Hi, I noticed in the ARP Downloads area that there are ATI Catalyst 6.6 drivers available for download. Can someone tell me if it's suitable for me to download? For my Desktop PC, my graphics card is a ATI Radeon X1650. I'm using ATI driver dated 22/08/2006 version 8.291.0.0. Refresh rate is at 70 Hertz. For my Laptop PC, my graphics card is a built-in ATI Radeon Xpress 1100 using ATI driver dated 08/08/2006 version 8.283.00. Refresh rate is at 60 Hertz. For both my Desktop and Laptop PCs, the display seems ok except that I can open the Catalyst Control Center. I used to be able to open it but after doing some Windows Updates the control center just doesn't appear and doesn't do anything when I click on the option or the control center shortcut. Can anyone help me fix this problem? Will updating to the Catalyst 6.6 help? What driver should I use for my Laptop PC? Thanks.
Generally, it's a good idea to use the latest driver available. For ATI, you can get them here - http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html ATI Catalyst Center requires Microsoft .NET Framework to run properly. See if you have that installed and updated?
Ok I've uninstalled my old drivers and installed the new drivers. Now I'm getting an error message when I try to open the Catalyst Control Center: "You do not have permission to change Catalyst Control Center settings. Please contact your administrator for further help." Actually, my user account is the only account in the computer and in the user settings I'm listed as the computer administrator. I made sure that everything was properly uninstalled before I installed the new drivers. I'm having the same problems for my Laptop PC also. Any suggestions how I can fix this? By the way, now my Laptop PC monitor is listed as "Generic Television". Is this normal?
I'm so sorry for asking again. Can someone pls help with my problem? Now my PC seems to hang each time it exits from the screensaver. I think it's because I didn't configure the Control Center properly or something. That's because I can't open the Control Center. Can someone pls help me access it?
Mind if I have a go at this problem? Sorry for lurking, but I do have a suggestion ... Forget the ATi Drivers. Download the Omega Drivers from http://www.omegadrivers.net/ati/win2k_xp.php and install them. However, remember to uninstall your previous drivers, control centre and all other associated ATi devices first. With the Omega Drivers, the control centre *should* work (it did for me) and you shouldn't experience problems with your screensaver. I'm not sure if the TechARP Gurus would agree, but I'd advise you to give the Omega Drivers a try. They worked for me.
Yup, I would agree with your suggestions. I personally hate the default Control Center a lot. If it comes with the 'classic' interface, I would definitely try it.
Thanks Andrew and Chai. I heard about Omegadrivers before but didn't have the guts to try it. After reading your comments, I'm going to install them now.
I also have the X1650 pro and thought about trying the omega drivers. Or possbly just updating the ATI driver. I can't get the refresh over 60Hz at 1920x1080 even though the screen supports 75hz. Is this a driver issue or simply a limitation of the card? Thanks,
Actually, it has nothing to do with the RAMDAC. He's using an LCD monitor. Refresh rates do not apply to LCDs. That's why they are all set to 60Hz. There's nothing wrong with 60Hz on an LCD monitor. The only reason why we want a higher refresh rate on CRTs is to reduce or eliminate flickering. But pixels on LCDs only change when they need to. So, no flickering even at 60Hz.
It's just the concept of vertical sync in games or video applications... that's the only reason I know of that you can even change the refresh rate on LCD displays. Depending on your LCD, you may be able to achieve higher refresh rates at lower resolution or even in analog mode (I have an Acer LCD like that on one computer). It really depends on if they support the bandwidth to do it. For example if you have "sync every frame" or "wait for vertical sync" enabled in a game, and your LCD is doing 60 Hz, that would limit your FPS to 60 fps. Disable that option in game, or in the driver if that's not possible (e.g. force it to disabled in the Nvidia or ATI control centers) and it's a non issue. You'd otherwise not see a difference.
