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pkeyrich

81 Posts

12016

October 31st, 2004 01:00

Windows XP w/SP2 and ATI Radeon 9600 drivers corrupt OS

Dell's A04 video drivers for the ATI Radeon 9600 series for my Inspiron 8600 with BIOS A10 or A11 installed results in Windows XP Pro w/SP2 requiring a reinstall after the drivers are loaded.
 
 
I am not able to install the BIOS update for the video card because the card's drivers must be loaded first, but then I just bought the system a week ago, so the BIOS for the video should have shipped with the current revision.
 
To duplicate this, install the A04 drivers, rebooting when prompted.  If you adjust the font size to large or small, then reboot, you have a trashed OS and will need to reinstall.  The other way I found to trash the system is to go to Control Panel, System, Advanced, Performance, and select Memory Usage, System Cache, and reboot.  That too, trashes the OS so you have to reinstall everything.
 
Apparently the system is sensitive to memory adjustments or video changes.
 
My Inspiron has Bluetooth, Wireless A/B/G, 512MB RAM, Hitachi 60GB HD 7200rpm, the ATI 128mb Radeon 9600 series card, and a DVD Dual Layer burner, all Dell configured.  The BIOS shipped with A10, and I updated it to A11 since it was available.  The OS corruption occurred with both BIOS released.  It also occurred with the factory software and drivers, nothing added.  Switching video modes, font sizes, and system cache, caused the system to fail.
 
My Inspiron passes all the Dell Diagnostics.  Dell has chosen to replace my system with another.  I can't see how that will resolve this very destructive bug!

OneTrickDog

595 Posts

November 1st, 2004 16:00

Are you getting this from the Dell site or the manufacturers? It may be that this is an OEM board that the retail drivers will not work on.

pkeyrich

81 Posts

November 1st, 2004 16:00

I'm using only the Dell drivers from the supplied Resource CD or from the Dell web site, as is specific to the Inspiron 8600.  It really should be problem-free, but is not...  Also, I don't even have to load anything other than the OS and Drivers to have the problem occur.  It seems to be directly related to the video drivers because I can change the fonts from normal to large or set the OS performance options from Programs to System Cache without issue as long as the ATI Radeon 9600 video drivers are not loaded.

pkeyrich

81 Posts

November 9th, 2004 04:00

Dell replaced my laptop with an identical system configuration, and the same thing happens.  I'm sending both back to Dell for research.  It's unacceptable that the system should hose itself just because I switch performance modes from Programs to System Cache.

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