ATI driver instability Vista

Intelman · Apr 16, 2007, 03:43 AM

ATI drivers from 7.1 on seem just generally unstable. I frequently see "Display driver R300 stopped responding and has successfully recovered" and "Display driver atikmdag stopped responding and has successfully recovered".

I also see a lot of ati *.dll related crashes, like the one below. I was working on a simple school project, cutting a video and then it crashed.

Faulting application MOVIEMK.exe, version 6.0.6000.16386, time stamp 0x4549b5b6, faulting module atiumdag.dll, version 7.14.10.471, time stamp 0x45c39612, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x0020093a, process id 0xaa0, application start time 0x01c77fcc26f4cb77.

I think ATI performs alright in Vista, but these crashes are hindering some "real work" for me. Has anyone found a way to increase stability at all, or at least a cause of these issues? Does ATI know, or even care?

BTW, I'm using driver 7.2, 7.3 even with the hotfix, occasionally gives me bluescreens. I am not overclocking my videocard, I am Orthos Stable for 10 hours, and memtest stable for 8 hours.

Indestructible · Apr 17, 2007, 12:48 AM

In my three fresh installs of Vista I haven't found a stable setup using 7.1 to 7.3. My solution was to re-install XP Pro and wait it out. If that's not an option, not installing CCC (use ATI Tray Tools beta) and disabling ATI External Event Utility service did make my system more stable if you want to try that. Or if you don't care about gaming, just use the WDM drivers that come with Vista, those were rock solid for me.

I'm sure ATI knows and cares. With the large amount of posts about these Vista issues in hardware forums and in groups i'm sure they are working hard trying to track this down and fix it.

REGENERATION · Apr 17, 2007, 01:04 AM

I'm using ATI Catalyst 7.3 Vista HotFix and everything is perfect. The only problem I had is the lack of 1440x900 resolution support, but I fixed it already. Generally everything is working well. You guys should download the latest Catalyst 7.3 Beta HotFix, and make sure to update other drivers as well and check your overclocking settings (if you have any). I never had any BSODs on my rig.

thecaretaker · Apr 22, 2007, 03:28 AM

This is a pre-post answer as I'm working on listing titles, 'linking to' and pointing out to ATI the error messages I'm getting. I'm doing a lot of testing at the moment, I'm about 80% of my way though all my titles and I'm amazed at how poor the drivers are for Vista.

What I will say is this: Many people have a dozen or so favourite games installed. So, OK, many people will post how happy they are if all (or most) of their games work in Vista.

However, I am not a gamer, I enjoy 3D technology demos and demoscene demos.

I have 628 titles currently installed on my system. I've tested about 80% so far so I am not finished yet. But I will be soon.

So far, I have got 133 that will not run correctly on Vista with any Cat drivers.

The most common fault of those that fail is with the exception code 0xc0000005 error you so rightly include above.I'd say around 75% of those produce this error. Others that fail complain mainly of missing OpenGL support.

I appreciate that non-gaming people like me are few and far between. I understand that ATI will focus on games first. But I get the impression that Terry Makedon and his team of Beta testers have become obsessed with performance increases and latest game support rather than things (that are more important to me) stability, compatability and proper fully functioning drivers.

Terry knows me of old and knows that I speak my mind and the truth in everyday language. I used to praise his efforts and what he achieved for ATI, but I am seriously wondering what has happened to the enthusiasum and commitment I once saw.

I've seen very little change in the actual driver part of Catalyst Suite. Yes we have seen the new CCC and install manager thing, the codec converter added in 7.4 along with a performance increase, but I would much rather they would get back to basics and get the ruddy drivers working correctly first before giving us all the candy that goes with them.

Sorry for the rant. But it needs to be said and it's nothing compared to the post I'm working on which will highlight all the errors and titles that nolonger work. In fact, I'm so annoyed by the lack of functionality of my ATI graphics card since 'upgrading' to Vista, I'm even thinking of setting up my own website about it.

Gnerma · Apr 22, 2007, 06:42 PM

thecaretaker, you assume that ATi and subsequently their drivers are at fault for all the problems you're having with these demos. I seriously doubt that is the case. Sure, they are at the root of some of them, but don't forget that you're on a new operating system. Many applications of all types find little annoying ways not to work when you move them to a similar but rewritten operating system they weren't tested on like Vista.

Let me offer this advice. Somebody that seems to have such wide sweeping niche tastes when it comes to 3d should stay with XP for at least another year. Or you should dual boot. Application compatibility is as good as it'll ever get on XP and you're only making your life harder by moving full on to Vista.

thecaretaker · Apr 23, 2007, 12:04 AM

I appreciate what you are saying Gnerma and with many applications I agree with you. I don't expect all demos to run, they never have when upgrading an OS and I accept that, but with DirectX and especially OpenGL, ATI needs to focus on getting the basics functional before worrying about performance increases and new features. This is like trying to run before you can walk.

ultime · Apr 25, 2007, 02:32 AM

ATI run good on vista for me, and take note that vista can be the problem also, and when you install driver, i hope dotn dont haev lil third party program , and overclocking your ati card?

and ati aint the only to have problem, nvidia is worse with vista

Frager · Apr 25, 2007, 01:18 PM

Just to mention this to people having a x1900xtx card with a fan that control its speed automatically to NOT disable the ATI External Event Utility service because it is use to control the fan(I notice this because i got artifact in supreme commander while playing for a while and notice my fan wasn't doing the normal noise it does normally) and also it seem to check the clock of the card because if you disable it and go to the catalyst control center/overdrive; you wont be able to see the clock and do the automatic clock configuration utility.

To the catalyst guys working around here, I really apreciate the work you do here but(no offence) be carefull when you suggest something. the pre hot fix for the bsod(win32k.sys) of catalyst 7.3 by disabling the ATI External Event Utility service just told me that: this guy dont really know whats he is talking about. Yes it did work but this fix was dangerous for some card users.
I prefer having a BSOD than having a burned card...
But still I apreciate that you do support here because not much company do that.

junka · Apr 25, 2007, 02:24 PM

If they just bin CCC then all have a poo in the bin, problem soved, excellent ,stable Vista drivers

)

Indestructible · Apr 27, 2007, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frager

Just to mention this to people having a x1900xtx card with a fan that control its speed automatically to NOT disable the ATI External Event Utility service because it is use to control the fan(I notice this because i got artifact in supreme commander while playing for a while and notice my fan wasn't doing the normal noise it does normally) and also it seem to check the clock of the card because if you disable it and go to the catalyst control center/overdrive; you wont be able to see the clock and do the automatic clock configuration utility.

To the catalyst guys working around here, I really apreciate the work you do here but(no offence) be carefull when you suggest something. the pre hot fix for the bsod(win32k.sys) of catalyst 7.3 by disabling the ATI External Event Utility service just told me that: this guy dont really know whats he is talking about. Yes it did work but this fix was dangerous for some card users.
I prefer having a BSOD than having a burned card...
But still I apreciate that you do support here because not much company do that.

If you disable the ATI External Event Utility you must have ATI Tray Tools installed to control the fans and anythign else. Installing the drivers and simply disabling the Event Utility is baaad idea. I should have been more explict with that in my post and i'm sorry. At one point of my testing, i think it was the 7.1s, even CCC wasn't controling the fans properly and a game had my card overheating. Conclusion, if you have this problem just dual boot XP or something instead of wasting gaming hours with tech forum surfing and dangerous fixes. The fact these card's fans are solely controled by driver software is dangerous period, there should be some kind of hardware based fail-safe that slams them on maximum if it's getting too hot.

Atmaweapon · Nov 23, 2007, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gnerma

thecaretaker, you assume that ATi and subsequently their drivers are at fault for all the problems you're having with these demos. I seriously doubt that is the case. Sure, they are at the root of some of them, but don't forget that you're on a new operating system. Many applications of all types find little annoying ways not to work when you move them to a similar but rewritten operating system they weren't tested on like Vista.

Let me offer this advice. Somebody that seems to have such wide sweeping niche tastes when it comes to 3d should stay with XP for at least another year. Or you should dual boot. Application compatibility is as good as it'll ever get on XP and you're only making your life harder by moving full on to Vista.

I have the same problem as thecaretaker, but I have NOT been playing around with 3D demos and such; I've only been playing the one game I love to play, World of Warcraft. I would love to run XP as a solution these problems, but I had purchased an Alienware Area-51 M5790 from Alienware's website for gaming, and the bastards wouldn't let me choose any other OS besides VISTA!!! Microsoft or ATI or whoever needs to fix this problem; it is seriously agitating. I've grown to hate vista with a passion, as I found other features of my chipset are not compatible with it. Simple and important things, like SLEEP MODE on my laptop causes serious problems.

This post is probably more fit to be on a vista related site, but I feel the need to rant everytime someone suggests to me that I should use XP, as there was no choice given to me.

ARGH I HATE VISTA!! DAMN YOU BILL GATES!!! BURN IN HELL YOU BASTARD!!!

Gnerma · Nov 23, 2007, 06:51 PM

1) Insert XP Pro CD into optical drive.

2) Boot off of XP Pro CD.

3) Follow steps to install XP Pro onto laptop.

In any case your situation is not like thecaretaker's. He is obviously a hardcore pc enthusiast that moved to Vista of his own will and could easily move back if he wasn't being stubborn about it. But it seems he'd rather complain about this for 2 years than move back. I don't pretend to understand why.

Apr 16, 2007, 03:43 AM	#1
Intelman DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 15 Rep Power: 0	ATI driver instability Vista ATI drivers from 7.1 on seem just generally unstable. I frequently see "Display driver R300 stopped responding and has successfully recovered" and "Display driver atikmdag stopped responding and has successfully recovered". I also see a lot of ati *.dll related crashes, like the one below. I was working on a simple school project, cutting a video and then it crashed. Faulting application MOVIEMK.exe, version 6.0.6000.16386, time stamp 0x4549b5b6, faulting module atiumdag.dll, version 7.14.10.471, time stamp 0x45c39612, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x0020093a, process id 0xaa0, application start time 0x01c77fcc26f4cb77. I think ATI performs alright in Vista, but these crashes are hindering some "real work" for me. Has anyone found a way to increase stability at all, or at least a cause of these issues? Does ATI know, or even care? BTW, I'm using driver 7.2, 7.3 even with the hotfix, occasionally gives me bluescreens. I am not overclocking my videocard, I am Orthos Stable for 10 hours, and memtest stable for 8 hours.

Apr 22, 2007, 03:28 AM	#4
thecaretaker DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: UK Posts: 31 Rep Power: 0	This is a pre-post answer as I'm working on listing titles, 'linking to' and pointing out to ATI the error messages I'm getting. I'm doing a lot of testing at the moment, I'm about 80% of my way though all my titles and I'm amazed at how poor the drivers are for Vista. What I will say is this: Many people have a dozen or so favourite games installed. So, OK, many people will post how happy they are if all (or most) of their games work in Vista. However, I am not a gamer, I enjoy 3D technology demos and demoscene demos. I have 628 titles currently installed on my system. I've tested about 80% so far so I am not finished yet. But I will be soon. So far, I have got 133 that will not run correctly on Vista with any Cat drivers. The most common fault of those that fail is with the exception code 0xc0000005 error you so rightly include above.I'd say around 75% of those produce this error. Others that fail complain mainly of missing OpenGL support. I appreciate that non-gaming people like me are few and far between. I understand that ATI will focus on games first. But I get the impression that Terry Makedon and his team of Beta testers have become obsessed with performance increases and latest game support rather than things (that are more important to me) stability, compatability and proper fully functioning drivers. Terry knows me of old and knows that I speak my mind and the truth in everyday language. I used to praise his efforts and what he achieved for ATI, but I am seriously wondering what has happened to the enthusiasum and commitment I once saw. I've seen very little change in the actual driver part of Catalyst Suite. Yes we have seen the new CCC and install manager thing, the codec converter added in 7.4 along with a performance increase, but I would much rather they would get back to basics and get the ruddy drivers working correctly first before giving us all the candy that goes with them. Sorry for the rant. But it needs to be said and it's nothing compared to the post I'm working on which will highlight all the errors and titles that nolonger work. In fact, I'm so annoyed by the lack of functionality of my ATI graphics card since 'upgrading' to Vista, I'm even thinking of setting up my own website about it. __________________ My Demoscene website My Caretakers Website Last edited by thecaretaker; Apr 22, 2007 at 03:49 AM.

Apr 22, 2007, 06:42 PM	#5
Gnerma Avatar limits = SPAM Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: California Posts: 101 Rep Power: 0	thecaretaker, you assume that ATi and subsequently their drivers are at fault for all the problems you're having with these demos. I seriously doubt that is the case. Sure, they are at the root of some of them, but don't forget that you're on a new operating system. Many applications of all types find little annoying ways not to work when you move them to a similar but rewritten operating system they weren't tested on like Vista. Let me offer this advice. Somebody that seems to have such wide sweeping niche tastes when it comes to 3d should stay with XP for at least another year. Or you should dual boot. Application compatibility is as good as it'll ever get on XP and you're only making your life harder by moving full on to Vista. __________________ I disable sigs at Driver Heaven. Why? Because your huge ugly sig image irritates me

Apr 23, 2007, 12:04 AM	#6
thecaretaker DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: UK Posts: 31 Rep Power: 0	I appreciate what you are saying Gnerma and with many applications I agree with you. I don't expect all demos to run, they never have when upgrading an OS and I accept that, but with DirectX and especially OpenGL, ATI needs to focus on getting the basics functional before worrying about performance increases and new features. This is like trying to run before you can walk. __________________ My Demoscene website My Caretakers Website

Apr 25, 2007, 02:24 PM	#9
junka Zex Machine Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 199 Rep Power: 0	If they just bin CCC then all have a poo in the bin, problem soved, excellent ,stable Vista drivers ) __________________

Apr 17, 2007, 12:48 AM	#2
Indestructible DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 6 Rep Power: 0	In my three fresh installs of Vista I haven't found a stable setup using 7.1 to 7.3. My solution was to re-install XP Pro and wait it out. If that's not an option, not installing CCC (use ATI Tray Tools beta) and disabling ATI External Event Utility service did make my system more stable if you want to try that. Or if you don't care about gaming, just use the WDM drivers that come with Vista, those were rock solid for me. I'm sure ATI knows and cares. With the large amount of posts about these Vista issues in hardware forums and in groups i'm sure they are working hard trying to track this down and fix it.

Apr 17, 2007, 01:04 AM	#3
REGENERATION DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 59 Rep Power: 0	I'm using ATI Catalyst 7.3 Vista HotFix and everything is perfect. The only problem I had is the lack of 1440x900 resolution support, but I fixed it already. Generally everything is working well. You guys should download the latest Catalyst 7.3 Beta HotFix, and make sure to update other drivers as well and check your overclocking settings (if you have any). I never had any BSODs on my rig.

Apr 25, 2007, 02:32 AM	#7
ultime DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	ATI run good on vista for me, and take note that vista can be the problem also, and when you install driver, i hope dotn dont haev lil third party program , and overclocking your ati card? and ati aint the only to have problem, nvidia is worse with vista

Apr 25, 2007, 01:18 PM	#8
Frager DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	Just to mention this to people having a x1900xtx card with a fan that control its speed automatically to NOT disable the ATI External Event Utility service because it is use to control the fan(I notice this because i got artifact in supreme commander while playing for a while and notice my fan wasn't doing the normal noise it does normally) and also it seem to check the clock of the card because if you disable it and go to the catalyst control center/overdrive; you wont be able to see the clock and do the automatic clock configuration utility. To the catalyst guys working around here, I really apreciate the work you do here but(no offence) be carefull when you suggest something. the pre hot fix for the bsod(win32k.sys) of catalyst 7.3 by disabling the ATI External Event Utility service just told me that: this guy dont really know whats he is talking about. Yes it did work but this fix was dangerous for some card users. I prefer having a BSOD than having a burned card... But still I apreciate that you do support here because not much company do that.

Nov 23, 2007, 06:51 PM	#12
Gnerma Avatar limits = SPAM Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: California Posts: 101 Rep Power: 0	1) Insert XP Pro CD into optical drive. 2) Boot off of XP Pro CD. 3) Follow steps to install XP Pro onto laptop. In any case your situation is not like thecaretaker's. He is obviously a hardcore pc enthusiast that moved to Vista of his own will and could easily move back if he wasn't being stubborn about it. But it seems he'd rather complain about this for 2 years than move back. I don't pretend to understand why. __________________ I disable sigs at Driver Heaven. Why? Because your huge ugly sig image irritates me