***M18x - AMD Crossfire (Driver Questions, Performance, Problems) Discussion Thread***

OK experts, here is one for you. Crysis 2 with high res and directx 11 enabled crashes with a Microsoft run time error. It never use to. It was the first game I installed, with 12.8 and 12.9 drivers it ran fine. Looked awesome by the way, zero flickering, and around 75 fps avg with everything on and set to ultra.

Since installing my library of games and a few windows security updates I now get the crash and error with 12.8 and 12.9 drivers.

I've uninstalled, and ccleaned all the drivers and the game numerous times. The game will play with out the additional patches, if hi res is installed I get massive flickers now and directx 11 flat out crashes. Ideas?

Every other game still runs flawlessly, except bio shock 2 which crashes at the windows live screen and star wars force unleashed 2 that doesnt like Cross fire.

HELP please.

 

Well, this happened to me more than once with 7970M drivers and some of Microsoft's VC++ and .NET updates were really hosing my system. Windows Updates broke Crysis 2, 3DMark11 and any other games that I had set to run using DX11. It happened to me at least 5 times before I discovered what was taking place behind the scenes.

Try using System Restore and roll back to a date that you are 100% certain the problem did not exist. I had to do that multiple times and finally just disabled Windows Updates completely. Hopefully, that will put you back in business like it did for me. I now pick and choose all Windows Updates manually and no longer run into this problem.

(Be sure to tell Windows to not even bother to "check for updates" because sometimes it will sneak some in and install them without permission if you choose the option to download them and notify you when updates are ready for installation. This happened to me more than once also. Just shut it down totally.)

 

Thanks bud, I might have to go back to day one, ugh. System restore is only showing a week ago :/ I hope respawn works correctly!

 

Ugh, aw respawn worked. Imstalling crysis 2 dx 11 and hi res pack now. Ive frozen windows updates, and will make a respawn point from the time dx11 and hi res uogrades were installed.

Side note, what antivirous program do you all rec? Im using the mcaffe free trial so im protected but its too invasive for me.

 

McAfee has lots of known issues. That might have been part of your problem. It's by far the worst and I don't understand my it is offered by Dell/Alienware.

If you're looking for a free solution, Microsoft Security Essentials is excellent. So are Avast and Avira.

If you want to spend money on something more robust, Vipre is what I use on the M18x. I have also used ESET and it's a good option. Both offer excellent protection, good feature, and light on system resources.

 

I agree with Brother Fox - I'm currently running ESET and it has worked nicely for me and havent had any problems in two years. I am about to give MSE a shot in a week or so when my current paid for AV expires.

 

Thank you for the recomendations.

 

I have a question regarding the 6990m Crossfire. Should I be overly worried if I occasionally experience driver crashes?

 

Vergil... that depends. Did this just start happening out of the blue, or did you update your video drivers? Is it happening while gaming or under GPU load, or just simple stuff like web browsing?

 

@Mr. Fox

I was playing Skyrim since I just got the new plugin, Hearthfire. Apparently, it only happened during that time. I tried playing again and no crashes. Temps were fine and I didn't really see a blue screen. It's more like everything became pixelated then the computer restarted. After that, it seems as though nothing happened.

 

Hmm... that's pretty strange. As they say, "all is well that ends well."

 

So has anyone any advice as to the best thing to do with a brand new fresh laptop with factory drivers installed, I tried reading through all the threads but get lost with exact instructions as to what to do.

So far I've tried the stock Dell, the AMD 8.9 and 9 beta drivers and with crossfire enabled both Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops either flicker or keep flicking to a black screen during gamepay - with Crossfire Disabled they run fine.

 

Have you tried other games and found them to work OK in Crossfire and only MW2 and BO go black? If this happens in all games, it could be the Crossfire bridge cable got dislodged during shipping due to rough handling of the box. If only those two games have the problem it may be something with the game configuration. When you first launch them, does either game make reference to a previous error and offer to launch with safe settings?

 

Seems to work perfectly fine on Crossfire with Counter Strike Global - I've done a clean install again of the drivers and managed to play a couple of times in the other two games, the black screen problem seems to have fixed itself - I still feel the two games are not quite right, a type of intermittent lag for a split second during game-play. I was wondering if there is a majority verdict for the best drivers to install - I sort of got confused on exactly what download links are the right ones but I think I have 12.8 drivers installed now - when I check in Device Manager both card drivers show as version 8.982.0.0 - Also been noticing some lag on playing youtube videos in Firefox - skipping to parts in the videos seems to freeze for a few seconds and skip seems laggy.

I don't get previous errors going into the game and have found that turning shadows and vsync off helps too - but I'd assumed I could have everything on max including these settings with a machine this powerful.

 

Firefox is just plain buggy with 7970M. Try disabling hardware acceleration in Firefox options. I quit using it and switched to Chrome, and I now prefer Chrome. I did go through some withdrawals at first, LOL. Now I don't even bother downloading it any more.

The AMD Catalyst package has a number, such as 12.8. This means it was released August 2012. The Catalyst package version is unrelated to the driver version number. This is a little bit confusing until you realize what it means. AMD Catalyst is a GUI software utility that allows you to change settings with your video card(s). Sometimes AMD will release an updated Catalyst that does NOT include newer drivers. As you correctly noted, your driver version is 8.982.0.0 and it was part of the Catalyst 12.8 package. The differing driver number is often confusing to people that do not work with AMD video drivers very often.

As a matter of convenience we most often refer to the Catalyst package as the driver. For example, one might refer to the "AMD 12.8 driver" and we know he means "the driver included with Catalyst 12.8" and leave it at that. This is technically inaccurate, but most of us know what the other person is talking about and it is understood that the Catalyst package always includes a driver even if it is not a newer driver.

 

Thanks for the explanation Mr Fox that makes more sense now. If anyone else plays these game feel free to let me know any tips you found to make them run well - driver versions, cat version etc.

 

So where are we with drivers etc just now?

After initially having no problems with my CF 7970Ms, I am having great problem with Shift 2 unleashed.

I can hit 74fps in-game, it kinda depends on how fast your are going, but then it just crashes right out!

See MSI Afterburner attachment for usage etc.

I am on Catalyst 12.9 Beta...

And what about these MOD drivers, what is their story?

Cheers...

 

Beta crashed a lot more for me so I went back to 12.8 cap 3

 

Mod drivers rarely every do a good job for me.

 

I would just like to ask fellow M18x owners with AMD GPUs. Did any of you guys ever experience crashing video card drivers when playing certain games? I've noticed this so far with skyrim.

 

I used to get that with Skyrim a lot. Have you tweaked the Skyrim Preferences INI file to force vsync on? I cannot explain why, but with 7970M cards having vsync enabled on Skyrim fixed a number of serious functionality problems for me.

 

Have AMD taken down the 12.8 and 12.9 drivers?

 

Scrap that, I got a hold of the 12.8 drivers.

Ran 3DV and got black screen! Ran 3DM11 and it was fine. Ran 3DV again and it was fine (odd). Don't fancy trying the Beta ones given what Bro Ghecko said.

 

Hello,

My system has been running very well and quite stable since I got it roughly a month ago but I am noticing two issues right now and could use some help.

1. According to HWINFO64 and GPU-Z after gaming or when turning on crossfire after having turned it off, my second card seems to
get stuck at 850 MHz and doesn't seem to want to go back to 300 MHz again. I have a couple of Windows 7 gadgets for monitoring
my video cards and they both show everything at 300 MHz and temps don't seem to be high, dunno which readings to believe.

2. After gaming for a while when I quit playing whatever game it was and fire up HWINFO64 or GPU-Z my system completely freezes and
requires a power off and power on again. Doesn't seem to matter what game I happen to be playing (Dishonored, Borderlands 2, Diablo3 etc...)

 

Gpuz does not like our cards. Use MSI afterburner or EVGA to monitor the cards. I first tried to use gpuz and it froze. Sometimes MSI wont recognize the temps of card 2. First disable xfire, turn on MSI and enable xfire. The warmest my cards get is 74 with bf3 or crysis 2. I dont even bother monitoring anymore as 12.8 with cap3 plays all my games w out issue. I only monitor with new drivers or games.

 

Pretty much the same for me too. 12.8 + CAP 3 is about as good as it gets so far. I didnt have much luck with the 12.9's

 

Hello,

So basically for my second GPU getting stuck at 850 MHz I basically have three options from what I have been reading and please correct me if I'm wrong here.

1. Live with the problem and do nothing about it.

2. Flash my vbios and just set both card so the 2d matches 3d and run like that.

3. Switch to the green team and not deal with this stuff anymore


Was actually reading up on the flashing the vbios process and it doesn't seem all that bad so I might venture down that road, I saw that MR. FOX had a nice little post on disabling TDR
and included a vbios as well.

 

Hello,

Wondering is anyone out there as tried the new AMD drivers that are out.. 12.10 along with 12.10 CAP1??
Will be trying when I get home from work and get some sleep... will post results later tonight

 

UPDATE I had previously had 12.11 beta 3 installed. Going to try moving to beta 4's now

UPDATE These are some result from the 12.11 beta 4's.

3D Mark Benchmark 12.8 = 10006
vs
3D Mark Benchmark 12.11 = 9970


Sleeping Dogs Benchmark 12.8 - Ave 74.3, Max 175, Min 34.3
Sleeping Dogs Benchmark 12.11 - Ave 87.4, Max 177.8, Min 46

 

so .... can someone post their current drivers that work good?

p.s. are CATALYST DRIVERS the drivers for the GPU... or just the program??

im trying to play bf3... and ive seen videos on youtube and it plays flawlesssss... but on mine (which is brand new) even on medium settings its not as good as the videos.. which are on ultra. and they get 60+ FPS!!!

so if anyone is kind enough... just post what i need to start gaming!! i tried all those 11.1 CCC but my screen just goes black when it installs...

 

Calfan 3 - What are you specs ?
Im using 12.11 beta 4 and its definitely works with BF3. I can also confirm that 12.8b works too.
Yes, Catalyst Drivers are the Drivers for the GPU and also a program that lets you tweak settings You should do a clean driver install by uninstalling your old drivers first.
You may (but probably not) need a patch with BF3 as there is a black screen issue when launching on one of the Digital Download copies.

 

i7 3610QM
HD 7970m crossfire
6GB Ram
500 gb 7200rpm

i am currently downloafing the 5.7 GB update for. battlefield 3.. and it was a physical copy.

for .my gpu... i went to amds website and downloaded their gpu detection software which downloaded my current CCC... when it was installing thebscreen went black... i had to power off and power on twice before my screen came back.

now when i go into CCC and "check" for updates it says IT IS UP TO DATE... it is catalyst version 12.10

 

also, does the "turboboost" in the CPU turn itself on? or must i overclock manually?

 

Try these drivers. They are the AMD 12.11 beta 4. Alot of people are having luck with them.
I'd highly recommend you get a copy of Driver Sweeper and CCleaner while your at it so you can do the job thoroughly.
To uninstall - go to Uninstall Program in your control panel, then right click AMD Catalyst Install Manager and click Change, then proceed to uninstall.
Then reboot as prompted and enter safe mode (F8), use Driver Sweeper to scan for AMD Driver left overs and them remove them. Then CCleaner to fix up the loose ends in in the Registry.
Reboot and finally install your new AMD 12.11 beta 4 drivers.

Its sounds like a lot of hassle but its worth doing it right.

Regarding your turbo boost, that's all done automatically.

 

ok man! ill definitely give it a try! my bf3 is up and running and it is DEFINITELY much more stable at higher visual settings... but still not like it appears on youtube videos where people play on ultra settings with great FPS... right now im running between high and medium settings with 60+fps MUCH BETTER THAN BEFORE.

now i will go ahead and try what you said

 

Hello everybody,

After installing windows 8 Pro, I tested the games Battlefield 3 and Medal of Honor ™ Warfighter in both games Crossfire is not working.

Tests with two 7970m in croosfire

I'm using beta4 12.11

 

Well i downloaded everything you said and followed ur instructions and am happy to report my game runs sooooooooooooooo smooth!!!!! I LOVE THIS LAPTOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3 THANX so much man!!!!

 

I couldnt agree more, the 12.11 beta driver is fantastic! There is bsod when switchimg between xfire and non but thatll be worked out for final release. For those gettimg low usage rates and low fps is vsync on? Bf3, crysis 2, and mohw achieve over 100fps, and the cards are at 99 percent for me.

This is the driver we've been waiting for!

 

Its good to see you lads are enjoying your beasts, and AMD are almost getting things right..finally.
I've gone back to 12.8, I switch over to 1 card quite abit, and was also getting a BSOD in Borderlands 2..if you have the game, same for you guys ? I hope they can fix this up in the next release as games run so damn fine on 12.11's

 

Hello there, I picked up my m18x r1 just a little over a year ago and now I'm having some issues which I think are graphics card related.
I get a green glow screen distortion when playing graphics intense parts of games, highly graphics intense games as a whole and occasionally when I lift the screen up to open the laptop up for use.

See picture here:

imgur: the simple image sharer

Specs:

m18x r1
Windows Ultimate SP1
Intel i7 2920xm 2.5GHz
16gb 1600 RAM
Dual AMD 6990's in CrossfireX

Any help would be appreciated. I have racked my brain to figure it out. I did open it up and check to make sure the LCD to mobo connector was seated properly.

Thank you.

 

i just ordered new m18x r2 with 3610qm and 7970m cf from lenovo outlet. i reckon it's a cancelled order and been
sitting in their warehouse for a while, as it's got 1st gen ivy CPU. likewise, 7970m itself must be a bit outdated.

i know there's now official driver software available for those 7970m. my question is the 7970m hardware itself.

did AMD update vBIOS on 7970m since their initial release? is it something i should be worried about?
if so, how do i get the new vBIOS and update?

thanks

 

Since this is a question related to graphics, I would suggest you tell us what GPU you have instead of your RAM.

 

I don't know where I should ask for that, but I think you guys can help me

First of all here are my system info:
Alienware M18x R1 A05
CPU: Intel i7-2630QM
RAM: 16Go
Windows 7 Premium Family Edition - 64 bits
GPU: DUAL AMD 6970M
(Driver are ATI drivers version 8.98)

My main problem
-Sometimes, my framerate drops to 5 - 15 fps (usually after about 15 minutes of playing) for an unknown reason and restarting the game sometimes fix that for another 2-5 minutes

Other problems
-Low average FPS in almost every games
Ex: (AA and Vsync are always off) and not during the main problem
Crysis: 15 - 30 fps at ultra, 20 - 40 fps at low
Borderlands 2: 20 - 50 fps at high, 30 - 60 fps at low (PhysX effects at low in both cases)
Skyrim: (FIXED with RadeonPro) 60 - 100 fps at high

-Changing settings does not change the FPS (OR a little, the fps never change more than 20 from lowest to highest settings)

-The real framerate looks lower than the framerate that FRAPS shows


What I've done:
-Switching Crossfire off: Give a little framerate boost in some games but doesn't fix the main problem

-Cleaning the computer: No impact

-Installing and using RadeonPro: Small positive framerate impact on most games, but on Skyrim, my fps went up to 60 - 100 fps (from 20- 30 fps)

-Trying different drivers: Small framerate impact

-Flashing BIOS to A05: No impact

That's it (I think but I probably forgot something), thanks for help

 

Those drivers are a bit old. I have 6990's with basically the same rig as yours. Running 12.6 drivers though. No problems at all.

 

I'm guessing by cleaning, you mean you removed the bottom cover, pulled the fans, and cleaned the heatsinks? R1s are getting to be old enough now that a lot of gunk can be in the sinks if you've never cleaned them.

I will assume you're running on AC power and have Windows set to 'Performance'.

I would have to agree Brither. Update your drivers and make sure you have the latest CAP installed.

 

Thanks for replying. I have dual video cards in crossfire.i have cleaned it with compressed air. I have opened it up as far as taking off the keyboard and cleaned out with air that far, all fans and spaces I could reach. It definitely runs hot when gaming.

I used the AMD System Monitor and Speedfan

Guild Wars 2:

Usage Stats:

GPU 1 - 90% GPU 2 - 0% CPU - 45% RAM 25%

Temps:

HD0 - 40*c GPU 1 - 74*c GPU 2 - 41*c Cores - all varied around 55*c

 

Son-of-a!

Dual AMD 6990's in crossfire.

 

6990m's or 6970m's ?? - you could also try reseating the gpu's in their respective MXM motherboard slots and also check that the crossfire ribbon cable is securely attached to each gpu. If this distortion happens when you move the lid, it could be that the connections have become a bit loose over time.....other than that, sounds possible that your LCD might be on it's way out.....

 

Driver package version is ATI 8.98 and catalyst version is 12.6,
I'm updating to the newest driver today, we'll see what happens

Exactly

Indeed

This is what I'll do today, but I don't think this will solve the problem.


Edit: I installed the newest drivers and the driver package version is now 9.002 and Catalyst version 12.10