Weird graphical errors with Radeon cards (Solution!)

[Krofinzki]

I had this problem myself and I see a lot of threads about it popping up all the time. So I thought this could be stickied.

Here's what it looks like:

My specs:
AMD 2100+ XP
ATI RADEON 9600XT 128mb

And here's what I did:
- Downloaded and installed the latest Radeon drivers from Omegadrivers (2.5.97 - Catalyst 4.12 Beta).
- Disabled FastWrite during install
- Turned off A.I.:

Results:

I played around for a few hours to make sure it was gone and I haven't seen any problem at all!
Works perfect with any of video settings you set: AA, AF, Shaders, Whatever.

Enjoy :afro:

 

[exodusuk]

sounds like your gfx card has had its day , chuck it away and buy a new one . job done.

 

[StainlessJ-FPGA]

Downloading third-party drivers isn't a solution I think. But if it works, it works.

 

[xiphrex]

It might have been the fastwrites....just wondering were they off before you installed the omega drivers? If they werent then the graphical glitches may have been due to system instability.

 

[Krofinzki]

It might have been the fastwrites....just wondering were they off before you installed the omega drivers? If they werent then the graphical glitches may have been due to system instability.

What kind of instability?
I have a very good power-supply so I don't think it's an electrical failure. But I do have a MSi mobo...

 

[rumblefish]

it didnt work for me here....

rf

 

[xiphrex]

What kind of instability?
I have a very good power-supply so I don't think it's an electrical failure. But I do have a MSi mobo...

Well, I have read and heard around that some motherboards and graphics do not support fast writes, and so putting it on causes problems. I know the omega drivers actually recommend you to turn off fastwrites if you have a radeon card on a non AMD64 machine (I think, been long time since I installed it ). I know that for me, my machine was rock solid stable running memtest, prime etc but in 3dmark03 is would crash everytime. Turning fast writes off corrected this and its affect seems to be negligable in terms of graphical performance.

I know tomsHardware say that theres is a 10% increase with it on, but in my case, i disagree with that, but there ya go.

 

[StainlessJ-FPGA]

Tomshardware is not a reliable source of info(read: Tom is an idiot).

http://www.anandtech.com <--- Best hardware/software place for info. Freaking genius's in the forums.

 

[Krofinzki]

Well, I have read and heard around that some motherboards and graphics do not support fast writes, and so putting it on causes problems. I know the omega drivers actually recommend you to turn off fastwrites if you have a radeon card on a non AMD64 machine (I think, been long time since I installed it ). I know that for me, my machine was rock solid stable running memtest, prime etc but in 3dmark03 is would crash everytime. Turning fast writes off corrected this and its affect seems to be negligable in terms of graphical performance.

I know tomsHardware say that theres is a 10% increase with it on, but in my case, i disagree with that, but there ya go.

Yeah that's why I turned off FastWrites during the install. That probably did it.. I wonder if a .reg file could turn on/off FastWrites, then we could make a small efficent fix

 

[ManInBlack]

Thanks mate! It also worked for me Catalyst A.I. sux :E

 

[MusicallyInspire]

Hey thanks for this! It fixed my graphics problem! I originally tried using those drivers and that's what caused the problem and I couldn't get rid of it. Uninstalled and everything. But that function must be what did it. Thank you!

 

[Schock Therapy]

Yes, Fast Writes is a known issue on Radeon cards. Of course updating the drivers is always a good idea too!

 

[ManInBlack]

Well for me it helped turning the Catalyst A.I. off. I always had FastWrites off and still there were those weird graphics problems - as described by Krofinzki. Until now

 

[DetonatorDc]

This is definately a driver problem, I really hate people saying: buy a new gfx card! Or: 'you have overclocked it'. That simply is not true, the problem appears mostly on Radeon 9600 or 9800 cards.

I give this solution a try and this week I shall try to post if it solved my problem or not. Last words: It is NOT a damaged card!!!!!

 

[d'keesto]

Apparently this happened when 9600s and 9800s were combined with Athlon XPs, but they just fixed it in the new drivers released today. (4.12) So you don't have to turn Catalyst AI off anymore.

 

[MusicallyInspire]

I don't have an Athlon XP but I have a 9800 and I needed to turn AI off....what exactly does AI do anyway?

 

[DetonatorDc]

Well, good news I think, the new ATI Catalyst 4.12 drivers (final version) work good, and I haven't seen the texture corruption again!

So I do think the problem is solved!!! HL2 runs really great now on my radeon 9600pro, all settings high.

 

[countuebles]

DetonatorDc is right. Its total bull to blame just graphics cards and other hardware that otherwise works fine.
As much as I love the game now that I finally got it to work, fact is that valve did a less then perfect job testing and debugging this baby.
Except the unavoidable few crackers, I think most of us payed good bucks for the game and can demand that the game should be able to work with systems that ain't overly exotic - and Raedon 9600 and 9800 certainly _ain't_ exotic.
I've seen on other boards that several people had good experiences with the tech support guys from ATI and other hardware companies with problems concerning HL2 and the whole steam bunch.
You guys might want to consider to give it a try if nothing else works.

 

[Spc4Fultz]

This can happen when you alt tab out of the game too.