140@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> On 16 Dec 2005 11:26:17 -0800, grubertm@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> I've been quite happy with my Radeon too, it ran flawlessly under SP1.
>> This blank screen problem first occured when I installed SP2 last year.
>> I then uninstalled SP2 again to have a stable system. Due to security
>> concerns I went back to SP2 3 days again and updated to the latest ATI
>> drivers (Catalyst is currently not installed) but the problems are
>> still there. I doubt that ATI would leave this problem unresolved for a
>> year so it's likely someplace else. There have been very similar
>> reports in other XP newgroups but no good solutions. One poster
>> mentioned throttling down the AGP port to 4x, but that's a hack and not
>> a solution.
>
> I haven't seen anything on my system to suggest this is related to Service
> Pack issues. Older drivers can "develop" problems with newer service packs
> but a newer driver that is compatible with the current service pack
> usually
> squelches those in no time flat. I see that the latest driver at the ati
> site is dated 12-8 and the one I'm running is from November. Am
> successfully using the November driver with a dual monitor setup and SP2.
> Motherboard is an older but reliable Abit AN7. Using 8x settings.
>
> I'll install the December drivers later today to see if there's any
> problem
> with them here. Sometimes keeping up with ATI updates feels like a full
> time job
>
> Another thought, try a different power connector for the card. If the one
> being used now is not delivering "clean" power or is supplying power to
> too
> many devices, the Radeon's performance may be suffering.
>
> --
> Sharon F
> MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User

On Sat, 17 Dec 2005 13:40:11 -0600, Sharon F wrote:

> I'll install the December drivers later today to see if there's any problem
> with them here. Sometimes keeping up with ATI updates feels like a full
> time job

No problem with the December drivers -- yet. Sorry I don't have anything
more useful to offer at the moment.
--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User