ATI 4850 driver issues

[winger]

The following are my specs:
1.86ghz Core2Duo 6300
Intel DG965RY Motherboard
Memory 3GB DDR2
OS Windows 7 ultimate 32-bit.
GPU : ATI 4850 ( Palit )

So yeah, everything was working fine when I was in XP SP2 a month ago.

I upgraded to win7 (fresh install) and I've been having a ton of problems.


First there are screen-redraw problems in almost every application
Photoshop and illustrator are the worst affected. Sometimes when I type text, it's 'streaming'. Everything was fine under XP. Even when I drag on desktp, it kinda' lags.

Second when I play games like counter-strike, the fps keeps spiking every 2 minutes, which was not present in XP. I used to get flat 100fps on XP now it hardly touches 100.

I've updated to the latest graphic card drivers and installed hotfix etc., still no avail.

I think this is most likely a graphic card problem, so if someone could advise me or help me solve this, that'd be much appreciated.

Thanks for your time!

 

[rbmorse]

I've run Windows 7 on a machine with an HD 4850 graphics card and I'm pretty sure there is nothing inherently problematic with the combination. It's likely the driver did not install completely or properly for some reason.

I'd start by removing the current driver entirely...the easiest way is to go to c:\ati\support\pacakgename\driver\

then click on setup.exe to start the ATI driver manager. Select your language of choice, then select unistall and follow the prompts from there.

When the machine reboots it should come up with the standard VGA driver in some reduced screen resolution...don't worry about that now, and if the Windows offers to update or install new drivers select no or cancel or whatever it takes to prevent it from doing so.

click start, all programs and then Windows Update. Click on check for updates. This may take a few minutes. when finished, it should present a list of suggested updates and in that list should be the driver for the ATI HD4XXX graphics adapter. Make sure there is a check in the box next to that item and allow Windows to install that update. Reboot when prompted. Windows should detect your display and automatically configure itself for the optimal screen resolution and horizontal refresh rate.

If the display and adapter appear to be working properly at that point, I would resist the urge to further update the drive unless the release notes for the new version indicate a fix for a specific problem you are experiencing. Even in that case I'd wait a couple of weeks to see if Windows Update will pickup the new version...this will ensure you receive a package where the installer has been tested and validated against Windows 7.

 

[Kipper]

I've run Windows 7 on a machine with an HD 4850 graphics card and I'm pretty sure there is nothing inherently problematic with the combination. It's likely the driver did not install completely or properly for some reason.

I'd start by removing the current driver entirely...the easiest way is to go to c:\ati\support\pacakgename\driver\

then click on setup.exe to start the ATI driver manager. Select your language of choice, then select unistall and follow the prompts from there.

When the machine reboots it should come up with the standard VGA driver in some reduced screen resolution...don't worry about that now, and if the Windows offers to update or install new drivers select no or cancel or whatever it takes to prevent it from doing so.

click start, all programs and then Windows Update. Click on check for updates. This may take a few minutes. when finished, it should present a list of suggested updates and in that list should be the driver for the ATI HD4XXX graphics adapter. Make sure there is a check in the box next to that item and allow Windows to install that update. Reboot when prompted. Windows should detect your display and automatically configure itself for the optimal screen resolution and horizontal refresh rate.

exactly what I did, worked perfectly.

 

[winger]

Thanks for the answer guys, I did try this and an update was downloaded, but during installation, windows update threw an error.. that looks like this

 

[winger]

It says unknown error and I cannot get any info on it. Can someone link me to the actual working drivers so I can download and install? I tried CCC 9.12 from ATI site and techpowerup, neither seems to fix the problem that I've. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[rbmorse]

THe drivers work fine with an HD 4850. The problem appears to be that for some reason, they won't install properly on your machine.

This could get tedious.

Navigate to:

c:\Program Files\ATI\CIM\Reports

and find the file

report.xml

(the file may be under c:\Program Files(x86)\ATI\CIM\Reports on your machine.)

with the date/time stamp that most closely correlates with the date and time of the failed install attempt. Double click to open. Does the log indicate any errors?

One important difference between my system and yours...I'm running the 64-bit version of Windows 7. This should not make any difference here as Windows Update should be pulling the correct version for your system, but I'll look for problems with the 32-bit installer.

 

[smarteyeball]

It says unknown error and I cannot get any info on it. Can someone link me to the actual working drivers so I can download and install? I tried CCC 9.12 from ATI site and techpowerup, neither seems to fix the problem that I've. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Try this method:

•Download and install Driver Sweeper from:
Guru3D - Driver Sweeper

• Uninstall ATI Catalyst Install Manager from "Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features"

( If Catalyst is not installed, then try:

Go to Control Panel\View by: Small/Large icons\Device manager. In Device manager select Display Adapters :

• In Display Adapters right-click on your device and select uninstall. Tick the box that says "Delete the driver software for this device" : )

Then:

• Re-Boot into Safe Mode and run Driver Sweeper (to ensure complete removal of items, Run Driver Sweeper as admin. "Right-click Driver Sweeper > properties > Compatibility tab tick 'Run this program as Administrator' "

• In Driver Sweeper select the ATI- Display only and then Analyse:

• Now select Clean to remove all ATI software:

Re-boot normally and install the 9.12 official drivers.

 

[rbmorse]

I have a test machine with 32-bit Windows 7 Home Premium. I replaced that machine's HD 3870 with a Sapphire/ATI HD 4850 and performed the procedure I outlined in message #2. Works fine, with no errors reported.

 

[winger]

Thanks for the help guys, however, nothing seems to fix my problem. I did follow everything you said, and everything did go fine, it all installed perfectly, but the problem still remains. Maybe it's a driver glitch. I think it's time to search for my XP CD. Thanks for your time

 

[winger]

I tried to run the same applications(illustrator and counter-strike) on another machine that I've, core2 quad with only an onboard GPU, it seems to perform better than my machine, no screen lags etc.,

 

[rbmorse]

I would expect that to be the case if the Catalyst drivers are not installing properly for your HD 4850. Without the drivers you don't get any benefit from that graphics accelerator functions of the GPU...it runs pretty much as a straight VGA card.

Check the install log and event viewer for errors that might have been recorded during the driver installation attempts.

 

[winger]

It does say

<result>Success</result>

where it needs to, I think the drivers are installing fine, maybe something else is wrong? I'm not sure, anyone who has working drivers for ATI 4850 32bit Win7 , please upload somewhere and link me (I already have tried the one's from ATI's website). Thanks!

 

[winger]

um, should I actually run the driver setup as an administrator? I mean I was logged in as administrator but just asking if I should enable it via right click..

 

[stormy13]

Any active anti-virus running? If so you may need to disable it to get the driver to install properly.

 

[winger]

I did disable that during the last install, after sweeping the old drivers in safe mode. Still.. nothing seems to fix it.

 

[sygnus21]

What's your power supply rating?
Did you do a "clean" install?
Are you overclocking?
Did you connect the power connector to the card?

As for the video card drivers - ALWAYS get them from the manufacturer, NEVER from Windows update.

 

[Guy with a Colt]

Try installing the latest Directx components.
You can get it from one of the following links. Personally I use the redistributable install.

Web Install
or
Redistributable Install

Commonly, if you don't install directx 9.0c component files, the games that use 9.0c will have problems.

I always make sure I have the latest Directx components and drivers etc.

I hope this helps

 

[sygnus21]

Try installing the latest Directx components.
You can get it from one of the following links. Personally I use the redistributable install.

Web Install
or
Redistributable Install

Commonly, if you don't install directx 9.0c component files, the games that use 9.0c will have problems.

I always make sure I have the latest Directx components and drivers etc.

I hope this helps

What he said

 

[stormy13]

Another thing that could possibly be an issue is the folders from previous drivers in the DriverStore folder, which keeps enough info in each to be able to rollback to a previous driver. With the trouble you have been having I would go into the DriverStore folder and delete all the ones from the ATI video drivers. They will look something like the one's highlighted here (the numbers before the .inf are the number used to name the INF file in each driver version),



Make sure to set a system restore point (or a full backup) before starting, and then with no driver installed uninstall all but the oldest folder. Then try installing the latest Catalyst from ATI's site.

 

[rbmorse]

As for the video card drivers - ALWAYS get them from the manufacturer, NEVER from Windows update.

That is very, very ill informed advice. The drivers available from Windows Update may not be the very latest, but they have been validated and validation is important when you're trying to troubleshoot an installation because it removes a critical variable from the process.