Need help with installing a 4870 X2

just to double check you connected both the 6 pin and the 8 pin pcie connectors?
what power supply, motherboard, operating system and driver version.
if this is an upgrade from an nvidia card have you run driver sweeper?
(google guru3d and driver sweeper)

i checked that before but i will check again. its 32 bit vista business, corsair 850 W, GB EX58 extreme. no its not an upgrade, its a new system.

how much ram in your system

also download driver sweeper and the catalyst 9.3 driver package for vista 32 bit run driver cleaner and remove all ati and nivida drivers reboot then install 9.3 and reboot when prompted.

6 gig, only can use 4 tho. i got the 32 bit vista for free and its a legit version

if its a full (not oem,some one verify)legit version you can upgrade to 64bit for free i believe.

you just have buy a 64bit disc 15 to 20 bucks from microsoft if its a retail version

also the vid card ram counts against you total system ram . i don't think that would cause your particular problem but try just running 2 gigs and see

The problem is probably that you're installing the drivers off the disc. Never do that, it's just a waste of your time.

As Wgfalcon mentioned, download the 9.3 suite and install that, then reboot twice afterwards (seem to help a lot with the 4870 X2 for some reason, possibly because of the two GPUs?). This should help fix your issue.

Issues such as this are precisely why I don't feel comfortable buying an ATI card...I always go nVidia. I've had bad luck, personally, with ATI drivers and though they've got some hardware I like I just don't feel like being bothered.

...a frick'n shame they can't make their drivers more than rock solid like the Green Team has in my experience.

I haven't had any problems with ati drivers although nvidia on the other hand.....

When I first installed my 4870x2, (vista x32) The catalyst manager only recognized one of the gpu's on the card. When I switched to 64 bit it recognized both, i think it said something about "linked adapter" Maybe this is a similar problem.

I can confirm that a vista serial will work with either 32 or 64 bit as long as you install the same version.(ie: 32 bit home premium to 64 bit home premium.) I have done it a number of times with different computers

???? Both comapnies have their problems with drivers, and probably 95% of the time, it's not an actual driver or hardware problem, but a user mistake ( such as installing a driver off of the CD which is probably the earliest drivers available for the card)

Let's not make this an NV vs ATI thread, that just doesn't apply here.

as what Wgfalcon said ...
first you have to remove any video graphic driver..and then restart
when windows found new hardware ignore the wizard and run Catalyst 9.3 setup and it will detect you video card automatically ..after window recognize you video card restart your pc and you video card will be ready ..
notice :.. if you change your system from 32bit to 64 bit you need do download new Catalyst that' support windows (vista) 64 bit ..