Unusable performance with new drivers and uknown devices.

EtherBoo

My Radeon 9800 XT recently died on me [img]images/smilies/tears.gif[/img].

First problem:
I chose to replace my dead card with an Asus X800 XT Platinum Edition. When I installed the new Omega Drivers for the card, I could get into Windows and use 1600x1200, but when I would right click, the menus would take about 10 seconds to load and would lag as if it couldn't handle the fade effect.

I ended up doing a system restore, and let Windows install the drivers it wanted, and the card is working fine however, while looking for a fix, I came across DH Zeropoint and the NGO drivers. I tried to install those hoping they would fix the problem, but I came across the same problem everytime. I've always known the Omega drivers give better frame rates then ATi's drivers, but now I want to try these new NGO and Zeropoint drivers to see which gives me the best results. The problem is I'm honestly afraid to install them because I don't want this problem to come back. For as long as I've been using ATi cards, its been my experience that if you have the drivers working, don't try to fix them, and thats basically what I'm doing at the moment.

Does anyone know a way to avoid this from happening so I can play around with better drivers?


Second problem:
Once I got the new card working, Windows found two new devices, both labeled as "Unknown Device." I'm positive this is something that came with the new card, but I don't know what to install for them. I doubt they're going to cause any problems, I just don't like seeing question marks in the device manager. Any idea what to install for these?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Dyre Straits

Greetings and welcome to Driverheaven!

First of all we'll tackle the second problem: The Unknown Devices are related to the WDM drivers. As Omega states, you have to download the correct set from ATi for the driver version you're using. Install those and the U/Ds should disappear.

Now for the first problem: Are you using the Windows default settings for your Desktop display? If you are using the Windows default settings, I highly recommend that you make some changes so that your system is set to PERFORMANCE and not something else.

Here's how to make those changes....if you don't know already.

Right click on the My Computer icon.

Select Properties

Click on the Advanced tab

Under Performance, click the Settings button

Now, click on the Adjust for best performance
(This will streamline the overall appearance of the Desktop and you won't have such a fancy looking one, but, you'll have a better performing one....no fading stuff. )

But, we're not done yet.

After you set the above adjustment, click on the Advanced tab...next to Visual Effects

Make sure Programs is checked in both options.

Now, if you're prompted to restart, do so.

See if things work better now.

Good luck!

EtherBoo

By correct set, you mean the drivers from ATi before I re-install the omega/zeropoint/NGO drivers? I'll try this when I get home from work (6ish)

I'd like to keep the fade effect, but its not just the fade effect. I've had this happen before when upgrading drivers (forgot how I fixed it) and the system becomes almost unusable. Web pages don't scroll smoothly, games won't start (forgot the error). It almost feels like I took a machine designed for Win95 A, upgraded the parts enough to run WinXP, and tried to get performance out of it.

I think its a Direct X problem. I seem to remember fixing this in the past by doing something with Direct X, but I can't remember what. I tried playing around with DX Diag, but that didn't work, so I'm just glad a system restore did.

Dyre Straits

What I mean by 'correct set' is that, if you're using a version drivers -- modded or official -- you need the same WDM for that same version. The WDM drivers will be found on the ATI site on the same page as the version of drivers you're using. You may need to go to the older drivers page to find them if you're not using the most current ones.

To get to any previous drivers check this image to see how:






What may be happening when you upgrade drivers is that the motherboard/chipset drivers are getting messed up.

So, try reinstalling the motherboard/chipset drivers for your system.

Have you gotten the latest DirectX from June? There was a release around the end of the month. If you do have the latest, you can try reinstalling DirectX, too.

As for keeping the default look of XP: That's a personal choice. The only thing is is that it does use resources that could be used for performance.

kn00tcn

check dxdiag's display tab if acceleration is on...