DemonRage

Hi, I'm new on this forum. I registered because I'm having the same problems with my video driver and I want to share my findings.

I think I have an idea about what causes the problem, but first my experiences with the crashing video driver.

So far I tried 3 games and 3D Mark 2006.

Unreal Tournament 2004
When the game starts up, everything is going well for 5 to 15 minutes before the crash. Every time before it happens I notice the fan is very quiet, probably not even running. Then the screen goes black, the fan starts up, screen comes back and the game continues. After blowing for some time the same kind of silence returns. I think the GPU had cooled down enough to have the fan switched off (idle). Another crash could happen again later during the game.

Company of Heroes
This game puts a bit more stress on the GPU. The video driver crashes right after starting the game, but it happens only then. After the crash it doesn't happen again during the game. The fan speed then throttles up and down without problems but I never notice it idling.

Unreal Tournament 3 demo
This game puts a lot of stress on the GPU, making the temperature rise fast. Because of this the fan instantly starts running at high rpm. No crashes occurred during play.

3D Mark 2006
Same story as Unreal Tournament 3 demo.

My guess is that, when the fan is idle, switching it to low rpm, the provided power isn't enough to get it going. The fan fails to spin up and the driver probably notices that something is not working correctly. In the case with UT3 demo, more cooling was needed so the fan started up with more power.

I think the GPU fan needs a "kick start" when idle, to make sure it spins up. It can be done by running it at 100% first and then throttling down at the moment a spin up is detected, or letting the GPU temperature rise to the point where higher rpm is needed.

My findings could explain why:
* Disabling aero doesn't take away the problem. It just delays it because the GPU is a bit cooler when starting up a game.

* Adding a bigger cooler/fan to keep the GPU temperature low helps with less demanding games but delays the problem in GPU intensive games.

* Using tools to fix the fan speed at 100% has a high chance of solving the problem, because the fan doesn't have to spin up from idle.

* Changing the "defective" videocard for another one might work. It could have a fan which runs better.

* Changing the PSU might work. It could provide a little bit more power to do the trick.

* Changing memory doesn't work.

* Installing hotfixes or different drivers have a small chance of success. The way the GPU fan is controlled could stay the same.

* During hardware accellerated encoding/decoding of video's, the same kind of driver crashes could happen. The chances are higher on older cards.

* Switching to Windows XP doesn't always take away the problem.

CATALYSTCATCHER

I would tend to agree with your finding but to characterize them as a group I would say overheating is indicated and fan control may indeed be at the root of that . However Mobility Radeon implies a notebook/laptop of some kind which makes troubleshooting much more difficult. It also means that the actual implementation of fan control is up to the manufacturer rather than AMD. We make reference designs but the manufacturer does not have to follow them. After all they are the experts at building a laptop.

I would strongly suggest you chase your issues with the manufacturer.

DemonRage

I was afraid of that answer. Fan control & GPU temperature didn't show up in ATItool, so I think ASUS (in my case) is in control of the fans and sensors through it's "ATK0100 ACPI UTILITY".

Unfortunately I can't find any tool which allows me to control fan speeds. They just don't detect my GPU fans and sensors.

protoz

Update:

I ran a memtest86 disk and my ram came up with 804 errors. Needless to say it's being RMA'd so we'll see if that fixes the issue.

Thanks for the help!

DemonRage

I've got a question for CatalystCatcher:

If I switch off powerplay, does it set GPU & Mem clock to max or will those stay at the value they were at the time of switching it off?

I turned off powerplay and didn't get a crash since, but I'm curious... game performance seems less.

Also volumetric/particle rendering makes the framerate drop severely. Is it caused by DX10 -> DX9 (or lower) wrapping in Windows Vista? (does anyone know?)

--[ update ]--
I ran 3DMark2006 3 times... once with powerplay disabled and twice with powerplay enabled.

Here are my results -->

With powerplay disabled: 3216 marks
With powerplay enabled (1st time): spontaneous reboot after loading the canyon flight test. (without the blue screen)
With powerplay enabled (2nd time): 3215 marks

So I guess there is no difference in performance when powerplay is enabled or disabled, but I think there is a difference in handling GPU core/mem and fan speeds. I still didn't have atikmdag crashes when I disable powerplay. I think ATI's powerplay allows ASUS' power management utilities to take over some work, but then it goes wrong when GPU temperature rises.

When playing Unreal Tournament 2004 with powerplay enabled, I could play for about 15 minutes before the first atikmdag crash. If I just ignore the crash and go on playing, the next one occurs 5 minutes later. When disabled, no crashes occur when playing for 50 minutes straight (then I stopped playing )

CATALYSTCATCHER

To some degree that is controlled by the actual design, but disabling PP should set you to default clocks which are usually the max clock. But this falls into the realm of that ACPI utility you mentioned earlier.

You should keep an eye open for updates on the manufacturer web site. And be sure to let them know about your system difficulties.

Lolita

I have exacly same problem with Display driver atikmdag stopped responding error and i found out what cause it. But not how to fix it - i'm sure that only way is to fix it on ATI drivers developers!

So error ocurs even in Aero and my cpu temp is about 40° max GPU about 50° max and temperature in case is also OK - i have bigtower with two rear exhaust fans, harrdisk on top of PSU and fans behind HHDs too. Also my memory is 100% OK and system is 100% when i don't turn on secondary display (and i want have it on). So the cause is secondary display! When i run with only one display i don't get Display driver atikmdag stopped responding error and when i turn it on i get that error (and when it recovery it crash again and again and again until i turn it off in CCC.

Also when i move windows etd. on secondary display vertical line artefacts are shown on it (primary is 100% OK).

I have:
Radeon HD2600 512MB
other things in system
2* samsung HD501J HDD
Asus P5k-E wifi (p35 chipset) Motherboard
4* 1GB kingmax mars 1066 ddr2 memory
q6600 CPU
etc.

Oh and i forgot to mention that i run on vista x64 system

Gaush

Hi! Some words about my completely terrible life.

Operating System: XP sp2 32 / Vista Ult.32

CPU (Processor): Core2duo E6750 Cooler Igloo5062 Silent Glacialtech

Motherboard: ASUS P5KC, Intel P35 chipset

RAM: 2x1024 PC2-6400 Corsair XMS2

Graphics Card/s Installed: Sapphire Radeon HD2600XT 256Mb DDR4, BIOS: 010.052.000.000 BIOS part number: 113-B10101-102 2007/05/15

Power Supply: Thermaltake W0093RE TR2-500w ATX 12V 2.0 (Active PFC)
.................+3.3V..... +5V..... +12V1.... +12V2.... -12V.... +5VSB
Max. Load ....30A....... 28A....... 14A....... 15A....... 0.3A..... 2.0A
Min. Load..... 0.5A..... 0.3A...... 1.0A...... 1.0A....... 0.0A..... 0.0A
Load Reg.... +/-5%... +/-5%... +/-5%.... +/-5%... +/-10%.. +/-5%

Hard Drive/s and Type/s Installed: 160 Gb Seagate IDE [Win XP], 500 Gb Hitachi SATA II [Vista]

Optical Drive/s Installed: DVD-ROM Sony DDU-1621

Cooling Solution for PC Case: Gigabyte Poseidon, 2 coolers 12 cm.

Description of Problem:

New PC. No overclocking. New OS, new ASUS BIOS, drivers, MS updates, Ñatalyst 7.9, 7.10 dd.
2 hours from cold start - easy load (Iexplorer, NOD 32, Total Cmd, WinAmp)(GPU t=50C) - system crashes & can't reboot.
Just black screen & text: 113-B10101-102 RV630 GDDR4_16Mx32 128b_ (VGA data)
or 1 continuous & 3 short beeps (no VGA detected) or BSoD:

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer,
Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed.
Technical information:
*** STOP: 0X00000116 (0x87QlC51Q, 0x8B6BD57C, 0x00000000, 0x00000002)
*** atikmdag.sys - Address 8B6BD57C base at 8B6A1000, Datestamp 46fdc2f1

An answer from MS: Video device error. LiveKernelEvent.

BCCode: 117
BCP1: 83FF8510
BCP2: 8B6CF6EC
BCP3: 00000000
BCP4: 00000000
OS Version: 6_0_6000
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1
Problem caused by ATI Graphics Driver

This problem was caused by ATI Graphics Driver. This program was created by ATI Technologies, Inc.. ATI Technologies, Inc. does not
currently have a solution for the problem that you reported.

Recommendation
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following troubleshooting steps might prevent the problem from recurring.

Download and install an updated version of ATI Graphics Driver from one of the following locations:
Microsoft Update www.update.microsoft.com
ATI Technologies, Inc. Windows Vista Overview
If an updated driver is not available for ATI Graphics Driver, check with your computer manufacturer.
If you are running the latest version of ATI Graphics Driver, contact ATI Technologies, Inc. for your support options.
Additional information
If this problem continues to occur after installing the latest product updates, we recommend you get assistance and troubleshooting
information directly from ATI Technologies, Inc..
-----------------------------------------------------
After 1-2 hrs of rest PC can start & crashes again in 15 min.
I found these events happened next day (4th day of new Vista) after installing ATI CCC 7.9 (+ Adobe Reader 8.1, Definition update for Win Defender KB915597). Stability diagramm dropped down & PC is working 4 hrs max.
Newly installed XP sp2 & Vista Ult.32 + Ñatalyst 7.10 dd - still crashes.
I didn't find my memory in ASUS QVList. Maybe it's the cause?
Manually adjusted BIOS: DDR2-800MHz, 5-5-5-12, 1.9v [1.8v].
Tried almost all tweaks from this forum. Nothing changed.
WinXP - the same story.

Thermaltake W0093RE TR2-500w ATX 12V 2.0 (Active PFC). Not enough?

Sapphiretech support: It's not the VGA. Something overworming in PC.
Help me somebody !!! [after great Eno].
Maybe ATI Guru will show us the way.
Thanks.

CATALYSTCATCHER

SummaryVista)
- 1-2 hours of operation from a cold start.
- Graphics card fails.
- Vista tries to restart the graphics driver. (TDR)
- Vista can't restart the graphics driver and the system crashes
- During the system boot up you get beeps indicating no graphics
- Turn system off for a while.
- Try again and system runs for a short time.

Of course VISTA points to the graphics driver, because VISTA could not restart the graphics driver. Vista only knows that there was a graphics failure and certainly does not know what caused the failure.

The problem certainly manifests like overheating. (Works for a while and then crashes)

It may be overheating, but that seems unlikely based on your system description.

It may also be a marginal PSU, but that also seems rather unlikely.

After the crash when the system beeps to indicate "No VGA" would point to complete failure of the graphics card. Such that the system no longer even sees a functioning graphics device.

Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to know what is causing the system to crash without hands on troubleshooting. And this requires swapping any suspect devices with a known good replacement to see if it resolves the problem. The other approach is to test parts in another working system.

My guess at the most likely cause, is a bad graphics card.

jthor

Hi have read this whole thread as I have the same problem on a two week old Toshiba Satelite Pro 200 Laptop. Sent it back to toshiba where they replaced the graphics card with no luck. I think it is a Radeon 2400HD card?

Crashes and give the message that ATIKMDAG stopped responding whenever I play Second Life. Is very frustrating as it is the main reason I purchased the laptop.

I am not sure where to go from here the ATI Tool doesn't work says kernal mode driver does not seem to be running so can't use that. Will going back to XP work?

HELP!

lex_Ad

tell me pls ...how you set ATI tool 027 in vista exacticali

lex_Ad

tell me pls ..exacticali how u set ATI tool 027 in vista pls .

this a link wint err in vista what i have with a HD2600 XT 256/128

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/7561/displayof4.jpg

lex_Ad

e to i have this probl with atikmdag and i don't know what to do ..


my sytem


motherboard ASUS m2N32-sli-deluxe wirelees edition
amd athlon x2 socket am2 6000+
2 gb DDR2 geil
HDD 320 sata 2 16 MB
HD2600 XT 256/128


what can i doo


in win Xp i don't have problems alot ...


can u help anyone ..?pls ..

KlemenK

hello!
I have the same problems to with atkmidag error.

it happens when I'm scrolling MS Word 2003 document and suddenly display driver crashes and than recovers. i don't even play games jet.

and yes, I'm using wondows vista business editon. I even have the latest catalyst v. 7.11 installed

[COLOR=red]here are my graphic hardware specs:[/COLOR]
Graphics Card Manufacturer Powered by ATI
Graphics Chipset ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600
Device ID 9581
Vendor 1002

Subsystem ID 30C5
Subsystem Vendor ID 103C

Bus Type PCI Express
Current Bus Setting PCI Express x16

BIOS Version 010.056.000.008
BIOS Part Number M76
BIOS Date 2007/07/20

Memory Size 256 MB
Memory Type DDR3

Primary Display Yes

[COLOR=red]here are my graphic softwere specs:[/COLOR]
Driver Packaging Version 8.383.1.1.2-070713a1-050507C
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 7.01.01.646
2D Driver File Path /REGISTRY/MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet001/Control/Class/{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}/0000
Direct3D Version 7.14.10.0503
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.6479
Catalyst® Control Center Version 2007.0713.1648.28106

[COLOR=red]here are my HP 8510p notebook specs:[/COLOR]
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2-GHz, 800-MHz FSB, 4-MB L2 cache)
Mobile Intel PM965 with 800-MHz front side bus
Intel Centrino Pro tech.
Memory 2048MB (2x1024 MB) DDR2, SDRAM 667 MHz
120.0GB SMART S-ATA HDD 7200rpm, HP 3D DriveGuard
graphic card ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 z 256MB (512MB HyperMemory) , Microsoft DirectX 10 capable
display 15.4'' TFT WSXGA+ WideViewAngle anti-glare 1680 x 1050 (16 mil. colors)

PLEASE HELP! It's irritating!

Thanks.

Surfstud31

I am about at the end of my rope with this "atikmdag has stopped responding error" message in Vista. I have used ATI cards for 15 years and NEVER had any issues like this. I recently installed a Visiontek ATI HD 2600 XT card to replace a Visiontek ATI X1950 Pro and I have had nothing but problems ever since.

I had no such error messages with the X1950 Pro in the exact same PC under the exact same circumstances. Even with the same drivers. There is one distinct difference I noticed between the two cards. The new HD 2600 XT has HD Sound which when I installed it, overwrote my original Realtek HD Sound. The older X1950 Pro DID NOT have sound.

I have managed to regain my Realtek HD Sound (by forcing sound to on-board in BIOS and upgrading my Realtek drivers). However, I am very suspicious that my issue may somehow be sound related. I tried disabling the HD Sound on the ATI card with no results.

Now I'm not a genius but it would seem to me that if the X1950 pro worked great in my system and the HD 2600 XT does not, that it is a hardware related issue with the newer card. Not that the new card is bad (works great in 2D and even SOMETIMES in 3D). Rather, ATI has somehow screwed up the firmware for the graphics card. The guy I bought it from at Circuit City mentioned to me about a firmware upgrade for the HD 2600 XT but I have been unable to find it anywhere.

I have tried ticket after ticket with ATI describing the problem and all I get is a 'pat' response that I should make sure that my PC drivers are all updated. When Microsoft Error Reporting caught the problem and sent me a solution it indicated that it was an issue with the ATI driver. So here we go. ATI says it's Microsoft and Microsoft says it's ATI.

I have also tried EVERY fix mentioned in this thread (and others) with no luck. I will not try the 'system configuration trick because I did not spend good money for Dual Core just to make it single core.

So, before I rip this HD 2600 XT out of my PC and sell it on e-bay, I was hoping someone might have a clue for my particular problem.

vf-

I know how you feel, problems just get ignored or not even fixed... or cant they even fix it. I've been having other issues, but its the same thing, scripted responses taken from keywords for their tech support etc.

Every driver release, its the same problems which never get rectified. The worst part is NVIDIA is not so rosy either. I left them in January this year because of the same kind of problems, release after release, things are just not getting fixed. Some worked better on NVIDIA, some worse on ATI, some that there were problems on ATI but not on NVIDIA and vice versa. What is fixed with one driver release something else is broken with another, around and around we go.

I just love monopolies!

lex_Ad

i'm wonder'ing that the probls is from vista ...
becauze in windows Xp is work fine ...

Surfstud31

From what I understand the problem for Vista seems to be in the way it handles the graphic driver recovery. I even recently updated Vista with the specific update that was supposed to solve the 'driver has stopped responding but has recovered' problem with no luck.

The REALLY weird thing to me in my case is that I just replaced an ATI X1950 Pro with which I did not have this problem at all. Same PC, same drivers, same OS. Go figure. Obviously for me that has to be the key. What is different between the X1950 pro and HD 2600 XT that is causing the error? The only significant difference I noticed was the new card has HD sound and the old didn't. And when I did install the new card it took out my Realtek HD sound which I then had to force on-board sound thru BIOS and re-install the Realtek drivers to get it back. I am very suspicious that my problem lies there.

It really is frustrating. I keep my PC in top notch condition and I have NO other issues at all in my PC except for this one and it only began after I upgraded my card.

XianMaiPian

The problem of my laptop is fixed by replaced mainboard and Video Card. HP took it back and replace them.

Surfstud31

Here is the message from Microsoft Error Reporting regarding my problem:

Problem caused by ATI Graphics Driver
This problem was caused by ATI Graphics Driver. This program was created by ATI Technologies, Inc.. ATI Technologies, Inc. does not currently have a solution for the problem that you reported.
Recommendation

The following troubleshooting steps might prevent the problem from recurring.

1. Download and install an updated version of ATI Graphics Driver from one of the following locations:
   • [COLOR=#0066cc]Microsoft Update[/COLOR]
   • [COLOR=#800080]ATI Technologies, Inc.[/COLOR]
2. If an updated driver is not available for ATI Graphics Driver, check with your computer manufacturer.
3. If you are running the latest version of ATI Graphics Driver, contact [COLOR=#800080]ATI Technologies, Inc.[/COLOR] for your support options.

Additional information
If this problem continues to occur after installing the latest product updates, we recommend you get assistance and troubleshooting information directly from [COLOR=#800080]ATI Technologies, Inc.[/COLOR].
Rate this response:[COLOR=#0066cc]Provide Feedback[/COLOR]

Obviously they are aware of the problem and a solution is not available. That's just great.

BFsMarvinTM

Well I am still getting this error after a reload of vista and with both of my video cards.
1900xtx and my 1600xt. only happens with either a 3d game or videos.

Lolita

NO! It IS only working solution - I did that (sold ati and buy another (nvidia ) card) too and now i don't get any errors and lines on secondary display or anything!

Surfstud31

I have a working ticket with ATI now and they are trying but I do not believe they even know what's going on. I have seen at least one other post on the Net where someone has installed an ATI HD 2600 XT and it overwrote their onboard Realtek HD Audio Sound Device just like mine did. I was able to get my Realtek HD Audio Sound Device back but I have had nothing but problems since. Every fix either does not work or created a new problem. They told me to rollback to Catalyst 7.7 which I did and my audio problems stopped as did the error message. But now there are graphics issues in my favotire games! AAarrrggghhh!

DemonRage

It just happened again... this time when playing Chess Titans (which comes with Windows Vista). This little app uses Direct3D and runs windowed and I guess it doesn't stress the GPU much because there's little animation. Chances are that the GPU temperature didn't even come close to the point where the GPU should be actively cooled.

The "atikmdag stopped responding"-error soon occured right at the moment when an animation started (moving a chess piece). For animations a little more power is needed and I think it caused a driver (video or acpi) to increase GPU core/mem speeds on that demand, which is known as a feature of ATI's powerplay. The bad thing is: it doesn't always seem to succeed in adjusting core/mem speeds, because at that moment the GPU core is busy and video memory is being accessed.

Maybe failing to do so accidentally sets core or mem speed to 0 MHz, which is similar to a lock up... the video driver waits for something to happen (a ready signal or something)... Windows gets inpatient and restarts the video driver, which in turn resets the GPU.

Powerplay was enabled this time, because I didn't expect problems with such a small app. As posted earlier on this thread, I don't get any problems with powerplay disabled when running 3D apps.

Licorice Tattoo

I'm getting this same error with a brand new DELL Inspiron 531.

Windows Vista
ATI Radeon 2400 PRO
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+
3GB Memory

So far I've spent a total of 6 hours on the phone over the past three weeks with "Harold", "Chad", "Allison", and countless others. Among the many, many things I've tried:

Reseating the original card
Dell sent me a new video card (same one), which I replaced
Reinstalled countless ATI drivers
Flashed video card bios

I do not play games or really do anything graphics intensive. I get this error about 3 times a day, and usually, the monitor never comes back on and I have to turn the computer off manually and reboot. I'm convinced this is a Vista/ATI problem. I hope Dell will finally send me an nVidia card or something. I really regret getting Vista instead of XP, which was an option. What was I thinking that Vista would be running smoothly after a year in Beta te.... I mean, Release?

Steve

vf-

Has this been posted? or has anyone seen this.... I know its old, but just the same it still happens to users systems.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...12098742&sid=1

lex_Ad

i think that the err is from DDR becauze i have 2 GB ddr2 and module of drr2 have 20000 errors...so ..for the moment i have only a good DIMM of mem..and i don't have any probl ....now i play anythin

DemonRage

I downloaded a newer video driver (based on Catalyst 7.9) from the ASUS site and left powerplay ON while playing games. It seems to run more stable, no driver resets so far.

(The old driver was based on Catalyst 7.6)

Xampus

Could you please elaborate on your solution to the problem, I don't know alot about computers, and I have this problem too. I tried going to ASUS' site and couldn't find their catalyst drivers.

DemonRage

@Xampus:

You go to the ASUS website, choose "download" from the top menu to go to their download site.

On there you can choose your product type (graphics card) and card (probably EAX600 in your case). Then you can choose things like VGA and Utilities, the first being the driver section and there they are...

The latest driver for Vista 32bit has package version 8.43 (date 2007/11/23).

Here is the download ati843_Vista32.zip from their
global site
USA mirror
Europe mirror
China mirror
Japan mirror
(rightclick, save as...)