Radeon 4850; Still unstable.

Hmm, Catalyst 8.7 seems to be a whole lot more stable *knocks on wood*. I've only had one atikmdag.sys bluescreen so far.
 
I was having the same issues with the 4850, but I've updated to 8.8 catalyst and updated my bios to the newest version, and haven't experienced a blip yet. I've also set my fan to 50% to keep the temperatures low.

I'll run it all night and probably all day while I'm at work to see if the card blips or not, if not, I'll let you guys know.
 
It's back.

OCCT shows no problems. I'm running at stock speed right now, Catalyst 8.7. It crashed 4 times today. Furmark no problem for 6 hours either. Installed as Admin (rightclick > run as admin)
 
Bbq said:
It's back.

OCCT shows no problems. I'm running at stock speed right now, Catalyst 8.7. It crashed 4 times today. Furmark no problem for 6 hours either. Installed as Admin (rightclick > run as admin)
Click to expand...


Try 8.8? If the card continues to blip on you, just RMA it.
 
i couldn't even play games without my 4850 crashing so i decided to rma. black screens with the computer rebooting is what i was getting. just read the ati forums, a lot of people are having similar problems. ati is of course refusing to say anything. :rolleyes:

i'm still waiting to get my card back but yea i'm not really confident that i won't have problems again. should have gotten an nvidia card instead. :(
 
This is really weird, I mean the % of bad 4850 or 4800 series cards that legitimately need an RMA because of an hardware issue should be much lower than the number of people experiencing this issue. I think its a combination of an overly sensitive card to heat and some bad drivers.

BBQ, what PSU are you using and are you using DVI -> DVI , DVI -> HDMI, or DVI -> VGA ?
 
Silverstone ST50EF+, or OCZ StealthXStream 500w. No problems, kill-a-watt showing less than 300w draw. DVI-VGA + none, dual monitors.

I also ran OCCT + furmark for a while. Stock speeds, stock voltages. And guess how long it took for OCCT to error out with either code1 or code4?

one minute. So basicly, I've got a bad cpu?
 
On my Asus 4850 - I've had the 'atikmdag.sys has recovered successfully' often when playing Medieval Total War II - Kingdoms (only game I've played on my new build).

I tried removing my OC, removing half my ram, 3/4 ram, different driver versions, etc.

I uninstalled CCC and stopped getting the driver recovered problem. Re-installed CCC and left "ATI Overdrive" unchecked, and I have not seen the problem there either.
 
Just wondering, what video card did you have in the system before the HD 4850? Did you ever do a driver sweep? What about a reformat and reinstall of Vista?
 
Mr K6 - it was an all new build - so the 4850 has been it's only card (heck, it is the only PCI-E video card I've owned - kinda slow to update my desktop).

I think the first time I had the atikmdag.sys recovered message, I had Vista, SP1, drivers, AVG8 and the one game installed - that's it. So it was a very much an uncorrupted platform.

Even now, with other things installed, I can induce the atikmdag.sys message simply by enabling ATI Overdrive and jumping into a battle in Med TW II.

I cannot induce the atikmdag.sys message no matter how much I stress the system with other programs, video editing, virtual machines, etc. I haven't installed any other games yet to see if it was local to Med TW II.

Temperature does seem to be a contributing factor, if I crank up the 4850 fan speed to keep the temp under 70 C when the GPU is maxed, the atikmdag.sys message is less frequent, but it will still eventually show up.
 
And on your installs you install chipset drivers then the video drivers, right?
 
Bbq said:
Silverstone ST50EF+, or OCZ StealthXStream 500w. No problems, kill-a-watt showing less than 300w draw. DVI-VGA + none, dual monitors.

I also ran OCCT + furmark for a while. Stock speeds, stock voltages. And guess how long it took for OCCT to error out with either code1 or code4?

one minute. So basicly, I've got a bad cpu?
Click to expand...
It could be your CPU, it could also be your motherboard. Try updating the BIOS to the newest version if you haven't already.
 
Bbq said:
it's an Asus P5Q Deluxe. bios is latest.
Click to expand...
You've definitely hit most of the trouble shooting points. Has google/forum reading turned up any useful information? You could always RMA it, bad cards happen.
 
Okay so my new 4850 was still giving this error which resulted in blank screens and random bsods. Read the forums at ATI, here and you'll see that there are many many people with this problem.

So you know what I did? I ripped the ATI card out and replaced it with a GTX 260. I voted with my wallet, and I've been stable ever since. I don't know what ATI is doing about this obvious problem, but Bbq, just get nvidia GPU and be done with the headache once and for all.
 
It's just been no fun the entire time. To diagnose the problem (which is just retarded the entire time, since it shouldn't even be a problem, seeing how an nvidia card doesn't have anything close to the number of problems that ati does), it's so far cost me about $500, and it's not even completely stable yet. OCCT still fails even with a brand new cpu (no oc), atikmdag.sys errors still occur frequently while on the desktop, my old board had a ram slot die on it, my old cpu decided that it didn't want to work anymore, 2 gb of ram decided that it didn't like my board, and the other two are rather fussy while they weren't before.

As long as I live, I will not buy another ati product. I Love the card, but the drivers are just terrible.
 
Sorry if I missed the post, but did you ever RMA the card? Somebody mentioned it before, but the grey lines are usually a hardware problem. The problems you've been having sound like a faulty card.
 
Didn't RMA it. The grey lines went away when I replaced the board. Haven't seen them since, and I'm not missing it.
 
Its wierd but I feel ATI's Vista Drivers are better then the XP drivers. Just did a fresh install of Vista Business 64bit and 8.8 cats and everything just works. :)
 
I just got a 4870 and had the same issue with the atikmdag.sys error. I've done everything I could read.

I've got my system stable and OC'd just fine with a 7900GT. Just sent out my card today to have it RMA'd. Probably have my new one in a couple weeks. :-(

System Specs:
Intel Core 2 Quad 9450 @ 3.0GHZ
Asus P5Q-EM mATX
OCZ DDR2-1000 4GB @ 1066mhz
2x Seagate 320GB HDDs
2x Seagate 750GB HDDs
VisionTek Radeon HD 4870 512MB
Antec TQP-850

What I've done is about the same as Bbq;

Changed out PSU, RAM, CPU, disconnected all unnecessary hardware like the HDDs. Tried 8.6+hotfix, 8.7, 8.8, 8.54betas, XP vs Vista and I've had the same problem with the atikmdag.sys. I narrowed it down to a defective card and sent it on in. If I get the same problem again, I'm gonna switching to a GTX 280 or 260, depends on what I've got for cash.
 
People who make themselfs brand loyal over one faulty card really feel naive to me. Welcome to the bleeding edge OP, it is not allways a smooth ride. Not doing a RMA, in this case, just sounds dumb to me :confused:

ps. Did you test the card on another system?
 
I tested my 4870 on another system and encountered the same issue.

I'm not a brand loyalist either really, I've run a Radeon 7500, GeForce2 and 3, then a radeon 9800pro, 7600gt, then a 7900gt sli setup, and this is my upgrade from that. I go with what is the best bang for my buck, they all get the love from me. (Although I am preferential to ASUS mobos. ;) )
 
only time i get the atikmdag.sys error is only if im trying to watch tv with WMC and fold @ the same time. but that was with cat 8.7

 
my replacement card is even worse. i can't get a signal at all lol. there's no bios screen or anything, the monitor goes straight into power save mode.
 
Hello all, I have registered in order to hopefully provide some insight as well as get some answers on this particular issue.

Main system specs:
Asus P5K-E
Q6600 with stock 2.4 clock
4gig of kingston value ram, stock speeds (now 8 gig)
Antec 650 earthwatts PSU
ATI Card of choice during time of trouble. (2900 Pro / 4850)
500gig raid0 (2x250WDYS)
250gig storage
74gig raptor

Monitors:
17" Acer 4:3
28" Viewsonic wide


I have been having this problem as well for a very long time, at least 8 months.

I first saw the problem running a single HD 2900 pro with dual heads.
I then added another HD 2900 Pro and ran 1 monitor per card. No issues there.
I added a third monitor to the setup so my main card had 2 heads, bottom card had 1 head. Problem came back!
Sold third monitor, and 2900s, moved to a single 4850. Problem returns with dual heads.
I really don't do any single head usage on my system, but i have yet to see the problem running a single head. I'm guessing that it is an issue with the driver and running dual heads on the same card...

Troubleshooting so far:

New PSU
Swapped out every memory module TWICE (and tested of course)
New 2900 (when i had those cards)
New board
New BIOS
New hard drives (every drive was replaced)
Fresh Windows Install (numerous times) Drivers installed in correct order (inf, then video)
Always using latest drivers from ATI. 8.8 at the moment
Chances are I have forgotten some of the things i have done because I have just been dealing with it intermittently.

I see the problem in any type of usage, anything from just plain idling, to multi-client gaming (I usually run 2 or more instances of world of warcraft, in maximized,windowed mode)

Anyone have any form of fix for a dual head, driver related atikmdag.sys error? I have been recieving them more frequently as per a new DTV tuner that I installed (ATI Theatrix 650 pro) and its starting to bug me when im watching football and i bluescreen..... :mad:

Any help/insight is appreciated. Thanks
 
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