AMD WHQL 12.1 drivers released...

ATI Catalyst? Mobility Display Driver

So I see that the "official" 12.1 drivers were released as of the 25th. Has anyone tried them on an R2 with dual 5870m's to see if they are BSOD free and funky screen effect free in Skyrim?

I am downloading them now and will install and report back my findings.

 

Release Notes from AMD;

The following notebooks are not compatible with this release:

Any notebook launched after this driver release
Switchable Graphics enabled notebooks.
Toshiba® notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks)
Sony® VAIO® notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks)
Panasonic® notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks)

Please tell me Alienware are not "switchable graphics enabled notebooks"?

Also the release notes have a few "known open" issues - most notably for BF3 players;
Battlefield 3 may crash when run at ultra settings.

 

no support for switching-gpu machines........i do believe this trend in AMD drivers will follow with the M17xr4's and 7970's

 

Sorry guys. Has anyone installed these yet? I am itching to but no access to my laptop for a couple days.

Is the gpu switching, FN brightness controls still working?

Normally there is a different link to download the drivers that always works. Does anyone know what this link is. Normally a direct link to the executable.

Thanks,
Wayne

 

Well, it installed with no problems which is a definate improvement for us R2 owners. But Skyrim still has flickering and funky lighting effects if you have Crossfire enabled.

I also tested BF3, Dragon age 2, Bad Company 2 and Crysis 2. No major noticable improvements...but I am just glad to be able to update my driver again.

@Mooneyd: Yeah an R2 with your config does not have GPU switching...the 5870m's do all the video display work...just shift to lower power states to conserve energy.
@paradigm018: Frankly, switchable GPU's seem like they create more problems then they fix so I dont much mind going forward if they dont support that feature. Do the r3's and future r4's with 6970/6990 or 7xxx even have switchable gpu's? I thought switchable GPU's was more Nvidia's deal?

 

Hiya,
I had a problem with previous 11.11 and 11.12 releases on my CF5870. Now 12.1 installed without any BSOD and working (so far) fine.

hopefully it will help you to decide

PS.
used standard procedure to install new drivers:
- safe point
- safe mode
- driver sweeper
- normal mode
- ccleaner
- install/restart

 

Managed to get a chance to install them using this link

www2.ati.com/drivers/mobile/12-1_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_ocl.exe

Now I don't have crossfire but I just installed these over the top of 11.10 drivers. They seem absolutely fine, FN brightness controls fine, GPU switch works fine. I don't play Rage or Skyrim but other games I have like Left 4 Dead 2, Race 07 ran just fine!!!

3d Mark 06 yields about 19,600 marks which is about the same as 11.10s

 

Getting decent performance in Battlefield, disabled Croffsire and lowered the resolution to avoid No Gun Bug..atleast untill today.

 

Anyone tried SW:TOR yet?

 

I love being able to switch to the IGPU and do things other than game when I'm not at my desk, so I'm not entirely sure what you're on about.

 

Tried to install drivers, drivers work ok but this update breaks CCC....again.

Tried uninstalling all the AMD stuff to reinstall...BSOD like the ones for installing the past few updates. Had to use Driver Sweeper (blech). Still trying to get an install with CCC working.

I'm getting really tired of dealing with this.

 

CCC works fine for me and we have similar configs. Does it not launch for you or something? I seem to remember hearing about this issue before, but have never experienced it when my Catalyst drivers installed without issue (like they did this time).

 

I have it just about every time I try to update my drivers. I finally got it working after going through several processes, including this one here. I had to keep manually uninstalling the drivers from the device manager to prevent problems, including BSODs, from showing up during the install/uninstall processes. Eventually I managed to uninstall and reinstall both .NET and all of the AMD programs/drivers, although I had to manually remove the drivers from the GPUs several times in order to get the AMD uninstall to remove everything without a BSOD and chunks left behind that prevented complete installs. I still got warnings on the last install, but it seems to be working ok for now.

However, the bad news is that performance in SW:TOR is decreased, with lots of stuttering and general slowness that wasn't there with 11.10. Very unfortunate, as its not exactly a demanding game. Also, the flicking in Skyrim is AWFUL now, even the dragon in the game menu flickers as if it's trying to cause a seizure. Driver updates are supposed to improve performance, not degrade. I'm seriously considering going through the hell it will take to go back to 11.10 again.

 

They are as of the M17x R3, right? Ugh, first Nvidia, now AMD too I think. Personally I'm not willing to buy a computer that I can't install regular, unmodified drivers from Nvidia/AMD on

 

So wait...the R3's do have switchable graphics cards even WITH the AMD cards??? So essentially if you have an r3 you cant go past the 11.12 drivers? EVER???

That is total BS!!! If this is correct, I am glad I didnt break down and buy an R3...the Sager laptop my brother bought is cheaper and does NOT have switchable graphics...maybe I should buy that.

 

No Gun Bug still exist in my system. I just don't get it. I have resintalled the OS, reinstalled the whole game, tried all most every drivers and still it exist.
Whenever I chat with EA, they simply tell me to reinstall the game and its not working atleast for me since I already did that 5 times.

 

Well and I guess if you get the "3D" screen on the M17x-r3, that it DOESN'T have optimus? I don't want "3D", but if it got rid of Optimus...

And I know people do hacks and stuff to get newer drivers on, but I really don't want to resort to that except as a last resort. I hate buying a PC where I know ahead of time I have to...

Ugh, just when the driver situation on notebooks was getting straightened out, we add in this switchable graphics junk and ruin it all again. Every PC should clearly say in the specs "this configuration is supported with regular Nvidia/.AMD driver releases" so there's no confusion, or "this system can not use drivers from Nvidia/AMD".

It makes me twice as mad when companies are selling high end systems in this state. I mean do people seriously think someone buying a GTX 560, 580, or TWO 580s or whatever don't care about having regular driver updates?!? *sigh* It's sooooo confusing

 

I understand your frustration...but I dont put this one Dell/Alienware. I think this mess with the switchable graphics is Nvidia/AMD's fault.

Heres how it went down:

Nvidia/AMD: Hey PC makers, we have this awesome new tech you should put in your Laptops to save power and extend the life of the graphics cards...switchable graphics cards. What do you think??

Dell/Everybody else: Ok sounds like a great option for our customers!

**six months later**
Nvidia/AMD: OH Crap!!! These things are a pain in the @$$ to write drivers for...we'll just pretend they never existed!!

Dell/Everybody else: @#$%^& you guys!!

Nvidia/AMD: Suckers!!

 

I have the R3 non 3D system and installed this driver over the old one, switching from IGP to Dedicated is no issue. I do not know what you guys talking about... Just install the stock driver (after a full clean uninstall i.e. uninstall, start in safe mode, drive sweeper, ccleaner), restart / switch to dedicated / install ATi driver / restart and voila, you have the new driver from ATi with switch from IGP to Dedicated and vice-versa...

 

i am still too fearful to upgrade from the 11.9's ontop of the stock drivers, lest i muck up the pc

 

good Lord....

Thought I'm the only one here who still use the 11.9 driver.....

 

I'm still on 11.9 driveres and 11.9CAP4

 

What about the "3D" screen? It says it DOESN'T have Optimus if you order the "3D" screen. I don't want "3D", but I don't have to use it, and I assume that means the drivers for whichever GPU you get would just install without incident?

Haha...I should stop asking about this 'cause I really should buy a more like $1000 system. So dang tempting that I could get something with a GTX 580 or 6990 though

 

with the 120hz screen, optimus is disabled...means you don't have access to integrated graphics. You will be running off the discrete Nvidia chip at all times

and you know you want that 580 or 6990 ... don't even bother with less cause you won't be able to sleep at night

 

So as far as you know Nvidia's normal drivers from their site will install painlessly like they have on my Asus systems? I don't even run my notebooks off battery ever, but driver non-weirdness is critical to me

:lol: Oh man....TECHNICALLY on a price/performance basis the GTX 580 and 6990 are better than what you get in a $1000 or $800 system That means I can't afford NOT to buy an M17x, right? :lol:

 

I installed the 12.1 on my M17X-R2 with 5870s in crossfire. The installation did not seem right and it took a bit for my graphics to kick in. When they did, the whole computer seemed alot slower...my camera for face recognition stopped working and my preview windows with Aero stopped working. I went back to 11.9 as well. Not sure why the last several updates are not 5870 friendly....sort of frustrating.

 

Hey guys trying to install back 12.1 on my m17x on a 6970m gpu from a fresh install of windows but i keep getting the bsod of the drivers not resetting. I know there is a work around to install but i forgot what what it was. I tried the driver sweeper methos and that dont seem to work. For those that has installed beyond the dell drivers can give a little help please and thanks.

 

1. Uninstall all drivers related to the GPU;
2. Restard in safe mode (F8 at the boot /choose safe mode);
3. Run driver sweeper and choose ATi driver to be removed. It will ask you to restart;
4. After the restart run ccleaner then install Dell default driver (For the GPU);
5. Restart and switch to dedicated GPU (if not already on it);
Install ATi 12.1 driver. It will give you bsod and the system will restart. No problem, after the restart run again the ATi 12.1 driver;
6. Restart your system. You should have latest ATi 12.1 driver installed.

Please note: In the future (new driver release for the GPU from ATi), switch to the dedicated GPU and run the driver update. Install / Restart.

Hope the above helped.

Regards

 

the 12.2 preview drivers install flawlessly after running drivercleaner
all other drivers between 11.10 and 12.2 gave me bsod