NEW Information with 9700 issue

Question

I have been following the issues with the 9700 pro cards for some time now. I have read all the threads on this board and seen no fixes yet that work. I HATE to say it but everyone is barking up the wrong trees for this problem. As you read this and check your own system I'm sure that you will come to the same irritating answer that I have. I purchased my first ATI Built 9700 pro at first release in the stores. After installing I experienced distorted graphics and lock-ups. I then started hunting for a fix. Tried all the bios flashes, drivers and VIA 4in1's. all came up with the same result so I called ATI they said that it might be the card so I went back to the store and got another ATI built 9700 pro card and yet had the same issues. Then I go and get Gigabytes MAYA 9700 pro card. Now there is no more distorted graphics (NOTE to ATI you may have something that you can learn from Gigabyte) but I still get lock ups. So then I hunt down drivers and bios flashes from Omega which has been modifying drivers as long as I can remember. They did not work either. I also tried different motherboards and no change. So I conclude that VIA, MSI and ATI are not at fault for this problem. Although with this info may be able to come up with a solution.
Now I start digging hard into my system and OS yet to find the real blame. I found that my agp and sound are sharing the same IRQ. Now wether you know it or not you cannot change IRQ settings with XP. So I disable my sound and retest and get outrageous results. My frame rates increased and benchmarks raised by almost half. Numbers that were not even achieved in ATI's tests. So then I install a different sound card and it put it on IRQ11 and moved AGP IRQ form 16 to IRQ11. BACK TO SAME PROBLEM. I have alot of free IRQs and also have disabled coms which open IRQ 3 and 4 also but do you think XP would change settings so they didn't share. NOOOOTTTTTTT!!!!! I did try the same system but with windows ME so I could set the IRQs myself and with having nothing sharing the same IRQ it worked GREAT!! The only option I see at this time is to re-install windows and disable the acpi which is the culpret behind all this and run standard PC HAL which means no more power control for ATX motherboards "THANKS BILL". No matter how you try XP wants to share AGP slot with a PCI slot. Now with my ATI 8500 it shares with sound but no problems but you have to remember that the 9700 is a new creature that performs like never before and I'm sure with the demand that it puts on the system anything else on the same IRQ will get lost or corrupt packets resulting in a system lock up. At the bottom I will provide a link to a bulletin by MS that discibes the way and also why XP handles the IRQs the way it does.
I would like you to try the same as I have and remove anything sharing the same IRQ as the 9700 pro and see if you get the same results as I have. I have tested 3 cards and four MBs and refuse to try any more products just to come to the same answer. I think you will all come to the same conclusion that I have. "Kill Bill".
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q252420&ID=KB;EN-US;Q252420

Answer 1

I was having the same problem with the 9700 pro on the KT400. was getting lockups and freezing everytime i tried to run a 3d game or benchmark. (solitaire ran sweet though). Even went as far as to buy a new mobo the a7n8x with nforce 2 chipset...low and behold the card worked fine...pity the board lasted about 2 hours then i had to send it back cos it was shafted...no post no nothing...ay well...
so i went back to my MSI kt4 ultra i tried so many combinations i was going blind but i think i finally found a combination that works....well for me anyway
im using
Catalyst 2.5
ControlPanel 6.13.10.6218
Via 4.45 hyperion
Fast write disabled in smartgart but enabled in bios dont ask me why but it works like that...i know it doest overwrite it but it works. also try this one. type smartgart into the run dialog, you get a new window not accesible through normal display properties. for some reason installing the catalyst drivers sometimes disables agp write and agp read which you can see here. click retest all then reboot smartgart will popup as soon as you reboot to let you know what the settings are now.
now its running sweet as a nut
getting 3DMark
13930 running normal
15928 overclocked FSB
not ruling out the fact that shared IRQ's maybe at fault but mine is still shared with my nic and not causing any problems.
like i said it worked for me.. just thought id let you know
KT400 MS-6590
XP 2400+
2x256 XMS 3000 DDR (333)
ATi 9700 Pro
Windows XP SP1
Catalyst 2.5, CP 6.13.10.6218
Via 4.45 hyperion
3dMark - 13930 - 15928oc