ATI AIW RADEON Blues

[gMan5]

I have a AIW Radeon that I bought about a year ago AND STILL DO NOT HAVE WORKING! Originally I had it in an Iwill MoBo and now it is in an Abit KR7A-RAID. I have tried both Win2k and WinXP on both 6N and 7G (unofficial) BIOS. I have removed the 3Com Ethernet and SBLive! cards for now. My WinXP Pro CD includes SP1.

Initial XP install:
Abit KR7A-RAID w/6N BIOS, 1GB RAM, Athlon XP 1700+
ATI AIW Radeon
Sony DVD RW DRU-500A
Pioneer DVD-ROM DVD116
2xIBM 60GB 7500rpm ATA100
2xIBM 40GB 7500rpm ATA100

Install gives 2 complaints during install, apparantly related to the HighPoint RAID adapter - the 1st msg doesn't say what the h/w is but the 2nd does. After reboot, I either go to black screen after MS Win Splash or black. Monitor indicates there is still a signal and I can login (blind) & then shutdown. I have tried using the VIA Hyperion drivers, the latest ATI drivers, both and neither. System is in degraded video (640x480x4? not too many colors).
Video settings cannot be changed. IF I boot in VGA mode, then the screen looks better.

HELP!

[gMan5]

I forgot: when I use the newer ATI drivers, it says something about testing on reboot... my monitor immediately thinks there is no signal from the card and I have a blank screen (this is after the splash page). Upon reboot in VGA mode, ATI CP complains. Subsequent Reboots in Normal results in blank screen (montior thinks there is a signal).

I looked on Rage3D and followed the reinstall steps, producing the same results.

Why is this so hard?

[nub]

Which version do you have? The first one? Radeon AIW? Radeon 8500 AIW? 7500 AIW? 9000 AIW? etc...

[gMan5]

I have the original Radeon AIW AGP (with 32MB DDR I think - don't have the box laying around anymore)

Back when I had it in my Iwill MoBo, I could not get it to work under WinMe, Win2k or WinXP and went through all kinds of combinations on drivers & install processes. ATI exchanged the card even though mine showed no trouble with their diagnostics. I began to think it was my Iwill since I also could not get the SBLive! stable.

I bought the Abit MoBo with the assurance that the ATI will be fine. The Iwill is now running WinME just fine with my old TNT2 and onboard audio. I am afraid to change anything on that system (would like to upgrade to Win2kPro or XP) until I get this system going - I need at least one machine usable.

I am beginning to think it is a VIA thing but don't know what to do. So many of you out there are using this card - any on my Abit?

[nub]

For Via chipsets, install the VIA 4 in 1's, and for Iwill boards such as the XP333 and KK266, install the ali AGP drivers. What Iwill board do you have?

I am running a radeon 64mb DDR VIVO on an Iwill XP333 and it has never given me problems. I was also running a sounblaster live Platinum on it and it ran fine. I am running onboard sound now and also have used an Audiowerk card on it with no problems. I have also used a TNT2 Ultra on the XP333, a Geforce 1, an Geforce 2 Ultra with no problems.


You may also have an IRQ conflicts and should take a look at that in the device manager.

[gMan5]

The Iwill was the K?266-R that had the RAID100 and audio builtin. I don't think it had the ALi chipset. It has been so long since I have messed with that box I forget the model - all these similar models on all these brands. It was NOT DDR mem.

My TNT2 works fine in it. Works fine in the Abit. This AIW justwont work no matter where I put it. XP has default VIA drivers that seem to be OK for everything else. Adding Hyperion didn't appear to make a diff. Do I need that AMD AGP registry entry/patch we put in Win2k?

I'll check the IRQ situation. I don't remember the slot locations - although there is nothing in it right now. Serial & Parallel are disabled and I am using USB 1&2 but not 3. I have tried slowing down AGP to 2x. Video BIOS is not shadowed, most or all of the AGP/Video options are disabled in the BIOS.

The newer Catalyst has that video testing it does when you 1st reboot after install. For me the system locks up: I see the XP Splash page, then it changes video modes and the monitor thinks there is no signal and I cannot get it to reboot while blind. Upon reset VGA Boots look like VGA and Normal boots are black screen (but I can logon and reboot blind).

[gMan5]

Booting up in VGA Mode (so I can see) shows the AIW on its own IRQ of 11. Nothing using 3, 4, or 7 since audio & ethernet are not installed.

Board says it is Radeon 7200 AGP (QD), Internal DAC(350MHz), BIOS BK0.0.0 VR001.001.000.056.006.026.001 d4mix.

[nub]

Have you tried reinstalling the operating system? I recently had two soundcards in at once and eventually, they caused conflicts and I couldn't get any of them to work independantly along with my modem. Try that if it's an option, if you are running windows XP, let it install drivers for you and then you can update the drivers after that with whiever ones you want. I went through changing and modifying IRQ's also and was going crazy over it until I reinstalled.

[gMan5]

Yeah - I havereinstalled so many times I almost have the product key memorized. For some reason the XP drivers work "better" than the updated Catalyst.

Just as I was falling asleep last night I thought about the ol' "this device is causing problems for that device."

2 things I have not tried: newer BIOS (I did have an unofficial 7G but went back to 6N) and/or updated HPT drivers.

I think I have tried every combination of native XP drivers and updated VIA and ATI drivers. Funny thing is if I just add the ATI CP, it complains that the ATI driver is not installed or not working (which it isn't).

[gMan5]

I did a sanity check and put my Chaintech G4 Ti4600 and reinstalled. Using std XP drivers, it works! I guess I should add the Ethernet and SBLive to see if it stays stable.

I am beginning to think there is a BIOS issue with the AIW Radeon since it does work in either MoBo. Any suggestions? Those of you who have one, what did you do in the BIOS? I am pretty much std 6N... speeding up the mem is the only tweak.

Is it possible that my original board was bad even though it tested in ATI's lab as good and this card is bad?

[nub]

Try flashing your motherboard bios to the newest one if you haven't already done so. It may just be an incompatibility problem with the hardware if it is because of that.

[gMan5]

So much for happiness: I was unable to add my SBLive with the "working" Ti4600.

Anyone want a computer cheap? You'll find it displayed across my front yard below the broken window.

[nub]

That's weird that nothing seems to end up working out, even if it is microsoft.

[gMan5]

nub: I would love to but I cannot seem to download from fae.abit.com.tw and do not know of any mirror sites. (abit-usa points to Taiwan)

I sent a note to Comcast (they would let me chat live b/c I am using my wireless network) to see if they can check their routers.

[gMan5]

oops - happy fingers. supposed to be wouldn't let me chat live.