As an Sapphire X1950 pro 512 AGP video card owner, I always try to install the latest drivers from ATI to have an up to date system to work and play with. The past 4 months have been quite frustrating for me because since the 7.7 version, Catalyst drivers on Windows, even if they install fine, does not seems to work at all and fail every DirectX tests.
This seems to be a common issue for the NForce2 chipset owner. I have an ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe.
Here is my setup
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ASUS A7n8X-E Deluxe, latest BIOS 1013
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2 Gb Ram (Dual Channel)
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Athlon XP 3000+ (core Barton)
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Sapphire X1950 Pro 512 AGP
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NVidia Nforce drivers version 5.11
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AGP Texture Size : 128
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Other BIOS settings are ‘regular’, no overclocking, no custom timings.
Right now, only the 7.7 drivers have been working fine with my system.
I have decided to compile here some searches I have made to solve this issue and I hope they will work also for me.
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They are some issues with Catalyst 7.9 and maybe 7.10 so, try those tricks with the latest versions 7.12
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If you have an NVIDIA NForce 2 chipset and have the latest 5.11 chipset drivers installed, try uninstall them and install the previous one (the 5.10 I guess) instead. Some user recommand to not install IDE and/or GART drivers. Then install the 7.12 and see if DirectX diags work this time
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Some users have reported that replacing some files may also help:
– Install the 7.7 working drivers
– Locate and copy somewhere the file ati3duag.dll (and also the ati3d1ag.dll) somewhere on your disk
– Remove the 7.7 drivers
– Install the 7.12 drivers
– Go in Safe Mode, then overwrite the existing file with the one that you have just get from previous 7.7 drivers installation
– Restart and see if DXDiag works this time -
Some users have reported that settings the AGP Texture Size from 128 to 256 seems to have resolved the issue.
Also, you can test alertnate ATI drivers like the one provided by Omega, see here for download.
I have not tested myself those tricks but I will and I will post the result here.
And for Linux now?
Well I have tested the 7.12 on my OpenSuse 10.3 installation and do a very basic installation. I even deleted the existing xorg.conf in case of, ran a sax2 -a to have a blank, working xorg.conf file, runs then sax2 -r -m 0=fglrx and … they do not work right now: sax2 display a black screen after starting a X server and I need to reboot to have access to my system.
Ok, I will test again and spend more time on the 7.12 driver installation on Linux and I soon as I have a working solution, I will post it here.
Stay tuned.
Update (24.12.2007)
Well, the trick to install previous nforce chipset drivers was not working (at last) for me… I will test the AGP Texture Size and the file replacement trick soon and let you know about the result.
Filed under: Linux, Windows, catalyst 7.12, nforce2, opensuse 10.3, windows xp, x1950 pro agp
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