Xagest

I've been doing a lot of research on the topic, and it seems like many people are having a lot of problems getting their 9200 video drivers to work on their zt3000 and nx7000 laptops. Note that this only really affects these two particular models. Even with modded drivers that have been confirmed to work with Radeon 9200 (such as Omega and Mobility Mod), these drivers still do not work with these particular laptops. Even the latest driver offered by Microsoft Windows Update do not work on these laptops. I don't have a solution, but I hope to find one with your help.

This is what usually happens. Starting around Catalyst 5.6, something changed in the original ATI driver code that stopped working with the laptop's LCD screen. If any radeon 9200 video driver made AFTER this point gets installed onto the computer, the LCD screen shows random bands of color (horizontal or vertical), bright white spots, colors only on the edge of the screen, and other phenomena that really makes the lcd screen useless.

I've noticed, however, that if an external monitor was plugged in, the video would work fine on the external. In fact, everything worked perfectly, save for the useless LCD screen.

First solution? Just use a modded Catalyst 5.6 or earlier. This should be sufficient for most zt3000/nx7000 users... if they're running on XP. If you're trying to run Vista, you can still install them by downloaded the modded drivers install package, right click > Properties > Compatability, then selecting Windows XP SP2 compatability mode, and install as normal. This method also works on the drivers offered at the hp.com website.

However, since these are XP drivers and not Vista drivers, there are plenty of problems. Sometimes, when using directx 9 heavy applications, your computer will simply bluescreen and reboot. Hibernation/Sleep is nearly impossible, Aero can't be activated (even though directx9 is supported), and your computer overall is unstable.

There are video drivers available for the Radeon 9200 in Vista. These actually download automatically when you run Windows Update. However, since they are more recent than the ones that came with Catalyst 5.6, you'll have the LCD problem again.

After some more digging on the subject, I found this interesting article at
Ubuntu Dapper Installation Guide - cchtml.com

While this article describes a Linux system, they single out the zt3000/nx7000 laptops. This is what they say:
I believe this is the problem with running the latest version of the Radeon Drivers on these particular laptops, on both XP and Vista. However, this is purely an Ubuntu toolset to get Radeon Drivers working. I'm at a lost as to how to modify existing Radeon Drivers to recognize these modelines on Windows systems. If anyone can offer suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated.

andyrowell94

You posted this on October 25, 2007. That is precisely the day my computer started to crash and I started getting Windows Reporting that I had a driver problem. Today is October 27, 2007. Is that a coincidence or was there an automatic update that caused an issue to develop? I thought it was a hardware problem maybe because I didn't think that I had done anything to cause the problems starting.

I have a Compaq nx7000 with a ATI Radeon Mobility 9200 display adapter. I am using XP Professional. (I don't have Vista).

What I did is go into Control Panel and Add/Remove Programs and remove all the ATI things. Then I restarted.

Windows found a very basic driver so the words on the screen looked pretty big and fuzzy but readable. It was a very basic (not crisp) display.

Then I tried the Omega Drivers v3.8.252 from OmegaDrivers.net. This didn't work. When I restarted, the screen was all jumbled. So I removed all the Omegadrivers programs from Add/Remove programs.

Then I went to ATI's website and searched for "Catalyst 5.6" because you recommended it. (ATI recommends Catalyst 6.11 for Radeon 9200 but I had already tried that). I downloaded it to my desktop and clicked Run.

It gave me these errors:

"setup was unable to complete the installation. Try to setup your display adapter with a standard VGA driver before running setup."

"INF error Video driver not found."

But when I restarted, Windows was using sharp new driver.

When I went into System / Hardward / Device Manager / Display Adapter / MOBILITY RADEON 9200 / Properties / Driver, it showed:
Driver Provider: ATI Technologies, Inc.
Driver Date: 13/11/2003
Driver Version: 6.14.10.6404

But that didn't work. The computer crashed again. So now I am trying the drivers from hp.com for the nx7000. At least there was no "setup was unable to complete the installation" error this time!

The driver details in Device Manager (as above) are again the same (which I was surprised to see):
Driver Provider: ATI Technologies, Inc.
Driver Date: 13/11/2003
Driver Version: 6.14.10.6404

Then it crashed again but not before giving me this error message.
"Windows - Display Driver Stopped Responding
The ati2dvag display driver has stopped working normally. Save your work and reboot the system to restore full display functionality. The next time you reboot the machine a dialog will be displayed giving you a chance to upload data about this failure to Microsoft."

There is some information about ati2dvag on a blog.

I tried those solutions as far as I understood them but no luck.

Then I tried removing me old Symantec firewall and antivirus because I wondered if that is causing the problem.

Nope, still crashing.

I'm also still wondering whether I have a hardware problem.

Do I need a new part from hp.com for my nx7000?


336970-001
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 (M9+P) graphics controller - 64MB DDR SDRAM memory 239.89 0.00 239.89

336970-001 Exchange 1
Return of defective core required.
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 (M9+P) graphics controller - 64MB DDR SDRAM memory 153.53 86.36 239.89

Now I have tried Driver Cleaner Pro and tried reinstalling the driver from the nx7000 page at hp.com.

I hadn't noticed that there was a "Drivers - Graphics" and a "Drivers - Graphics - ATI" right underneath it. I am trying the latter now.

Driver - Graphics Description Current version Size (MB) Estimated download time Previous version ATI Video Driver and Control Panel 7.96
18 Mar 2004 22.2 56K: 54m
512K: 5m 7.96-031113A-012783C
16 Dec 2003 ATI Mobility Radeon Video Driver and Control Panel for Windows 2000/XP 7.86.3
23 Jun 2003 18.2 56K: 44m



512K: 4m


Driver - Graphics - ATI Description Current version Size (MB) Estimated download time Previous version ATI MOBILITY Graphics/Video Driver and Control Panel 7.98-040120a-014371C B
10 Apr 2005 34.5 56K: 1h
512K: 9m 6.14.10.6451 A
9 Jun 2004


At least Driver Cleaner Pro enabled me to make some change. Finally, the device manager shows a different driver.

When I went into System / Hardward / Device Manager / Display Adapter / MOBILITY RADEON 9200 / Properties / Driver, it showed:
Driver Provider: ATI Technologies, Inc.
Driver Date: 20/01/2004
Driver Version: 6.14.10.6422

Nope, that didn't work. I am ordering the new part.

Never a dull moment. HP Parts didn't have the part. Impactcomputers.com has it.

Update: The new part didn't work. I installed it and the computer wouldn't start. I put the old part back in. It must be something else.

Xagest

Try Omega Catalyst 5.4. I remember using 5.6 for a time, and it worked until I did something with some obscure game and it didn't like it, so I was using Catalyst 5.4 from that point on.

andyrowell94

Thanks. I would try it but I am having trouble getting it to start up again so I am going to get the part.

Xagest

So no one has any idea how to modify the modelines data on the Vista drivers?

_DNA_

I am having the exact same problem with my ZT3000 ever since upgrading to Vista SP1 which somehow changed the requirements for Remote Desktop to do something with the drivers which causes a BSOD. The only solution I have is to disable the acceleration by using the "Troubleshoot" tab in the Advanced settings of the display properties. This results in ridiculously slow video playback or just about anything else. Using the mobility moding software I was able to install the latest and greatest desktop catalyst driver which of course screwed up my 1920x1200 Laptop panel but which allows me to use an external monitor. Of course, I'm able to run remote desktop without disabling video acceleration... video playback is smooth as well. This is purely a monitor problem and it's KILLING me! Has anyone figured out how to make the newer drivers work with the ZT3000 screens?

Is it possible to write a custom .inf file for the monitor so that it is used instead of the Generic PnP Monitor which is detected incorrectly??

Thanks