Windows protection error casued by display adapter?

[fmcchris]

Hi,

Dell Dimension 4100
Windows Me
Pentium III
128 MB RAM
80 GB hard drive
Opitiquest Q9 flat panel display
ATI Rage 128 Pro display adapter

Recently, my computer screen displays horizontal lines that go away when I reboot. This happens maybe once every few weeks. I believe this is due to my display adapter card. I updated the driver and reseated the card but the problem has not been rectified. However, I am now getting a "Windows protection error. System halted"  error message every time I shut down. I notice that my mouse cursor now always has an hourglass icon next to it and my computer's clock seems to be slowing down as the computer becomes more and more sluggish. Could this all be due to the failing display adapter card? I tried all the diagnostic procedures that Microsoft recommends regarding the windows protection error issue but nothing works. Any advice would be most appreciated. Thank you!

[patio]

It is very possible all these issues are related. And you have taken the correct steps so far diagnosing by re-seating the card and updating drivers.

Unfortunately there really is no accurate way to determine vid card failure.

Do you know someone you can borrow a known good card from for a short while ? ?

If so i would try that...if the symptoms go away then the card is failing.

Some local computer shops will do this once you establish a business rapport with them.

[fmcchris]

Thank you for your help patio. I have a friend who can sell me an adapter card for next to nothing. I am going to go ahead and replace the card. I will post my results here shortly.

[patio]

You're welcome. Let us know how you get on.

[fmcchris]

The "new" ATI Rage Pro video card I installed was not listed in my Device Manager, so it's useless to me. Even so, the mouse arrow still has the hourglass icon next to it and when I shut down I still get the Windows Protection Error message. The longer the computer is on, the slower it operates until after about an hour or so, I am forced to reboot.

It would seem that the video card is not the source of the problem. Any ideas anyone? Thank you!

[patio]

Did you install drivers for the "new" card and un-install the old ones ? ?

They may not be identical even though they are both ATI rages...

[fmcchris]

Hi Patio,

I am not sure how to install drivers for the "new" card. I only got the video card, nothing else. How would I do that? I did not uninstall the old drivers. Again, I'm not sure how to do that. I know that the cards are, in fact, not identical.

After I installed the "new" card, the computer used the generic video card and the "new" card was not listed in the Device Manager. If it's not listed, how can I possibly install drivers for it? Any advice would be appriciated. Thanks!

[patio]

DLoad install and run Everest Home...generate a report and save it to a text file...cut copy and paste the section related to video here and we'll track down your drivers.

[fmcchris]

Hi Patio,

FYI, I contacted my friend who sold me the used ATI Rage Pro video card and told him that my computer did not recognize the new hardware. He told me that it was probably because the card was not plug and play. He told me to install the card using the "Add New Hardware" wizard, which I did. Even so, Windows did not recognize the video card.

Here is the report you requested and thank you for your help:

[ ATI Rage 128 PRO ]

    Video Adapter Properties:
      Device Description                                ATI Rage 128 PRO
      Installed Drivers                                 ATI_DRAA.DRV

    Video Adapter Manufacturer:
      Company Name                                      ATI Technologies Inc.
      Product Information                               http://www.ati.com/products/gamer.html
      Driver Download                                   http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html


--------[ PCI / AGP Video ]---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    ATI Rage128 Pro AGP4X TMDS                                                        Video Adapter
    ATI Rage128 Pro                                                                   3D Accelerator


--------[ GPU ]---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  [ AGP 4x: ATI Rage128 Pro AGP4X TMDS ]

    Graphics Processor Properties:
      Video Adapter                                     ATI Rage128 Pro AGP4X TMDS
      GPU Code Name                                     Rage128Pro
      PCI Device                                        1002 / 5046
      Bus Type                                          AGP 4x @ 4x
      Memory Size                                       16 MB
      GPU Clock                                         125 MHz  (original: 125 MHz)
      Pixel Pipelines                                   2
      TMU Per Pipeline                                  1
      Vertex Shaders                                    Not Supported
      Pixel Shaders                                     Not Supported
      DirectX Hardware Support                          DirectX v6.0
      Pixel Fillrate                                    250 MPixel/s
      Texel Fillrate                                    250 MTexel/s

    Memory Bus Properties:
      Bus Type                                          SDR
      Bus Width                                         128-bit
      Real Clock                                        142 MHz  (original: 143 MHz)
      Effective Clock                                   142 MHz
      Bandwidth                                         2272 MB/s

    Graphics Processor Manufacturer:
      Company Name                                      ATI Technologies Inc.
      Product Information                               http://www.ati.com/products/gamer.html
      Driver Download                                   http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html

    ATI GPU Registers:
      ati-00F8                                          01000000
      ati-0140                                          C0004300
      ati-0144                                          0000D55A
      ati-0148                                          00320102
      ati-0154                                          10408408
      ati-0158                                          00310031
      ati-0178                                          02000000
      ati-01C0                                          00000000
      ati-4018                                          FFFFFFFF
      ati-CLKIND-0A                                     007B461D
      ati-CLKIND-0B                                     00008D00
      ati-CLKIND-0C                                     000C000C
      ati-CLKIND-0D                                     00004481
      ati-CLKIND-0E                                     00008D00
      ati-CLKIND-0F                                     00000002
      ati-CLKIND-12                                     00000404
      ati-MCIND-6C                                      00000000

[patio]

Here Ya Go

It's the second DLoad listed on the page...make sure to grab the release notes as well underneath the link.

[fmcchris]

Hi Patio,

Please clarify. The "second" download on the page is for the ATI Rage Fury Maxx. Why would I download those drivers when I have an ATI Rage 120 Pro video card? Thanks!

[patio]

Because the page layout is screwed up...the second one down is actually for the Maxx...It looks like it's the third one down from the top...

I just confirmed this by DLoading and looking at it ...it IS the 3rd one.

[fmcchris]

Thanks for the help. However, when I try to install the driver I get the following message:

"This display driver is not compatible with the display adapter installed on your system."

I unistalled the previous version of Rage Pro in "Add/Remove Programs" (per instructions on the "Release Notes") but when I restarted my computer, the "ATI Display Driver" was still listed in the "Add/Remove Programs" list. It should have been removed, but it wasn't. I don't understand why. Also, I don't understand why my computer did not recognize the "new" video card I installed yesterday as new hardware. Thanks!

[patio]

Isn't there more than one driver in that DLoad ? ?
Expand the folder labeled WinME and double-click that setup file...

[fmcchris]

Hi Patio,

No, there is only one driver in the download and it is not compatible with my display adapter. I checked the Word file in the "wme-j5-30-1-b02" folder and it specifically states "driver" not "drivers".