Artifact Problems with 9600PRO

[Bob7317496]

Hello!
Recently, I bought ReconCX's Dataland 9550 card that was modded to a 9600Pro using a BIOS flash. We've been in email correspondence since, but we haven't been able to crack a problem I'm having with it on two different motherboards. I've got a link to a page with screencaps, if you'd like an illustration.

http://members.tripod.com/sounddome/ati.html

The problems are the multiple artifacts seen both in 3d and on the 2d Windows screens (The JPEG makes the problems a little worse than they actually are, but it also makes them more easily visible). I've had this card on two different motherboards with the same results no matter what I try. I've tried lowering the clock speeds of the card and even flashing it back to a compatible 9550, all with no luck, and there's no way it can be overheating with the massive Zalman cooler it has on it. Here are the specs for the systems I've tried, and I would appreciate any suggestions any of you have!

System I need it to work in:
Foxconn VIA KT600 chipset
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (Barton) @ stock speeds
512MB (2x256MB) pc3200 RAM
40GB IDE hard drive
Windows XP Home SP2 with all updates installed

System I also tested it in:
Intel 815 chipset
Coppermine Celeron 1.1Ghz
256MB PC100 RAM
30GB IDE hard drive
Windows XP Professional SP2 with all updates installed

All of my drivers for both motherboards are completely up to date, and I've tried Catalyst drivers 5.6, 5.3, and 4.6 with and without any sort of accompanying control panel with the exact same results any time. The Foxconn board says that it needs a 1.5v card, though I don't think anything incompatible with that has been made in a long time, and the Intel board only has a 4x slot, but the 9600 shouldn't be incompatible with it, right? Windows is still usable (I'm typing this on the Celeron machine), but there are little speckles everywhere I look! Any advice would be great, because if I can't make this work I'm out $60 I didn't really have in the first place!

Thanks!
bob7317496

Email:Bob7317496@yahoo.com
AIM: Bob7317496

EDIT: I also have adequate 400w PSUs in both machines. With the Foxconn board, I uninstalled an old GeForce2MX before putting in the 9600, and the Celeron board had a clean XP install first.

 

[Dippyskoodlez]

try taking the heatsink off then re-attaching it.

if that doesn't work, the card is probably damaged.

 

[ReconCX]

Possible loose heatsink? hmmm i dunno.. that thing is on tight! Bob, be careful while doing that! The thing was never designed to be taken apart again!

Another thing... this may sound crazy... but try installing the card on Windows XP WITHOUT SP2.

 

[Dippyskoodlez]

Possible loose heatsink? hmmm i dunno.. that thing is on tight! Bob, be careful while doing that! The thing was never designed to be taken apart again!

then it was designed too poorly to be used anyways

'less its a hand made CPU->video conversion.. then I can forgive the maker.

 

[ReconCX]

It's the Zalman ZM80D + OP1 fan. It's a mess if you want to remove it.. There's a lot of thermal paste on it.

here's another thing: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=2716&page=1
it's a FAQ I wrote a while back to help people overclock their 9550's. The memory timings you see on the first post is actually my default then changed timings for the Dataland 9550. Not everyone's timings are the same. Try restoring some of them to default and see what happens as well...

 

[Bob7317496]

Tried WinXP Pro SP1 with no updates except for DX9 - same problem.
*VERY CAREFULLY* removed entire Zalman cooler and I think the core looks like it might be damaged... The corner looks like it might have a small chip off of it. I'll throw up a picture when I'm not running late to work, but I think I may have found the problem... :-( It seems possible that that huge cooler may have been jarred during shipping. Once again, I'll throw up a pic to see what everyone thinks tomorrow.

EDIT: Also, when I re-flashed the card to a 9550, wouldn't that have taken the timings back to stock?

 

[Bob7317496]

Here are the promised pictures...

http://sounddome.tripod.com/core.html

Yes, I'm sure that's not leftover thermal grease... I've got cleaner left over from my new computer build to take care of stuff like that. Also, I was extremely careful with the installation/uninstallation of any and all coolers, and I know for a fact that the core wasn't damaged by anything I did.

I also tried this with the Sapphire stock cooler that came with my x700 before I replaced it with a Zalman VF-700, and ran the card just long enough to get into Windows (to avoid any additional damage) and the artifacts are the same. I think core damage is about the only plausible explanation left for these problems... I had a socket 370 processor once that someone decided to install without thermal grease - the heatsink ground the core up a little bit, and from then on the processor worked only in the strictest sense of the word, and was extremely flaky. Let me know what you think!

Bob7317496

 

[ReconCX]

damaged thru shipping? If that's the case, i'm almost tempted never to use USPS again. That thing was completely covered with AS 5. Anybody else got any ideas? I'm starting to run low. Hey, on a test machine, try using windows 2000 if you got a copy instead of xp and see what happens.

 

[OKIGiveIn]

No-one has mentioned your BIOS settings.
I had similar problems with a NVidia card recently on another PC and found changing the settings fixed the problem. Especially Primary VGA BIOS, AGP Capability, Fast Write, Performance Control, etc.

 

[Bob7317496]

Can you tell me exactly what you did? I've still got another day with it before I claim the shipping insurance, and getting it to work would still save me a lot of trouble.

Thanks!

 

[Dippyskoodlez]

damaged thru shipping? If that's the case, i'm almost tempted never to use USPS again. That thing was completely covered with AS 5. Anybody else got any ideas? I'm starting to run low. Hey, on a test machine, try using windows 2000 if you got a copy instead of xp and see what happens.

AS5 is even WORSE for a chipped core!!!

It is capable of being conductive, and with a chipped core, the moving electrons could escape, and possible cause a short..

AS5 is a terrible crack prevention tool of any sort...

but yea.. maybe claim insurance, but looks like the heatsink was tipped a tad, and crushed it which may have been fault of packing..

the chip on the core is definatly gotta be causing the artifacts if different temps arent.

 

[zAAm]

I don't think AS5 is very conductive (Although I'm speaking ENTIRELY under correction Dippyskoodlez, never actually tested it myself (just covering my ass again )), but it is capacitive, which can also cause alot of problems! I agree, I think it just got shifted a bit in transport or handling and because the heatsink was so "tight", I'm not surprised it crushed the core. So I would claim insurance if I were you...

EDIT: Also, if you're interested in the BIOS settings, try turning the performance all the way down. So load fail-safe settings if possible, turn everything necessary back on, and leave fast writes off. I don't know if it would cure your problem, but I guess it's worth a look.

 

[Bob7317496]

I have tried tweaking all of these settings in the ATI control panel and in the motherboard's BIOS without any change. I flashed the card back to a 9550 to take some stress off of the card, and played with AGP speeds, fast writes, and directX and openGL settings (anything could fix it, right?) and still nothing. I'm going to talk to my postmaster tomorrow... I never thought I could be so glad to spend three extra dollars on something... This insurance is going to save my ass.

Thanks for all of your input!

 

[Bob7317496]

This is asking for an opinion - I'm looking on Newegg to spend $50-$60 on a card... I could buy a new Epox 9550 for $55, a refurb ASUS 9550 for about $50 or a refurb Sapphire Atlantis 9600 for $51 or $52. Does anyone have any opinions on any of these three cards/manufacturers, or anything bad to say about overclocking with refurbished products?

If anyone has any other suggestions, I'm looking for an OK-performing DX9 128-bit AGP 8x card to replace an aging GeForce2 MX400 for my little brother (which is why I'm not willing to spend very much, LOL).

Let me know!

 

[OKIGiveIn]

Bob's Prob

Don't know which BIOS you have, but try these for an AGP card.

(Hit Del on startup, or whatever your system uses)

In Chip Configuration
Set Graphics Aperture Size to half your graphics ram - ie if 256 card then set to 128
Set AGP Capability to 8
AGP Drive Strength to Auto
AGP Performance Control Disabled
AGP Fast Write Control Disabled
Video Memory Cache MOde USWC

In PCI Configuration
Primary VGA Bios to AGP VGA Card

Boot Menu
Plug and Play O/S to No (Found that BIOS is more efficient than Windows at PCI settings on most machines)

If any or all of this helps then on next boot get into BIOS again and
Reset Configuration Data Yes

Don't know if this will fix the problem, but it's worth trying before sending it back

Good Luck