ATI W2k

[binary digit 0]

They were supposed to be released in mid-march and now march is over in a day and no word or anything. I say we riot and go kick them in their faces. I hate not being able to play quake3 in w2k.

[DrSchmoe 0]

Check http://www.ati.com/na/pages/spdrivers/drivers.html They are out. They *just* made the deadline. These drivers, although called beta are fairly close to non-beta.

 

ATi is going to get them certified by Microsoft, and unfortunately takes time. We will probably see non-beta certified drivers by late April, and with the exception of certification they might be identical to this beta release.

[DrSchmoe 0]

Preliminary results:

 

Drivers work great on an embedded OEM 8MB Rage 128 VR, and my Fury 32MB at home.

 

AGP is enabled, and they have fixed the nagging Direct3D bugs. For instance, 3DMark 2000 now works perfectly (except for the known bugs with 3D Mark itself).

 

The installer works, and doesn't claim my hardware isn't supported. Granted it was easy to get around this and install via the traditional inf method.

 

There was a *big* problem with PCI based Rage 128 products with the old drivers, I am curious if these have been fixed (my friend has a PCI version), however, so many other bugs have been fixed, my guess is that this will work as well.

[Deider 0]

Those special purpose drivers on ATI's site have been available for almost 3 weeks. ATI says they won't offer Tech support for them and not to run them on mission critical machines. I tried to run the installer and got the msg saying my card isn't supported. I tried to get around it and got the drivers updated, then my machine wouldn't boot. I got a blue screen with the msg "bad pool caller". I had to go in in safe mode and revert back to WDM drivers to get the machine back. Any thoughts on this?

[DrSchmoe 0]

Actually, those new special purpose drivers are new. They came out on the 31st. They also released drivers on Feb. 19th, but those were mostly garbage.

 

After a couple days of use, everything is going perfectly.

 

The problem you mentioned, with the BAD POOL CALLER, is the same I had with earlier drivers. I ended up installing the wrong drivers from the .inf file. I can't remember exactly which one I picked, but originally, it seemed right to me. Try selecting Rage 128 GL AGP (English).

 

Also my friend with his Rage 128 PCI can't get them to work. His PCI card works fine in my machine, but he has an old P2 300 on an FX board. My guess is the configuration is so archaic that ATi never really bothered to test.

[Deider 0]

Thanks for the info Doc. I'm going after them now.

[Practice 0]

I don’t see any W2K drivers for the Rage Pro.

[DrSchmoe 0]

Deider: You are welcome. I have been waiting for them just as much as you have I don't use GL all that much, but they fixed my D3D bugs, so I am happy.

 

Practice? Reference to the TV show of the same name? Just curious, I haven't missed an episode since it premiered in 97.

 

I do believe ATi said that they would have Rage Pro drivers out in April. Granted they are lagging a little bit, so I am guessing you will see Beta's in mid-April and final drivers in May.

 

Their priority is definitely on the Rage 128, but it looks like these latest drivers are pretty much done... So I would figure the Rage Pro/Mobility is next.

 

[This message has been edited by DrSchmoe (edited 03 April 2000).]

[thebrittster 0]

How do you get win 2k to recognize ATI wdm instead of microsoft wdm? I am having problems with my rage fury pro. I can get video in but it doesnt encode the video back out properly. Thanks

[Deider 0]

Well, the installer still said my card wasn't compatible, so I just used the upgrade driver Wizard, and pointed to Rage 128 GL AGP (English) and it worked. Now I have the option to use the TV out again. I use it with a DVD Rom.

Thanks again Doc

[RoGuE 0]

has anyone seen any drivers for the rage IIc....i need hacked or ati drivers....from what ive seen on the website they are not going to release any opengl or d3d drivers at all.....this card is only a couple of months old i cant believe that ati wouldnt release drivers for it

[DrSchmoe 0]

Couple months????

 

The Rage IIc was first available in 1996. It is the "low cost" variant of the Rage II. Unfortunately, the only drivers you are going to get are on the CD which include D3D support.