ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 problem...please help.

anthonyhua · Mar 27, 2005, 10:37 AM

As the title suggests, I have an ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 128mb graphics card.

From the beginning, I have had a seemingly unique, if not mind-boggling, problem with the graphics. The graphics itself are very good and smooth, just as one would expect. But all my games will, more often than not, run either faster or slower than it should do e.g. a 2 minute Counter Strike game will run for 3 minutes, even though the clock says it lasting 2 minutes. Similarly, my F1 game may run at near 50% quicker than it should. This slow/fast problem alternates and also affects Unreal, Worms and Colin McRae.

Why is this? It's getting very annoying now as it runs at the wrong speed more often than not.

What can I do? I have tried some different drivers but they don't seem to do anything. Does anyone have any suggestions? Any help is much appreciated.

redsolar · Mar 28, 2005, 12:50 PM

I have a feeling your video card is the last place you should start looking. It sounds like there is something wrong with your PC clock generator or something. Have you tried actually timing your game with a watch? See what result that gives you.

Does it matter if you play with power settings (Max Performance vs Max Battery)

What drivers are you using, what OS?

anthonyhua · Mar 28, 2005, 04:38 PM

I am running XP.

I am not entirely sure what drivers...I got someone else to do it for me....I have tried ATI ones as well as non-ATI ones? Sorry, I am not too good with stuff like that. I have downloaded the latest DirectX 9 stuff - again, I'm not sure what that does either.

Sometimes, the games run at normal speed before slowing or speeding again.

Yes, I have tried running my games with a watch before. I haven't timed it to precise seconds, but I am definitely sure there is a speed difference. For example, tonight, I tried driving a lap around a race track in my F1 game. It was going probably about a third faster than it should i.e. a 40 seconds time would have actually been done in 30 seconds. It's weird and hard to explain...I hope you understand what I am trying to explain.

redsolar · Mar 28, 2005, 10:14 PM

Well some games are not 100% precise when it comes to time inside the game vs real world time, though one would think F1 is not one of them

.

I would try installing Omega Drivers, in particular the ones based on Catalyst 4.12, and see if the problem goes away.

Tipstaff · Mar 28, 2005, 10:59 PM

Which laptop are you running on?

One thing I would suggest is that you look in your bios settings, and if it's there, disable Intel SpeedStep. Do you have this problem when your are running on battery only, or using both battery and the AC adapter? See, SpeedStep will alter the clock rate on a laptops CPU in order to save battery life, and reduce heat. This, in turn, can fool around with games that are tied closely with the CPU clock rate as they can speed up or down when this kicks in. Doesn't always happen, but I have seen this happen in rare instances, especially in older games (like some old EA games, Privateer for one, and some Lucas Arts titles), and even on some new ones.

Also, check your power options too. I would suggest making a profile based around gaming.. one that has everything on high, and suspension items turned off. That way you can switch settings on the fly, and in turn maintain a certain power level necessary to play certain games properly.

- Tip

chris.flack · Mar 29, 2005, 05:27 AM

Hi guys, looks like i have finally found the site for me. Having a torrid time with my Tiny/Time laptop. Lost the hidden partition so had to reinstall windows xp and use the rip off Tiny restore cd that did not restore. I have a radeon 9700 pro 128mb and thought i had loaded the drivers properly, but for some reason i keep getting bothered by the Fly Tv Mini card report. I am going to have a look at the crystal drivers and load, see if it helps my prob. In the mean time anyone out there have any pointers in trying to get ahold of the right 3rd party utility ? If there is such a thing that is.

Thanks in advance..

anthonyhua · Mar 29, 2005, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redsolar

Well some games are not 100% precise when it comes to time inside the game vs real world time, though one would think F1 is not one of them

.

I would try installing Omega Drivers, in particular the ones based on Catalyst 4.12, and see if the problem goes away.

Thank you. I will try those once I have finished responding to the other posts.

I see what you mean that some games do not work in real time, but I know there is a problem because sometimes during one game, it can go from fast normal and back to fast again, if that makes sense?

Cheerr - will try those soon.

anthonyhua · Mar 29, 2005, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tipstaff

Which laptop are you running on?

One thing I would suggest is that you look in your bios settings, and if it's there, disable Intel SpeedStep. Do you have this problem when your are running on battery only, or using both battery and the AC adapter? See, SpeedStep will alter the clock rate on a laptops CPU in order to save battery life, and reduce heat. This, in turn, can fool around with games that are tied closely with the CPU clock rate as they can speed up or down when this kicks in. Doesn't always happen, but I have seen this happen in rare instances, especially in older games (like some old EA games, Privateer for one, and some Lucas Arts titles), and even on some new ones.

Also, check your power options too. I would suggest making a profile based around gaming.. one that has everything on high, and suspension items turned off. That way you can switch settings on the fly, and in turn maintain a certain power level necessary to play certain games properly.

- Tip

My laptop specs are:

Intel Pentium 4 Processor 3.0ghz
512 RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 128mb
60GB HDD

I think that's about all the specs you need to know.

So given my specs, can I change my Intel SpeedStep? It's interesting you ask about whether I play with the battery or AC/battery because I have never actually noticed that. I will try to see if there is a difference, although I am not so sure about what effect it will have.

Thanks.

anthonyhua · Mar 29, 2005, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris.flack

Hi guys, looks like i have finally found the site for me. Having a torrid time with my Tiny/Time laptop. Lost the hidden partition so had to reinstall windows xp and use the rip off Tiny restore cd that did not restore. I have a radeon 9700 pro 128mb and thought i had loaded the drivers properly, but for some reason i keep getting bothered by the Fly Tv Mini card report. I am going to have a look at the crystal drivers and load, see if it helps my prob. In the mean time anyone out there have any pointers in trying to get ahold of the right 3rd party utility ? If there is such a thing that is.

Thanks in advance..

Hello...probably be better if you start a new thread so that it gets more attention from others

BTW, mine's a Mesh. I decided against a Tiny because, although you get more bang for buck, I heard that their aftersales was slightly crap so I decided with Mesh, who I knew were good and reliable because my old desktop was from them.

If I can't sort out my problem here, I think my next step will be to e-amil or call the guys at Mesh to see if they know!

anthonyhua · Mar 29, 2005, 08:54 AM

Okay, so I've now tried the Omega drivers. Both Counter Strike and Need For Speed slowed down midway through the game. I used my watch compared to their clock to confirm this. Also, this happened while I was on AC mains.

How do I go about changing the BIOS settings for that Intel SpeedStep thing? I think I press F2 at the start or something? I understand that, if I am not careful, I can do some damage to my computer?

I am really lost with what could be wrong. Is there, by any chance, that it is a hardware problem? I have never thought that because the graphics have always been very smooth and clear, even when it slows/speeds the game.

redsolar · Mar 29, 2005, 10:31 AM

SpeedStep settings should be somewhere around the battery settings, but it may vary depending on which brand it is (my Dell has them in the Advanced setttings).

When the clock/time slows down, does your FPS change too? Get something like FRAPS and see if it does.. This may shed some light as to what's happening.

It's a really wicked problem, don't think I ever heard of anything like that.

anthonyhua · Mar 29, 2005, 02:13 PM

I installed the FRAPS thing. The number at the top appears to be continuously changing to the point where comparison between my notebook's 'slow', 'normal' and 'fast' speeds are not really possible.

I then went into BIOS...have I not looked hard enough or can I just not see where the SpeedStep thing is? I can't seem to find it. Is it definitely there for the type of processor that I have? If so, I will see what other ways I can go about finding it.

redsolar · Mar 29, 2005, 03:45 PM

It should be, since all intel notebook CPUs have some sort of scaling mechanism for batter conservation.

The number at the top should be changing all the time, since FPS varies as you move around. I was more asking whether FPS appears to drop when it slows down or rise when it speeds up.

anthonyhua · Mar 29, 2005, 09:10 PM

I will probe furhter into the FPS thing. It's late here so I will play my games again tomorrow to check it out.

In the meantime, I still cannot find the SpeedStep thing. I understand that BIOS differ slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer? If it helps, mine says PhoenixBIOS Utility at the top. I cannot see a SpeedStep thing in sight

. Is it possible that it is called something else? In Boot sectoon, there is something that says Hard Drive but nothing happens if I press Enter. I have seemingly looked in all the sub folders of the other sections but I still can't find anything to do with SpeedStep

.

Tipstaff · Mar 30, 2005, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anthonyhua

I will probe furhter into the FPS thing. It's late here so I will play my games again tomorrow to check it out.

In the meantime, I still cannot find the SpeedStep thing. I understand that BIOS differ slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer? If it helps, mine says PhoenixBIOS Utility at the top. I cannot see a SpeedStep thing in sight

. Is it possible that it is called something else? In Boot sectoon, there is something that says Hard Drive but nothing happens if I press Enter. I have seemingly looked in all the sub folders of the other sections but I still can't find anything to do with SpeedStep

.

Thanks for posting the specs, but can you post the maker of the laptop and model number? That way I might be able to find you specific bios settings.

As red suggested it might be called something else. Most laptops will adjust their CPU speed to save battery life. On the newer M based processors Intel added SpeedStep. The added bonus is that you can actually control this function with a program from within Windows. On my Dell Precision M60s that listing is under the 'Power Management' section within the bios that lists what they laptop should do when it is running on the battery or AC power.

Here's something to look for: In the bios look for something similar to 'Boot Speed', 'Processor Speed', or as red suggested, in the power management options for anything mentioning CPU adjustment. If you have one called 'Boot Speed' you can change this to be more compatible with, and I quote "...allows you to choose between the computer's processing speed, and are more compatible, slower mode for use with certain speed-sensitive apps."

If you don't find anything in the bios you should also check the power management functions inside Windows.

If that fails remember to post your specific laptop brand and model number so that I can narrow down things for you.

-Tip