Ati Catalyst Driver Problems

[Twimfy]

I just got a nifty laptop for my birthday, I was having a mess about and after playing UT2004 at 1024x768 high detail with a good frame rate and I wondered if it could get it any better with a driver upgrade, probably not being a mobile chipset but I'd like to keep up to date anyway.

The chipset is a Mobile Radeon 9000 IGP and I'm running on 256mb of ram, a 2.8ghz intel centrino, with a basic windows xp sp2 installation.

I downloaded the latest (and correct) catalyst 5.5 drivers from ati's site, extracted the .exe and continued with the install. Just as it starts it's lack of activity suggests its searching for hardware, then it throws an error at me stating that there is no hardware or software to be found/installed. However sometimes it doesn't say that, sometimes it says a suitable graphics chip could not be installed, please install a standard vga driver first.

I have also tried doing a manual install by pointing to the .inf directory which shows no results, I have tried uninstalling the original driver and then trying the install which does the same. I have tried running only the driver setup from the ati directory of which I get an error message at the same point saying inf cannot be found.

I am stuck. I've never had an ATI chipset before, only Nvidia, usually I can find a way around such problems I've been fucking around with gfx cards and other hardware for years, this one is just giving me a headache.

 

[trooper]

Your best bet is to get the driver update from the laptop manufactures website. I had nothing but trouble with a friends compaq laptop when i tried to upgrade the drivers for it`s Geforce 440 go graphics card, Errors and allsorts, Could not detect a required chipset etc. I think i ended up using one of the older drivers from nvidia`s website (the latest ones that did work).

I could be wrong, But i think it has something to do with the fact that as they are mobile chipsets and cut down in a lot of ways to save power etc, They require a special set of drivers or are not supported in the later ones.

Hope this helps, Or if you do find a way to install the latest drivers, Please let us know how you did it.

Trooper

 

[Twimfy]

Well after some more intense googling I found this site www.omegadrivers.net

The good news is, they install and windows recognised the whql incompatibility.
The bad news is that I haven't tested them yet, I'm waiting for Steam to download CS:source and then I'll give them a shot.

Using hacked official drivers feel wrong somehow but the guy who makes them got a nod of approval from ATi (he also does Nvidia as well) so we'll just have to wait and see I guess.

 

[jegHegy]

remember to ALWAYS remove the previous drivers before installing a new one.

 

[Twimfy]

The omega drivers installed, but with some fuss. First time around I got XP blue screen/memory dumps. Second time around seems to be ok, although alot of the control panel settings for the chip seem to have been replaced with less useful ones. e.g the quality/performance settings are gone which means I could be running at maximum quality when I want maximum performance.

 

[jegHegy]

for configuration, i recommend using ATI Tray Tools.

 

[spray]

urm, sorry to be a dickwad but as no one else has said it yet

Fool.

mobile chipsets are completely different to there mainstream counterparts. if you'd have tried to get a file to update via the ati website it would have taken you to a page that states that mobility cards are completely maintained by the manufactuer.

see: ATi Website

i know all this as i'm running a laptop with a mobility radeon 9600 and like you tried to upgrade.

if i were you i'd go back to the original drivers, its a laptop for christs sake and won't ever get the type of awesome graphical performance you dream of!

 

[jegHegy]

spray: thanks for clearing that up. i never had a notebook so i had no idea, will keep it in mind.

 

[Twimfy]

I am fully aware that mobile chipsets are completely different to the mainstream cards I am not an idiot, but if my OEM drivers provide such customisable options and are themselves earlier Catalyst drivers it only seems logical that they can be upgraded.

Ati does state that mobile chipsets should be maintained by the manufacturer but it also says that it's latest drivers can be used to upgrade mobile chipsets if people wish, so seems odd when they dont work.

I don't dream of any 'awesome' graphical peformance I just want to see what difference it might make, I am fully aware that onboard chipsets suffer with any major 3D app.

Anyhoo an update: the new drivers have helped me alot, firstly the shader problems I was having in CS:source have gone and I have the options to select lower 16:10 ratio resolutions in games which is damn useful seeing as my laptop is a widescreen one and the only available res on the default drivers was 1280x800 - stupidly high and therefore slow.

 

[Horscht]

Didn't read the thread at all, but according to the topic title (that's why I love descritive topic titles), you want to install an new Catalyst driver to your laptop, don't you? The problem with laptops is, you usualy can just use drivers made by your Laptop manufacturer. However, google for "Omega Driver". It's a modified version of the latest Catalyst, and it allows you to install it to your laptop, too. They worked like a charm for my ACER Laptop with a Radeon7500Mob

 

[spray]

reread my post i came over as more of a twat than i was aiming to.

i'd only ever heard horror stories about laptops and graphics drivers before this.

was tempted to give these omega drivers a try but a search on google produced a fair few scare stories so i'll steer clear!

 

[trooper]

Your best bet is to get the driver update from the laptop manufactures website. I had nothing but trouble with a friends compaq laptop when i tried to upgrade the drivers for it`s Geforce 440 go graphics card, Errors and allsorts, Could not detect a required chipset etc. I think i ended up using one of the older drivers from nvidia`s website (the latest ones that did work).

I could be wrong, But i think it has something to do with the fact that as they are mobile chipsets and cut down in a lot of ways to save power etc, They require a special set of drivers or are not supported in the later ones.

Hope this helps, Or if you do find a way to install the latest drivers, Please let us know how you did it.

Trooper

​

I quote myself, As it was said in the first reply. :rolleyes:
Obviously no one reads peoples post. <_<

Trooper