Hi all,

1st post.

Ive seen the others regarding atikmdag.sys....but the posts were diluted and this is a specific fix to a specific problem.

The scenario is thus:

• You just installed catalyst 8.11 drivers.
• The installation went fine and the installation log states success to everything.
• You reboot the computer.
• As soon as you get to the logon screen BSOD.
• If you are quick you might just notice atikmdag.sys failure.
• The computer restarts.
• You get to the logon screen and BSOD again...ad infinitum.

Many people have offered many fixes. Some hack the crossfire registry keys. some pull the crossfire bridge from the cards. Some people are lucky enough for the drivers to install....but although the system states they are running in crossfire....if you benchmark you'll find you are only getting single card performance....and you'll probably crash running 3dmark06 or similar.

This fix is aimed primarily at people with HD4850 cards in crossfire who cant use 8.11 drivers without constant blue screens or hacking the system to disable crossfire. Before giving the resolution I'd like to show my system...

• Antec 900 Tower
• Antec 1000w True Power Quattro PSU
• Gigabyte X38-DQ6 Motherboard (Award F8 Bios)
• Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 2.40GHz (9x392Mhz = 3528 Mhz)
• Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
• 2x TW2X4G6400C4DHX Corsair 2x2Gb 6400 C4DHX (8Gb)
• 3x SATA Maxtor 6V080E0 (ICH9R RAID0)
• 1x SATA Maxtor 6V080E0 (ICH9R Standalone Backup)
• 2x Sapphire HD4850 (Crossfired)
• Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium
• 6.0.6001 Service Pack 1 Build 6001

No doubt ATI will tell me the failure is overclocking, ram, raid, vista, in fact anything other then a problem caused by ATI. When I have reinstalled vista and changed all the hardware to get the same problem, no doubt I will get directX, .net, vista fixes, chipset inf files are not upto date or incorrect or some other cop out.

I have spent several days ripping my whole $"¬$¬£$ system apart to satisfy the whims of idiots who speak out of their backside and would not know a screwdriver from a toothpick. I have completely gutted the registry of all display driver references and completely rebuilt the .net system from scratch to satisfy these stab in the dark imbeciles. But to state categorically what does "not" work....

• install latest .net packages
• install latest chipsets drivers
• install latest windows updates
• remove all traces of old ati drivers (system/registry/inf)
• remove all traces of any old video drivers (system/registry/inf)
• remove ram chips
• unclock system
• reinstall vista
• install ati drivers from original disks and overwrite with 8.11 or similar
• disable any and all security programs and vista "user access control"
• run all programs as administrator (unless you are a basic user and not a super user)

I did all of these things and more a hundred times over in a hundred different sequences and nothing worked other then disabling crossfire in some form or other. Which makes a mockery of the crossfire concept really doesn't it? So what has caused this and who is to blame. Well I can install 8.5 through 8.10 with no issues although 8.10 can give you a blank screen during the install....where I have to connect to card 2 if I want to see anything for some obscure reason. Restarting brings video back to card 1 again ?!?!?? Many others have exactly the same 8.11 driver only problem. All can stop the bluescreens only by disabling crossfire. Well heres the culprit.....

• ATI External Event Utility
• c:\windows\system32\ati2evxx.exe
• 29/10/2008 2:19
• 6.14.10.4211
• 897kb 

Not familiar with this? ATI is very familiar with it since fabruary 2007 with the 7.2 and 7.3 drivers. You can read all about it here http://www.driverheaven.net/vista-radeon-display-drivers/133161-who-has-probs-bsods-vista-7-3-a.html ...yes that right nearly two years ago...deja vu or what! Yet they said nothing here. It always seems to be us cleaning up ATIs mess.

To be frank i'm spitting bile at the moment. So its probably best I just give the to fix for the rest of you poor buggers who feel the pain out there. Perhaps you can play your crossfire games for xmas with a bit of luck.

1. Get back to a stable state with 8.9 or 8.10 drivers....then disable crossfire
2. disable crossfire
3. disable crossfire
4. just to be safe.....disable crossfire
5. remember....do it now...disable crossfire
6. Install the latest .net versions, chipset drivers, windows service packs, c++ runtimes, directX redistributables if you really feel you must - optional
7. Dump all registry references and files that have anything to do with ati from you computer if you feel you must (standard vga drivers) - optional
8. Install the 8.11 "driver ONLY" package (the suite will probably work as well but I haven't tried it).
9. Read the install log to make sure everything was successful.
10. Restart the computer...you will blue screen at the normal logon.
11. Goto safe mode using the F8 key before windows loads.
12. In safe mode, right click "computer" (on the start menu or desk top) and select "Manage"
13. Expand "services and applications"and Click "services"
14. Listed on the right is all the services....find the ATI External Event Utility....right click and select "properties"
15. Stop the service if necessary and change the startup type from automatic to disabled.
16. Restart the computer and do what ever it is you people do with your computers
17. Yes thats it.....you're now up and running again. You traveled round the world a dozen times to take one step to the side.

WARNING: your system will now be fully operational and you can install the ccc kit if you like. This will be fully functional but you have to restart for crossfire enable/disables to take effect.....and thats the cause of the problem in a round about way. If you benchmark now, your 3dmark06 scores will be 500-1000 points down with the event utility disabled. You can now switch the utility back on and your marks will instantly rise 500-1000 points. When utility is disabled ccc takes ages to load up. When utility enabled ccc loads rapidly. BUT IF YOU HIT THE CROSSFIRE BUTTON WITH EVENT UTILITY RUNNING.....YOU WILL INSTANTLY BLUE SCREEN! You can use any other feature of ccc including overclocking (overdrive) with the event utility enabled....but dont touch that crossfire button without stopping the utility first.

Have a nice day.....for a change.

Mick

You shouldnt be using the 2008 C++ redistributable as that causes installation problems with the drivers.

Game.AMD Administrator

Really?

Funny how I have had various combinations with/without 2005, 2008, 32 and x64 c++ distributables all to no avail.

Thanks mate.... but I've been there and done that and know what has worked and what hasn't.

I'd rather not be lectured on what I should or should not have done...especially when that advice is worthless and meaningless for this discussion.

I installed with 2008 and 2005 with successsful installation. The problem is/was tih the event utility. FULL STOP!

I disabled my External Event service due to the fact it constantly resets my driver every time I turn my TV off...

But CCC didn't slow down it's loading at all for me, so that might be a random per system occurance.

Intel C2Q Q9550 2.83GHz @ 3.6Hz | 2x2GB Mushkin Redline DDR2-1000 | A-Bit IX38 QuadGT FSB running @ 400MHz | HIS Radeon 4870x2 - 775MHz core, 920 RAM| Corsair HX1000 PSU | Samsung 226BW LCD Monitor | Vista 32-Bit

3DMark Vantage score: P15149

GPU Score: 15522  CPU Score: 14130

Hello.

I'm running on Vista 32-bit, 2 x 4850, P5Q Pro. 8.10 worked fine for me. 8.11 and 8.12 crashed with the BSOD. Your tip worked like a charm for 8.12 (didn't try it with 8.11 but it would probably work with it too. Thanks!

Cheers,

I can confirm that this fix has worked for me. Credit goes to relic.

I can also confirm that 1) using the full Catalyst suite (Display + CCC) works. 2) CCC takes a little longer to load on startup in the taskbar

These are the steps I took.

1) Remove previous Catalyst installation (didn't have to disable crossfire although removing catalyst should of disabled crossfire)

2) Restart when prompted

3) Upon BSOD, enter safemode

4) In start button, I typed services.msc and disabled ATI External Event service

5) Hit restart

6) Upon reaching desktop, enable crossfire and restart again.

Once again, thanks for this fix. I encourage everyone with this problem to submit this to ATI.

Vista 32 Bit/Rampage Formula x48/Q9450/2 ATI 4850's in Crossfire/4GB DDR2/WD 640GB/TX750W PSU

I noticed that this problem only affects 4850 crossfire users running vista (32/64 Bit) 

I've heard no reports of 4850 crossfire bsod's in xp.

Also, why does this only affect 4850's in crossfire and not 4870's in crossfire?

Anyone following this thread might be interested in this post over at Rage3D.

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showpost.php?p=1335730318&postcount=20

...and for Vista 32-bit

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showpost.php?p=1335730380&postcount=23

Big thanks to Spyre for posting these.  I can confirm that the BSOD is fixed (x64) and CFX works fine.