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Unknown-One
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2005
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I figured it would be nice to have a list of (non game-specific) major driver issues, as well as their associated workarounds. It took me quite a while to hunt down the exact causes and possible solutions for these issues, hopefully someone finds this pre-made compendium useful. If anyone else is experiencing a fully reproducible driver related bug, give a shout-out and I'll add it to the list.
I repeat, this thread is about bugs that are not game-specific. If you are having issues solely with a particular game, I'd advise you to make a dedicated thread to all the issues that game is experiencing.
Current standings:
- 14 Bugs Total
- 8 Resolved Bugs
- 4 Moderate Unresolved Bugs
- 0 Critical Unresolved Bugs
- 2 Will Not Be Fixed
1. OpenGL Extension Limit
2. HD 5000 series UVD Mode Behavior
3. DXVA GUI Artifacting
4. 6400k Glitch
I repeat, this thread is about bugs that are not game-specific. If you are having issues solely with a particular game, I'd advise you to make a dedicated thread to all the issues that game is experiencing.
Current standings:
- 14 Bugs Total
- 8 Resolved Bugs
- 4 Moderate Unresolved Bugs
- 0 Critical Unresolved Bugs
- 2 Will Not Be Fixed
1. OpenGL Extension Limit
Symptoms:
Older OpenGL games (such as those based on the Quake III engine) crash immediately upon launch.
Causes:
AMD’s has recently added more OpenGL extensions. The drivers don’t enable an extension limit for these older games, they can’t handle the increased count, and crash.
Workarounds:
a. Rename the game's executable to quake3.exe. This may force Catalyst Control Center to detect the game and set an OpenGL extension limit.
b. Catalyst 10.4 was one of the last driver revisions before they increased the number of extensions. Place atioglxx.dll from Catalyst 10.4 and/or the atigktxx.dll from Catalyst 10.4 into the same folder as the executable of the game you’re having trouble with. It should load the older DLL from the game folder and run correctly.
Official fix:
As of Catalyst 11.1a: Quake III, Return to Castle Wolfenstien, and American McGee's Alice are all confirmed working again.
As of Catalyst 11.6b: The Polynomial, Atom Zombie Smasher, CityMotion, and CityEngine still require resources from Catalyst 10.4 to run.
2. HD 5000 series UVD Mode Behavior
Symptoms:
a. The graphics card clockspeed jumps to 400MHz Core / 900MHz Memory when a hardware accelerated video is playing or paused (includes DXVA accelerated and Flash video).
b. GPU clockspeed will not scale up to 3D clocks when such a video is playing or paused.
c. Being stuck below 2D clockspeeds leads to a massive performance hit.
d. Secondary displays flicker or jitter every time you open or close such a video.
Causes:
The PowerPlay state for "UVD Mode" (the mode used while playing hardware accelerated video) has the incorrect clockspeed defined and the incorrect priority in the PowerPlay table, causing it to take precedence over 3D.
Workaround:
The only current way to work-around this driver/BIOS bug is to modify the BIOS on your graphics card. The basic procedure involves dumping your current BIOS with ATi WinFlash, editing UVD Clock manually using Radeon BIOS Editor (Match UVD clocks and voltage to 3D clocks for your card), then flashing the modified BIOS back to your card with ATi WinFlash again.
I've gone ahead and pre-modified the BIOS for the HD5850 and HD5870. These are for reference model cards ONLY:
Reference HD 5850
Reference HD 5870
Here are pre-modified BIOS for requested non-reference cards. If your card isn't listed, you can mod the BIOS yourself, or send me a copy and I'll post it:
Sapphire HD 5850 Toxic 1024mb
Official fix:
Buy an HD 6000 series card to replace your HD 5000 series card. AMD has now stated that they WILL NOT FIX this problem on the HD 5000 series
3. DXVA GUI Artifacting
Symptoms:
You may experience artifacting within the Windows Media Center user interface while playing a DXVA accelerated video on some AMD cards.
Causes:
Specific cause is unknown. The bug was introduced in the most recent few driver releases (confirmed in 10.9 and 10.10 on an HD4200).
Workaround:
Use older video drivers. Catalyst 10.4a are known not to have this issue.
Official fix:
Resolved as of 11.1 (not noted in the changelog, but I am no-longer able to reproduce the problem).
If anyone manages to reproduce this bug on Catalyst 11.1 or later, let me know.
4. 6400k Glitch
5. Cursor CorruptionSymptoms:
You may notice a reddish hue to your monitor(s) after updating to Catalyst 10.10. This reddish hue may stick even after downgrading to older drivers or updating to newer ones.
Causes:
Catalyst 10.10 sets your display's color temperature to 6400k instead of 6500k, this is warmer (meaning redder) than normal. This setting does not get reset back to its normal value by most drivers updates.
Workaround:
If you are still experiencing this problem on or after Catalyst 10.10, open up Catalyst Control Center and navigate through the following menus...
Graphics > Desktops & Displays > Right click the smaller monitor representation near the bottom of the window > Configure > Color
Once there, change the Temperature slider from 6400k back to to 6500k. Your display should look normal again.
Official fix:
Officially resolved in Catalyst 10.10 hotfixes, and all drivers since.
May still require that you manually reset color temperature if you updated from Catalyst 10.10.
6. HD 5000 Series OverDrive BehaviorSymptoms:
The mouse cursor may become corrupt (enlarged, garbled, etc).
Causes:
Specific cause is unknown.
Workaround:
Keeping the Windows Magnifier open in the background will, oddly, fix cursor corruption. Unfortunately, it must stay running. As soon as it's closed, the corruption comes back
A reboot will always return the cursor to normal, but having to reboot constantly is hardly a solution...
Official fix:
Appears to have been resolved in Catalyst 11.6
If anyone manages to reproduce this bug on Catalyst 11.6 or later, let me know.
7. AVECC Profiles are Not Properly AppliedSymptoms:
If you have multiple monitors (in extended desktop mode), and you select anything but default clockspeeds in AMD OverDrive, your card begins to idle at 157MHz core clock, 300MHz memory clock. These clockspeeds are too low, and can cause secondary monitors to flicker or corrupt in other ways.
Causes:
AMD Overdrive pulls its power states from the single-display PowerPlay table stored on your graphics card, even if you have multiple displays installed. The multi-display PowerPlay table uses a fixed memory clockspeed, as adjusting memclock on HD 5000 series cards causes secondary displays to flicker. The single-display PowerPlay table unlocks memory clockspeed, allowing it to scale up and down, and allowing it to cause the aforementioned flickering.
Workaround:
1. Open AMD Vision Engine Control Center
2. Click "Performance" and then "AMD Overdrive"
3. Set an overclock.
4. Apply the overclock, your secondary displays will probably start flickering, ignore it for now.
5. Click "Presets" and then "Add Preset"
6. Name the new preset "Overdrive Fix" and save it.
7. Navigate to "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\ATI\ACE\Profiles"
8. Open "Overdrive Fix.xml" in Notepad
9. Edit the clockspeeds and voltages as appropriate for your card.Code:<Feature name="CoreClockTarget_0"> <Property name="Want_0" value="40000" /> <Property name="Want_1" value="55000" /> <Property name="Want_2" value="72500" /> </Feature> <Feature name="PowerControl_0"> <Property name="Want" value="0" /> </Feature> <Feature name="MemoryClockTarget_0"> <Property name="Want_0" value="100000" /> <Property name="Want_1" value="100000" /> <Property name="Want_2" value="100000" /> </Feature> <Feature name="CoreVoltageTarget_0"> <Property name="Want_0" value="1000" /> <Property name="Want_1" value="1038" /> <Property name="Want_2" value="1088" /> </Feature>10. Save the XML file.Code:<Feature name="CoreClockTarget_0"> <Property name="Want_0" value="40000" /> <Property name="Want_1" value="60000" /> <Property name="Want_2" value="85000" /> </Feature> <Feature name="PowerControl_0"> <Property name="Want" value="0" /> </Feature> <Feature name="MemoryClockTarget_0"> <Property name="Want_0" value="120000" /> <Property name="Want_1" value="120000" /> <Property name="Want_2" value="120000" /> </Feature> <Feature name="CoreVoltageTarget_0"> <Property name="Want_0" value="1063" /> <Property name="Want_1" value="1063" /> <Property name="Want_2" value="1160" /> </Feature>
10. Save the file over itself.
11. Go back to AMD Vision Engine Control Center, click the "Overdrive Fix" preset.
12. The card will begin to idle at the correct speed. Any display flickering should stop immediately.
Official fix:
Disable AMD Overdrive, or buy an HD 6000 series card to replace your HD 5000 series card. AMD has now stated that they WILL NOT FIX this problem on the HD 5000 series
8. Cursor LagSymptoms:
When you apply a previously saved AMD VISION Engine Control Center profile, not all aspects of the saved profile are loaded. Any setting related directly to your monitors may be effected, including resolution, relative position, primary monitor selection, and color correction settings.
Causes:
This occurs when you reconnect your displays to different heads on your graphics card. The driver has a "memory problem," and remembers the head each monitor was attached to at the time of installation. You will continue to have issues with profiles until each display is returned to its original head.
Workarounds:
1. Swap cables around until you find the original combination of monitors and heads again.
2. Apply the profile a second time, the remaining settings should switch to those defined in the profile.
3. Uninstall the driver, run Driver Sweeper, reinstall the driver. You'll have to remake all your profiles from scratch, but they'll work correctly again.
Official fix:
None. Unresolved as of Catalyst 11.8
9. Slow Display Mode SwitchingSymptoms:
The mouse cursor lags, stutters, or appears to run at a lower frame-rate when it's in the top (or bottom) right hand corner of the display.
Causes:
ATi's fix for the mouse cursor becoming corrupt when moved across displays through these areas (Bug #5) seems to be the cause. The cursor no-longer becomes corrupt, but the fix is causing lag in very specific areas on the display.
Workaround:
Some users are reporting that disabling the cursor shadow has helped significantly or completely solved the cursor lag.
Reverting to older drivers (pre-11.5a) will just replace this bug with the corrupt cursor problem.
Official fix:
Resolved as of Catalyst 11.7
10. System Log SpamSymptoms:
Upon requesting a mode switch, each attached display will turn black one at a time (you may still see the mouse cursor). The displays will remain black for up to 5 minutes, then suddenly come back at the requested mode.
Once this has occurred once, it will happen on every subsequent mode switch until the computer is restarted.
Logging out, locking the computer, logging in, changing resolution, switching between Extended Desktop and Eyefinity, changing refresh rates, etc. all count as a mode switch. These will all take excessive amounts of time once this glitch manifests.
Note: Symptoms may not be immediately apparent. Mode switching may work correctly for quite some time before the bug kicks in.
Causes:
Unknown, but may have something to do with ATi's fix for cursor corruption.
Workaround:
None known, besides rebooting the computer or reverting to a driver older than 11.1(a)
Official fix:
Appears to be resolved as of Catalyst 11.4 (not noted in the changelog, but I am no-longer able to reproduce the problem).
If anyone manages to reproduce this bug on Catalyst 11.4 or later, let me know.
11. DCOM ErrorSymptoms:
AMD's display driver constantly spams the System log (visible from the Event Viewer) with "UVD Information" while a video is playing that makes use of hardware accelerated decoding.
Causes:
Looks like somone simply left verbose logging enabled when they compiled the driver for release.
Workaround:
Set this dword value in the registry:
Official fix:Code:[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Atierecord] "eRecordEnable"=dword:00000000
Resolved as of Catalyst 11.7
12. Multiple instances of MMLoadDrv.exeSymptoms:
A DistributedCOM error is logged in the "System" event log (Located under "Windows Logs" in the Event Viewer) every time the computer is shut down or restarted. The Event ID is 10010, and the error logged is as follows:
"The server {E10F6C3A-F1AE-4ADC-AA9D-2FE65525666E} did not register with DCOM within the required timeout."
Causes:
This error originates from the "AMD External Events Utility" service. The problem was introduced in Catalyst 11.4 and may have something to do with 2D/3D clockspeed scaling.
Workaround:
For a simple quick fix, disabling the "AMD External Events Utility" service appears to stop the DCOM errors. This may or may not cause new problems (hotkeys will not work with this service disabled).
A more involved fix that wont disable any functionality, and has no known side-effects:
1. Extract atiesrxx.exe and atieclxx.exe from Catalyst 11.4 Preview, March 7th [8.84.3-110226a-114256E]
2. Stop the "AMD External Events Utility" Service
3. Paste the extracted executables into "C:\Windows\System32\"
4. Allow Windows to overwrite the exiting files.
5. Start the "AMD External Events Utility" service again.
6. Reboot, you will no-longer see a DCOM error logged, and no driver functionality is disabled.
Official fix:
Resolved as of Catalyst 11.9
13. ACE Event Log ErrorsSymptoms:
Every time CLI.exe is called to apply a preset, it spawns another instance of MMLoadDrv.exe, and never closes it. As you can imagine, after applying a few AMD VISION Engine Control Center presets (via the start menu shortcuts created by the Control Center), this leaves quite a few extra processes running in the background that have to be killed manually from the Task Manager.
Causes:
Unknown at this time.
Workaround:
This is a relatively new bug that first appeared in Catalyst 11.6 (and persists in 11.7 and 11.8). If you're on Catalyst 11.5 or earlier, you may wish to wait for this issue to be resolved before upgrading.
Official fix:
Resolved as of 11.9 (not noted in the changelog, but I am no-longer able to reproduce the problem).
If anyone manages to reproduce this bug on Catalyst 11.9 or later, let me know.
14. wglCreateContext ExceptionSymptoms:
A near-constant stream of exceptions is written to "ACEEventLog" (Located under "Applications and Services Logs" in the Event Viewer). These errors range from "Access Denied" due to insufficient privileges, to "File Not Found" because the driver is looking in the wrong place
Causes:
Unknown at this time.
Workaround:
Unknown at this time.
Official fix:
None. Unresolved as of Catalyst 11.10
Symptoms:
An exception is thrown when an wglCreateContext is called in OpenGL32.dll
Causes:
Unknown at this time.
Workaround:
This bug just appeared in Catalyst 11.8. If this problem effects you, you may wish to remain on Catalyst 11.7 until it is resolved.
Official fix:
None. Unresolved as of Catalyst 11.9
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