Problem with VisionTek HD4870 Install

[bnlitin]

I just tried to install an new VisionTek HD4870 card on an ASUS P5Q Deluxe.
I previously had an eVGA 7900GTO card.

After I installed all the ATI drivers and rebooted, Windows Vista x64 starts booting, but then goes to a blank screen. I can boot the PC in safe mode, but I can't get it to work in normal mode with ATI 4800 driver installed. I can boot into normal mode - but only without HD4870 drivers installed (just plain VGA mode).

Has anyone had a problem like this before? I tried the latest hotfix driver without any success.

 

[Quiksilver]

Try switching DVI ports on the card.

 

[bnlitin]

I tried switching DVI ports, but it made no difference. Do you have any other ideas?

 

[thilanliyan]

Did you remove the NVidia drivers?

 

[bnlitin]

Yes, I unistalled all nVidia drivers and then ran nVidia driver cleaner.

 

[myocardia]

Did you remember to plug in both the 8-pin and 6-pin PCIe power connectors to the card? If so, try unplugging them, and starting over-- one of them may not be fully seated.

 

[lopri]

There was another user having a similar issue with 4870 installation. He had a 7800 GTX on 780i, and when he installed 4870 he only got black screen. (booting sequence took place just fine, just blank/black screen)

He would get the screen back when he pop back in 7800 GTX. I'm afraid that clean OS install may be the least troubling (now and in the future) way.

 

[AmberClad]

Sorry, but this is an issue with the Vista drivers for the 4850/4870. It's a known issue with certain monitors and there is no solution for it until AMD does something about it. Thread in the AMD forums where various people are having this exact issue.

There are two temporary workarounds that should work:
1) Use the monitor with a VGA cable plus that DVI-->VGA adapter than came with the card. (this is the option I'm using at the moment)
2) Use XP.

This isn't solely a Vista x64 issue -- afaik, Vista 32-bit is affected as well.

An explanation of why the problem occurs from an AMD rep:

Some HP (and Dell) LCD monitors dont have the correct EDID info for DVI which can cause problems. ATI drivers expect the EDID to be correct (as it should be and how most monitors are), Nvidia drivers dont care as much (which is part of the problem and lets the monitor hardware makers get away with sloppy crap like this.)

You would need to contact HP and get an EDID update (if there is one) or reprogram the EDID yourself (you REALLY need to know what your doing with this as you can mess it up totally otherwise)

Disabling the extended EDID block should sort it out (the bit that has sound details) all of that block would have to be zeros since that model likes to think it can accept HDMI sound.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: AmberClad
Sorry, but this is an issue with the Vista drivers for the 4850/4870. It's a known issue with certain monitors and there is no solution for it until AMD does something about it. Thread in the AMD forums where various people are having this exact issue.

There are two temporary workarounds that should work:
1) Use the monitor with a VGA cable plus that DVI-->VGA adapter than came with the card. (this is the option I'm using at the moment)
2) Use XP.

This isn't solely a Vista x64 issue -- afaik, Vista 32-bit is affected as well.

An explanation of why the problem occurs from an AMD rep:

Some HP (and Dell) LCD monitors dont have the correct EDID info for DVI which can cause problems. ATI drivers expect the EDID to be correct (as it should be and how most monitors are), Nvidia drivers dont care as much (which is part of the problem and lets the monitor hardware makers get away with sloppy crap like this.)

You would need to contact HP and get an EDID update (if there is one) or reprogram the EDID yourself (you REALLY need to know what your doing with this as you can mess it up totally otherwise)

Disabling the extended EDID block should sort it out (the bit that has sound details) all of that block would have to be zeros since that model likes to think it can accept HDMI sound.

I would try all possbile drivers,ie 8.7 beta even DNA driverrs,side note I'm using Vista x64 with a Gigabyte 4870 and 8.6 hotfix drivers with no issues so yes its probably only certain types of hardware configurations.

You won't have to wait long for the next official 8.7s which should be here within 6 days.End of the day not a lot you can do until AMD fix the problem.

 

[AmberClad]

Yep, I've tried 8.7 beta and the hotfix drivers, with no luck unfortunately (I believe many of the people in that AMD forums thread I linked also tried the various driver versions). You are right though, in that only certain monitor/hardware configs are affected, which is why not everyone is experiencing the problem.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: myocardia
Did you remember to plug in both the 8-pin and 6-pin PCIe power connectors to the card? If so, try unplugging them, and starting over-- one of them may not be fully seated.

All 4870 cards use 2x 6 pin PCI-E connectors.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Mem

Originally posted by: myocardia
Did you remember to plug in both the 8-pin and 6-pin PCIe power connectors to the card? If so, try unplugging them, and starting over-- one of them may not be fully seated.

All 4870 cards use 2x 6 pin PCI-E connectors.

Yep, the 4870s only have 2x 6pin connectors. It was only the 2900XT that had a 6 and an 8, even though the card would still function with 2x 6 pin connectors.

 

[taltamir]

did you try waiting patiently?
Sometimes on the first install of a driver, or major driver change, window will appear frozen or blank or whatever when it first runs... but if you wait a little while it fininshes whatever it is it is doing and boots up... sometimes it even shows some weird text and reboots, (not blue screen, but white text on black screen).

 

[Elfear]

You might try unplugging the power cord to the monitor after you've powered down your rig. Let it sit there for a minute or so and than plug the monitor back in and power your rig back on. That's solved the problem for me sometimes.

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: Elfear
You might try unplugging the power cord to the monitor after you've powered down your rig. Let it sit there for a minute or so and than plug the monitor back in and power your rig back on. That's solved the problem for me sometimes.

It's worked for me on nV cards and two diff LCD's in the past. Try it OP..

 

[bnlitin]

I tried another trick, where I installed the ATI driver but rebooted into Windows in reduced resolution mode. This was reported on the Sapphire forum.

However, it still did not work. Apparently, the problem is the ATI drivers read the programming inside my Dell 2405 FPW monitor and set things incorrectly. nVidia does not rely on these settings so it works fine. Unfortunately, this trick did not work. I will probably be returning this card and replacing it with 260GTX.

 

[Cutthroat]

Originally posted by: SteelSix

Originally posted by: Elfear
You might try unplugging the power cord to the monitor after you've powered down your rig. Let it sit there for a minute or so and than plug the monitor back in and power your rig back on. That's solved the problem for me sometimes.

It's worked for me on nV cards and two diff LCD's in the past. Try it OP..

Has worked for me as well.