Seeking: A test program for my graphics adapter

[tahicks]

Installed G2 on a machine with a ati mobility radeon graphics adapter (ga for short). before running G2, followed the faq recommendation of upgrading G2 to the newest stuff since I'm running on Windows XP (Home Edition). I'm using the Transmitter Interface (TI). The computer is new.

Bottom line, G2 installed fine, but will not even run. Double click nothing happens. So since the folks at KE SW say its a hardware/driver problem in all the literature I have read thus far. I need some type of utility that confirms that the driver is not up to par, since the best I can tell it is the latest thing.

HHHHEEEEELLLLPPPPP!

[flyhy]

I've found the 7199 drivers to be the best for my Ati card. However, your mobile card may be totally different.

[tahicks]

Where did you find the 7199 driver?

[Al Uminum]

I'm not trying to be flippant here but,

RF says that the card is hard to use with RF, many of the users say it is hard to use with RF. The posts from the past are many that say they have trouble getting the card to run.

There is no utility that will "check" your card for RF except trying it.

check out the previous posts and the knowledge base for fixes since you do have the card.

There may be something else working here, because a vid card problem usually does not show up until things start loading and showing up.

Good luck..

Wish I could'a thought of something funnier to put here.

[flyhy]

Try www.rage3d.com Make sure that your card is listed as one supported by the driver release you select. Keep in mind that this software is sketchy at best and may still not work. (as Mr. Uminum already pointed out)

[tahicks]

Al, thanks for the info. But here are a few observations:

1. The site: http://www.knifeedge.com/newcomputer.htm
says that the ATI Radeon is a "GOOD" card. This from Mr. Kemp's personal recommendation for a system. It does not list the Radeon as a "don't buy" as it does with other cards.

2. The System requirements at knifeedge.com and realflight.com say noting about video cards other than the voodoos as being "bad". Maybe the system requirements should say "read ALL the FAQ and KB" BEFORE buying a computer to run real flight!!!"

3. The FAQ/KB (Knowledge Base) hints at problems with the Radeon card, but indicates these are surmountable.

The unfortunate thing is a friend of mine, who's not a computer person, but a big RC person, took _THE_ System Requirements from G2 to a computer vendor and said I want a Laptop that meets these requirements. That's exactly what he got! After a frustrating weekend attempting to get the software to run. He calls me, who makes my living programming the darn things, and said can you _please_ help me with this. Of course I said yes, and withing the first night surfing on the web found much of the information you are referring to (read .... I HAD TO DIG FOR IT, ok so it's not manual labor). Trouble is that this apparently _critical_ information is not provided to prospective customers in a "Front and Center" fashion. IOW & IMHO, it should not take a computer 'guy' to have to wade through a product site to determine what computers should/should not be brought prior to purchase. The System requirements should be much more direct and specific.

Ok, Al, if you are still with me ;-), this was definitely not directed at you. Although after serveral days and little meaningful support from the tech support folks I'm frustrated personally and for my friend.

I just want some way to determine unequivocally that the problem is a driver problem so I can call my computer vendor, Compaq in my case, and log a support issue, but I cannot very well do that by saying ONE program (G2) will not run on my machine. Heck, I would LOVE to see G2 come up and run for more than the meer 10 seconds it is capable of doing so I know the software is capable of doing something as simple as crash my machine, put a menu up, heck lets make it simple, put a splash screen on my computer. BUT I GET NOTHING!!

Desperately SEEKING ........... STILL.

[tahicks]

I hit the rage3d.com site, and picked up the 6.13.6011 driver for my video card/chip. Installed it with no problems. Thanks for the pointer!!

(wish I could say that it solved my problem, but hey I have the latest driver !!)

[Al Uminum]

OK here's how I see it:

Take a certain piece of hardware say a vid card. Install it in 20 different systems and you'll get 20 different results. The driver will install 20 different ways, because,


The monitor makes a difference,
The memory makes a difference,
the sound card makes a difference,
the os makes a difference,
the number of com ports makes a difference,
the order that windows installs them makes a difference,
software that you have running in the background might make a difference,
the speed of the cpu makes a difference,
what folder on what drive makes a difference,
the size of your powersupply makes a difference,
the type of mother board makes a difference,
the type of controller port makes a difference,
and sometimes what phase the moon is in makes a difference.

Now tell me whether or not it will run on any one of those 20 machines before I go out and set them up.

You would not believe how many times I've seen on here (and on my system) that people thought that their drivers were installed "perfectly" (well windows did not lock up at the end) and when the drivers were finally reinstalled correctly the software ran.

Just because your sound card will play music cd's does not mean the the driver of either is installed perfectly. They just are not taxing the system enough to break it yet.

I have read somewhere that laptops are not supported for RF, and I would not even expect them to be. Just as I would not expect RF to run well using onboard sound or vid cards. Maybe this is just my mindset since I have never bought a complete computer "package" after the first one, instead building mine from boards that I pick. If I make a bad choice, I just return it for something that works better.

This is not aimed at anyone person, just a core dump of my memory bank.

If any of you really think the software is crappy, or the customer service is bad, or the presales info. is lacking, you should contact by phone, email, and snail mail Great Planes, and KE software directly. Bitching to the people who read these posts ain't gonna get anything done. And some of us who have a few answers and can get RF to run on ya'lls stuff are gonna get tired of hearing it and quit comming around.


Wish I could'a thought of something funnier to put here.