so I’ve got a new ATI Radeon 9500, which, once installed, made my screen jump like crazy. this is frustrating.
I figure it’s one of two things:
how do I go about figuring out which it is, or if it’s something else altogether?
if it’s #2, how do I find a monitor that I know for sure WILL work?
rar, this was supposed to be easy :[
Well, what was your old card type?
I can’t really find a straight answer on the refresh rates supported - try cranking it down to 60Hz and see if it gets better.
Some guy on this board used a Sony driver (it’s HP branded but apparently ‘really’ a Sony) and fixed his shaky issue. YMMV
Boot in Safe Mode and remove any existing video drivers. Set graphics mode to Microsoft’s generic SVGA.
Reboot normally, go to the video board manufacturer’s website and get the most-current drivers and install. It appears that the monitor’s resolution is fairly limited for a 20" model - only 1280x1024.
Radeon 7000. yeah, 'bout time for that upgrade.
the monitor or the video card?
is all this before or after I install the new card? (I uninstalled it and reinstalled the old one because the shaking was hurting my brain.)
also, I’m not really sure how to go about removing existing video drivers. the install guide for my new card says to do it through add/remove programs, but I don’t see anything there besides “ATI decoder”, which I’m not sure was there before I tried to install the new card. could I just do it through device manager? also, once I uninstall these drivers, won’t I lose any visual input to the monitor? I know I can get visual by reconnecting the monitor to the motherboard, but I don’t know when it’s appropriate to do this.
thanks for the input, both of you, by the way. you are definitely in my cool book.
I’d imagine he meant the monitor. Control panel -> display -> settings -> advanced -> Monitor tab. There there should be a dropdown w/ different refresh rates (I’d also check the “hide modes that this monitor cannot display” box).
Uninstall the old drivers before installing the new card. Yep, I’d do it through the device manage (honestly, I didn’t know there were other options :p).
After you uninstall your drivers, you’ll probably be prompted to reboot. You can probably shutdown and install your new card at this point, but I tend to let Windows reboot when un/installing hardware or software because I’m paranoid and Windows is grumpy. At any rate, after letting Windows reboot (or not), shutdown and install your new card.
Note that after uninstalling your video drivers that Windows will boot into a LOVELY 640x480 16-color mode (you will, however, still be getting your video signal from your video card).
Anyway, at this point you can install the drivers and all should be right with the universe. (Note: If you’re going to download drivers from the website, you’ll want to do that first, because navigating the web at 640x480 16-colors is a nightmare. A nightmare with really crappy graphics.)
Disclaimer: I have something of a headache and not thinking quite clearly enough to guarantee that I didn’t forget something there. :o
Shhh! Let’s not scare them! 
You’d uninstall the drivers with the old card in place. Have a look in Device Manager and Add/Remove Programs - there’s apt to be little utilities like screen zoom and such that are unique to the old video card, but aren’t actually drivers, so they’ll not be removed unless you look for them.
Reboot at least once - you’ll probably get the famous “some files are in use” message, and they’ll be cleaned up after a reboot. Behold the craptacularity that is Microsoft SVGA. Reboot again to ensure the uninstall processes are done, then shut down and swap the video cards.
Fire it up and do whatever instructions come with the new one.
ok… but one question, why should turning the refresh rate down on the monitor make the screen less jumpy, when the video card is actually able to produce refresh rates of like 120 Hz? I’m thinking the monitor just couldn’t handle the refresh rates the card was producing, so it makes more sense to me to adjust the refresh rates on the card (if that’s possible).
anyway, I’m going to try and combine Gozu’s and gotpasswords’s advice, since they seem similar:
so… after uninstalling my video drivers (in Safe mode? or no?), I should reboot, Windows will be ugly, and then reboot again (to be safe), with the monitor still plugged into the video card the whole time? then shut down, swap video cards, install new drivers (I have a cd with them on it), and THEN try to adjust the monitor refresh rate?
To answer your first question, depending on the kind of jumpiness you’re experiencing, it could simply be your monitor not being able to handle the refresh rate being fed to it. (This could also be a sign of your monitor preparing to give up the ghost.) By doing this through Windows, you are essentially adjusting the rate on the card, by telling the card not to try and refresh as often.
Driver uninstallation…I’d probably not bother with safe mode, personally, but that’s because I hate safe mode. It probably would be, as the name implies, the safer way to go, however. And, yep, with the monitor attached to the video card. (Attach the monitor to the new video card as well, once you get it in there.)
The rest you have correct (yes, adjusting the refresh rate would be the last thing to do).
You may not even need to adjust the refresh rate if the card switch goes smoothly and fixes your problem. That said, there is always a chance that the problem is driver-based, and getting the most up-to-date drivers off the ATI website will do better than the drivers off the CD. I suppose you could always do the drivers off the CD first then upgrade later if problems persist.