OK, some people may well have already seen this variously around the web but I'm trying to get an answer so Im trying everything I can.

Please read the whole message before commenting because some people have asked questions the post answers :smile:

Ive got a Radeon 8500. I bought it from America.

It works fine within a monitor situation however, when I want to use TV-OUT/S-Video the picture displayed is Black and White.

I have a friend with the same card - he gets colour. I took my computer and 2 televisions round to his house. One TV had S-Video input on it.

Tried the outputs from his computer; he got colour. Tried them on mine; I got black and white.

Installed the same software/drivers - same result.

Took my card out and plugged it into his computer...got colour output!

The only difference software wise was our OS's so I installed WinMe...but no success.

We then noticed that he had one more tab than me in the TV settings; it said Format. I decided that I needed to reformat and try and start again from scratch. Did that, and installed from his driver CD - all to no avail...The output is still Black and White and I have not got the Format tab!

All I've got is under the TV something saying NTSC M...as it worked in my friends computer it doesnt appear to be a US card not working in the UK. Even the help/guide thing mentions the format tab for selecting which country we are in - this is clearly what is needed! But I cant get it!

ARGH!

HELP! PLEASE! I cant even contact ATI because they dont have a simple email address.

You seem to have a quite "tricky" problem there...

Did you put your friends card into your PC and got colour with it? If you did you forgot telling us... :wink: .If not you should test this. Maybe you should update your BIOS (maybe even your Radeons BIOS) and get the latest drivers in general (but I think you did that already)

I don't now what TV-format is used in the UK (is it PAL or NTSC?) but if the card's working in your buddies PC it should work in yours too. Try to use the same BIOS-settings like your friend. But one thing is perfectly clear: you cannot mix PAL <-> NTSC hardware.

Good luck :smile:

Read this link...
(don't use quotes)
"http://support.ati.com/infobase/3771.html"

Have your friend bring over his tv(or a known working one) and see if you get color on your computer. OR

Take one of your tv's to his house and try it on his computer with and without your video card.

If this is the problem there might be a converter box you could buy... NSTC to pal box. I have never looked for one of these. (I'm a Yanke (sp?))

I really hope this helps you out there.

Well its gone completely pear shaped now (that's wrong to anyone not up on colloquial english :grin; when i get into windows i go for 10 seconds then get a black screen; a couple of seconds later and the picture goes corrupted.

Ive tried reinstalling drivers but with no success. I had installed Norton Utilities and that is all. I had restarted it once after that install successfully. It then crashed, when I did it again, I had these display problems.

Maybe it was a hardware fault all along; surely ATI must have to give me a new card now?

I had the exact same problem.

In my case the problem was my TV.. My 28" phillips didn't have a S-VHS "port". I borrowed a S-VHS -> Scart adapter . The picture was fine, but no colors.

I had a friend modify the Scart-adapter, so that the signal would be "composite". Woila, colors!

If your tv has a S-VHS "port" It may not still not be able to use the signal. I know for sure 'cause one of the bit older TVs in the house doesn't work with TV-out although it has a S-vhs port.

If you have a VHS-recorder with a S-VHS port, try connecting your tv-out cable to that, and connect it to the tv with a Scart cable. That should work!

I hope it works out for you! Best of luck!

Its OK

Restored an old registry. Installed official as opposed to unofficial drivers. Fixed the problem.

Fixed the colour prob by flashing the BIOS to an Retail 8500 PAL. My mate had done his OEM up to Retail and he sent me the program. It worked. I have colour :smile: :grin:

Glad to hear that the flash worked.

Hi ppl

I wish to say that I having the same problem of wellers !! :-(

Wellers , if you see this , can you e-mail me the BIOS to Username email , Thanks a lot !!

Well I bought cable from S-video out to phono of Ge Force card & sunday before I pluged the card to phono cable to scart plug of video recorder and I had the same problem like wellers had about tv out with Black & White .

Plus max screen size is 640 x 480 or 1024 x 768 and just low 8 bit resolution !!

Is this Nstc bios/software problem or because pal system size is 520 x something??

Any help is appreciated

gsmlt