updating radeon 8500 drivers

I just got the ATI radeon 8500 from CompUSA this past weekend and installed it. For some reason, after installing the initial drivers from the included cd, I tried installing the updated Catalyst drivers and it hangs after the Win2k Pro login screen.

Is there another way of updating the drivers and eliminating the hanging after restart??

There are no conflicts and nothing is overheating. I recently picked up a new pc case with a larger power supply and extra case fans. I also completely removed all registry keys, Nvidia drivers and anything in reference to Nvidia.

The driver file you downloaded could be corrupt, try these:

Here:

uh, those drivers are only for Win9x and ME. I'm running Win2k Pro with SP2.

oooops you did post your O/S....

I asssume you got the driver from Here

Did you install DirectX 8.1???

A good Installation Guide

Here

You didn't post your specs, except W2K, did you go thru the FAQ at ATI:

Here

Adjust the AGP Aperture Size setting in the motherboard CMOS setup. A different graphics card will be required to enter into the CMOS setup. For most motherboards, the BIOS defaults to a 64MB Aperture Size. A larger aperture size may need to be used.

Hope this helps, if not someone that knows more then I bout these cards will be along.

I downloaded the Catalyst 2.2 drivers from the Built by ATI section and tried installing those, but I get the "zero display device error" popup window after installation. I'd then have to go into safe mode to uninstall the drivers and then reinstall from the driver cd.

Would installing the 6071 pre-catalyst drivers do the trick??

I would try the Apr version. If it doesn't work then you can uninstall in Safe Mode.

What version of Direct X do you have???

I'm running DirectX 8.1b

what is the Apr version?? I'm going to try the 6107 and the 6118 versions and see if it makes a difference.

RADEON 8500/RADEON 8500LE Previous Windows 2000 Display Driver versions:

Version 5.13.01.6071
7.70-020418M-003815C
05/09/2002


Version 5.13.01.6043
7.68-020313M-003196C
04/11/2002

Don't understand why the Catalyst 2.2 drivers don't work, the hanging is obviously caused by a hardware conflict after installation.

The card worked with the drivers on the CD that came with I guess, just trying to update causes the hanging.

After uninstalling the drivers that came with the card. Set it to standard VGA before trying the updated drivers.

This might work.

are the 5.13.01.3286 drivers really old?? I got them from a Radeon fan's site which he tweaked. I didn't really notice a considerable difference aside from the ones installed from the cd.

Would the 6071 drivers be faster than the 3286 drivers?? I've read from one of the Rage forums that the 6071 drivers are pretty stable.

What is the proper way to update radeon 8500 drivers?? uninstalling from control panel and deleting registry keys??

Well I am by far an expert on Video Cards, and have never used a Radeon (but getting ready to buy one).

When I install a new video card here is what I do and have never had a problem.

1. Uninstall the current driver (thru Add/Remove Program -if installed that way) -otherwise in DEVICE MANGER I remove it.

2. Do a search for the inf files for the card I uninstalled and remove them

3. Like you to be sure run thru the regostry and delete all reference to the card.

4. Go back and install the Standard VGA driver

5. Now I reboot and it normally boots with the standard VGA driver.

(If you don't remove references and reboot windows will find it again and reinstall the driver)

6. Install the software for the new driver if required or thru DEVICE MANAGER, update VGA driver and install the new drivers

7. Reboot.

I'm not sure on the speed, but know there are plenty of boards out there on Video Cards. One that I have frequent is:

EIO

AND

Sysopt

hey Murf,

thanx for all your help. I evidently returned my Radeon 8500 128 from CompUSA and went with a gf4 card since I never had problems with my old gf2. Only a few people have had success with the new Catalyst drivers or updating previous drivers. I've tried all venues of how to uninstall current drivers and to install the newer drivers/software....going into the registry and deleting ATI Technologies as well as inserting ati*.* at the find page to delete all references/drivers of Ati.

Radeon does have good dvd display, but they're driver support is terrible!

Will keep that in mind as I am looking at a 7500, 64MB...

Thanks for letting us know.

if you do get a Radeon 7500, see if you can download the Catalyst 2.1 drivers or see about installing the pre-catalyst drivers like the 6118 or 6071 drivers. Most people seem to have problems with the latest 2.2 Catalyst drivers.