Catalyst 3.8

[The PIT]

I've also noticed Divx hardware acceraltion is now also broken.

Anyway I'll wait until I get my soundcard back from creative. Use Ghost to roll back so I've got the drivers installed and see if Divx and Sandra are working again.

[Indiana]

You seem to have a very strangely setup system.
I do not have more than two monitors, nor is DivX hw accel broken (just tested this as I up to now had only watched DVDs and no DivX since I installed the 3.8 - and it does definitely work here), nor do I have problems with SiSoft Sandra...

While there ARE problems with the Catalyst 3.8 on older DX8-class ATI cards (mostly OGL related), they're running fine for most people with DX9-cards.
I'd strongly suggest a fresh clean system setup (and not a maybe also bugged Ghost-image) when you encounter that many strange / random problems...

[Admiral]

I have two display adapters and two monitors showing in device manager, default monitor and F900P. It's been that way ever since I got my Radeon.
Refresh Force gives me a warning that the default monitor driver is still active and that there might be problems with autodetecting modes.
Everything works fine though.

[Gurm]

There's a new Omega driver set based on the leaked Dell post 3.8 drivers. It's very good from what I'm hearing.

- Gurm

[The PIT]

Originally posted by Indiana
You seem to have a very strangely setup system.
I do not have more than two monitors, nor is DivX hw accel broken (just tested this as I up to now had only watched DVDs and no DivX since I installed the 3.8 - and it does definitely word here), nor do I have problems with SiSoft Sandra...

While there ARE problems with the Catalyst 3.8 on older DX8-class ATI cards (mostly OGL related), they're running fine for most people with DX9-cards.
I'd strongly suggest a fresh clean system setup (and not a maybe also bugged Ghost-image) when you encounter that many strange / random problems...

The too many monitor bug was introduced with the 3.7's many have reported it. Even cleaning out the registry only results in four monitors being detected. As I said before at least I haven't got eight a some poor soul.

The last ghost image was a full good working one. Zero problems.

The problem is most likely motherboard related. I don't think it likes running four sticks of memory all that much. At the moment I'm waiting for the return of my soundcard before I do anything else. I do have a spare hard drive which I can use to test clean installs out which I will.

Too be honest who misses sisoft sandra.

[The PIT]

I see Omega also released a version based on the leaked Dell drivers. One of the fixes is the multiple monitors. I'll give them a spin.

[Indiana]

Originally posted by The PIT

To be honest who misses sisoft sandra.

He he, yes. Well, I sometimes do miss a Sandra, but SiSoft is NOT her second name...

[The PIT]

Got to admit this motherboard isn't the most stable of things. I expected trouble when I upgraded as it would only run in slow mode with 533 bus.

At first wouldn't even boot with the 3gig P4. Mmmmm.

[The PIT]

Just trying Omega's drivers.

1) Cures the multiple monitor problem.

2) Sadly the install rountine doesn't seperate out the control panel. Therefore you have to run the whole setup and have dumbfart disable everything. Uninstall the drivers which doesn't remove the control panel. Then do the manual update method.

3) Login seems the same so that fix hasn't worked.

4) The machine seems a little more lively.

5) Sisoft Sandra error is user error.

[Marshmallowman]

I have to a gree the very latest omegas (the leaked one) is very good for me, Halo is quite playable now.

[dbdg]

ATI drivers always seem to reinstall a monitor driver when you reinstall the drivers. This has been happening ever since I can remember, I always clean out the device manager after a driver install. Can't say I haven't noticed them being redected after removing them, still only have two shown (none hidden). Have a two card setup, G200 and 9700Pro on Win2k Pro.

I always get rid of the extra monitors by this method.

Clicky Linky

[UtwigMU]

Apparently (don't know how true this is), cats can burn core or videocard:

http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=67909965&m=2110935095

http://short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4820

WARNING: ATI R300/350/360 USERS SHOULD READ

I've got some distrubing news that, if left unchecked on your system, will severely damage your video card and monitor systems to the point of RMA.

Cards Affected:
All Radeon 9800 XT's
All Radeon 9800 Pro's
All Radeon 9800 Non-Pro's
All Radeon 9700 Pro's soft-modded to 9800 series.
All Radeon 9700 Non-Pro's soft-modded to 9800 series.
All Radeon 9500 Pro's soft modded to 9800 series.
All Radeon 9500's soft modded to 9800 series.

Note: Radeon 9600, 9200, 9100, 9000, 8500 or previous generations are NOT affected by this serious issue.

Software Causing Hardware Failure:
ATI's Catalyst 3.8 Driver Series
OMEGA Catalyst 3.8 Driver Series

1) While we're not quite sure what part of the Catalyst 3.8 drivers are causing this, some part of the driver (whether it's the new VPU Recovery feature, HyperZ Enhancements or the ATI Overclocking software) is causing the core on BBA and OEM Radeon cards that are identified as "RADEON 9800 XT", "RADEON 9800 PRO" and "RADEON 9800" in Windows to have their GPU's overheat by as much as 15*C over normal during 3D graphics sessions. This has caused a number of fans on the Radeon 9800 XT series to fail, allowing the heat to completely destroy the card.

This news is especially important for individuals who performed the 9800 to 9800 Pro BIOS flash and did not include additional cooling on your card, as the GPU is already overclocked and producing more heat than normal.

As a safety precaution, I am strongly encouraging that anyone with any of the affected cards above roll their drivers back to the Omega Catalyst 3.7 drivers or the ATI Catalyst 3.7 drivers, as they are verified not to cause this overheating issue.

I did some testing with my Radeon 9800 NP BIOS-flashed to a 9800 Pro. The results are not encouraging.

Running looping 3DMark2003 for 30 minutes and utilizing a temperature probe on my GPU (regular cooling), the following temperatures were recorded:

Catalyst 3.8: 135 Fahrenheit
Catalyst 3.7: 117 Fahrenheit

The heatsink on my Sapphire Atlantis 9800 was so hot during the Catalyst 3.8 test that I burnt my hand when I accidently touched it.

2) The Catalyst 3.8's seem to have a bug in some systems that allows the driver to process the SECONDARY adapter settings when a game is started and tries to switch to the resolution and refresh rate specified in the program.

Normally, the card is limited by the INF file settings for the PRIMARY adapter, so that no resolution or refresh rate is attempted that is beyond the capability of the monitor hardware. But in the 3.8's, it seems to be processing the SECONDARY adapter settings first. In a system without a monitor plugged into the second adapter, there is no INF file limiting refresh rates and resolutions, so, the system is trying to force refresh rates and resolutions beyond what the monitor on the PRIMARY adapter is capable of.

So instead of having the monitor "flicker" once when it switches to the desired resolution/refresh, monitors are "flickering" between 4 and 8 times, with resolutions and refresh rates that are beyond the capability of the actual monitor.

As a result, some monitors have been damaged, while others have blinked out and recovered. Some users monitors are under warranty and can be RMA'd, but for those who don't have a monitor under warranty, their monitor is damaged and they must buy a new one.

Again, as a safety precaution, I am strongly encouraging that anyone with any of the affected cards above roll their drivers back to the Omega Catalyst 3.7 drivers or the ATI Catalyst 3.7 drivers, as they are verified not to cause this monitor refresh-related problem.

Catalyst 3.7 Download Locations:

Windows 2000/XP
Catalyst 3.7 :: Control Panel

Windows 98/Me
Catalyst 3.7 :: Control Panel

I'll keep you all apprised of the situation.

[Jon P. Inghram]

I've been tempted recently to put my G400 MAX back in just because I miss Matrox's drivers. The custom resolution feature of their tweak utility, and also the ease at which you could uninstall and install their drivers makes ATI look primitive.

[Admiral]

Yup, ATI screwed up big time with Catalyst 3.8. People with DirectX 8.1 cards pretty much got the boot and it's sort of a rude message that they should upgrade and not expect much support in the future. As for the rest, the fixes are questionable and some almost intentionally left out, like the OGL bug fix found in Dell drivers that could have been used in cat 3.8.

But I guess the major problems are the overheating and monitor damage problems. With the overheating people just get corruption or can't overclock like they used to, yet no actual damaged cards reported for now.
The serious problem, that dates at least a couple of releases, is the monitor damage (fast flickering and fed out of specs refresh rates), people actually report monitors going up in smoke & flame as you can read here (if you have the patience to read through the whole thread).
ATI is of course in denial.

I got my 9700Pro at the time of Catalyst 3.2 and with 3.4 things seemed only to get better, yet since 3.5 it started to slowly go down the drain. What bothers me are the lame excuses to use the catalyst feedback form otherwise they won't get to fix it, it's almost surreal to see them base their bug fix priorities on that form.

I don't know if my next card will be an ATI one, I hope for Matrox or PowerVR, because it sure didn't take ATI too long to start acting like nVidia. They hype the drivers and are becoming reckless forgetting it used to be their weak point and it might come back to haunt them. Also, they release cards that pretty much don't bring anything new, just higher clocks and extravagant prices, feeling even expressed in a Rage3D review of the 9800XT, review that doesn't seem to be there anymore, sigh

Still love my 9700 Pro, just don't like where ATI's heading.

[The PIT]

Yeh the 3.8's were overhyped. Amazing new features smartshaders and the vpu plus overclocking if you got an 9800xt.
Smartshaders just a useless gimmik, the vpu may be useful for ATI but causes problems in some cases. So nothing new of much use.
I'd have liked to see the dual monitor bug fixed as it was under the leaked Dells. I'm beginning to wonder if the Cats are being released too quickly so allowing old bugs to resurface and adding new ones. The time then is too short to fix them so they roll out to the end user.
As for newer cards since Nvidea haven't released anything earth shattering ATI can afford to do mods to old chips and press raise the clock rates.