Help! I get 1/4 second black screen resets with new ATI X800XT PE

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me

I just purchased a Sapphire RADEON X800XT PE video card for my Dell
Precision 650, to replace an ATI Fire GL X1 128MB card (also AGP). I
am having a problem where any time I do things like Alt-Tab, bring up
the Task bar, open a program, etc., the screen flickers totally black
for about 1/4 sec then comes back - like some sort of reset is going
on.

My PC is as follows - Dual Xeon 3.06 MHz CPUs, 2 GB memory, Dell 20"
Flat screen monitor (1920 x 1440 @ 60 Hz), XP Pro. All Windows updates
current. AGP Aperture set to 128MB.

I made sure BIOS was updated (it was), and I did updates to the chipset
drivers first from Dell, then from Intel (which were a little more
current).

I did the procedure exactly per the instructions - update drivers,
uninstall old drivers, take out and replace board, cancel out of "Found
new hardware wizard", run the Cataylst install.

I tried both the Catalyst 4.9 drivers that came on CD, and 4.12 from
the latest ono ATI's site.

I tried both DVI cable and analog cable.

I tried different resolutions.

I reseated the board twice.

It does not do this when running in VGA mode with the drivers
uninstalled. I thnk this means it's a driver issue as the board runs
fine under VGA?

I checked the newsgroups to see if there are similar problems - I found
none.

I am looking for some help if anyone has seen this, or some ideas how
to track this down. If I run out of ideas I guess I'll call ATI.

Could this be a power problem? The box came with a split power cable to
plug the card in. My old card had direct power to the PS also, but it
had the smaller PS plug this has the larger. I was able to unplug the
old cable and plug in and use the new one. Looks like it shares with
some part of the front panel, (USB maybe?), which should be low output.
This doesn't sound like a power problem does it?
I am out of ideas - any help would be appreciated, thanks...
 
I just purchased a Sapphire RADEON X800XT PE video card for my Dell
Precision 650, to replace an ATI Fire GL X1 128MB card (also AGP). I
am having a problem where any time I do things like Alt-Tab, bring up
the Task bar, open a program, etc., the screen flickers totally black
for about 1/4 sec then comes back - like some sort of reset is going
on.

My PC is as follows - Dual Xeon 3.06 MHz CPUs, 2 GB memory, Dell 20"
Flat screen monitor (1920 x 1440 @ 60 Hz), XP Pro. All Windows updates
current. AGP Aperture set to 128MB.

I made sure BIOS was updated (it was), and I did updates to the chipset
drivers first from Dell, then from Intel (which were a little more
current).

I did the procedure exactly per the instructions - update drivers,
uninstall old drivers, take out and replace board, cancel out of "Found
new hardware wizard", run the Cataylst install.

I tried both the Catalyst 4.9 drivers that came on CD, and 4.12 from
the latest ono ATI's site.

I tried both DVI cable and analog cable.

I tried different resolutions.

I reseated the board twice.

It does not do this when running in VGA mode with the drivers
uninstalled. I thnk this means it's a driver issue as the board runs
fine under VGA?

I checked the newsgroups to see if there are similar problems - I found
none.

I am looking for some help if anyone has seen this, or some ideas how
to track this down. If I run out of ideas I guess I'll call ATI.

Could this be a power problem? The box came with a split power cable to
plug the card in. My old card had direct power to the PS also, but it
had the smaller PS plug this has the larger. I was able to unplug the
old cable and plug in and use the new one. Looks like it shares with
some part of the front panel, (USB maybe?), which should be low output.
This doesn't sound like a power problem does it?
I am out of ideas - any help would be appreciated, thanks...
Click to expand...
I had an Asus X800 XT that exhibited the same symptom (plus, the screen
was "shaky" all the time, even when it wasn't doing the black-screen-
reset). I concluded it was defective and RMA'd it. I am awaiting the
replacement (reverted back to my 9800XT, which works fine). I did almost
all the same things you did to try to isolate it. The thing I noticed
that you didn't specifically mention is that the bad behavior seemed to
start at about the same time the newly installed drivers did the initial
test after the first reboot (i.e. to set fastwrite on or off, set agp
speed, etc.). The only additional thing I tried that you did not was to
turn fastwrites off. Didn't help. I thought about trying to slow down
the AGP to 4X, but figured if it can't run at AGP 8X, why bother with
it? I used the same power cable that I was using with my 9800XT (i.e.
did not use the new one from the box, which looked identical anyway). I
have a 430 watt PS, that ought to be enough I should think. It is going
to be at least another week before I get the replacement, so I won't
know any more until then. I sure hope the replacement doesn't do the
same thing, as then I'll have to return it for credit and the vendor
charges a 15% restocking fee (which will hurt, a LOT).
 
OK, I have learned a little bit more.

I did not have the Dell 2000FP drivers installed, it was set to Plug
and Play Monitor. SO I Changed that, no change inthe problem.

But then, I dropped the resolution from 1920x1440, true color, 60 Hz to
1280 x 1024, true color, 60 Hz and the problem goes away. So I went
back to 1920, and noticed that the screen is panning some (ie, the
screen is bigger than the physical display, I can slide the mouse for
example to the left and the screen adjusts over that way. I also
noticed that in the Display Properties it acts like there could be 2
monitors, maybe because that's a function of the ATI card? The ATI
Catalyst Control Center says the second display is not enabled, but if
I enable it I can use it. But there is no second display?

I also noticed that the ATI Control Panel only goes up to 1600 x1200,
when I have been using the same ,monitor and my old display card at
1920 x 1440 for a year. Also, it appears the monitor supports up to
2048 x 1536 true color, 60 Hz.

I really have a hunch that the blinking (that's what it's like, a small
blink) is because of the panning, some sort of reset of the screen, or
the second monitor that's not there. But I am very confused right now.

Does this shed any light on the situation for anyone, or give anyone
some clues how they would continue the diagnosis?
Thanks so much for your help!
 
OK, I have learned a little bit more.

I did not have the Dell 2000FP drivers installed, it was set to Plug
and Play Monitor. SO I Changed that, no change inthe problem.

But then, I dropped the resolution from 1920x1440, true color, 60 Hz to
1280 x 1024, true color, 60 Hz and the problem goes away. So I went
back to 1920, and noticed that the screen is panning some (ie, the
screen is bigger than the physical display, I can slide the mouse for
example to the left and the screen adjusts over that way. I also
noticed that in the Display Properties it acts like there could be 2
monitors, maybe because that's a function of the ATI card? The ATI
Catalyst Control Center says the second display is not enabled, but if
I enable it I can use it. But there is no second display?

I also noticed that the ATI Control Panel only goes up to 1600 x1200,
when I have been using the same ,monitor and my old display card at
1920 x 1440 for a year. Also, it appears the monitor supports up to
2048 x 1536 true color, 60 Hz.

I really have a hunch that the blinking (that's what it's like, a small
blink) is because of the panning, some sort of reset of the screen, or
the second monitor that's not there. But I am very confused right now.

Does this shed any light on the situation for anyone, or give anyone
some clues how they would continue the diagnosis?
Thanks so much for your help!
Click to expand...
No light shed by that. I will add that my monitor is a 20 inch NEC LCD
with a native resolution of 1600x1200. At that resolution the screen was
very jumpy and it blacked out every few seconds. I did not try any other
resolutions or refresh rates (as leing an LCD, I always operate it at
the native resolution to get the best quality image). The only thing I
did try was to turn off fastwrites. That did not help. I was thinking
about backing the AGP speed off to 4X, but my 9800XT works at 8X just
fine on this motherboard (Asus P4C800E Deluxe) so I did not try it
(because if it won't work at 8X then as far as I am concerned, its
broken).

There's always a primary and secondary monitor in the ATI Control Panel,
so thats normal. I can't explain why it only went up to 1600x1200 for
you as long as your monitor supports higher and the monitor driver files
and/or the DDC information provide the correct info regarding its
capabilities, the ATI drivers should have picked up on that and provided
you the full range of resolutions (I would think, anyway).

We may well be comparing apples and oranges here, though, since I would
not describe what I saw as a "small blink". My screen jitters all around
constantly and then goes dark for several seconds, comes back, jitters
again for a while, goes dark again, etc.
 
Problem solved!

There is a setting in ATI Catalyst Control Center "Alternate DVI
operational mode" that was checked by default. I unchecked it, and
everything worked fine!
 
Problem solved!

There is a setting in ATI Catalyst Control Center "Alternate DVI
operational mode" that was checked by default. I unchecked it, and
everything worked fine!
Click to expand...
Aha, well, when I get my RMA'd board replaced, I'll have to try that. I
am guessing the jitter problem was unrelated to that setting but the
black screens were. Nice detective work!
 
Problem solved!

There is a setting in ATI Catalyst Control Center "Alternate DVI
operational mode" that was checked by default. I unchecked it, and
everything worked fine!
Click to expand...
I'd be interested to know what the difference is between having that box
checked and not, from a technical perspective. What are the two modes of
operation and why does one cause the black screens and the other not?
 
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