Cat 4.2 slow as molasses, what should I revert to?

  • Thread starter Thread starter pjp
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pjp

Brand new clean install of XP Pro. Installed the Cat 4.2 package, driver,
WDM and CP. DirectX passes tests and there's nothing wrong with the
rendering etc.

However, speed is the pits. Acts like it's in slow motion, smooth but slow.
Reboot back into 98SE (setup dual boot) and the difference is immediately
noticable. Games playing fine at 1280x1024x16 in 98SE hardly playable at
640x480x16 under XP pro.

Seems to me I read here that others had this problem and they reverted back
to some earlier version of Cat. In my case, 4.2 IS the first version of Cat
I've used so I have no idea what earlier versions were like. I stuck with
the last pre Cat drivers under 98SE because they just worked and seemed to
work well.

Any ideas what's going on, drivers to try etc. etc. appreciated.

I'm running a Radeon VIVO, so if it's an earlier driver to try should I also
installed "it's" WDM and CP?

As it is, I'm running MMC7.7 as it's always just done what I wanted without
any sound or other hassles. XP's install had same lack of problem with video
capture with sound working as expected.
 
the 4.2 are great for me so far but the 3.10s were also, and I used them
more extensively. I play CoD and Kotor.

Mike
 
Also make sure that win98se catalyst and winxp catalyst are installed in
DIFFERENT FOLDERS on harddisk. This might cause problems, if they are in
same folder, like c:\program files\ati...

You might want to try
Cat.4.1 (almost as good as cat4.2)
Cat. 3.10(very compatible, just like above ones)
Cat.3.7 (bit slower for me, faster for others)
 
Sounds like the drivers did not initialize properly. When you first install
a new ATI driver set, on first reboot the drivers will test your hardware,
and then if the test is passed, the drivers will initialize. You will note
that before this test is done (screen goes black for a moment) the display
is very slow because it is not being accelerated by the drivers. Once the
test completes, the drivers are loaded and speed is back to normal. One of
the things that will cause this is having two different drivers installed
for the card. I use the Omega drivers normally, but often when a new ATI
driver is issued I will install it over the Omega driver. This works as
long as I uninstall the Omega Control Panel first. When I don't so that I
end up with two drivers installed, and the problem you describe. Check
Add/Remove Programs and see if you have two drivers installed. If you have,
when you click on remove the ATI driver, you will see two drivers listed.
Clear the check box on the one you don't want and continue to uninstall it.
This should solve the problem.

JK
 
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