I've been getting this problem lately, which is extremely frustrating, as I can't work out what's causing it. Over the last few months, I'd occasionally experience a freeze, and the occasional BSOD. The error always said stop error 0x0000116. It didn't bother me that much, as it wasn't very frequent, untill yesterday. I fired up sketchup, and after 5 minutes, a BSOD. From then on, I couldn't boot into vista at all, every time it was just about to load up to the log in screen, another BSOD, with the same error code. I've re-installed vista 3 times over the last day, where it seemed to go nicely, but then after installing the ATi drivers, and then some windows updates, it'd go back into the circle of BSOD, restart, BSOD. I've been looking all over the internet for any similar problems, and I've came accross people who have had the same issue, but there wasn't any results of it. Anyway, I was begining to think this is either a windows update problem (ie, something like installing an update is the cause of this), or it's my 3870X2 that is failing. I tried an old 1600XT I had laying around to see if it was vista or the X2, and the 1600 worked fine, so I threw the X2 back in, and no BSODs on boot up, though my PC has crashed a few times, but no BSOD, so I'm now thinking it's not my X2 that's slowly dying, but it's something to do with drivers. It's extremely frustrating trying to figure out this problem. I've noticed a few other people on here seemed to be having a similar issue too, which seems not limited to ATi, but seems to be occuring with vista x64. Anyone got some input into this situation?
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Serious Problems
- Thread starter kylew
- Start date
Ok, so I spoke way too soon, just after I posted, a BSOD, and then the circle of BSOD - restart, the problem is with the atikmdag.sys file, I deleted it in safe mode, and I could once again boot into windows without problems.
I've tried 8.3 and 8.4, 8.3 was pretty solid for me when I had it installed, minimal freezes.
I've been doing some testing, and I've messed around with the sticks of RAM, took all out bar one, then put another back in the second slot. That seemed to get rid of the BSOD, I just got a freeze, or maybe a VPU recover. I tried two sticks in dual channel, slots 1 and 3. No BSODs, but still crashes. So i tried them all in again, no BSODs again, but It still freezes. I know that the RAM is not in the original order I had it in previously, So I think that has had something to do with the BSODs stopping. Now though, any time I run something that needs 3D acceleration, I get a crash/freeze. I'd open up sketchup, an existing model I'd made, and it would either crash on trying to open it, or VPU recover, and open it, and I could actually use sketchup. If I closed it, and opened it again, it would just freeze, same goes for games. World in Conflict actually gave me a red screen, with the error 0x0000024. I can't run any CPU and RAM stress tests at the moment as I'm at work, but I'll give them a try later on when I get home.
Pretty similar to your system, Q6600, 4GB G-skill RAM, Asus P5K Deluxe, and vista x64. I was wondering about a bios update, but I couldn't work out how it would cause problems if nothing had changed since my last bios update. I'll download the latest when I get back and see if that resolves anything.
Ok, so I've tried a few CPU and RAM stress tests, and it's beggining to look like it's my X2, anything stressful is fine, untill it's something that's in 3D. Ran orthos for a while, no issues, after that, I tried sketchup, crashed on start attempt, i've also tried WIC a few times. One try, I played the tutorial for about 5 minutes before it crashed, most other times, it crashes on launch, or just as the level begins. I'm just having a guess, but is it a possibility that one of the BIOSes on the X2 has corrupted? The BSODs have gone completely now, from what I can tell at least, though it still crashes, my computer is usable aslong as I don't try to play a game or use CAD apps that need GPU acceleration.
Would be pretty odd if it was a compatibility problem, as it's been working fine previously since i bought it in february, and the 8.3 drivers worked fine too, Although, i get get no crashes when i installed my x1600. I'll put my x1600 in again tonight and see if i can get it to crash or BSOD. I'll also try 8.1 and 2 drivers, see if that makes any difference.
Kylew, dont wanna go off topic but just a quick note to say its easier to read your posts if paragraphed, also may get you replies faster.
Hey, no worries. I've just been trying to bash out posts quickly to get a quick reply.
ive been getting roughly the same problem as yours since december when i built the pc, but not as many BSOD,s as you though, two to be exact, but the graphics driver stopped working message while playing game (atikmdag.sys problem) or TDR as they call it....anyways ive done a lot of research and veiwed over a thousand posts about this very common problem without finding any real solution, a lot of peeps who have the problem have tried changing gfx cards,memory,psu,s and even operating systems to try and get rid of the problem, but it comes back in different forms i.e more bsods or more crashes,less freezing and so on, but its still frustratingly there
The thing that stopped my gfx driver has stopped working message, was the hotfix for the 8.3,s but instead i get system lock-ups or freezing (requiring reboot) tbh i dont know which is worse
I generally believe it is a driver issue but im not 100% and the reason im not totally sure is it happens with nvidia aswell as ati and also both xp and vista, so who knows.......google atikmdag.sys and see the amount of poeple that have a similar problem to you and also the amount of time it has been a problem (over a year now) ..... sorry i havent helped much, but i thought i would let you know your not alone with this atikmdag.sys problem, as for me i will keep updating drivers in hope it will sort it (even though i havent tried 8.4,s yet) ill download them tonight, you never know it may fix it!! but i wont hold my breath
Hi, thanks a lot for your reply, I'll try it out tonight, cat 8.3 with the hotfix
. The worst thing about it is that it just randomly happened one day. I hope this will sort it out anyway.Also, just a quick one, plurals don't use commas or apostrophes, so instead of 8.3,s it'll be "8.3s"
just a friendly comment, I hope you don't take offence to it 
.My ram's rated at 1.8-2v. i've got it at 2v at the moment, i've tried 1.8-2.1 and it's still the same. My PC now only crashes when I attempt to run a 3D application, CAD or games. I can load up firefox and have it beating the RAM hard, with loads of tabs and so on, sometimes gets into 1GB plus RAM usage, and it's fine with that, as well as orthos. Though I will give memtest a try when I get home from work.
Something's just caught my attention about my problems. I just came to my PC 10 minutes ago, the screen was black, and my X2's fan was on 100%. There was also a lit LED by where the 8pin connector is. Which I know means insufficient power. What are the chances of the 8pin cable being damaged, and also, my surge protector isn't connected directly to the wall. My surger protector is connected to an extention cable with 2 sockets at the end, there's another surge protector on the other socket too. What are the chances that this is causing a lack of power?
Ok, I've made some progress, haven't done anything different though. I'm actually able to run games now. The last thing I did was play around with the RAM placement again. I've still only got 2 sticks in, but I took them out and put in the other 2 sticks. Now I can run games, just played HL2:Episode 2 for 20 minutes, no problems. I'll verify by trying the stick I beleive to be devective by putting it back in and seeing if will crash again. Overall, I'm very happy about being able to play games again, my PC was starting to feel like a very expensive paper weight. 
Thats great news! Glad to hear your up and running, playing games again
Was great news, that seemed to be a one off, I'm suspicious of it being because catalyst AI was turned off though
Despite me thinking it was sorted, the problem has come back in a different way. I was playing HL2: Ep 2 again, and it crashed twice after playing for a while, the screen went all funny, like scrambled up, I'll attach a few photos of my screen when it crashed. Another thing that's odd is that games will wortk, or atleast run for a bit, when catalyst AI is turned off. Is it likely that the second GPU, or the second GPU's RAM is messed up or something?
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I've managed to sort out an RMA, the courrier is coming to collect it tomorrow . On top of that, I won't be getting a replacement, I'll be getting a refund. The place I bought it said that I can get a refund, since the powercolour 3870X2 is discontinued there. I should have some change left over out of the £260 I'll be getting back, I might even get 2 4870s if they're a good price .
. On top of that, I won't be getting a replacement, I'll be getting a refund. The place I bought it said that I can get a refund, since the powercolour 3870X2 is discontinued there. I should have some change left over out of the £260 I'll be getting back, I might even get 2 4870s if they're a good price .