SmartGART Tab is Missing in Original Control Panel

[Mark]

Hi,

I just upgraded from Cat v4.6 to v4.9 using the smaller of the two and
original Control Panel FULL installation package for my AIW 9800 Pro
(NTSC) GFX card. To prepare for this, I used ATI's un-installer and
removed everything ATI.

Afterwards, the computer (using a ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe motherboard so
SmartGART drivers are not needed as it is Intel based) rebooted and I
began installing the Full, but smaller, v4.9 Cat driver package and then
rebooted.

After the reboot the ATI software falsely said that there were no
Display drivers installed. But that's only because after the reboot XP
Pro hadn't finished updating the various AIW stuff. Think ATI would have
caught that silly little timing bug. Anyway, a reboot after all
detection was finished fixed the problem as by then the driver
installation was completed.

I then finished up by installing the new v9.02 MMC software (silly of
ATI to miss label the previous version v9.1 when it should have been
v9.01) and rebooted. Sheeet, another version of MMC which is unstable
and can crash the entire system due to low-level hardware bleeding.

Anyway, after the dust settled I went into the Settings/Advanced and
noticed that the SmartGART tab is now missing in the Control Panel. Not
a real biggie because under Options/Details it shows that my AIW 9800
Pro is still set for 8x AGP.

Am I correct in thinking that it is not worth an additional 65.4MB of
downloading (42.3MB for ATI's new colorful Control Center and 23.1MB for
..NET) just to have a SmartGART tab which is probalby already set
correctly?

 

[V Green]

Hi,

I just upgraded from Cat v4.6 to v4.9 using the smaller of the two and
original Control Panel FULL installation package for my AIW 9800 Pro
(NTSC) GFX card. To prepare for this, I used ATI's un-installer and
removed everything ATI.

Afterwards, the computer (using a ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe motherboard so
SmartGART drivers are not needed as it is Intel based) rebooted and I
began installing the Full, but smaller, v4.9 Cat driver package and then
rebooted.

After the reboot the ATI software falsely said that there were no
Display drivers installed. But that's only because after the reboot XP
Pro hadn't finished updating the various AIW stuff. Think ATI would have
caught that silly little timing bug. Anyway, a reboot after all
detection was finished fixed the problem as by then the driver
installation was completed.

I then finished up by installing the new v9.02 MMC software (silly of
ATI to miss label the previous version v9.1 when it should have been
v9.01) and rebooted. Sheeet, another version of MMC which is unstable
and can crash the entire system due to low-level hardware bleeding.

Anyway, after the dust settled I went into the Settings/Advanced and
noticed that the SmartGART tab is now missing in the Control Panel. Not
a real biggie because under Options/Details it shows that my AIW 9800
Pro is still set for 8x AGP.

Am I correct in thinking that it is not worth an additional 65.4MB of
downloading (42.3MB for ATI's new colorful Control Center and 23.1MB for
.NET) just to have a SmartGART tab which is probalby already set
correctly?

I would say so.

Almost ALL the feedback about the new
Control Center has been negative.

 

[Mark]

You wrote in thusly:

I would say so.

I was beginning to think I had imagined that there was a SmartGART tab
as I hadn't looked at the v4.6 Control Panel for awhile. I even updated
the INF files from Intel just on the outside chance I had missed
something in that direction. In addition, I also updated the Audigy2 ZS
sound card drivers. Well, at least now DX 9.0c sees the Audigy2's
drivers as having been WHQL tested.

I'm also thinking that one possible reason for MMC v9.02 being so
unstable at times is due to using ATI's custom install option. The only
thing I want in the MMC package is TV for the TV-on-Demand function.
Everything else is unchecked before the install. I'm wondering if TV
depends on something that is not getting installed due to the custom
selection.

The MMC TV crash is rather nasty. All of a sudden the video in the
window just freezes (the television sound keeps playing normally). Five
or so seconds later and the monitor goes black as the GFX card shuts
down (the monitor is no longer getting a signal). When this happens the
audio becomes a pulse of scratch noise every second. There is no
recovering from this, only the front panel reset on the computer will
get out of this terminal condition.

When the computer reboots, the television audio is restored to normal
and can be heard up until XP plays the "Start Windows" wav file prior to
seeing the desktop. When TV is restarted, the only thing that needs to
be done is switch the input back to S-Video. Then wait for the next
crash and repeat the entire process, again.

Almost ALL the feedback about the new Control Center has been
negative.

That should change in about 4 more major version releases. Maybe Java
would have been better?

 

[James J]

Hi,

I just upgraded from Cat v4.6 to v4.9 using the smaller of the two and
original Control Panel FULL installation package for my AIW 9800 Pro
(NTSC) GFX card. To prepare for this, I used ATI's un-installer and
removed everything ATI.

Afterwards, the computer (using a ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe motherboard so
SmartGART drivers are not needed as it is Intel based) rebooted and I
began installing the Full, but smaller, v4.9 Cat driver package and then
rebooted.

After the reboot the ATI software falsely said that there were no
Display drivers installed. But that's only because after the reboot XP
Pro hadn't finished updating the various AIW stuff. Think ATI would have
caught that silly little timing bug. Anyway, a reboot after all
detection was finished fixed the problem as by then the driver
installation was completed.

I then finished up by installing the new v9.02 MMC software (silly of
ATI to miss label the previous version v9.1 when it should have been
v9.01) and rebooted. Sheeet, another version of MMC which is unstable
and can crash the entire system due to low-level hardware bleeding.

Anyway, after the dust settled I went into the Settings/Advanced and
noticed that the SmartGART tab is now missing in the Control Panel. Not
a real biggie because under Options/Details it shows that my AIW 9800
Pro is still set for 8x AGP.

Am I correct in thinking that it is not worth an additional 65.4MB of
downloading (42.3MB for ATI's new colorful Control Center and 23.1MB for
.NET) just to have a SmartGART tab which is probalby already set
correctly?

I'm currently using Catalyst 4.7. I used to have a SMARTGART tab, but at
some point recently after installing some new ATI software/drivers, that
tab disappeared. I don't know why, but FWIW, I found that I have a
SMARTGART shortcut in "C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control
Panel". If I double-click on that, I get a SMARTGART window. I don't know
if that shortcut was installed with the current software or is a left-over
from the old ATI control panel, but you might see if you have a similar
shortcut.

James

 

[Mark]

You wrote in thusly:

I'm currently using Catalyst 4.7. I used to have a SMARTGART tab, but
at some point recently after installing some new ATI software/drivers,
that tab disappeared.

I don't know whether SmartGART is the only tab or for that matter,
function, that has turned up missing with the new v4.9 Cat drivers (Old
Control Panel [OCP] version). I would not have expected any tab to be
removed, let alone that one and because of that, didn't list them out
prior to the v4.9 Cat install to compare.

Perhaps we can compare versions? Currently, the v4.9 OCP version has the
following tabs:

Color, Options, Rotation, Overlay, 3D, VPU Recover, General, Adapter,
Monitor, Troubleshoot, Color Management and Displays.

Because 'Fast Writes' is located on the same panel as the SmartGART
information, I am unable to determine whether Fast Writes is enabled or
disabled. I can only hope that the previous setting was adopted and Fast
Writes is set to disable.

That's wishful thinking and Fast Writes is probably enabled. I had to
reinstall the monitor INF and ICM files and change other settings back
to what they were after the new Cat install.

I jumped from v4.6 to v4.9. I saw the SmartGART tab in v4.6. Since you
are using v4.7 and it is missing, then they must of removed it in v4.7.

I don't know why, but FWIW, I found that I have a SMARTGART shortcut
in "C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel". If I
double-click on that, I get a SMARTGART window.

I have the same shortcut located in the same directory. However....

I don't know if that shortcut was installed with the current software
or is a left-over from the old ATI control panel, but you might see if
you have a similar shortcut.

Nope, its unlikely a leftover. The shortcut also gets installed with the
Cat v4.9 OCP version, because I used ATI's un-installer to remove
everything ATI before installing v4.9 and I have it, too.

However, the shortcut does nothing when double-clicked. I've checked the
shortcuts path and it appears to be correct and set to:

"C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel\atiprbxx.exe" /g

Since it appears on both of our hard drives, appears that the shortcut
is set correctly, but works with your version and not mine - I've come
to the conclusion that ATI screwed up (some might say, again) with the
Full Cat OCP v4.9 package in a rush to get the driver out. In addition,
ATI removed the SmartGART tab 3 minor versions ago.

The next step will be to see what happens to atiprbxx.exe (and
associated software). Will atiprbxx.exe be fixed so SmartGART tab
appears or will the shortcut be completely removed from the Cat package.

 

[James J]

You wrote in thusly:

I'm currently using Catalyst 4.7. I used to have a SMARTGART tab, but
at some point recently after installing some new ATI software/drivers,
that tab disappeared.

I don't know whether SmartGART is the only tab or for that matter,
function, that has turned up missing with the new v4.9 Cat drivers (Old
Control Panel [OCP] version). I would not have expected any tab to be
removed, let alone that one and because of that, didn't list them out
prior to the v4.9 Cat install to compare.

Perhaps we can compare versions? Currently, the v4.9 OCP version has the
following tabs:

Color, Options, Rotation, Overlay, 3D, VPU Recover, General, Adapter,
Monitor, Troubleshoot, Color Management and Displays.

Because 'Fast Writes' is located on the same panel as the SmartGART
information, I am unable to determine whether Fast Writes is enabled or
disabled. I can only hope that the previous setting was adopted and Fast
Writes is set to disable.

That's wishful thinking and Fast Writes is probably enabled. I had to
reinstall the monitor INF and ICM files and change other settings back
to what they were after the new Cat install.

I jumped from v4.6 to v4.9. I saw the SmartGART tab in v4.6. Since you
are using v4.7 and it is missing, then they must of removed it in v4.7.

I don't know why, but FWIW, I found that I have a SMARTGART shortcut
in "C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel". If I
double-click on that, I get a SMARTGART window.

I have the same shortcut located in the same directory. However....

I don't know if that shortcut was installed with the current software
or is a left-over from the old ATI control panel, but you might see if
you have a similar shortcut.

Nope, its unlikely a leftover. The shortcut also gets installed with the
Cat v4.9 OCP version, because I used ATI's un-installer to remove
everything ATI before installing v4.9 and I have it, too.

However, the shortcut does nothing when double-clicked. I've checked the
shortcuts path and it appears to be correct and set to:

"C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel\atiprbxx.exe" /g

Since it appears on both of our hard drives, appears that the shortcut
is set correctly, but works with your version and not mine - I've come
to the conclusion that ATI screwed up (some might say, again) with the
Full Cat OCP v4.9 package in a rush to get the driver out. In addition,
ATI removed the SmartGART tab 3 minor versions ago.

The next step will be to see what happens to atiprbxx.exe (and
associated software). Will atiprbxx.exe be fixed so SmartGART tab
appears or will the shortcut be completely removed from the Cat package.

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner.

Interesting. That shortcut path is the same as mine. I don't know why it
doesn't work for you. I assume you have an atiprbxx.exe in that directory.
Maybe something has changed in atiprbxx.exe between 4.7 and 4.9. Or it may
even be because I'm running Win98 and you're running WinXP.

FWIW, my control panel tabs are slightly different. I don't have "VPU
Recover" or "Troubleshoot" tabs. I assume they were added after this
version. And I have two tabs you didn't mention, "OpenGL" and
"Performance" (I assume the "3D" you mentioned was short for "Direct3D").
Provided you have an OpenGL tab, your list of tabs seems close enough to
mine.


As for determining whether or not "Fast Writes" are enabled, there are
other programs that will tell you. For example:

WCPUID - http://www.h-oda.com/
Run it and click on the "chipset info" button and there is a "Fast Write"
entry on the right side (at least, in the version I have).

"PCI List" - http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/legacy.shtm
Run it, select the appropriate device from the dropdown list (probably
"AGP VGA Controller") and see what it says.

I'm assuming both of those work under WinXP. Haven't tried them myself.

James

 

[Mark]

You wrote in thusly:

You wrote in thusly:

Mark <Mark@nolocation!.com> expounded in

I just upgraded from Cat v4.6 to v4.9 using the smaller of the two
and original Control Panel FULL installation package for my AIW
9800 Pro (NTSC) GFX card. To prepare for this, I used ATI's
un-installer and removed everything ATI.

Afterwards, the computer (using a ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe motherboard
so SmartGART drivers are not needed as it is Intel based) rebooted
and I began installing the Full, but smaller, v4.9 Cat driver
package and then rebooted.

After the reboot the ATI software falsely said that there were no
Display drivers installed. But that's only because after the reboot
XP Pro hadn't finished updating the various AIW stuff. Think ATI
would have caught that silly little timing bug. Anyway, a reboot
after all detection was finished fixed the problem as by then the
driver installation was completed.

I then finished up by installing the new v9.02 MMC software (silly
of ATI to miss label the previous version v9.1 when it should have
been v9.01) and rebooted. Sheeet, another version of MMC which is
unstable and can crash the entire system due to low-level hardware
bleeding.

Anyway, after the dust settled I went into the Settings/Advanced
and noticed that the SmartGART tab is now missing in the Control
Panel. Not a real biggie because under Options/Details it shows
that my AIW 9800 Pro is still set for 8x AGP.

Am I correct in thinking that it is not worth an additional 65.4MB
of downloading (42.3MB for ATI's new colorful Control Center and
23.1MB for .NET) just to have a SmartGART tab which is probably
already set correctly?

I'm currently using Catalyst 4.7. I used to have a SMARTGART tab,
but at some point recently after installing some new ATI
software/drivers, that tab disappeared.

I don't know whether SmartGART is the only tab or for that matter,
function, that has turned up missing with the new v4.9 Cat drivers
(Old Control Panel [OCP] version). I would not have expected any tab
to be removed, let alone that one and because of that, didn't list
them out prior to the v4.9 Cat install to compare.

Perhaps we can compare versions? Currently, the v4.9 OCP version has
the following tabs:

Color, Options, Rotation, Overlay, 3D, VPU Recover, General, Adapter,
Monitor, Troubleshoot, Color Management and Displays.

Because 'Fast Writes' is located on the same panel as the SmartGART
information, I am unable to determine whether Fast Writes is enabled
or disabled. I can only hope that the previous setting was adopted
and Fast Writes is set to disable.

That's wishful thinking and Fast Writes is probably enabled. I had to
reinstall the monitor INF and ICM files and change other settings
back to what they were after the new Cat install.

I jumped from v4.6 to v4.9. I saw the SmartGART tab in v4.6. Since
you are using v4.7 and it is missing, then they must of removed it in
v4.7.

I don't know why, but FWIW, I found that I have a SMARTGART shortcut
in "C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel". If I
double-click on that, I get a SMARTGART window.

I have the same shortcut located in the same directory. However....

I don't know if that shortcut was installed with the current
software or is a left-over from the old ATI control panel, but you
might see if you have a similar shortcut.

Nope, its unlikely a leftover. The shortcut also gets installed with
the Cat v4.9 OCP version, because I used ATI's un-installer to remove
everything ATI before installing v4.9 and I have it, too.

However, the shortcut does nothing when double-clicked. I've checked
the shortcuts path and it appears to be correct and set to:

"C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel\atiprbxx.exe" /g

Since it appears on both of our hard drives, appears that the
shortcut is set correctly, but works with your version and not mine -
I've come to the conclusion that ATI screwed up (some might say,
again) with the Full Cat OCP v4.9 package in a rush to get the driver
out. In addition, ATI removed the SmartGART tab 3 minor versions ago.

The next step will be to see what happens to atiprbxx.exe (and
associated software). Will atiprbxx.exe be fixed so SmartGART tab
appears or will the shortcut be completely removed from the Cat
package.

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner.

No Problem.

Interesting. That shortcut path is the same as mine. I don't know
why it doesn't work for you. I assume you have an atiprbxx.exe in
that directory.
Yes.

Maybe something has changed in atiprbxx.exe between 4.7 and 4.9. Or
it may even be because I'm running Win98 and you're running WinXP.

I've seen the shortcut before in older versions of the CAT drivers, but
had forgot about it until you mentioned it. In the older versions, it
did bring up the SmartGART tab.

Why ATI must of felt that the OCP version of the v4.9 CAT didn't need a
SmartGART tab in the control panel and then not remove the shortcut is
odd.

FWIW, my control panel tabs are slightly different. I don't have "VPU
Recover" or "Troubleshoot" tabs.

The VPU Recover tab has options to recover the card in case of a crash.
It often causes more problems then it is worth, so most people normally
turned VPU Recover off.

The Troubleshoot tab deals with Hardware Acceleration (eg: adjustable
from None to Full) and whether Write Combining is enabled or not. The
latter is something I'm not familiar with and don't know what Write
Combining should be set to. There are no subjects in this group with
Write Combining in them going back to June 27, 2003.

I assume they were added after this version.

AFAIK, the VPU Recover tab has been around awhile. I can't remember
whether the Troubleshoot tab was there before or not. It might have been
previously titled Performance.

And I have two tabs you didn't mention, "OpenGL" and "Performance" (I
assume the "3D" you mentioned was short for "Direct3D"). Provided you
have an OpenGL tab, your list of tabs seems close enough to mine.

The 3D tab combines both OpenGL and Direct3D. Their individual options
are toggled by a radio button on the left side.

As for determining whether or not "Fast Writes" are enabled, there are
other programs that will tell you. For example:

WCPUID - http://www.h-oda.com/

Got it and thanks. "Fast Writes" are indeed enabled, shoot. I would hate
to think that ATI is trying to use strong arm tactics to get users to
install their bloated Control Center.