atikmdag error, no clue how to fix

Hi,

Ive been experiencing problems with my ATI Radeon X1300/X1550 Series graphics card.

Whenever i run a full screne program for a while the screen blacks out and the error message

Display driver has stoped working and has recovered
Display driver atikmdag stoped responding and has successfully recovered

Click to expand...

Now i know this error has been stated before, i have been searching the internet for a fix for quite some time and have found nothing of help to me.

The most common problem seems to be the graphics card overheating because the fan isn't being controlled properly for the ammount of heat being produced.

But my system wont let me change the fan settings even with ATI tool. Also i listened to the fan whilst the error was taking place and there seemed to be absolutely no change in speed, even after the message was corrected, but then i couldn't really hear the fan very much in the first place.

this is my system stuff. i dunno what you need so ill just give everything i think is needed.

OS windows vista Home premium (6.0, build 6000)
ATI Radeon X1300/X1550 Series graphics card
Intel Core2 CPU | 6420 @ 2.13GHz (2CPU's), ~2.1GHz
2046MB RAM
DirectX 10

I dont know ver much about pc's, which basically means i know some stuff about software, but practically nothing about harware and its implementation.


So if someone could help me out with this that would be great, cos its really starting to me off

Thanx for the help in advance

Hi GRRR,
Welcome to the forums.

I was wondering if you have tried updating the ATI driver from ATI website? Also maybe clean the fan on the card making sure it can spin freely.
Raj

I have updated my software on the ati web page.

But i think i might have sorted the problem for now.

I took the card and fan out cleaned them off and gave them a thorough talking to and its done the job.

Thanx for the reply anyways ^^

Good work GRRR
I had to clean my fan on my video card recently because it was making high pitched noise driving me crazy! haha
Raj

Do you have Service Pack 1?

I had the same error. I updated my BIOS on my Gigabyte EP45-DS4 and now I'm happy.

I have the same problem...
Wen i built my pre built pc(i was stupid then)
I had atikmdag error's for months and suddenly by it self it stoppped.
Now i have it again and it isn't stoping.
Im planning on build a new PC in a couple of months...

To fix this. Disable your dreamscape background, or any other type of moving 3D background you have going. It references the driver and causes complications.

This is a known bug in the ATI driver software. The latest versions of their drivers as of 12/2011 still have the issue.

It is a 3D acceleration problem. Turn off as much 3D acceleration as possible and it will reduce how often this happens (also go into windows and turn of 3D windowing, menus, etc.. I've turned off everything I can and I only have it happen 3-4 times a day. Rarely does it cause BSOD (only if it crashes like 8 or 9 times in immediate succession due to a video on the screen that I can't stop).

Blows hugely!!! I can't afford a new video card. I paid a lot for this one. No decent support from ATI. (P.S., I remember when they first started in the PC with an ATI-MACH video card. It was low-cost with lots of features, back in the lat 80's).

David