How to Install Latest Catalyst Driver on Ferrari 3400

The Ferrari 3400 comes with a nice ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 video card. However, the driver provided by Acer is dated and you cannot install the latest Catalyst driver from ATI. I found out later that I can still install the latest driver from ATI if I get it modded. Here are the steps:

  1. Before installing the driver, use DriverCleaner Pro to uninstall the old ATI driver. You can download DriverCleaner Pro here.
  2. Install DriverCleaner Pro and reboot the machine.
  3. Run DriverCleaner Pro and select “ATI”, “ATI CCC” and “ATI Uninstall Utility” cleaning filters. Click on “Start” to clean the old driver. Reboot the machine when you are done.

    DCPro.JPG

  4. Download the latest Catalyst driver from ATI.
  5. Install the driver. The process will fail but that’s fine. We are only interested in the extracted files. Exit the installer after error occur. You might need to use Task Manager to force quit the installer. Now we have driver files under C:\ATI\SUPPORT\6-5_xp-2k_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_32464. Note that the directory name can be different if you use an installer of different version.
  6. Download the Driverheaven Mobility Modding Tool from this site.
  7. Run the modding tool, browse to the driver directory and click on “Go MObile!” to modify the drivers for Mobility Radeon 9700. In the end, you also get an option to install the drivers.

After the driver gets installed, you might run into problems when displaying games in other resolution. You can try to press “Fn+F5” several times when you see a black screen.


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6 Comments

  1. hey thanks for the information….i did what u said and installed the new drivers….but i have a few questions.

    1)Now after getting the new driver there is no ati icon on taskbar..in otherwords can i aslo install Ati Catalyst Control Centre?

    2)I play some games but i think the memory of my graphic card has become damaged because sometime sthe display goes crazy with snow and lines all over the place …

    what do you think is causing this…and is there a program to check the status of this graphic card ati mobility radeon 9700

    i would be very thankfull if u can add a reply

  2. Jimmy,

    1) Yes, you can install ATI Catalyst Control Centre. Just make sure the version you installed match the driver version.

    2) I don’t know a utility to check the Mobility Radeon 9700 card. Does the symptoms you described happen when you use other driver? It might be a driver issue.

  3. hey Amida thanks for your reply

    no i dont think it is a driver issue because i took the laptop to the service guys and they told me that the problem was in the vedio card memory and it is very diffucult for them to repair where i live .

    i dunnu what to do i cant play games on my laptop besides that it can do everything non graphical

    do u know a website where there are instructions to open laptops for example my Ferrari 3400

    its outside its warranty now so i dunnu what can i possibly do to fix this problem.

    jimmy

  4. Just to butt in here: jimmy – I have the same problem with my 3400. Started after I messed around with the drivers as well. However, I think that may be incidental – I think the problem is the graphic card is overheating and causing the artifacting we see when running 3D apps.

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