Catalyst 6.5 + X1600 AGP = crash?

EDIT: This is actually a pretty common problem now, and ATI has finally created a knowledge base article about it (article 737-22933) but the article is hard to find unless you know the article number. The problem is with every catalyst since 6.5, on motherboards with a VIA chipset, using an AGP radeon 9500 or newer; the problems I described below will occur. From reading around, it also affects some boards with NForce chipsets but catalyst 6.8 seems to have fixed the NForce bug. If you have a VIA chipset the newest working catalyst version is still catalyst 6.4. I wanted to post the article number from ATI for anyone else who might end up experiencing this problem. It can also serve as a warning to anyone who is shopping for a replacement AGP card, don't get a new AGP card and end up pulling your hair out wondering why the new catalysts don't work on your computer.

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Anyone else not able to load windows after installing catalyst 6.5? Whenever I install it and reboot to finish the driver installation, every time windows would load the welcome screen, the computer reboots instead and then it asks me if I want to load safe mode or last known good, etc.

I had windows 2000 a few weeks ago when the driver first came out, and the computer would boot in 2000 but the catalyst control center couldn't display the little 3D car preview, and Guild Wars said that I had no video driver installed. I had to go back to catalyst 6.4.

I've tried it like 5 different times on each version of windows, and no luck. I have the newest bios, have the newest mobo/chipset drivers, have the june directx installed, have the newest sound card drivers. The only things installed on my computer right now are XP, my device drivers, dx9, and GW. No matter what, that evil catalyst 6.5 just won't work with my X1600 Pro AGP.

I stuck my radeon 9200 back into my computer without any ATI drivers loaded, then installed catalyst 6.5 and when it finished rebooting, windows loaded just fine. Guild Wars played, dxdiag works, everything is perfect. Tried it on my X1600 again, no dice. I was wondering if anyone else who has the same card has the same problem, if they are, ATI is getting an earful.
EDIT: They got an earful, it is a bug with AGP cards and the VIA chipset, hopefully it will be fixed soon.

I shall download them and try them today, and post the results, im using an x1600 AGP -- it maybe that you have to use the manufacturers drivers (PowerColor or Sapphire.... whoever made your card) -- i will reply once again later today.

Hey thanks! I didn't think of that.

I went to Sapphire and tried their 6.5 drivers, that didn't work either. Tried omega 6.5, no dice. Can't get into windows with any of them, but all of the other catalysts work.

I also loaded the newest bios from sapphire onto my card, that didn't help either. Still can't load windows with catalyst 6.5 from any of the 3 companies, so I guess I'm screwed

Guess it won't make you feel better but 6.5 with my x800xtpe has no issues that I can tell.

btw, is ATI skipping a driver release for Jun?

well, 6.5 didn't come out until this day last month, so I'm guessing 6.6 will come out tomorrow since it's monday. maybe 6.6 will work for me?

it did feel better to find about 12 other complaints of the same issue at sapphire. I'm waiting to find out if they want me to get a new power supply or RMA my card. hoping I don't have to RMA...

Did you upgrade win2k, or was it a clean install of XP?

Did you have a different card before and may have a driver conflict?

Did you use driver cleaner after uninstalling your last set of drivers? Did you uninstall them at all?

How about your chipset drivers? Did you install those when you got XP? Thats overlooked a lot. If you did are they up to date?

Answer these and I should be able to figure out the problem.

Works fine for me

I recently formatted (hadnt done so for a while) downloaded and installed the latest Catalyst from ATI, installed them, works fine, not had a single problem...

No, it was a whole new hard drive and a clean install of XP. Whenever I switched driver versions I got rid of the existing driver with the catalyst uninstaller (not the thing in the control panel) and rebooted before I loaded a different driver or switched video cards. I tried the evil driver cleaner inbetween versions also and it didn't make a difference, still couldn't get any catalyst 6.5 to work.

Yes I installed my chipset drivers, that was in the original post. Yes it is the newest version, yes I have the newest bios, yes I have the newest bios on my video card also.

Can't wait to try catalyst 6.6 later today when I'm back at my own computer. If that doesn't work either I need a new PSU, mobo, or an RMA'ed video card, all of which are annoying to do.
EDIT AGAIN: Nope, Catalyst 6.6 also reboots my computer whenever the welcome screen should load. Grrr.

EDIT: Hey ghozer, what voltage are you running on your AGP slot? And do you know if your PSU has more than 20 amps on the 12v rail? Even though it's not documented anywhere on their site or in the product info and manuals, ATI support says the x1600 needs a PSU with 20 amps on the 12v, my PSU is only 15 amps on the 12v, but it seems odd that would only be a problem with the two newest drivers and not all the others. It would be nice to compare my AGP voltage and PSU stuff to someone with the same card that has no problems

I have no idea about my PSU, I just plugged it in and it worked :P

the AGP Voltage is default i believe (3.3 or something) however the card doesnt rely on the AGP voltage since it has the external power connector...

if it worked on previous driver versions, then the PSU isnt the problem...

It sounds to me like the card is faulty?? What make is it? Cause if it is Sapphire, I know they re-called all the x1600 AGP because of the small chip on the back side that gets really hot.... I never returned mine because luckily I noticed how hot it got, and put a fan and heatsink on it..

i use an AGP Sapphire ATI x1600pro 512mb with 6.5 catalyst drivers and I have never had a crash.

Cool, what amps does your power supply have for the +12? You'll have to take off the side of your case to see the sticker on the side of the power supply, so if you don't feel like looking I understand.

I ordered a power supply with 36 amps on the +12, but it won't get here for a few days, in the meantime I'm wondering if everyone with the happily functioning x1600s has more amps from their power supply than I do. If you guys all do, that gives me hope that my problem will go away when the new power supply gets here

Catalyst 6.6 was released today.

@hockster: Actually, 6.6 was out yesterday. I tried it already and that makes my computer reboot whenever windows is about to load the welcome screen, just like 6.5 does. See post #8. Thanks though.

@ghozer: Heh, that's how my PSU was also, I never even looked at the amps or volts until Sapphire said I need 20 amps and I was like oops, mine's 15, wish you mentioned that in the manual instead of just saying 300W power supply is required. Bad Sapphire, bad.

My rialto chip on the back of the card might be getting hot, but I can't put anything on it because it's maybe 1/2 to 3/4 inch below the northbridge heatsink on my motherboard. The GPU and memory seem to be running ok, the heatsink is only slightly warm anywhere I touch it. No way I'm going to touch the bare rialto chip with my hand So as far as I can tell the card isn't getting hot, or at least not near "overheating" hot.

Where did you find out about that recall? Googled "x1600 recall" and didn't find anything, and nothing on the sapphire site either.

On the bright side, even if I get my new PSU and the card turns out to be defective, at least I don't have to buy a PSU in january when I convert to a Core2Duo system.

ya from what IVE heard... sapphire has the BEST cooling for agp...

but you cant believe everything you read on the net.

If you were asking me, I use a 420W now, but the card worked with my old 160w just fine too (low power consumption)

Cool, I ordered a 460W Enermax PSU but it won't get here till saturday so I won't know if I got a defective card until then. The fact that your power supply is better than mine gives me hope though

Im running a 9800pro, which are notorious toasters.

I turned my pc on for 5 mins with no games on and touched a small empty square on the back of the card and i couldnt keep my finger on it, it was burning me..

If the card is working with older drivers, its not looking to be a defective heat problem... why would drivers boost up the heat of the card, unless making it work MUCH harder..

Perhaps the best thing to do for now is to run the card on 6.4 drivers if they work... maybe try omega drivers? Google "ATI Omega drivers" and it should come up... i ran them on my 98pro and noticed a speed increase

Power supply MAY be the issue.. although as i said, ive no idea why the drivers seem to be causing it if the psu is involved, it makes no sense

hvae you (by any chance) been tweaking around with the Overdrive settings in Catalyst Control Center... because the GPU setting to 509 and the memory setting to 505 results in color corruption and the Windows XP operating system rebooting... this will then continue to reboot each time there's a boot attempt..

@meols: I did try omega, those do the same thing.

@ghozer: Nah, I haven't tried to overclock the card at all. The only thing I've changed on it is the card bios, and that was after I couldn't get the drivers to work.

My new power supply (460W with 33amps on +12) does not make any difference. I still can't load catalyst 6.5 with the drivers from sapphire, omega, or ati, because they all make windows reboot before the welcome screen appears. Catalyst 6.6 also does the same thing, even on the new power supply, except there are no omega drivers out yet so I didn't try them. I think my card is retarded and needs to go back to newegg

Will they take it back if youve flashed the bios on the card...?

Obviously thats assuming you did flash it lol.. if you just changed it then its ok i assume..

Ive no idea what could be wrong

A) if you do take it back, dont tell them you flashed it 'forget to mention it'
B) Its doubtful its the card, probably something else in your machine that the catalyst 6.5/6 dont like... specially if it works on earlier versions...
C) just cause it says 33 amps on the +12, doesnt mean it can give +33amps to each device, all the time, dont forget you have ATLEAST 4 things on there usually.... not including the motherboard...

I use a 500w power supply, 2 hdd's, DVD Rom and DVD Writer, 4 fans, 3x UV Lights, the x1600, and the motherboard, and never have a problem with it so i dunno, maybe it is something else in your machine,.. try taking some other things out, or disabling them in bios if its onboard...

Turns out nothing is wrong with my computer, my power supply, or my settings. The catalyst drivers from 6.5 and on have problems with AGP cards, especially with VIA chipset motherboards, which is what I have. ATI has finally received enough complaints about this problem to acknowledge it as a bug and create a knowledge base article (article 737-22933) and they are working on fixing the issue. Wanted to bump this for anyone who is shopping for a new AGP card to take into consideration, and to maybe save a lot of troubleshooting time for someone who already bought a new AGP card from ATI and is having problems getting it to work. Use catalyst 6.4 for now if you are having problems with your ATI AGP card.

I have x800 xtpe and am currently running on Cat 6.7 with a VIA VT800 chipset. So far, I've not had any issues.

I did experience the bootup issue mentioned in the article however I attributed it to something else.

So far, I've not had any issues since the nightfall update.

Hey btw... Im using x1600 also on agp...

Ive never had any kind of good luck with 6.5 and up... I went back to 6.4 and its working fine again.

I also uninstalled the CCC and just have the drivers now-> CCC doesnt like my computer for some reason.

6.4 is also the best one ive found for Oblivion, although I got bored of that game long ago, it really got my cpu in shape for maxing out GW to the max