atikmdag.sys BSOD(s) amd r9 290

[Feevercz]

Hello guys,
I got a new gaming rig for about a month now and since the first boot I'm experiencing weird crashes. I have a BSOD every now and then (usually once a week or maybe more) during normal usage. Sometimes it strikes when I watch youtube videos, sometimes when I try to launch some game, or during the game. BSOD's crash minidumps are the only things I could get any info from, when I searched forums I found many similar problems and most of them were suggesting this fix: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1656824/atikmdag-sys-error-bsod-startup.html

My specs are:
CPU: Intel Core i5-4440
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G43
RAM: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600
SSD: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM
GPU: Asus R9 290 DirectCU II OC 4GB
PSU: SeaSonic 750W

But I couldn't find the exactly same issue, because besides those BSODs the much more common problem I am experiencing is when I try to run specific games like league of legends, or dead space (or it happens just randomly every few days during various actions) my monitor goes completely black (power diod is blinking) but the computer is still running and I am unable to do anything only to restart the computer and then it boots up normally.

Windows debugger tells me that the cause is atikmdag.sys, plus other various .sys depending on which minidump it is, but atikmdag.sys is in every single one, you can see it in this zip file which contains my minidump files

http://filedump.org/files/X7teQ61397590014.html

I tried reinstalling the OS, updated gpu drivers, used older drivers.
Before I reinstalled the OS the problem with monitor going black was always happening when using google chrome. One more thing I noticed is that when I try to run deadspace using windows troubleshooter in win xp sp2 compatibility mode it doesn't crash, but instead gives me error message "missing required file "ssleay32.dll"" but I have no idea if it has anything to do with my problem.

Thank You for any words of advice, I'm an IT newbie so don't be too technical on me please and I'm not native english speaker so forgive my grammar

 

[ish416]

I actually dealt with an issue very similar to this last weekend. I kept getting BSODs with various .sys files. Always had the atikmdag.sys in there also.

I tried with a different video card (still an AMD card), tried removing and re-installing drivers (using DDU for driver uninstall and removal) tried booting to a different OS (Win 8.1 and Win 7), issue happened in both OS. Ran a preboot memory test and it failed.

I replaced the ram and no issues at all.

That's what worked for me, if you have tried everything else, it might be the ram.

 

[Feevercz]

I actually dealt with an issue very similar to this last weekend. I kept getting BSODs with various .sys files. Always had the atikmdag.sys in there also.

I tried with a different video card (still an AMD card), tried removing and re-installing drivers (using DDU for driver uninstall and removal) tried booting to a different OS (Win 8.1 and Win 7), issue happened in both OS. Ran a preboot memory test and it failed.

I replaced the ram and no issues at all.

That's what worked for me, if you have tried everything else, it might be the ram.

Can you be a little more specific on what your problem was about and if you could list another .sys that were in minidump files alongside with atikmdag.sys I'd be grateful.

Im trying to figure out if my problem is gpu related (some claimed memory issues w/ r9 290(x)), ram related, driver related or even psu related...

Thanks inadvance

Anyway I ordered new RAMs - I can get a free refund so I'll report if it fixed my problem ( but after that I ran the preboot memory test and it didnt come across any problem)

 

[Feevercz]

Ok, weird stuff happened,
I was skeptical to ish416 solution especially when windows memory diagnostic tool showed no problems with a RAM at all.
But I ordered Kingston HyperX Predator 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 2133 XMP since in my country You can get a complete refund without any reason if you do it 14days after the buy so I wanted to try it.

Now my deadspace and league of legends loads up without any black screen, or BSOD.
I'll report if it fixed my problem entirely, or if this is just a false alarm.

Thanks anyway!

 

[ish416]

Interesting. I would be skeptical too.

I was 100% certain that it was a driver/OS issue or video card issue. However, when it started happening across multiple OS with multiple video cards (running AMD 14.3 Beta), I was out of ideas. I just happened to try swapping out the memory and it worked.


Were you by chance running the 14.3 Beta drivers on either Windows 7 or 8.1 X64?

 

[Feevercz]

Yes I'm running 14.3 beta drivers but tried older versions too.

I'm confused again, because I put old RAM sticks back in to test them with memtest86 so I could get RMA on them, but I seem to be unable to boot it from USB and when I tried Deadspace it worked normaly (which is pretty weird, because since I got it I couldn't run it, didnt matter if my Pc was running for several hours, or I just booted, it always gave me black screen which I mentioned before, but after I put the new RAM in and then switched back to the old ones it seems to work now)

 

[ish416]

My specs are:
CPU: AMD FX8350 @ 5.2Ghz
Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
RAM: Kingston BEAST DDR3 2400 (8GBx2 16GB)
SSD: Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB
HDD: 2 x 2TB WD Green 7200 RPM 64MB cache (raid 0)
GPU: 2x AMD R9 290 with liquid cooling
PSU: Coolermaster V1000

It's a very strange thing. We both have R9 290's, both have similar issues on Beta 14.3.


Did you initially have the issues with 14.3 and then revert to an older driver or was this an issue before the 14.3 driver?

That is the only thing I can think of that would be a common link between our systems and issues. I never had any issues on 13.12, didn't initially have issues with 14.3 either.

Is your system overclocked by chance or running tight memory timings?

 

[Feevercz]

My specs are:
CPU: AMD FX8350 @ 5.2Ghz
Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
RAM: Kingston BEAST DDR3 2400 (8GBx2 16GB)
SSD: Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB
HDD: 2 x 2TB WD Green 7200 RPM 64MB cache (raid 0)
GPU: 2x AMD R9 290 with liquid cooling
PSU: Coolermaster V1000

It's a very strange thing. We both have R9 290's, both have similar issues on Beta 14.3.


Did you initially have the issues with 14.3 and then revert to an older driver or was this an issue before the 14.3 driver?

That is the only thing I can think of that would be a common link between our systems and issues. I never had any issues on 13.12, didn't initially have issues with 14.3 either.

Is your system overclocked by chance or running tight memory timings?

No OC except my GPU is ASUS r9 290 DirectCUII OC 4GB, so it is overclocked from the manufacturer.
I'll also try clen instal of win 8.1 and report what happens

 

[Feevercz]

When I try to boot from usb stick in order to run memtest86, it just boots windows, if I force it to boot from USB and disable hdd boot I get this:

This also happens when I enable windows 8 mode in bios (uefi).

Any idea on this one?

 

[Feevercz]

So clean install of win 8.1 enabled me to boot memtest from usb and an overnight test showed 0 errors, so RAM doesn't seem to be a problem. I also didn't encounter any bsod or blackscreen since I switched my Ram sticks, booted and then switched them back.

 

[jkteddy77]

Still not? I notice I get them once or twice after I edit ANYTHING in the BIOS, aon all drivers 13.12-14.4 now... Just got some today, only edited Cool and quiet, and switched Turbo on/off on my 8350... I know it happens 1-2, actually 3 times today so... Hmm... It comes one day, and then it doesn't happen again for a long time. Just be careful, you have to let the video RENDER to HD resolution before you try and skip ahead in the video, that is what crahes me. If I swqitch the quality, roll it back a few seconds, let it switch entirely to HD, then skip ahead, its fine. I've also only Bluescreened once in game, but Using Battlescreen in Chomre with BF4 would BSOD me constantly, no dump files either. It MUST be chrome's flash player/hardware acceleration. Just be careful with flashplayers for now...

 

[Feevercz]

Had one blackscreen yesterday after turning teamspeak on.

 

[jkteddy77]

Had one blackscreen yesterday after turning teamspeak on.

Hmm.. I luckily only have issues with Youtube, nothing else. I also clean installed once (not cause of this issue, its was BF3/BF4) and I have got BSOD on both installs so... and I have VERY clean drivers. Never heard of a crash outside of Directx or Flash/shockwave player :/ dunno what Teamspeak runs on. You edit bios lately? Seems to only happen when I edit my BIOS, then like never until I edit my CPU/RAM clocks again. It BSOD's once on youtube, twice when I hit "restore closed tabs" in chrome and reopen the vido, and then just stops BSODing for a while (luckily)... I don't think its faulty card, no use in RMA for another, as my best friend with a Power Color PCS+ 290 gets them too (not as often, but he doesn't mess with bios or drivers much) doubt its the RAM causing it, I thought that two, but I swapped out old RAM, and got the same issue, and I doubt everyone with a 290 has fauty RAM... btw, whats ur CPU? me and my friend both have FX-8350's.

 

[Feevercz]

I have i5 4440 haswell cpu, since the clean os install I had only one crash and it wasnt a bsod, but a blackscreen I mentioned above. Today I tried to flash my bios to the newest version, because I didnt find my RAM, nor the vga on the list of supported parts for my mobo. And the previous bios version was more than a year old.

When I mentioned that blackscreen during the teamspeak launch, im not sure if any flas app wasnt running, because I had my firefox on.
Also only changes I made in bios recently are turning windows 8 mode on - still unable to boot afterwards, I'm going to submit a thread about this on MSI's forum tomorrow. And I enabled msi fast boot, but I had a issues prior to that and this change didnt make it worse at all.
Didnt mess with any timings and stuff.

I'll let you know if anything comes up in my case. Its hard to troubleshoot, when i have no more bsods, but I guess its a good thing, but it may sound silly I'd rather have more problems to be able to determine what is causing them :-D spent too much time on it to just let it be...

 

[jkteddy77]

I have i5 4440 haswell cpu, since the clean os install I had only one crash and it wasnt a bsod, but a blackscreen I mentioned above. Today I tried to flash my bios to the newest version, because I didnt find my RAM, nor the vga on the list of supported parts for my mobo. And the previous bios version was more than a year old.

When I mentioned that blackscreen during the teamspeak launch, im not sure if any flas app wasnt running, because I had my firefox on.
Also only changes I made in bios recently are turning windows 8 mode on - still unable to boot afterwards, I'm going to submit a thread about this on MSI's forum tomorrow. And I enabled msi fast boot, but I had a issues prior to that and this change didnt make it worse at all.
Didnt mess with any timings and stuff.

I'll let you know if anything comes up in my case. Its hard to troubleshoot, when i have no more bsods, but I guess its a good thing, but it may sound silly I'd rather have more problems to be able to determine what is causing them :-D spent too much time on it to just let it be...

I know hat you mean... I've spent 200+ hours trying to keep my 8350/r9 290 from stuttering under 60fps in all my games (even on low settings). I know I'm wasting my time, but I just can't let it go.

Luckily, my BIOS and MOBO have been rock solid, never had issues like that.

 

[Feevercz]

So today I had my first BSOD since win 8.1 install.

From minidump:

atikmdag.sys atikmdag.sys+282ce fffff800`01a00000 fffff800`027a1000 0x00da1000 0x53207d13 12/03/2014 16:28:19 ATI Radeon Family ATI Radeon Kernel Mode Driver 8.01.01.1379 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\atikmdag.sys

rtwlane.sys rtwlane.sys+1e018 fffff800`02838000 fffff800`02a28000 0x001f0000 0x51debf13 11/07/2013 15:20:03 Realtek PCIEWireless LAN PCI-E NIC Realtek PCIE NDIS Driverr 2008.5.0423.2013 Realtek Semiconductor Corporation C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\rtwlane.sys

 

[jkteddy77]

So today I had my first BSOD since win 8.1 install.

From minidump:

atikmdag.sys atikmdag.sys+282ce fffff800`01a00000 fffff800`027a1000 0x00da1000 0x53207d13 12/03/2014 16:28:19 ATI Radeon Family ATI Radeon Kernel Mode Driver 8.01.01.1379 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\atikmdag.sys

rtwlane.sys rtwlane.sys+1e018 fffff800`02838000 fffff800`02a28000 0x001f0000 0x51debf13 11/07/2013 15:20:03 Realtek PCIEWireless LAN PCI-E NIC Realtek PCIE NDIS Driverr 2008.5.0423.2013 Realtek Semiconductor Corporation C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\rtwlane.sys

I actually haven't got a single BSOD since I uninstalled JAva and shockwave players, and then manually reinstalled them. For me, its the issue with the verion Chrome gives you, you have to manually install Java 32bit, 64bit, and Shockwave player.

 

[Feevercz]

I actually haven't got a single BSOD since I uninstalled JAva and shockwave players, and then manually reinstalled them. For me, its the issue with the verion Chrome gives you, you have to manually install Java 32bit, 64bit, and Shockwave player.

I'll try that tomorrow and report if I'll have any future problems, but now the frequency of bsod or blackscreens is at absolute minimum, compared to pre win8 state.

 

[T0815]

hi there, sadly i got the same issue as well. Got R9 290 recently and im getting BSODs randomly when watching Videos from Player or Web-players. I kept my system and only changed GFX -Card and RAM. Of course i did run MemTest too, to check RAM and found no issues with it. Strange thing is, it only seems to happen on 2D releated GFX stuff (Vido transcoding or whatnot). I didnt get a BSOD in 3D Applications so far. Very strange issue. I hope i dont have a damaged GFX card, since i read there are several issues with the new r9's...

 

[aznguy0028]

Same here, I BSOD at random times on youtube in full screen mode without touching anything or if I skip around in time of the video. I did a google search and apparently it's a big problem among 290/290x owners. I never had issue with AMD's drivers but this is a HUGE disappointment because you would expect top notch service for going high end...not bsods. Twitch bsod for me as well, I think it's a flash related driver error. Did all the things you guys mentioned too, I memtest ram, no errors and even changed PSU's before realize it's a driver issue.

 

[290x user]

Hi,

I have the same problem. R9 290x GPU. Got the BSOD with eror code 0xA0000001 and atikmdag.sys dxgmms1.sys and ntoskrnl.exe.

System only crashed when playing Flash games (Hearthstone Heroes of Warcraft), Youtube, Internet explorer, Flash websites. Never in games like BF4 or Watch_Dogs. I can replicate the BSOD when playing Hearthstone.

Things I've done so far.

- Reinstalled Windows 7 (about 10 times)
- Drivers 13.2, 14.4, 14.6 (with and without CCC)
- Tried my friends GPU (same model R9 290x)
- Bought new CPU, PSU, MB, Ram, HDD. (was planning on that anyway).
- Tried the atikmdag.sy_ trick (found on some forum)
- Tried different VBIOS versions and release dates (Asus, Club3D). They are all the same anyway/
- Tried the UBER mode on the GPU
- Tried with fresh W7 install, 14.4 driver and Hearthstone ONLY, still BSOD.

Yesterday I got my 1st BSOD since I build my system. By watching a youtube video. Same BSOD as I've had since I bought the R9 290x. Always the same error codes in minidump and bluescreenview.

At this point I'm able to say it has nothing to do with any of my hardware (except GPU itself) since I've bought a complete new build and still have the issue. BSOD happends with all driver versions I could find.

So either both the GPU's I've tried are defect, all the drivers are bugged, or the VBIOS of the GPU is just bad.
The BSOD only happens when the GPU is not doing much. GPU-Z it works at about 600mhz.

Contacted AMD, they suggested me to try all the tings I've allready tried or to RMA the card.
But I'm pretty sure they'll send the card back after a few weeks saying the card if working correctly..

 

[jkteddy77]

Hi,

I have the same problem. R9 290x GPU. Got the BSOD with eror code 0xA0000001 and atikmdag.sys dxgmms1.sys and ntoskrnl.exe.

System only crashed when playing Flash games (Hearthstone Heroes of Warcraft), Youtube, Internet explorer, Flash websites. Never in games like BF4 or Watch_Dogs. I can replicate the BSOD when playing Hearthstone.

Things I've done so far.

- Reinstalled Windows 7 (about 10 times)
- Drivers 13.2, 14.4, 14.6 (with and without CCC)
- Tried my friends GPU (same model R9 290x)
- Bought new CPU, PSU, MB, Ram, HDD. (was planning on that anyway).
- Tried the atikmdag.sy_ trick (found on some forum)
- Tried different VBIOS versions and release dates (Asus, Club3D). They are all the same anyway/
- Tried the UBER mode on the GPU
- Tried with fresh W7 install, 14.4 driver and Hearthstone ONLY, still BSOD.

Yesterday I got my 1st BSOD since I build my system. By watching a youtube video. Same BSOD as I've had since I bought the R9 290x. Always the same error codes in minidump and bluescreenview.

At this point I'm able to say it has nothing to do with any of my hardware (except GPU itself) since I've bought a complete new build and still have the issue. BSOD happends with all driver versions I could find.

So either both the GPU's I've tried are defect, all the drivers are bugged, or the VBIOS of the GPU is just bad.
The BSOD only happens when the GPU is not doing much. GPU-Z it works at about 600mhz.

Contacted AMD, they suggested me to try all the tings I've allready tried or to RMA the card.
But I'm pretty sure they'll send the card back after a few weeks saying the card if working correctly..

I had the same issue, know what fixed mine?

Do you happen to use Google Chrome???
If you do, you need to MANUALLY install the latest Adobe Flash and Adobe Shockwave players. They should override Google chrpme's on their own, and I haven't had a crash since

 

[mparisi79]

Alternatively:

Play any Adobe Flash video (on youtube or the like), right click on the video, choose Settings, and disable "Enable hardware acceleration".

Flash doesn't play nice with hardware acceleration and you don't really need it anyway.

 

[Andys184]

I actually dealt with an issue very similar to this last weekend. I kept getting BSODs with various .sys files. Always had the atikmdag.sys in there also.

I tried with a different video card (still an AMD card), tried removing and re-installing drivers (using DDU for driver uninstall and removal) tried booting to a different OS (Win 8.1 and Win 7), issue happened in both OS. Ran a preboot memory test and it failed.

I replaced the ram and no issues at all.

I actually dealt with an issue very similar to this last weekend. I kept getting BSODs with various .sys files. Always had the atikmdag.sys in there also.

I tried with a different video card (still an AMD card), tried removing and re-installing drivers (using DDU for driver uninstall and removal) tried booting to a different OS (Win 8.1 and Win 7), issue happened in both OS. Ran a preboot memory test and it failed.

I replaced the ram and no issues at all.

That's what worked for me, if you have tried everything else, it might be the ram.

Can you be a little more specific on what your problem was about and if you could list another .sys that were in minidump files alongside with atikmdag.sys I'd be grateful.

Im trying to figure out if my problem is gpu related (some claimed memory issues w/ r9 290(x)), ram related, driver related or even psu related...

Thanks inadvance

Anyway I ordered new RAMs - I can get a free refund so I'll report if it fixed my problem ( but after that I ran the preboot memory test and it didnt come across any problem)

That's what worked for me, if you have tried everything else, it might be the ram.

I've been getting BSOD just for watching youtube videos I have a sapphire r9 290 Vapor-x OC and I heard if you right click the video before it plays to disable graphics accelerator some won't show settings but HTML5 but I'm pretty sure it's that also with what ram you have. Some motherboards can't handle 1.65v most that are oc are 1.65v and ones that are set to one speed are 1.5v but still can do certain speeds of the 1.65v ram. I have a 1.65v ram but set it to 1.5v and was only able to use one speed instead the oc speed for the voltage it gives out. Just switch from a 1.65 to 1.5v if your motherboard can't handle 1.65v ram.

 

[jkteddy77]

I actually dealt with an issue very similar to this last weekend. I kept getting BSODs with various .sys files. Always had the atikmdag.sys in there also.

I tried with a different video card (still an AMD card), tried removing and re-installing drivers (using DDU for driver uninstall and removal) tried booting to a different OS (Win 8.1 and Win 7), issue happened in both OS. Ran a preboot memory test and it failed.

I replaced the ram and no issues at all.

I actually dealt with an issue very similar to this last weekend. I kept getting BSODs with various .sys files. Always had the atikmdag.sys in there also.

I tried with a different video card (still an AMD card), tried removing and re-installing drivers (using DDU for driver uninstall and removal) tried booting to a different OS (Win 8.1 and Win 7), issue happened in both OS. Ran a preboot memory test and it failed.

I replaced the ram and no issues at all.

That's what worked for me, if you have tried everything else, it might be the ram.

Can you be a little more specific on what your problem was about and if you could list another .sys that were in minidump files alongside with atikmdag.sys I'd be grateful.

Im trying to figure out if my problem is gpu related (some claimed memory issues w/ r9 290(x)), ram related, driver related or even psu related...

Thanks inadvance

Anyway I ordered new RAMs - I can get a free refund so I'll report if it fixed my problem ( but after that I ran the preboot memory test and it didnt come across any problem)

That's what worked for me, if you have tried everything else, it might be the ram.

I've been getting BSOD just for watching youtube videos I have a sapphire r9 290 Vapor-x OC and I heard if you right click the video before it plays to disable graphics accelerator some won't show settings but HTML5 but I'm pretty sure it's that also with what ram you have. Some motherboards can't handle 1.65v most that are oc are 1.65v and ones that are set to one speed are 1.5v but still can do certain speeds of the 1.65v ram. I have a 1.65v ram but set it to 1.5v and was only able to use one speed instead the oc speed for the voltage it gives out. Just switch from a 1.65 to 1.5v if your motherboard can't handle 1.65v ram.

Yes, but just remember you NEED to manually update your Viddeo players, Flash and Shockwave Players. Its a glitch with AMD's Drivers and Internet Browser's flash players. since I updated Flash and Shockwave, and updated to 14.4 Catalyst or higher, I've had 0 issues with this. It hasn't happened once in over 2 months, and that's all I've changed, drivers and flash players updated.