I think I may have accidentally screwed up big time.

[Sovereign]

Guys, I may need some help. I thought I'd try the ATI driver thing even though I never had the Render Error problem. I thought doing the ATI driver thing would fix the chesire cat problem and me not being able to start new Civ 4 games.

I tried to remove the ATI driver with the ATI uninstaller thing from the website in Trip's stickied thread. That was a success.

Then I restarted. After the restart, my screen went to a 640 x 480 resolution instead of my 800 x 600 resolution. I reverted my screen to my original setting. Success.

Then I tried installing the new Catalyst 5.10 driver that this thread was talking about. However, this is where I ecounter the problem. The installation process starts up just fine, then when the actual installation process starts, it says "New Hardware Found" and says Video Controller (VGA Compatible).

The installation process aborts because it can't find video controller or the VGA thing. What do I do?


Also, for some reason, my computer is a lot more sluggish now. Even websites like this one and scrolling down the website is very sluggish. Why is this?

I hope I didn't destroy my computer. My computer is a laptop with an Mobility Radeon 9000, 3 GHZ Intel Pentium 4 processor, and 1 GB RAM.

[Nailfoot]

You need to get the drivers for a mobility card, they are different than a desktop card. You can find them in the same place you DL the catalyst drivers from.

EDIT: At this link:

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=27

[Sovereign]

Thats where I got my 5.10 driver file from. I went like this...

1. Clicked on Windows XP Drivers and Software (My laptop has Windows XP)

2. Clicked on RADEON.

3. Clicked on Catalyst 5.10 Windows XP - Driver Download

4. Downloaded Catalyst Control Center from the high speed list (I have high speed wireless).

[eyen]

Try "Notebooks with ATI Graphics". You have a RADEON 9000... Catalyst doesn't support this. Maybe Hydravision will work ? I'm gonna try too cos I've the same problem as you (I have a laptop with a RADEON 9200)

[Sovereign]

Hmm. The problem is that my computer says I do have a Video Controller (VGA Supported), as it says "New Program = Video Controller", but the 5.10 driver installer says it can't find the Video Controller (VGA Supported).

Besides, why is my computer so sluggish all of a sudden, even on the web when I scroll up or down?

[drvo]

I have same problem, I can not install 5.10.

[Sovereign]

Originally posted by eyen
Try "Notebooks with ATI Graphics". You have a RADEON 9000... Catalyst doesn't support this. Maybe Hydravision will work ? I'm gonna try too cos I've the same problem as you (I have a laptop with a RADEON 9200)

Hydravision or "Notebooks with ATI Graphics" doesn't seem to work or help at all. I keep seeing "ATI driver not found" or something to that effect whenever I restart my computer and I get this screen from Hydravision.

What I need is someone to help walk me step through step on how to restore my ATI driver, get 5.10 working for my laptop's Mobility Radeon 9000, and then hopefully fix the Chesire Cat Syndrome and have my computer not freeze up whenever I try to start new Civ games.

[vee4473]

i don't know what how to solve your driver problem, but most screens are sluggish when there are no video drivers other than the most basic I think.

The same thing happens to me every time I uninstall drivers prior to the new ones during a vid card upgrade.


did you have windows try searching for vga drivers on the hard drive during the found new hardware wizard?

[Sovereign]

Yup. The window installer says "New hardware found!" then tries to search for the software. When it says it can't find it, it asks me for a software install like a CD or something.

The killer is that I don't have an ATI CD with me as my laptop was custom built at a local computer shop (not those chain stores like CompUSA, Best Buy, or Circuit City).


Besides, will a System Restore solve the problem? I heard that it reverts everything to an earlier state, so maybe I can get my ATI software back? I think the ATI uninstaller uninstalled all my ATI software that was installed at that computer shop.

[snoopy369]

Sovereign, Catalyst does not list 9000 as a supported mobile card. Your problem is probably that you don't have the right card for the driver.

I'm actually having a hard time finding the right driver ... maybe check the omega drivers. ATI just lists catalyst (9600 and up), and then hydravision, which doesn't look like a driver precisely - though you might try that link.

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/Hydravision-3-25-0006.exe

Like I said, i'm not sure if this is a driver, though it's listed under the 'notebook drivers' section of their site (among others).

[Sovereign]

I just checked the dxdiag program, and it says "n/a" in a lot of slots in my Display tab in the dxdiag screen.

Guess the ATI uninstall screwed everything up. Will a System Restore bring back my ATI program, and remove the "n/a" in the slots in the Display tab?

[snoopy369]

It might, depending on when the restore point is - should be fine with a restore.

Also consider grabbing the omega drivers, if they exist for your specific chip ...

[snoopy369]

http://www.omegadrivers.net/ = omega drivers; select "radeon" then "Win2x/XP" in the top menu, then download it

[Sovereign]

I'll give it a try and let you know if it works. I appreciate your help, Snoopy

[Nailfoot]

If that does not work, you can always use the system restore disc that came with your laptop like you mentioned. Word of caution: It will revert your laptop back to just like it was the day you got it. No downloaded programs, no games, no pictures, whatever else you may have saved on there. It really is a last ditch measure.