Come on guys, please help me with this.

[Peet]

Hello everyone,
Let's start at the beginning 2 weeks ago I had a problem with my system: it didn't send signal to my display, so I went back to the shop where I bought it. There they figured out that my mobo wasn't working properly. The guys there wanted to change it (because it was still in warranty) to an asrock but it kept blocking. After they tried with another videocard (9600xt->9550) it worked nicely. When I tried to install Win XP suddenly a blue screen appeared with some writings on it: dumping physical memory, etc. They gave me another memory but another make than the other one. Here comes my question.
My sistem seems to be slower from now on, than it was before with the older parts. I found out an interesting thing: when I run dxdiag I don't have direct 3d menu and acceleration(not available). Maybe this is why the movies and scrolling down in total commander and mozilla is so slow. How can this be? I installed the latest driver from amd's site. Please help me with this :roll:
Thanks Peet

 

[badge]

Hello everyone,
Let's start at the beginning 2 weeks ago I had a problem with my system: it didn't send signal to my display, so I went back to the shop where I bought it. There they figured out that my mobo wasn't working properly. The guys there wanted to change it (because it was still in warranty) to an asrock but it kept blocking. After they tried with another videocard (9600xt->9550) it worked nicely. When I tried to install Win XP suddenly a blue screen appeared with some writings on it: dumping physical memory, etc. They gave me another memory but another make than the other one. Here comes my question.
My sistem seems to be slower from now on, than it was before with the older parts. I found out an interesting thing: when I run dxdiag I don't have direct 3d menu and acceleration(not available). Maybe this is why the movies and scrolling down in total commander and mozilla is so slow. How can this be? I installed the latest driver from amd's site. Please help me with this :roll:
Thanks Peet

You mentioned you have an ATI 9550 and Windows XP. You should list the rest of your system. A 9600XT would be a superior performer compared to the 9550 you have now. Your system could be running slower for many reasons including having updated drivers and running any additional software than before. If you have installed new software like anti-virus it could slow your system down. Which RAM did you have before and which RAM now?

 

[Peet]

These are the changes that occured in my system due to the older mobo's failure:
My older system
Asus A7n8x-e deluxe
AMD Sempron 2600+@1833 mhz
2*512 MB PQI DDR1 -400 mhz PC3200
HIS Radeon 9600 xT 256 mb 128 bit
WD 250Gb HDD 7200 rpm, 8mb cache
LG combo
MSI Dvd burner

My "new" system
Asus A7V600-X
AMD Sempron 2600+@1833 mhz
2*512 MB DDr1-400 mhz ram(512 Pqi and 512 Aeneon)
Radeon 9550
WD 250Gb HDD 7200 rpm, 8mb cache
LG combo
MSI Dvd burner

 

[sojrner]

well, make sure you get the latest drivers from Asus' site for the mobo (chipset). Get the newest drivers for the vid card. (I know you said you got em, but check to make sure they are the newest online) and after you install those two go to windows update and get all updates there. If the dx thing is not resolved, go search out the latest directx9 download and manually install it. Check back when you have done all that... It sounds like you are running a bad dx9 version (or it is not there at all) or you are running software video drivers from windows and not ATI.

 

[tiger131]

Did you use the cat-uninstaller as well after you put in the new videocard? If not, that could be the case. Some weird things can happen if you switch videocards like I did and forget to use that before installing new drivers. Otherwise, I would prob go back to them and tell them you want something equivalent to the 9600xt b/c that 9550 is a decent amount slower. Make sure both sticks of memory are recognized in windows as well.

 

[Peet]

I formatted my hdd 2 times after the hardware change. Once after I got the "new" parts and once after it because I thought that if i reinstall windows that would fix the proble. but it didnn't Both of the memories are recogniezed in windows.

 

[tiger131]

What does it say for a driver when you go into display properties, advanced, and driveR? Does it give you the catalyst driver or generic vga etc.

 

[Peet]

The general vga menu but I can access the catalyst control center from the system tray icon.

 

[tiger131]

NM, go to device manager, and check the driver issue there, u know how to do that? When is the driver and who made it.

 

[Peet]

Driver Provider: ATI Technologies Inc
Driver Date: 3/14/2007
Driver version: 8.360.0.0

 

[tiger131]

Have you gone through the bios at all to check those settings. Im assuming AGP card, make sure that agp speed is set to 4x/8x, make sure the cpu is being detected at the proper speed, as well as the memory. If you need help with accessing or editing some of the settings in the bios let me know.

 

[Peet]

These are the bios settings I changed:
Graphics Aperture size: 64 MB->256 MB
AGP Capability: Auto->8X
AGP Performance Control Disabled->Enabled
AGP Fast write Control Disabled->Enabled
The rest of them are set on default.

 

[tiger131]

Still acting sluggish, and all the other settings were detected properly I'm assuming?

 

[Peet]

Yes. 1024 mb of ram, and the cpu at 1833 mhz, and the direct 3d acceleration still isn't available. I have sisoftware sandra XI and it shows a lot of features that modern videocards have but this one has only 1 of them(can render in window).

 

[tiger131]

Try downloading the latest DX9.0c, and then try motherboard drivers, windows update like the guys above said. I have a call (I'm at work) so I have to fix some more computers. Hopefully you get it solved, sorry I wasnt of more help. Good luck and take care.

 

[Peet]

Thanks for the advices. Direct x 9.0c is installed with windows, but I'll try to get another version of it, and the latest drivers from Asus's site. I have installed all the updates that were available with automatic updates.

 

[Tegrat]

few things...

1. Is your BIOS set for PCI or AGP for graphics?
2. I know that in the past ASUS/VIA/ATI had problems with GART AGP drivers... Make sure that you've installed the MB drivers first (especially GART before you install the ATI drivers.) Another thing could be the fact that some ATI drivers installed it's own GART driver and could cause probelms.
4. I would uninstall all MB and video drivers and then start again... you could even try an older ATI driver...
Shot in the dark.... Take the card out and put it back in to make sure all pins are making proper contact (power problem)

Good Luck,
Tegrat

 

[Sheepish]

This may be a dumb out of date question but is your monitor CRT or LCD?
If its CRT check the refresh rate. Scrolling is jittery for me at its default "after format" 60Hz. I set it to its max (85Hz for me) and its smooth as a babies bum.

 

[Peet]

It's LCd, 1024*768 resolution at 60 hz. (HP L1520).

 

[dsidious]

Look at this site:
benchmarks

I don't know what exactly they measured there but apparently your older card 9600 XT got a score of 1200+ while the new card Radeon 9550 got between 180 and 300 or so. If your new card is really 4 or 6 times slower than the old one then I guess you'd notice indeed...

 

[Peet]

1: How do I found out if my bios is configured for PCI or AGP?
2: What is a GART driver?
3: I didn't get any install CD with the mobo so I got the drivers from Asus's site( only for soundcard and raid drivers even though I don't have only one HDD. ). I downloaded something named 4 in 1 from the website, maybe it contains all the necessary drivers.

 

[Peet]

That's interesting, but indeed it's slower and not jus slightly slower.
http://www.hisdigital.com/html/product_ov.php?id=94 -> this was my 9600 XT. The real core clock of it was:400 mhz or around it, and 350 or something like this for the memory.
The 9550 has a core clock of 250 mhz only and a memory clock of 196 mhz

 

[Tegrat]

1. It should be in the advanced setup of the BIOS somewhere. You should find it just by poking around in there, if not download the manual and there should (fingers crossed) be some screenshots of the BIOS.
2. The GART driver is "The Graphics Address Remapping Table (GART) is an I/O memory management unit (IOMMU) used by AGP and PCI Express graphics cards, through which textures, polygon meshes and other data is loaded directly from the computer's physical memory utilizing DMA."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_Address_Remapping_Table

3. As long as you have the latest drivers for the MB, then you should be okay, I beleive it was the earlier revisions that had the problem.

4. It really sounds driver related...

The post regarding being a slower card is a good one, but you should still be able to scroll a browser or watch a movie with that card without stutters.

5. While your in the BIOS, check and see if there is an AGP fast write option, turn it off if it is on, turn it on if it is off to see what happens...

6. Another thing to try, remove one stick of memory and try the computer with one stick and alternate slots to see if that does anything.

Fingers crossed for ya!

 

[sojrner]

you cannot directly compare clocks as they are totally different cores. The 9500 was a GREAT card (pared down 9700), the 9550 is NOT the same at all. The 9600pro would kill it let alone the xt. You got hosed on that one if you paid for the 9600xt and that was their "replacement". Although honestly b/c you bought this comp here recently really should go back and tell them "make it right, give me what I paid for". That is the whole benefit of paying for a pre-built one. You get the service w/o the hassle of trying to fix it yourself.

The above are right though, you should not see stuttering on any non-3d items. Take my first recommendations (mobo, vidcard and windows updates) and add a complete uninstall of all other software before you do those. There is something mucking things up, and uninstalling all items (drivers included) and restarting before new drivers are installed will eliminate that. Install nothing else until you are sure the problem is gone. Then if it comes back after installing something you will know what caused it. Sounds redundant but you would be surprised.

also, try forcing it to agp4x instead of 8. Disable fastwrites. Can be done in software but in bios is best. There was an issue of older ati agp cards overheating with 8x agp on some mobos. (and that 9550 is old)

all just suggestions. Not really sure what the issue is but trying to eliminate things.

 

[Peet]

AGP 4x instead of 8x didn't work. It's doing the same problem, and at the catalyst showed still 8x when I changed to 4x in bios. :? I tried with only one memory stick in all 3 slots but there wasn't any change. Turned agp fast write on and off but no change. I guess the only option left is to reinstall windows and the drivers again.