ATI 3870x2 Crash after reload a game with CroosfireX Enable

Hello.
Well maybe somebody can help me with my problem.
At the moment I have the drivers 11.6 with no cap, but I had that problem since the version 10.6.
If the CroosfireX is Enable (Catalyst A.I.) after a fresh restart I can load a game and play with no problem at all, but if I close tha game and open it again the laptop crash. I dont get any error message just get totally frozen , mouse , screen , keyboard ... Does not matter with game I'm tring to launch , it happen with all of them. For example if I load Rift I close it and then I load WoW, it gonna crash, but if restart it gonna work just the fisrt time I launch a game.
This not happen if the Catalyst A.I. is disable.
I can use other driver's version like 9.8, but I would like to use the new performance of the new version.
I hope that somebody can help me.
Thanks

 

I heard some buggy stuff about 11.6, have you tried 11.5 or 11.4?

 

Same
The last drivers version that works are 10.8, pretty old...

 

Are you seeing a huge performance increase?

 

In old games not really, just in new ones such Rift

 

I have the same problem :/
Did you managed to add other resolutions? I can only use 1920x1200 (of 16:10s), but with some games (like witcher 2) i need other resolutions

 

Havent get any solution yet, still with the last drivers installed and the las cap profile too but still the problem. I just change the chipset drivers but no change. Dont wanna give up with that problem, it have to be a solution...

 

wow that's a wierd issue any overclock or volt mod?

 

Nope nothing at all.
If you hibernate and then relaunch it will not crash.
Lol wut?

 

I have exatly the same problem as Miskid. playing WoW and WoT(world of tanks). the crash happens on second run of the game (no matter which one, and no matter when) the drivers version 11.5. when Catalyst A.I. is disabled this is not happening.

M17: p8400
DUAL ATI Radeon HD 3870 CFX Enabled
1440 x 900 LCD
4GB DDR3 @ 1066MHz
160GB @ 7200RPM
Win 7 32-bit

 

how about you guys try reseating the cfx bridge?

other then that the issue would have to be a software one but it don't get where it fails

 

you mean unplug and plug again the cable?.. will check that. however the problem appeared after updating the drivers, on 10.x version there was no such freezing.

 

yup that's what i mean

i sincerly have no idea what can be causing that issue

except maybe a corruption in the driver's registry any of you guys used driver sweeper?

 

Yes i used it. And already reseated the cfx cable :/

 

no i mean befor the issue apeared just to upgrade from a driver to an other

 

I was on vacation and couldnt answer.
I have been working on that problem long time , and time to time and reinstall the old drivers version to take a break. Now I'm back on the bussines but still failing ... I have done all that you have explained but that for the help. I dont know but maybe have some issues with the directx?? I have reinstall the whole windows 7 couple of time and even without any patch , a very clean Windows 7, and still frezzing. Broken secondary graphic card?? No way right? because is working with old drivers , more precise until 10.8, no problem , after that, problems with all of them (drivers). Since 10.10 version ATI have changed the interface of the CCC, casuality???

 

you'r saying that even on a brand new install it still does this?

 

yes, that's what i mean

 

Wow, I'm glad someone finally posted about this, because I've been having this same issue for a long time. The only "workaround" is to play a game, and then if you want to play another game, or relaunch the same game, you have to restart the computer. Quite annoying. I guess the other workaround would be to turn off Catalyst AI, but that defeats the purpose now doesn't it? Miskid, you're saying this doesn't happen with Catalyst 9.8? I still have the 9.8 download, I suppose I could just revert back to that one.

 

i see a generalised bug how about you guys would mass report the issue to AMD?

 

No, it's not happening with the 9.8. The problem start with the 10.10

BTW, Before the version 10.10 , do you have any particular recomendation ? 10.4, 10.7, 10.8?

 

I used to have exactly the same problem. I eventually gave up, I reverted to older drivers (10.8) and they work perfectly fine for me.

It was an absolute pain in the *** to try and find the old drivers though.

 

I gave up too

I installed the 10.8 now. I used to have them before and I didn't have any problem, but I still wanted to try the lastest drivers , specially in the new games...

Thanks for the help

 

If you still want the performance boost, you might get a boost from installing the latest Crossfire profiles which you can get independent of the drivers. Besides, it's unlikely that new drivers will include a performance boost for such old cards; it's all in the profiles for us now.

 

but they might contain bug fix for newer games

you should try mass reporting the issue to amd and hope they fix it for 11.11 or something

 

Thanks, good to know. I have atm the profiles 10.8 and 10.8a, I did not know that I can install also the lastest ones.

 

I guess I'll have to revert back to 10.8 and give it a shot. Last time I used driver sweeper though, I had a helluva time trying to install the Windows 7 SP1 (driver sweeper erased a bunch of system files required for the update). I also thought I'd tried this once before with similar results, but I was also troubleshooting an issue with CoD:Black Ops at the time so maybe it fixed one issue but not the other. I'll give it a go, however, and provide an update.

 

Been having this problem a lot lately, especially noticeable after buying a bunch of games on steam from the summer sale. I think non-steam games I had played in the past could be launched twice or more in a single boot, but all my steam games crash if I launch two games in a single boot (same game or different).

I'm using 11.6 drivers, with the crossfire 3870's (or 50's I forget at the moment), 1440x900 LCD screen, q9000 2.0ghz quad proc, and 4gb ram.

 

This problem most definately occurs with Steam games, however i've also had it happen with non-steam games (Assassin's Creed 2 - DVD version comes to mind.)

I wonder if these drivers might work... 11.2 Extreme G Catalyst Drivers

 

Confirmed, downgrading to 10.8 definitely resolves this issue. It must be related to the new command center they put in place shortly after 10.8.

 

that's wierd the only issue i have with newer driver is if i forget a game minimized while i'm programing on mine i get a flikering of doom when i go back on the game an i can fix it only with a reboot

 

granyte, that is exactly the issue, but the other half of the issue is launching a game, playing for a while, exiting the game, and then starting up either the same game or a different game and having the entire laptop lock at a black screen with the only resolution being a hard reboot.

 

no i get my bsod at boot insted i need to reboot for it to work fine

 

it seems that last version 11.7 works fine. I've just installed the driver
from here ATi Mobility Catalyst 11.7 Display Drivers For Notebooks (27/07/2011)

 

Ok i'll give them a try and report

 

No, it doesn't work.
Reverting back to 10.8.
So sad

 

No news? Somebody found newer drivers that works?

 

guys i have been using very old drivers, would like to update, so the 10.8 drivers are the most stable? (im on 8. something lol launch drivers lol)
And do they work ok with crossfire? las time i installed new drivers crossfire was disabled.

Can someone upload the drivers you are using? or can i just download thhem from ati's?
thanks for your help!

 

Just to add my 2 cents....Im having the same problem as all of you guys...Still using these old 10.5 drivers...anything after that gives me a crash/broken crossfire Unfortunately.....Wish we could all upgrade to some recent ones.

 

Anyone had any luck yet with any of the 11.xx series drivers?

 

Using 12.1, still have the issue.

 

I need a Master version of the VBIOS for the ATI Mobility Radeon 3870. I have a Slave card for my Area-51 m15x Ripley model, and I need to flash it to a Master card.

Please post one.

Also, how would I actually flash the VBIOS with a bin file?

 

I was like so many others. I thought something was wrong with my system. I was having that issue with launch a game more then once would result in a system lockup.
I uninstalled the latest drivers and used driver sweeper(with ads...grrr) to remove all hints of the lastest, and then rebooted and installed 10.8.
Tested on Star Wars-The Old Republic and it launched a second time without the lockup.
Thank you for the information about the 10.8 drivers.

 

Just to Chime in...I second this...lets keep this going, hopefully we could find something that works. Still on 10.5.

Hey, ATI 10.5 are sure to work but those are ancient now to.

 

sc2 is the only game that doesn't crash, weird

 

I don't think SC2 uses crossfire.

 

Has anyone made a report to AMD yet? Just curious. If so, I would like to know the report/thread where it is made so I can contribute.

Where can I find the 10.8 version driver?

 

You can get the driver here:
ATi Catalyst 10.8 Download & Discussion - Guru3D.com Forums

I have recently tried 12.4 and have had the same problems by the way.

If anyone knows where to report I'd also join in.

 

I have tried the last drivers (probably 12.4) and they work! Give them a try!

 

I have been having this same issue for a while!!! So frustrating. Can anyone else confirm which drivers, if any of the newer ones, is working for them? I am still using the old ones from the Alienware support page, (I have an M17 R1), and some of the newer games will not run because of the outdated display drivers.

I know this for a fact because I'll try to run Doom 3: BFG edition on my old drivers, crashes at startup. Ran drive sweeper, install latest drivers, game boots and run smooth as butter. Close the game, try to re-open the game, or any other game for that matter, black screen frozen. Only way to fix is to do a hard reboot of the system. Someone please help!! This is total bull to spend the money on such an awesome machine only to be ignored by ATI!!! WE NEED A FIX FOR THIS ISSUE ASAP!!! Custom drivers, anything!!!!

UPDATE:
I just found out there's a mobility download tool from the ATI website, and am now downloading the latest 12.8 drivers specifically for mobility cards. Could it be that the drivers we were downloading were originally intended for desktop-style cards, and that was our issue? Will report back if it works. You can get the mobility tool from the ati website here (Win7 64 bit):
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonmob_win7-64.aspx

Updated (again):
Ok, went to install the mobility version and noticed that there is NO DISPLAY DRIVER in the install. What the eff?? My next step is to attempt to use Mobility Modder to try to mod the latest catalyst desktop drivers for a mobility setup. We shall see, but I gotta admit, I feel like I'm back to square one. So frustrating. I just want to play the newest games and not have to worry about hard-restarting my PC whenever I want to play another one. Not too much to ask, I think.

Updated (yet again):
GREAT NEWS!! Mobility Modder worked!! Tested and tested, over and over again! I will post an update concerning the steps I followed, as well as my system specs. Try it, hopefully you will succeed as I have!



Ok, you guys, I think I have officially found a solution that works!! It is working FLAWLESSLY for me, after I experienced all of the problems you all have listed trying various things to no avail.
Here are my system specs:

Alienware M17 R1
Windows 7 Home Prem. 64-bit SP1
Intel Core2 Extreme QX9300 @ 2.53 GHz
8GB Ram, 2 ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870's in crossfire

Here are my step by step instructions:

1.) Remove ALL ATI software and drivers (control panel, uninstall programs, change Catalyst Install Manager, remove all).

2.) Run Driver Fusion (formerly driver sweeper), deleting all ATI Display drivers.
Can be downloaded here: Driver Fusion - The Complete Driver Solution

3.) Reboot in safe mode, run Driver Fusion again.

4.) Download latest ATI catalyst drivers (for desktop), or run the autodetect (for some reason it always detected that my hardware needed desktop drivers). Should be version 12.6.
Can be downloaded here: AMD Support & Drivers

5.) Download Mobility Modder (useful tool that makes desktop drivers compatible with mobility systems). Latest version, and one I used, is v1.2.0.0.
Can be downloaded here: Mobility Modder - ATI Version, Install the Latest Drivers on your ATI laptop

6.) Install Mobility Modder and extract the ATI drivers, but DO NOT INSTALL THEM. It should extract the install package to C:\AMD\Support\12-6-legacy_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_whql.

7.) Run Mobility Modder and browse to that folder that the ATI driver download extracted to. Should be C:\AMD\Support\12-6-legacy_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_whql. Once directory is located, hit modify. Wait until patching is finished (should tell you if it was successful).

8.) Now close Mobility Modder, navigate to the directory (C:\AMD\Support\12-6-legacy_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_whql) and run SETUP.EXE. Install as usual. Website said you might experience a "Driver is not WHQL certified" warning that is a side effect of the patching, but I did not. If you do, you can ignore it.

9.) Once install is finished, reboot and try running your games.

This has worked for me, able to run new games without a problem, one after another, no black screen freeze up. Also, GPU-Z has confirmed that both of my GPU's are running with crossfire enabled. Catalyst control center verifies that my catalyst version is 12.6, and that my driver packaging version is 8.97 (D3D v7.14 & OpenGL v6.14). I hope this works for you!! I'm assuming we can use this method for all future ATI catalyst releases. If you have any questions about this method, or if any bit of it was not clear, please let me know so that I can elaborate.

ANOTHER UPDATE:

I have also experienced the problem resolving when keeping the AMD External Events Utility service ENABLED. I know it sucks because this service completely ruins memory and RAM. Hopefully AMD addresses the issue. I won't hold my breath.