Atikmdag Stopped Working

[Rand{CLR}]

Anyone encounter this particular video error, and have any clue how to fix it? I've spent nearly five hours trying to fix the thing, and I'm unable to do so. What happens is, within 1-2 minutes after loading a game, any game, it crashes or flashes black and gives me the following message:

The display driver atikmdag stopped responding and has successfully recovered.

I think from what I can find and what I've done, I've narrowed it more to a hardware issue than anything else, but what is bothersome is that one of the hardware causes may be power supply issues, and I have no way to test it. This is lended extra credence by the fact that storms hit the area today, and when I got home the PC was off--power surge knocking it off.

At least I can still surf the web, at least for now. But it's really, really annoying that I can't play any PC games.

-Rand

[Duke{CLR}]

Just brain storming.

Did you try re seating your video card and check all the connections?

You could also go to a restore point prior to the surge?

Could the fan on the card not be working?

[Azazel]

1) reinstall drivers,test

2) reinstall video card,test

3) run memtest86, skip this step if already completed on installed ram

3) do you have or have a friend who has a spare
power supply?
ati video card?

4)if so, replace one,test
5)replace the other, test
6)replace both, test

7)reinstall windows, go back to step 1

buy new video card (pick nvidia this time and never buy ati again*), power supply, goto step 1

9) buy new cpu/motherboard/ram

10) reinstall windows, goto step 1


*this is just my personal reccomendation the 2nd time this type of problem occurred on a system i owned that had ati video

[juneau]

This is possibly one of th most troublesome errors in GFX problems to date and still doesn't have a direct fix. A lot of people believe the problem lies with Vista as the majority of it's sufferers run that OS.

A lot of people feel that using the 9.2 drivers fixes the problem. There is also a chance it could be RAM related so maybe run a copy of memtest.

I'm currently reading about a Powerplay play (a bit like Intels Speedstep) which causes this issues and disabling it seems to fix the problem). Will get back to you on this.

PS what card is it? And is your OS Vista?

Btw.... Step 8 in the above post is not a good idea. Nvidia have this exact same issue and have had it for the past 7-8 years. nvlddmkm.

OK Powerplay does seem to cause a lot of the problems but not all.

This Vista (if you run vista) hotfix can also fix it.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953186

[{CLR}geneSW]

This is lended extra credence by the fact that storms hit the area today, and when I got home the PC was off--power surge knocking it off.

-Rand

And this is why you get a UPS with 700-1000Wh....

[Rand{CLR}]

I've got an 850w ps. I'll try the 9.2 driver in a moment (I saw the same about 9.1, but haven't tried that yet). I just finished going back to the default Vista driver for ATI 4800 series cards, which doesn't even install atikmdag, and I still got the problem. This is suggesting to me hardware rather than driver/software issues.

I yanked all Vista updates this week including SP2 and 3 hotfixes, and that didn't do any good.

If 9.2 doesn't work, I'm going to replace one of the two power connections to the card (which is a 4870 1gb with vapor x). The one I will replace is running off the same connection that goes into a drive with an adapter to six pin, so I'll try to free the other six pin connector from my nice wiring job and try that instead. I'll reseat it at the same time, but I doubt that will do much.

Next step is following through on my ticket request with Sapphire to see about a warranty card replacement. I can pop back in my GTX 8800 320 for the short term if needed.

-Rand

[Rand{CLR}]

The 9.2 drivers don't work. I just ordered a cheap power supply tester from newegg before bothering with trying to switch out cables. It's a useful little doodad to have around even if I didn't have an active problem of some sort, and it's only $15 bucks for the ability to test pretty much all PS connections.

Sapphire seems to be off for the weekend, as I haven't heard back on my ticket, but right now I'm either going to sit and wait (not game on pc, but focus on consoles) until I have the tester and hear from Sapphire, or pop in the old card for short term gaming.

I've got warranties on the card, on my PC (in-home service), and already have Win 7 on order if I just want to sit around until 10/22. It's just annoying to run across something that has SO many possible causes, and so many solutions that don't do a thing.

-Rand

[juneau]

It isn't the card Rand. I've read of a few people who have put their problem card in another machine only for it to work flawlessly.

[Rand{CLR}]

It isn't the card Rand. I've read of a few people who have put their problem card in another machine only for it to work flawlessly.

Me too, but I also see that it could be the card from other sites including ATI. So we'll see. |

-Rand

[juneau]

Me too, but I also see that it could be the card from other sites including ATI. So we'll see. |

-Rand

Do you have another PC you could put the card in?

[Rand{CLR}]

Do you have another PC you could put the card in?

Nope. The others in the house are all AGP slot.

-Rand

[juneau]

Nope. The others in the house are all AGP slot.

-Rand

Bah. If you RMA it i hope it's successful. Most people who send cards back for this error will usually recieve the same card back again with a 'not broken' note.

Have you tried looking into the Powerplay fix?

[Duke{CLR}]

Nope. The others in the house are all AGP slot.

-Rand

Dude! break out the visa and call Velocity Micro again. You definitely seem like a kind of guy who could use a second gaming rig.

Good luck with the troubleshooting I hope the new card work for you.

[Rand{CLR}]

I'm pretty sure it's not PowerPlay, as i've gotten this error 4 times today already just in windows surfing the web. I'm working on burning Memtest86 to a cd now just to cover the bases, but I'm hoping my PS tester gets here quickly since that's looking like the most likely cause at the moment.

-Rand

[juneau]

I'm pretty sure it's not PowerPlay, as i've gotten this error 4 times today already just in windows surfing the web. I'm working on burning Memtest86 to a cd now just to cover the bases, but I'm hoping my PS tester gets here quickly since that's looking like the most likely cause at the moment.

-Rand

Not to put a downer on things but i know of someone who switched every part of his machine and the problem was still there.

Let's hope it's not the case for you if you decide to go down that route.