Managed to play BFBC2 for 1 hr after 10.4a install before the curse of the WSOD struck again. I checked event viewer and saw an error reading : ' display driver amdkmdap stopped responding and has successfully recovered '.
I googled this and it seems its a T.D.R. issue :
However, Before you post or read this FAQ hoping for help0 ask yorself the following questions:
-Do I run a version of windows vista or Win 7?
-Do I see a message pop up or appear in my error log that states "such and such display driver has stopped responding and was recovered"?
-Do these crashes seem to appear with no dirrect cause (i.e. i do something differently every time they happen)
If you answered Yes to ALL of these three questions continue on, if you answered No then you probalby have another issue that more than likely revolves around hardware. If you are unsue then by all means read on.
Q: What is TDR?
A: TDR (Timeout Detection and Recovery) is a windows vista and windows 7 feature. Its purpose is to detect when the GPU stops responding, disable it and reinitialize it without the need to exit windows or reboot.
Q: What does TDR have to do with atikmdag?
A: A TDR event is reported to the end user by a notification bubble. This bubble will indicate "The display driver [insert name here] has stopped responding as was recovered." The driver name for all ATI systems is atikmdag, for NVIDIA users the same error will be reported but with the driver name nvlddmkm.sys. Atikmdag will also appear in the event viewer log under the warning associated with the TDR event.
Q: What causes TDR to trigger an event?
A: This is a very complicated question. The events can be due to almost anything in your system hardware or software. This has caused much confusion, as the same error is a symptom for everything from bad memory to a software fault.
The following hardware issues are examples that can cause a TDR event:
- Failing overclock on CPU or GPU
- Bad sector in memory resulting in corrupt data being communicated between GPU and the system (either video or system memory)
- Corrupt hard drive/windows install resulting in corruption to the system registry or the page file
- Over heating of GPU or CPU again resulting in corrupt data being communicated.
- GPU failure due to any sort of issue from insufficient power(VERY common) to heat.
The following software issues are examples that can cause a TDR event:
-Incompatible drivers of any sort (either GPU, sound, etc)
-Messy registry
-Known vista issues resounding around multiple displays, aero, dreamscape, and various display drivers.
-Known vista issues that sometimes cause corrupt information to be sent to the video card from system memory (will be addressed completely in SP2, has had various fixes applied since vista's release)
-Bad direct x files
-bad system files
-Bad driver (some drivers will cause an event due to internal bugs, however these are not nearly as common as many think due to all of the previous things causing the same symptom)
Q: How do I fix my TDR events?
A: This entirely depends on what is causing the event. As one can see there are almost limitless causes. First you must determine if the issue is hardware or software related, which can be quite a headache.
My system is not overclocked, my gpu temps are normal, done the memory diagnostic thing in windows 7 and thats fine, i can play other games fine so dont think it is a hardware issue. The only thing that concerns me is i have a 550 watt psu powering 2 ati cards which is probably pushing it a bit which i suppose could cause overheating but i played BFBC2 for 2 weeks with same set up with no issue so why now?
Will have to wait till full 10.4 driver comes out but i cant see that changing anything.
I am tempted to do a re-install of windows and then install only the game and see how it goes.
will let u all know how i get on.
Forgot to mention the 10.4a preview driver fixed the loading times between maps