That's a darn shame. I hope when I get my M9 I won't get any "blue screens of death". I don't get any my desktop and I never got any on my 5100 with the 7500. I think the graphics look nice with a nice video card. Especially running at 1600x1200 with details at high. I know that the M9 won't run at that resolution, but I was hoping it would look and run good with the details at high.
Here are the detailed instructions for installing catalyst drivers.... I hope you're ready...
CONTROL PANEL INSTALL
First, download the drivers and execute the executable you get. (These instructions are for use with the all in one drivers that are about 25 megs.) It will unzip the files by default to 'C:\ATI'. Then it will figure out you have a mobile card and bail. Navigate to C:\ATI\SUPPORT\WXP-W2K-CATALYST-7-97-031212A-0131118C\CPANEL\ and run Setup.exe. This will install the control panel.
DRIVER INSTALL
Do the above procedure, but if you want, you don't have to run setup.exe andnstall the control panel. Make a temporary directory somewhere on your hard drive. Navigate to 'C:\ATI\SUPPORT\WXP-W2K-CATALYST-7-97-031212A-0131118C\DRIVER\2KXP_INF\B_12919\' and copy the files in that directory to your temporary directory. The files in the temp directory are backups, just because I'm careful like that. Now, go back to the first directory, (not the temp directory), and rename all of the files with a '.dl_' extension to '.dll', all the '.ex_' files to '.exe' and 'sy_' files to '.sys'.
Now right click on 'My Computer', select 'Properties', click on the 'Hardware' tab at the top, then click the 'Device Manager' button. This should bring up your device manager. Look for the 'Display adapters' entry, and click the '+' button next to it. It should list something like 'ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9000'. Right click on that entry, and select 'Update Driver...'. This should bring up a wizard to help you install a new driver. Select the 'Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)' radio button, and click 'Next'. Then select the 'Don't search. I will choose the driver to install.' radio button and click next. It should bring up a list of drivers you have installed for your video card. Click the 'Have Disk...' button and navigate to 'C:\ATI\SUPPORT\WXP-W2K-CATALYST-7-97-031212A-0131118C\DRIVER\2KXP_INF\'. Then select the file 'C2_13118.INF' and click open. It should go back the the 'Install From Disk' dialog box, and should have the path of that file in a little box. Push the 'Ok' button and now you should have a big ugly list of ATI display drivers.
If you scroll through this list, you will see there are a number of RADEON 9000 drivers. The ones I've used are the 'RADEON 9000 SERIES' drivers. The Radeon 9000 Pro drivers are for the 'Pro' version of the card and are slightly different. (They might work, but I wouldn't bet on it, or try it for fear of goofing something up.) I have also used the 'RADEON 9000 SERIES - Secondary' drivers. Both seem to work equally well. After you've choosen one, hit the 'Next' button, and it should install the driver and ask you to restart your computer.
Now, a few notes on the difference between the Radeon 9000 and Mobility Radeon 9000 cards. The Mobility verson should have an identical GPU or a GPU that is really close to the desktop GPU. (tomshardware.com) There for the drivers should work pretty well. However, there is a power saving feature on the mobility version (Powerplay), may need drivers that are designed for it. (I'm just supposing they do, but it may work just fine with just regular catalyst drivers.) Also, the way the GPU is set up on the graphics card in relation to memory and other things may and probably does have an impact on the driver performance.
Personally, I use the regular drivers that Dell provides, even though they are slightly older, just because something is done to the catalyst drivers that ATI doesn't want to support. (That is why on ATI's site they refer you back to the notebook maker.) Of course, the newer drivers may fix some of the problems you guys are having. All I can say in that regard is good luck. I hope this helps.
If you are interested, this web site has some details about the 64 meg M9 that you might like.
Whenever I want to know something about hardware, I check tomshardware.com first. (I'm not getting paid.) When I built computers for a living, I was required to read the reviews posted there to keep up-to-date with the technology and know which cards/cpus/memory sticks/notebooks were better than the others and why. There's lots of interesting stuff there, including just enough details and specs to be interesting, but still understandable to nearly any average person.
Jon - What detail settings are you using in Halo? (Also, what are your ATI control panel settings, e.g. smoothshader, anisotropic filtering, texture detail, clock speed, etc.) I can barely get Halo to run in 640x480 with details (in the game) turned up to high.
Edited:
I actually take that back. The game is playable with the settings in the game turned on high in 640x480. If I go to 800x600, I actually am alright, but when a bunch of bad guys show up, lots of polygons need to be rendered and I start getting around 1-2 fps, and the game is a mess.
What I don't get is UT2003, Army Ops, NOLF 2, and a bunch of other games run fine and really fast with high settings. (I run UT2003 in 1024x768 mode with all game settings on normal, and world textures on highest, and I never dip below 25 fps, usually doing about 50 fps.) I guess HALO is just made for an Xbox running a TV resolution, and the programmers didn't bother to optimize the code cause it ran fine on the Xbox.
Ok I just want to make sure I'm not missing something. I didn't have to do anything this deep to install ATI drivers. I just got the catalyst drivers from ATI... uninstalled the old 7500 drivers and installed these new ones.. thats it. Why go through all this trouble? is there some significant performance increase without overclocking?
about halo i turned the particles to low coz your our card is just not fast enough to render those in high detail and is not really needed to make it look good..... mine is a p4 2.8 and i use a lil prog called Hare that puts all the processor power into a games when loaded and it really helps out.
unreal 2003 runs gorgeous and fast at High settings and im finally able to run deus ex: invisible war that wasnt supported by my 32mb radeon 7500. it even plays at 1024x768!!!!!!!!!!
im sure its all because the direct X support of this card.
to find out the fastest core speed the card takes u can use a proggie called ati_tool i posted a link a couple pages back.......... it sets it up and runs on that core speed when loaded, you can make it load on the boot up too so its pretty neat and handy.
hare is not free but u can try it out then i think is 14 bucks try it to see if you like it and works for you... makes your comp run on an 88 bit kernel instead of 64 so it really helps the oldest comps and improved my 3d mark and pc mark scores a lot... even with the old 32mb radeon 7500
to o.c. the cpu theres a couple of dos applications that patch/flash your bios info when you restart and go to bios you can see the processor running at the speed you specified... i dunno what are safest core speeds mine has been cool for 5 months now....
i dont remember the proggie name, sorry... but a google search will do
Well...it is here and installed (thanks to all for the directions) the M9000 works (after installing drivers, thanks to dhmod) and my sports games are so much better than I thought they would be. FIFA 04 and Madden 04 are so slick and beautiful now. Thanks once again to all!!
mherald
7 Posts
0
February 3rd, 2004 17:00
jonathanmujica
15 Posts
0
February 3rd, 2004 18:00
Jared123
41 Posts
0
February 4th, 2004 00:00
Here are the detailed instructions for installing catalyst drivers.... I hope you're ready...
CONTROL PANEL INSTALL
First, download the drivers and execute the executable you get. (These instructions are for use with the all in one drivers that are about 25 megs.) It will unzip the files by default to 'C:\ATI'. Then it will figure out you have a mobile card and bail. Navigate to C:\ATI\SUPPORT\WXP-W2K-CATALYST-7-97-031212A-0131118C\CPANEL\ and run Setup.exe. This will install the control panel.
DRIVER INSTALL
Do the above procedure, but if you want, you don't have to run setup.exe andnstall the control panel. Make a temporary directory somewhere on your hard drive. Navigate to 'C:\ATI\SUPPORT\WXP-W2K-CATALYST-7-97-031212A-0131118C\DRIVER\2KXP_INF\B_12919\' and copy the files in that directory to your temporary directory. The files in the temp directory are backups, just because I'm careful like that. Now, go back to the first directory, (not the temp directory), and rename all of the files with a '.dl_' extension to '.dll', all the '.ex_' files to '.exe' and 'sy_' files to '.sys'.
Now right click on 'My Computer', select 'Properties', click on the 'Hardware' tab at the top, then click the 'Device Manager' button. This should bring up your device manager. Look for the 'Display adapters' entry, and click the '+' button next to it. It should list something like 'ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9000'. Right click on that entry, and select 'Update Driver...'. This should bring up a wizard to help you install a new driver. Select the 'Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)' radio button, and click 'Next'. Then select the 'Don't search. I will choose the driver to install.' radio button and click next. It should bring up a list of drivers you have installed for your video card. Click the 'Have Disk...' button and navigate to 'C:\ATI\SUPPORT\WXP-W2K-CATALYST-7-97-031212A-0131118C\DRIVER\2KXP_INF\'. Then select the file 'C2_13118.INF' and click open. It should go back the the 'Install From Disk' dialog box, and should have the path of that file in a little box. Push the 'Ok' button and now you should have a big ugly list of ATI display drivers.
If you scroll through this list, you will see there are a number of RADEON 9000 drivers. The ones I've used are the 'RADEON 9000 SERIES' drivers. The Radeon 9000 Pro drivers are for the 'Pro' version of the card and are slightly different. (They might work, but I wouldn't bet on it, or try it for fear of goofing something up.) I have also used the 'RADEON 9000 SERIES - Secondary' drivers. Both seem to work equally well. After you've choosen one, hit the 'Next' button, and it should install the driver and ask you to restart your computer.
Now, a few notes on the difference between the Radeon 9000 and Mobility Radeon 9000 cards. The Mobility verson should have an identical GPU or a GPU that is really close to the desktop GPU. (tomshardware.com) There for the drivers should work pretty well. However, there is a power saving feature on the mobility version (Powerplay), may need drivers that are designed for it. (I'm just supposing they do, but it may work just fine with just regular catalyst drivers.) Also, the way the GPU is set up on the graphics card in relation to memory and other things may and probably does have an impact on the driver performance.
Personally, I use the regular drivers that Dell provides, even though they are slightly older, just because something is done to the catalyst drivers that ATI doesn't want to support. (That is why on ATI's site they refer you back to the notebook maker.) Of course, the newer drivers may fix some of the problems you guys are having. All I can say in that regard is good luck. I hope this helps.
If you are interested, this web site has some details about the 64 meg M9 that you might like.
http://www.tomshardware.com/mobile/20020829/index.html
Whenever I want to know something about hardware, I check tomshardware.com first. (I'm not getting paid.) When I built computers for a living, I was required to read the reviews posted there to keep up-to-date with the technology and know which cards/cpus/memory sticks/notebooks were better than the others and why. There's lots of interesting stuff there, including just enough details and specs to be interesting, but still understandable to nearly any average person.
Message Edited by Jared123 on 02-03-2004 08:52 PM
jonathanmujica
15 Posts
0
February 4th, 2004 01:00
halo looks fantastic in 800x600 all yes and max res although im overclocking the m9
much much improvement from oc m7
knights of the old republic and fifa2004 are amazing looking too
its like im playing them for the 1st time again :D
thanks to everyone that made this possible by researching the 5100
Uncle Hulka
3 Posts
0
February 4th, 2004 01:00
jonathanmujica,
I am mainly going through this because of my passion for FIFA 04...glad to hear it works well for you...can't wait...my card is on the way!
Cheers!
Jared123
41 Posts
0
February 4th, 2004 02:00
Jon - What detail settings are you using in Halo? (Also, what are your ATI control panel settings, e.g. smoothshader, anisotropic filtering, texture detail, clock speed, etc.) I can barely get Halo to run in 640x480 with details (in the game) turned up to high.
Edited:
I actually take that back. The game is playable with the settings in the game turned on high in 640x480. If I go to 800x600, I actually am alright, but when a bunch of bad guys show up, lots of polygons need to be rendered and I start getting around 1-2 fps, and the game is a mess.
What I don't get is UT2003, Army Ops, NOLF 2, and a bunch of other games run fine and really fast with high settings. (I run UT2003 in 1024x768 mode with all game settings on normal, and world textures on highest, and I never dip below 25 fps, usually doing about 50 fps.) I guess HALO is just made for an Xbox running a TV resolution, and the programmers didn't bother to optimize the code cause it ran fine on the Xbox.
Message Edited by Jared123 on 02-03-2004 10:33 PM
Absynth
106 Posts
0
February 4th, 2004 04:00
Ok I just want to make sure I'm not missing something. I didn't have to do anything this deep to install ATI drivers. I just got the catalyst drivers from ATI... uninstalled the old 7500 drivers and installed these new ones.. thats it. Why go through all this trouble? is there some significant performance increase without overclocking?
mikers85
243 Posts
0
February 4th, 2004 15:00
jonathanmujica
15 Posts
0
February 4th, 2004 15:00
about halo i turned the particles to low coz your our card is just not fast enough to render those in high detail and is not really needed to make it look good..... mine is a p4 2.8 and i use a lil prog called Hare that puts all the processor power into a games when loaded and it really helps out.
unreal 2003 runs gorgeous and fast at High settings and im finally able to run deus ex: invisible war that wasnt supported by my 32mb radeon 7500. it even plays at 1024x768!!!!!!!!!!
im sure its all because the direct X support of this card.
to find out the fastest core speed the card takes u can use a proggie called ati_tool i posted a link a couple pages back.......... it sets it up and runs on that core speed when loaded, you can make it load on the boot up too so its pretty neat and handy.
zettahertz
59 Posts
0
February 4th, 2004 16:00
how'd u overclock the CPU, jonathanmujica? The BIOS doesn't have any settings.
jonathanmujica
15 Posts
0
February 4th, 2004 17:00
hare is not free but u can try it out then i think is 14 bucks try it to see if you like it and works for you... makes your comp run on an 88 bit kernel instead of 64 so it really helps the oldest comps and improved my 3d mark and pc mark scores a lot... even with the old 32mb radeon 7500
to o.c. the cpu theres a couple of dos applications that patch/flash your bios info when you restart and go to bios you can see the processor running at the speed you specified... i dunno what are safest core speeds mine has been cool for 5 months now....
i dont remember the proggie name, sorry... but a google search will do
UWguy
50 Posts
0
February 4th, 2004 19:00
Uncle Hulka
3 Posts
0
February 5th, 2004 00:00
Well...it is here and installed (thanks to all for the directions) the M9000 works (after installing drivers, thanks to dhmod) and my sports games are so much better than I thought they would be. FIFA 04 and Madden 04 are so slick and beautiful now. Thanks once again to all!!
5100
2.4 Ghz
768 Megs Ram
64 mb ati M9000
A28 BIOS
mikers85
243 Posts
0
February 5th, 2004 18:00
zettahertz
59 Posts
0
February 5th, 2004 19:00
This is where Hare is found along w/ other utilities.
http://www.dachshundsoftware.com/index.html
I dunno how to find the CPU overclocking patch! ><
Dunno wat exactly to type in google to search. Gives me a lot of junk that doesn't relate to it.