help installing my x800xl

hi there

i just recieved my new x800xl (agp) yesterday and i had it installed and tested it and all was fine but this morning i decided to format and reinstall windows xp,now the card is installed but just after it installs the card it starts searching for display drivers (the cd doesnt seem to have any on) which causes 2 devices to be listed as "unknown device" in the hardware list.

so i try installing the latest ati drivers form the site (which caused the pc to hang first time) but then eventually installed but still the unknown devices wont go away,this is totally wierd becouse according to windows the card and drivers are installed already yet the space where it was when it wasnt installed (bottom of hardware list with xclamation marks) now shows 2 devices as unknown but up at the top when i click on display adapters it has the card listed as "x800 series (and underneath that) x800 secondary" as it should be!

needless to say im totally confused becouse i dont have any other "display" as it states in the balloon on startup when it prompts me to install them and starts "searching for drivers" ,my monitor is recognised as "plug and play on radeon x800 series" as it should be,ive also tried installing from the list of drivers within windows but halfway through the install the computer just reboots caused by a serious error.

can any1 shed any light please,ive tried uninstalling but its the same everytime nomatter what i do i jus cant install these "phantom" display(s) although the routine it takes me through is exactly the same as installing a radeon card where primary and secondary are installed after eachother.

by the way the disk doesnt have any display drivers on it only has the card drivers,im using the latest cat,s from ati as display drivers,and i dont use service packs for windows xp.

thanx.

mic.

Does that card have VIVO (a rage theater chip on the back)? If so, install ATIs WDM drivers.

I would reformat again and install drivers in this order:

DX 9.0c
Motherboard
Sound
Video Driver
WDM driver
ATI Control Panel
Monitor drivers

okay thanx oralpain i will give that a go now,jus hope it worx this time round ile let you know.

thnx again.

mic.

well ive tried reformatting and a brand new install of windows and once again all is well untill i install the x800 then for no apparent reason it asks for these drivers again despite the fact that the cards installed along with all sofware and drivers that ship with it.
i just cant understand it but its definately related to the x800 and the most annoying thing is it doesnt give me any clue as to which driver it requires other than the first time it boots after the install where it says "display" in the balloon , i just have 2 entrys which i assume are something to do with primary and secondary display modes on ati,s cards named "unknown device" after it fails to find whatever drivers its looking for ,when i double click any of the "unknown devices" the propertys page for that device says the location is "on radeon x800 series" and the device type says "other devices",also the device status says that "the device" is not configured correctly (code 1)???

please some1 gimme a clue cos its gonna drive me mad everytime i boot and it asks for these damm drivers which i would have thought would ave shipped and installed with the cards other software etc,i never had this problem when i installed it last night after i replaced my 9800pro with it (i also never uninstalled the 9800pro drivers either by accident) its only been hapening since i formatted this morning..

any help greatly appreciated please.

mic.

Try using the driver that came with the card.

i got the Sapphire version of this card, using the 5.1 drivers on the CD that came with it worked for me.

ok....ready? :)

Deep breath...keep calm.

Down load these two components:
http://www2.ati.com/drivers/wxp-w2k-...2a-022141c.exe
and
http://www2.ati.com/drivers/control-...2a-022141c.exe

top one is driver, bottom one is Control Panel. They are the latest ones, from ATI, but are the seperate ones, not all in one. Easier and cleaner this way. They were split so that Modem users could download in chunks....but for you and me its ideal for being in control :)

Once you have them on your pc, remember where they are....maybe put them in a new file called "Cat Apr 05" or similar. Then next month you can put a "Cat May 05" file and keep the old ones until you're happy.

aaanyway

Go into Control Panel (Start, Settings, Control Panel)
go into Add/Remove Program....look to see if the words ATI Display Driver and/or ATI Control Panel are in there.

If so...remove..if not...don't ;) cos you can't

Either way, DONT reboot even if it asks. Get them both out first.

Now...back to desktop. NOW REBOOT.

Once rebooted, when it asks for the drivers and looks, just cancel all the way back to desktop. Crap graphics and slow mouse? normal :)

NOW...go find that folder with the two downloads in it.

First double click on the Display Driver (the first one you downloaded) and let it load, agree to it all, EXCEPT don't let it reboot. "No, I will reboot myself" or whatever it says.

Then run the second one.....same again...agree but DONT LET IT REBOOT. At the last question say you will do it yourself.

Now...back at desk top.

NOW Reboot yourself....you're in charge.

WHEN IT REBOOTS it''ll take longer AND the screen will go TOTALLY BLACK when you think it's all done...and you must promise not to cry ;) cos its supposed to.

Then after its settled down...you're sorted.

When the next drivers come out, do the same...down load the two bits...Driver and Control Panel...then Add Remove the old ones WITHOUT REBOOTING..

then you reboot...then you install both bits, DRIVER FIRST, PANEL SECOND...and then you reboot...takes a while....screen goes black...sorted :)

And if that doesn't work read my first post.

If the above doesn't work, right click the "?" device and select "reinstall drivers" from the dialogue box. Leave the cd in the drive and have the other drivers unzipped already to your hard drive. Windows should select the necessary drivers.

S.

Send the card to me and I'll have a look at it for you... :devilish:

ok - BUMP! here's why

I'd been using the 5.1 version of the drivers that came with my x800 XL (Sapphire 256Mb AGP version) as StormPC stated. However given that 5.5 is now available I wanted to upgrade so I did as Zak33 suggested - word for word - which kind of worked. Basically I could open an play games in 3d as before but no matter what AA and AF I have set in the Catalyst Control Panel (NOT control center, bloatware) it wouldn't actually enable it in game. And framerates significantly down on those with the Sapphire provided 5.1s.

So I rebooted into safe mode, uninstalled all ATi stuff from Add/Remove Programs then got all the hidden stuff using Driver Cleaner Pro and installed the 5.5 display driver, wdm driver and then the Control Panel. Now the games work OK (although I'm still convinced framerates are down) but things like ATITool give appaling results. On my 9800Pro I got a few hundered fps on the little fuzzy box display thing, now with this card I get 7.7 - wtf??

I seem to remember someone in another thread about this card saying Sapphire quite often do funny things with their cards. I am disgusted that they should sell me something that means I am forced to use whatever drivers they provide given theirs are 2 months behind the official ones. So, has anyone found another way to upgrade successfully using official ATI drivers from the ATI site? Maybe is there a BIOS image I can flash onto the card which will make it work with stock drivers? Or if all else fails, would this be reasonable grounds on which to return the card from the supplier and request another of the same spec from a different manufacturer, say Club3D or GeCube? In fact, anyone got a Club3D or other make of this card and had similar troubles?

MTIA
8bit

Considered downloading Sapphire's Cat 5.3s?

Here...

tried em, didn't work right, dodgy textures, very poor fps and some crashes (BSOD). Got it working today on the official ATI 5.5's altho i have to use the .NET CCC in the full installer, shame really cos I don't like the CCC... Oh well...

If I were you I'd do a complete OS reinstall. If you completely reinstall your OS and drivers (be sure you install your motherboard drivers as well) and you're still having the problems then you may have hardware compatibility issues or a bad VC. You may want to tell Sapphire about the problem with the ATI CAT 5.5s to see if they know what's up.

BTW...do you have AGP Fastwrites disabled???