Best Radeon 8500 drivers?

[somunny]

Hi all,

I'm setting up a pc for my cabinet and am having a Hell of a time finding a stable driver package for my Radeon 8500.

So far I've tried the stock Win XP drivers, the Catalyst 4.7 and, currently, the Catalyst 4.1.

So far, the 4.1 seems to be the most stable, though I still get temporary lock-ups and corrupted screen text (have to re-boot to fix that).

Anyone else had a rough time with this card?  Any tips?

Here's my setup:

Athlon XP 2700+
ECS  K7VTA3 Mobo
512Mb PC2700 ram
ATI Radeon 8500 128
Windows XP Pro (Fully updated)

Nothing is overclocked and, as far as I know, heat shouldn't be an issue as all the fans are spinning away.

Thanks!

Coop

[8bit]

you got all that for just the arcade cabinet....    damn.

That doesnt sound like a diver issue to me.  Is it showing a blue screen saying "dumping physical memory" ??

[somunny]

Total price on the hardware was under 200 bucks.  I love Fry's and ebay!

Anyway, I thought that maybe the card was bad until I found a error log that XP recorded saying that it "thought" that a driver problem was to blame.

Unfortunately, I don't have another card on hand to swap out.

Coop

[8bit]

but explain what these lock ups are.  Have you tried ruling out other things aside from the drivers.

[somunny]

The main problem I'm experiencing is corrupted text.  All screen text becomes garbled and illegible.  Sometimes the ATI software is able to recover.  The screen goes black for a second and when the picture returns all is fine again.  However, sometimes the computer simply loccks up after a few seconds after the text problem appears and needs a reboot to return to normal.

Because I began by installing the newest drivers, I initially thought it was the card itself.  I have since read that the 8500 is plagued with driver instabilities.  I thought I'd post a question here since this seems to be a popular card choice on this site.

Coop

[Witchboard]

Do you have an ATI AIW?  Do you have a "built by" or "powered by" ATI card?  I got a built by 8500 (not AIW) I bought off eBay for about 40 bucks and it's been running rock solid using the 6.14.10.6444 drivers on Win2K. <knocks on wood>

Something you may want to check is your fan on your card.  If it's not spinning properly the card could be overheating and this could be the cause of your odd text and screen tearing.

[Jakobud]

Hey man, do yourself a simple test.  Open up the side of your case and aim a big fan into the open case.  Then go back and turn on the machine and do whatever and see if you get any problems.  If you don't, then you know you have an overheating issue...

[somunny]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

It's a "built by ATI" card.  Non AIW.  The fan is definitely spinning and though I have been running it with the side cover off, I haven't gone so far as to aim a fan in there.  I'll give it a shot.

Witchboard:

I have the pc at work right now, but tomorrow I'll check the drivers that you're using.  Thanks for the info.  I'll report the results.

Coop

[somunny]

Here's a copy of the error log:

Server=watson.microsoft.com
UI LCID=1033
Flags=98610
Brand=WINDOWS
TitleName=Microsoft Windows
DigPidRegPath=HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DigitalProductId
RegSubPath=Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting\DW
ErrorText=The driver for the display device was unable to complete a drawing operation. Please check with the device manufacturer for a driver update.
HeaderText=Computer restarted after an unexpected shutdown. Microsoft Windows detected a possible device failure.
Plea=The display driver for RADEON 8500/RADEON 8500LE (Microsoft Corporation) seems to be responsible for the system instability.
Stage1URL=
Stage1URL=/StageOne/Drivers_Display/1002514C00003A1002/ati2dvag_dll/6_13_10_6153/AB1506EA.htm
Stage2URL=
Stage2URL=/dw/StageTwo.asp?szAppName=Drivers.Display&szAppVer=1002514C00003A1002&szModName=ati2dvag.dll&szModVer=6.13.10.6153&Offset=AB1506EA
DataFiles=C:\WINDOWS\LogFiles\Watchdog\040804_1152_01.wdl
ErrorSubPath=\Drivers.Display\1002514C00003A1002\ati2dvag.dll\6.13.10.6153\AB1506EA

The last line contains my driver version.

Coop

[somunny]

Witchboard:

Changed the driver from the Catalyst 4.1 to 4.5.  The computer is running *much* more stable now.  Still not perfect, but a great improvement.

Fortunately the glitches don't seem to affect MAME or Daphne at all while they're running.

Coop

[Witchboard]

Glad to hear it.  Hopefully you can get the last few problems ironed out.  What's the error log from?  Blue Screen from XP?

[somunny]

I found the error log in a temp file under the Windows root, iirc.  There haven't been any blue screens associated with this problem, luckily.

Coop

[Witchboard]

Is this XP home or Pro?

Edit: Nevermind.. you said Pro in your first post.