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blue screen - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 X2

blue screen - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 X2

Postby Nine3Niner » Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:44 pm

I did a clean install of Win 7 Pro 64x (retail version) and it installed smoothly. But after I installed the Catalyst 9.10 Windows 7 (64-bit) -- I get a blue screen with the error message: "Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout has failed". The error cited is atikmdag.sys. The PC then reboots, says "didn't start normally", I direct it to safe mode, boots to safe mode, says "recovered from a serious error". Then I roll the display driver back to the WDDM driver, and the PC boots normally. If I try to "start windows normally", it boots to the blue screen. :x

I have tried Cat 9.10, 9.9, and 9.8 drivers and all reboot to the blue screen, as above.

The PC is 11 months old and ran Vista Ultimate 64x fine.

I have traded a few emails with Sapphire tech support, but so far, all they have said is to update my BIOS and drivers. I flashed the BIOS and updated all drivers yesterday. No change with the Cat drivers putting the PC into a blue screen-reboot-blue screen loop. Sapphire tech support said they will call me tomorrow morning.

Any input on the problem is appreciated. Anything specific I should request of Sapphire tech support? It is definitely a display driver problem, correct? :dontgetit

thanks, Ken :notworthy

My config:
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i7 940 Nehalem 2.93GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601940

6 GB total -- OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P20002GK
SAPPHIRE 100251SR Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit (256-bit x 2) GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

2 Western Digital VelociRaptors in RAID 0 -- WD3000GLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
dual monitors -- Samsung LCDs -- different sizes, 24 and 22 inch.
Antec TPQ-850 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Creative 70SB046A00000 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional Series
LG Black Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM & 16X DVD±R DVD Burner SATA Model GGC-H20L
Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
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Re: blue screen - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 X2

Postby Grav!ty » Sun Nov 01, 2009 11:40 pm

Boot into safe mode, then at the search function on the start menu, type services.msc and select services.msc when it appears and double click it. In the Services window that opens, scroll down till you get to Windows installer. Double click the entry and select Automatic and below that select Start. That should enable you to uninstall your GPU drivers either from the Control panel or from the Start menu folder it there's an uninstall button there.
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Re: blue screen - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 X2

Postby Nine3Niner » Tue Nov 03, 2009 11:05 pm

Grav!ty,
thanks for your input.
I talked to Sapphire tech support and they had no new ideas to solve my problem. :no I told them I had flashed my BIOS and updated all drivers.
Anyway, I went to device manager, and uninstalled the MS WDDM drivers for my video card. I then ran the install for the Cat 9.10 drivers. And I got the "success" dialog box with the big green check. Ah hah! I thought. I've got it. :()
I rebooted as instructed, and then the Cat drivers asked for another reboot so I did. Then I got the usual blue screen! :pc d*mn! "Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout has failed".
So, I give up on 64 bit. :bashhead I am ready to install 32 bit Win 7 and be done with it.
best, Ken
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Re: blue screen - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 X2

Postby Nine3Niner » Sat Nov 07, 2009 2:47 am

So today, I repartitioned my disk to create a new partition. I installed Win7 32 bit this time. Initial install uses the WDDM driver, and all is well. Then I install the Cat 9.10 driver, and I get the same error. Blue screen on boot up with same error: "Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout has failed". The file error cited is atikmdag.sys. Unbelievable. :x

From what I read on Tomshardware.com posts, Win7 has issues with dual ATI GPUs. My video card is a single card with 2 GPUs. If I uninstall one, I can successfully install the Cat 9.10 drivers. After I reboot, the second GPU is re-installed, and the OS advises me to reboot again. If I do, I get the blue screen w error.

It is really sad that ATI cannot provide drivers that work with Win 7 for some dual GPU cards like mine. :-x

best, Ken
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Re: blue screen - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 X2

Postby ScorpioN-Network » Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:02 am

I also have a problem with the exact graphics card but i can't seem to get the success screen, instead it doesn't seem to be able to install my drivers, i can install cat 9.10, no probs but i can't get the drivers to get installed, i've uninstalled every possible pre driver but nothing, always the same result that the drivers didn't get installed, and i'm growing impatient with this crap, i can't play anything, my movies laggs like hell and some other really annoying stuff. sorry for my bad english and grammar, i have a little dissorder and i'm swedish so...

it's with windows 7 ultimate 64bit
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Re: blue screen - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 X2

Postby Grav!ty » Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:41 am

Try hitting F8 repeatedly as you start booting into Windows and then select Disable Driver Signing and then start up. I'm just wondering if in your case (64-Bit) the drivers are properly signed.
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Re: blue screen - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 X2

Postby ScorpioN-Network » Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:02 am

the sad thing is that i tried that already, stil the same results :-?

and another thing is that i would use the 32 verition of win7 ulti but then i might have to take out one of the graphics cards and some of my ram and that's not an option
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Re: blue screen - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 X2

Postby Nine3Niner » Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:13 pm

Scorpion,
Just take out one of your graphics cards for the time being. Uninstall the WDDM driver and install the Cat 9.10 drivers. That should do it, I believe. :eek: Let me know your results, please.
Leave your RAM as is.
thanks, Ken
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