ATI Radeon 9600 Pro and QuickSilver G4

Hi,
The ATI RADEON 9600 PRO 4x/8x AGP 256MB Dual DVI Video Card - For Mac* & PC is limited to 4X and 8X AGP Mac's. The Quicksilver is 4X, so it will work just fine. Earlier G4's (AGP, GE) are only 2X AGP, so it won't work in those.

In addition, ATI is shipping a new ATI 9800-256MB, 2X/4X AGP card this week, you may want to look at that first, it's a MUCH better video card.

Dave

I'm having problems with mine. After a restart, the 9600 outputs no video signal.

If I put my GeForce 3 back in, things work. Sometimes after using the GF3, I can put the 9600 back in and it works until the next restart.

Another 9600 owner was having this problem with his Quicksilver G4.

Hi Allen,
This is going to sound a little crazy, but would you try something for me? If you have time, that is, I'm currently trying to solve that problem.

1. Install the 9600 and start. Did it run okay?

2. Now, restart. No video signal?

3. Okay, while the QS is running with no Video signal, hold down the Power Button until the machine powers down (about 5 seconds) -there's the crazy part- and then immediately push the Power Button until it starts again. Off and On. Does that give you a Video signal?
-------

I've got a QS that does that every time with a 9800. I cannot start it (or restart it) without doing that exact thing, it's weird. I put another Video card (Nvidia) in and the problem goes away. I've put in a different 9800 and the same thing happens. I put both 9800's in my AGP and they work fine.

I've got a few more things to try but your input would help.
Thanks,
Dave

Tried it, but that didn't work.

I found the best way is to let my computer run with the GeForce 3 in it for a while (an hour or more), then switch to the Radeon, and just never restart or shut down if I can help it.

Allan,
Thanks for trying that, it is a real puzzler....
I'll keep experimenting, see what I find.

Dave

Dave,

Perhaps the failure to rewrite/update the directory is what is allowing the operation of the card??

Shutting down your computer with the power button does not allow the directory to be properly saved. Continued use of this method will trash it eventually. Journaling will help postpone the trashing of the directory but it will happen.

Note:

I am comming to the dismal conclusion that only a retail(read that "expensive") card is going to work properly, support core image, and have good performance.

Carl,
I know that a hard shutdown is not good. I Repair Permissions, run all CRON Scripts and use Diskwarrior every two weeks or so, no problems so far.

My confusion is that the QS starts properly with Nvidia based video cards, but not with an ATI. I have an OEM 9800 and a flashed 9800, both do the same thing.

If I put the 9800's in my AGP Sawtooth, there is no startup issue. I'll figure it out, there are only so many combinations to this.

Thanks for the thoughts,
Dave

Disk Warrior will do you for a while but I'd still run on a clone of the os that can be lost and reloaded. I commend you on your persistence.

A few thoughts;

Previous generations of macs had all the firmware on the motherboard prom. Our macs use the prom, a boot rom, and an interplay between the operating system and the other two. There could even be caches that come into play. Using a hard stop/shut down will prevent settings from being updated and perhaps some of those settings/files are what is being left open and allowing the restart to proceed and your card to function. It sounds like the system is looking for an Nvidia card and won't output video without one. From what I have read, macs will not output a video signal unless they detect a valid video signal from the card to the monitor unlike pc's which can run headless.

Have you tried to reinstall the os or do an archive and install with one of the ATI cards? During installation the os scans the hardware and enables files that otherwise not enabled for installation. Perhaps one of those files has not been included in your current installation. I know that macs are supposed to be plug and play but ......

I'm rooting for you.

I've been in contact with ATI tech support. Recently one of their techs asked if I own a Quicksilver G4.

Looks like ATI is working on it.

Rod

I've just installed the Radeon 9600 Pro (Mac & PC) in my Firewire 800 G4 with the ADC-DVI connector. Bottom line is it works a treat with no problems. I did install the Ati software disc first before putting in the card. Core Image is totally supported which is what I wanted it for in Tiger. The sleep or power button on my ADC (17") display doesn't work with the connector but the USB ports work fine (even got my keyboard connected to the screen & works fine).

Something the monkies at ATI negelected to tell me when I called about this problem on my Quicksilver is that they released a firmware update (ATI RAEDON universal rom update) in August that is supposed to fix the blank screen problem. They instead advised me to have the card replaced which I did. They also just released a new driver version (4.5.7) 10 days ago.

I'm installing the firware update and new driver with my replacement card as I type this.

G4 Quicksilver Mac OS X (10.4.2)

I was under the impression that owners of the Radeon 9600 PC & Mac Edition did not need to install the rom update, but I could be wrong. Weren't those cards released after the update?

Let me know how it goes with yours and if the card did, in fact, need the universal rom update..