3870 X2

[dviz]

I have been having a problem with my 3870 X2 card while playing games. Every so often, about once a week or so, my screen will freeze, go black, and then give me a BSOD blaming 'atikmdag' for the problem. I've downloaded the newest drivers/catalyst, updated mobo chipset, run memtest, and verified that my PSU is powerful enough...but I have had no luck solving this problem. I called ATI and they basically told me to update the graphics driver and chipset, which I had already done.

This isn't a huge problem, as my comp runs fine 99% of the time and only freezes while i'm playing a game...but I would really like to know what the problem is so I can avoid any potentially damaging problems.

ASUS P5Q SE/R Motherboard
Intel Q9400 CPU
MSI HD Radeon 3870 X2
8GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800
600W OCZ StealthXStream PSU
Vista 64-bit

 

[zachary k]

i would like to know what kind of performance you get out of your 3870X2, i got one 3870 and was thinking about getting another one to get another year of life out of it, or if it would just be better to upgrade to a new single card.

 

[dviz]

So far I love it, with the exception of this problem i'm having. This is my first build so I don't have a ton to compare it to, but I can run Crysis on high with no problems.

 

[dviz]

I removed the update and I guess now I just have to wait to see if the problem persists. I noticed that my automatic update icon on the shut down button is saying I have new updates, and when I click on it, it shows me the KB952287 update. Is it going to continue doing this or is there some way to make it stop?

 

[dviz]

Actually, I was playing a game last night my comp froze followed by BSOD...when I restarted, I checked my recent updates and saw that KB952287 had been installed automatically the previous night. Do I need to do something to permanently remove this update?

I'm not on that computer right now, so i'm not sure which SP i'm on, but I should be up to date. How long ago was SP2 released?

 

[dviz]

Do you think have 8GB instead of 4 would be the cause of this problem? It only happens about once a week, with no regularity, but my comp runs fine 99% of the time.

UPDATE: So I just ran memtest with 4GB and the test started but the screen went black and the comp started to reboot within a few seconds. I have tested all 4 sticks of RAM one at a time and they all passed fine....any ideas why this is happening?

 

[dviz]

I tested each of the 2GB sticks one at a time and they all passed memtest.

When I have 4GB or 8GB in all at once, memtest starts but after a few seconds it is rebooting my computer and BIOS reloads causing memtest to load up again...and this keeps repeating itself. It does NOT BSOD when this happens...the only BSOD I ever get is while playing a game and has never happened under any other condition (that I know of yet).

I have not OC'ed anything at all as I have no experience doing so.

I posted some of my CPU-z screens in this post....http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/253902-29-3dmark06-scores

Not sure my CPU temps under load...what app would be good for this info?

 

[dodonga]

Hey i've been having the same problem with my ATI Radeon 9600, i get the bsod and atikmdag, how ever im running windows 7, how can i uninstall that stuff from the update to vista or xp?

 

[dviz]

Ok, I figured out the problem with memtest...turns out I was using an old version. After downloading memtest86+ I passed with no problems.

However, friday night I had a BSOD again...after having uninstalled KB952287. I will check that site you linked, zipzoomflyhigh...but do you have any other recommendations?

 

[kernwaffe]

Has anyone brought to your attention you might need to flash the bios? I'm pretty certain I had that setup at one point in time (VERY similar to your build) & had to update the bios, as the mobo was sad with the ram speed. It'd work just fine, I'd load a power intensive game (World in Conflict, graphics 3/4 way up), and you're describing what happened to me. Go to asus.com & search for your mobo- I don't like their site setup, but goto downloads & look at Bios revisions- download the most updated, & put it on a flashdrive. Make sure the format is NOT NTFS!! It needs to be FAT or FAT16! I cannot stress the hours spent crying wondering why I couldn't update my bios to install my OS to download the files I needed!