Radeon 7200, WinNT, ADI Monitor

[curtcee]

I installed a Radeon 7200 64mb SDR AGP card in my system which runs WinNT 4.0 SP6a. Downloaded the proper NT drivers from ATI. After five attempts at trying to get the card to work in something other than VGA mode, it finally did work properly. For about a week and a half.

I noticed that the screen was flickering so I tried to change the refresh rate. It didn't seem to make any difference. I gave up and left it at the 75hz level. When I shut down, the screen went blank. When I powered up the next day, the screen went blank when NT got around to loading its log-on screen. It only operates now in VGA (800x600, 16 colors).

Called ATI. Long story short, the tech guy at ATI said that my monitor may just be too old and I should try a newer monitor. He had me boot up with the monitor off and when it finished booting he had me turn on the monitor to check to see if the log-on screen was there. It was. He said something about a handshake between the card and monitor and DDC. This monitor is an ADI Microscan 5AP. It may be about 7 years old. I checked ADI's web site and they do not provide drivers for WinNT. He never asked me about the motherboard or chipset or anything else.

My question: Is this credible? Could the problem simply be a card that's too new and a monitor that is too old? Does this mean I have to spend $800 to make a $67 video card happy?

[Sowulo]

$800 for a new monitor???? Yes, the diagnosis is plausible--whether through a compatibility problem or just something wrong in the monitor. But for under $200 you can get a very nice 19" monitor....

[curtcee]

Viewsonic VG171 17"LCD--$779.00 from Allstarshop.com.

I don't know much about the LCD's but they do look neat.

[Sowulo]

[quote]Originally posted by curtcee:
<strong>Viewsonic VG171 17"LCD--$779.00 from Allstarshop.com.

I don't know much about the LCD's but they do look neat.</strong><hr></blockquote>


Ahhhhh. A serious upgrade, not just a necessary one...
...gotcha....just need a good excuse...

[curtcee]

[quote]Originally posted by Sowulo:
<strong>


Ahhhhh. A serious upgrade, not just a necessary one...
...gotcha....just need a good excuse... </strong><hr></blockquote>

Well...yeah. But in my defense I am still interrogating some tech guys to find out if there is some consensus opinion about this. After all, a different $60 video card may be the answer. It's just that I have to find one that doesn't suffer from age discrimination

I also did look at the 19" CRT's and I was impressed with the $200-300 price tags. But I'm not sure if I want a monitor the size of a baby elephant sitting on my desk.

In the LCD front I am coveting the NEC Multisync 1830. It's price ranges from $750-850.

[Lycia]

I say the ATI guy is right. Why would you think a 7 year old monitor would be able to handle a graphics card with todays technology?

I sure as heck wouldn't be using a monitor from 1994 on my machine...If you don't want to spend $800 dollars go with a good Viewsonic as stated above..

[curtcee]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Lycia:
[QB]I say the ATI guy is right. Why would you think a 7 year old monitor would be able to handle a graphics card with todays technology?

Well, he may be right and then...

Tech support from Allstarshop.com (the vendor) said essentially the same thing. Could be just the old monitor. It was suggested I try a newer monitor. I tried a Viewsonic G653 purchased new in 1999. Same result. As soon as the booting is finished and the system switches to the NT log-on screen, the screen itself goes blank.

I will talk to ATI tech support again Friday morning (1/4). This 7 year old monitor works just fine. The card prior to this was the ATI Rage II from 3 years ago or so. Worked fine for that.

In the meantime, I'm looking for other video cards.

[curtcee]

From bad to worse. I'll keep this brief.

I now own a dead computer. I believe what sent it to its grave was a BIOS flash upgrade.

Talked to ATI tech support again. Convinced me that I needed to update BIOS. Downloaded files. Attempted flash update. Failed, probably my fault. Machine was dead. Would not boot up. Tech guy at computer store said to remove motherboard battery and put it back in. It worked. BIOS restored. Attempted second update. Apparently worked. Bought new video card (nvidia). Attempted to install. WinNT wouldn't start. Missing display_driver.dll. Attempted to re-install NT in recovery mode. Worked. For only twenty minutes. NT crashed. Screen full of error stuff. Attempted to install as recovery again. Install failed. Tried to install as upgrade. Couldn't find previous version on harddrive. Instead it installed itself as a new clean install. Lost all user settings and configurations. Attempted to install on seperate empty partition. Install failed. Machine went down. BIOS no longer boots. Nothing. Just the LED lights and the fans.

All this for a friggin', effin' $67 video card.

So it's either send away and wait god-knows-how-long for a new BIOS chip or just buy another motherboard and processor.

If I don't shoot myself first.