Vista - ASUS EAH 2900XT Catalyst doesn't install

I'm running Vista 64 Home Premium. I can install the catalyst drivers in XP but in Vista the catalysts drivers will install though the driver will not be loaded. I have to install the drivers from Asus which are very old. Is there anyway I can modify the Catalyst drivers for Vista 64 (like for the mobility cards) so they do recognise by card as an ATI card so I can install the Catalyst drivers. (I wouldn't mind with running old drivers but I have a problem running LOTRO which start up but I get no picture).

Ahh, another ASUS victim.

The problem is the ASUS drivers. They will not allow the ATi drivers to load. The other problem is they do not uninstall properly (at least under x64).

You need to make sure you have smartdoctor and gamerOSD uninstalled, and also uninstall the ATi catalyst, and asus drivers (to the ability the uninstallers will do).

Next go into your device manager and uninstall the video card, and make sure to check "delete driver software". Once that's done, head into the windows system folder and look in system32, system32/drivers and sysWOW64. If you see any drivers starting with ATK, those are the asus drivers that need deleting (in the info tab you'll see ASuSTeK). Take them out of the system folders and then reboot. Then you can reinstall the Catalyst drivers and hopefully they'll work, but you might need to adjust a key in the registry.

I have another post on the subject that's a bit more in depth--> Vista x64 crashes during games

Check that out first, and good luck. It's a pain but better and faster than reinstalling the whole OS. This problem was a nightmare for me initially, as my 4850 would work okay for general stuff, but no 3D. It would work one startup, then the next not work (I knew it wasn't working when Aero wouldn't run). I've complained on the Asus boards about the problem, hopefully some folks will find this info and avoid the headaches I had. Although it's a good rule of thumb not to ever install the drivers that come with a video card, but instead download and install the drivers from ATi or nVidia.

Are ASUS drivers really that bad in causing install/uninstall problems? Do they add extra items to the drivers?

Being an ATI user for many years, and my last two cards being made by VisionTek, I've only used "ATI's" drivers and have never had an install/uninstall issue. Never even thought about using the VisionTek drivers. I currently have a VisionTek 4850.

As far as x64 goes, yes. I can't say for XP or 32 bit Vista.

The problem with the 4850's when they first came out was the heat issue, and ASUS includes "Smartdoctor" and "GamerOSD". Smartdoctor allowed you to control the fan speed on the card when others couldn't. That's why I bought the Asus card, as I bought it when the 4850 was brand new.

The problem came later trying to install the catalyst software, and uninstalling smartdoctor and gamerOSD. I could get no 3D output from the card, unless those programs were installed - because they won't uninstall properly and the asus drivers would conflict.

Hmmm....talk about screwing up a good driver set, if that's indeed the case.

As for heating issues with the 4850, yeah I was aware of it as it was thoroughly discussed in one of the Rage3D forums, which I'm a member. It was determined that the temps (65c ish) were normal operating temps. I still have the stock fan on my card and have never had any heating issues, nor do I use the fan control incorporated in the cat drivers.

On the other hand, my 3870 gave me heating problems and had to be RMA'd. It was during that time that I bought a 4850 and have never looked back at the 3870. In fact VisionTek sent me a brand new single slot 3870 with a ZEROtherm cooler seen here, but I don't use it.



Newegg.com - VisionTek 900202 Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

At any rate I hope the OP is able to get his driver issues sorted, it's a pain when you can't get drivers to install.

First thx all for taking time to help me with my problem. Followed given instructions. Problem is that next to the entry for the graphic card there are nu upper of lower entries.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}is the entry that states next to "standard" "display adaptor" (translating this from dutch so could not be exact words in English). Unfortunately there are only the values "standard" "class" "classdesc" "iconpath" "installer 32" lowerlogoversion" but no "lowerfilters" or "upperfilters" entries.
So catalyst drivers don't install in Vista 64 (they do however in XP without a problem).

This is the detail from the failure that Windows reports

robleemhandtekening:
Gebeurtenisnaam van probleem: PnPDeviceProblemCode
Architectuur: x64
Hardware-id: PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9400&SUBSYS_021E1043&REV_00
GUID van Setup-klasse: {4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
PnP-probleemcode: 0000002B
Naam van stuurprogramma: atikmdag.sys
Versie van stuurprogramma: 7.1.1.849
Datum van stuurprogramma: 12-01-2008
Versie van besturingssysteem: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3
Landinstelling-id: 2067

Since I'm not familiar with the registry strings SgtBaxter is talking about, you'll have to wait for his input about them. Im not fond of messing with registry strings anyway, but that's a debate for another time.

At any rate what drivers are you tryng to install, and where did you get them from?

PS - Kind of hard to read that code since it's not in english (for me) - Sorry

Trying to install catalyst 8.12. I had no problems installing them on my other OS XP Home. Working perfectly there. It is just in Vista 64 they won't install. Only Asus specific drivers for Vista 64 will install and those give me a lot of problems. Well, if all don't work out I'll have to buy another card. Will not be from a manufacturer that will not allow generic drivers to be installed.

More a matter of like SgtBaxter said about not installing the drivers and/or apps that come on the driver disk, but just going directly to ATI (or Nvidia if one of their cards) and getting the latest drivers. Only time you would need to install the drivers from the disk is if the card is new enough that support hasn't been added to the currently available drivers.

I know it is frustrating, but hang on til SgtBaxter posts back and see what he has to say.

See if you can install an older driver - maybe 8.11's? And try to stay away from the ASUS drivers for now.

In the meantime I'll do some digging around for you. As been said, hang in there. We'll get you up and running (hopefully)