9600xt woes...Boot to XP loading screen then nothing!

[Captain Amazing]

Well..I have not had any luck with my new Sapphire 9600XT card.

The problem I have is that my system posts fine but when I get to the Windows Splash Screen, things seem to go downhill. Instead of going to XP, the screen goes blank and my monitor goes to standby. But...the PC is still working.

Major bummer!

I've tried changing BIOS settings (memory settings, aperture ect.) but no luck! I triple checked the on-board video was disabled and there were no drivers or settings to do with that festering about. Anyway, when I slot in my old ASUS Ti4400 Deluxe (monster sized card with huge fan that takes a fair amount of power), there's no problem.

I tried a clean installl. No luck there either. When I did the install, it was fine during the intial setup stages when you can partition or format dirves. But once it rebooted and started the install process proper I couldn't see anything. The drives were still working and the keyboard was active but there was no montior signal.

I guess the card just doesn't like my system. Or at least, doesn't like my system at certain resolutions.

I had a look on the Sapphire and Rage3D forums but most of the blank screen issues there seem to be post or hard lock-ups.

I know my PC is still working when the screen goes to standby.. I was able to do a blind shutdown and restart without going near the restart button. Plus, it never gives me the chance to install the Cat drivers so drivers don't come into it.

I bought this card for my Shuttle PC to reduce noise ect. According to shuttle, my board should be fully compatible with 9600Pros. Perhaps the XT requires just a little too much juice?

I will try the card on Sunday in another machine. Until then, has anyone got any other possible reasons why I might be having these issues?

Cheers

[Captain Amazing]

P.S

I'm using a Samsung 172W TFT.

Its the same model as MuFu has - so I'm sure it should be fine with ATi cards.

[Martin_89]

What power supply you got?

[Captain Amazing]

As it is a Shuttle XPC, it has a standard Shuttle SFF PSU (200W). It only has to power my SFF mainboard and my hard drive. I did have two 7200rpm hard drives, a floppy, my GF4 4400 Ti, a SB Audigy, and a CD-R/DVD Combo drive, an USB-powered ZIP dirve all attached for a while and it was rock solid.

The XPCs should be fine using Radeon 9600 cards. The Shuttle website states that my SB51G board/PSU cobination should be compatible with the 9600Pros. In fact, there are plenty of people I know using 96000Pros and a few lunatics using 9700/9800Pros with no problems at all. But, just to be on the safe side, I am planning to test my card in a mate's machine on Sunday or Monday, as I have moved my other machine with an AGP port is back in Bristol (at my parent's house).

If it works in my mates PC, I will try attching a 350W Antec supply I have lying around just to double-check the PSU. If that works, then my PSU will be going back to Shuttle.

[ThreeOnTheTree]

I'm at an unusual limitation with my 9800 at the moment. I can't clock my XP as high as I used to now that I have the 9800 sucking power. If I set the clock speed too high, the system just locks up after a few minutes. However, my system just locked up, rather than getting a blank screen like you describe. Maybe the card is defective? I had a Radeon VE do the same thing you mention, and it eventually just died.

[Captain Amazing]

Well. I have wasted 12 hours with this card.

I have done everything I can think of, bar test it in another machine, which I now know I can't do until Monday.

I have a feeling that the card is faulty now. I installed sound and could here the system started up while I couldn't see anything. If it were a power issue, I am sure I would be getting lock ups, but I actually haven't had one. My monitor just isn't getting any signal. I have contacted Sapphire for support. I will probably RMA it and try and get a replacement.

It's my first ATi card since I had a Rage Card and an ATi TV Wonder. Sad to say but I was hoping for better.

[MuFu]

Tried both outputs?

MuFu.

[Captain Amazing]

Yeah. Neither was any good.



The lack of running in safe mode is the real killer. Without being able to 'see' safe mode is a frustration. I know its there but I can't do squat about it.

RMA appears my only option. I'll wait and see what the result is when I test it with my mate first. But it doesn't look good.

[MuFu]

Hmm... yeah, looks ominous. It could be that the VGA output is disabled and the DVI-I output is in digital mode, but that's very unlikely.

How about hooking it up to a TV?

MuFu.

[ThreeOnTheTree]

Are there any jumpers/switches on this thing? My 9600 has a jumper, and my 9800 has switches on it. I think this is for setting the Euro-standard monitor and the US-standard monitor. Maybe it's on the wrong setting?

[MuFu]

They are for selecting NTSC/PAL TV output.

MuFu.

[Leoslocks]

Run through the bios again and check the AGP settings. Perhaps set the Video to VGA vs AGP and see if that gets a signal during Safe mode.

Clear the cmos, set bios to defaults and try booting again to safe mode.

[Martin_89]

does fast writes not somtimes cause problems with some bards and cards or somthing?

[TrH]

Hy everybody (hi dr nick)

I have the same problem with the monitor turning itself of after Windows XP starts up. I had it Before to when I was at an LAN Party, i managed to fix it by reinstalling my whireless mouse (weird stuff) I have the problem again, but now the mouse installing didn't solve a thing... I can get into Safe mode real nice to But when i install the drivers, the original ones that came with the card or the Nvidea Detonater drivers it doesn't start up right,, But if i run it without appropriate drivers it works allright... (at least the desktop and typing and stuff, but gaming is not an option)
Yesterday i was playing age of mythology i paused it and went to dinner and when i came back half the screen was brown. I reset my computer and that's when the annoying problem started.

I've tried my enitre bios. i don't have multiple outputs xept for the DVI wich doesn't work either.

Could someone please help me ?
I think it's not the monitor's fault and i still have a warranty on my GFX card

Thanks to everybody who read or replyed

Daan Muller
Aka TrH

[Captain Amazing]

I'm must admit its the weirdest VGA prob I've ever come across. It's as if the card is thinking it is working properly, and the PC too, but something is going wrong between output and the monitor. Possibly a VGA output fault or DDC issue where the card is unable (for some reason) to provide output at the resolutions it thinks it can. Hence Windows (and my PC) keeps working because it thinks everything is fine, but the card provides no output.

All I'm waiting for now is to test the card in my friends machine...Unfortunately, I think he went on a bit of a bender last night...So I'll have to wait until he returns to the living. The good news is he has a 'full' machine with an AGP port, and a Shuttle PC too. So I check on both counts. If I get no joy, I'll get an RMA and send it back to Overclockers. Shame though...Hardware can always go wrong - that's just soemthing you get used too. Its just the wasted time that is frustrating.

TrH

Your problem is a little different from mine. I can't even 'see' safe mode.

In your case...First things to check...Have you tried the latest dets from the nVidia website? And are your other drivers up to date (chipset etc.)?

If that doesn't help, how new is you mobo BIOS. Check to make sure there are no updates.