The W3J Video Driver Thread

Given the many, many issues we've seen people have regarding the W3J and video drivers, I figured this thread might help to dispel any rumors and help solve problems for those who aren't sure what to do. Please add your vote above so we can gain a general consensus over what works best.

Here's my summary of video drivers on the W3J - it will be updated if need be:

- Stock drivers - Completely stable, should cause no problems but produce significantly lower 3DMark scores

- 6.8 - Widely reported to be stable, though some seem to have issues anyway

- 6.9 - May produce the shutdown/reboot problem due to PowerPlay issues - disabling this feature may solve some problems

- 6.10 - Stable in my experience (after an initial bad install)

- 6.11 - Same issues as 6.9

~ Brett

 

Been seeing a lot of threads being started over the reboot issue on the W3J, all on the first page. I wish ppl would look up and down before posting a new thread.

As Nrbelex said, a lot of the problems deal with the video driver updates. Don't want the problem, keep the stock drivers like I do. No problems what so ever.

Just my .02 cent

 

I am curious about this issue, even though I don't have a W3j, do the different drivers affect anything like temperatures, or power usage? If they are producing significantly better results it seems that there is something other than better code, but I could be wrong on that.

 

Thus far the only driver which did not have any error reports is the stock driver on the cd. I would venture to say that the later catalysts have a similar or varying effect on the s96j or z96j or anyother ati powered unit. Strange part is i have not really seen any or many other then the w3j. Some guy started a bunch of threads about his exprience with asus overseas resolving his restart issue on battery. Clearly he was describing what happens when you upgrade to the later catalysts. Someone should point him in the right direction

 

I literally posted in half his threads telling him it's a simple driver issue. He refuses to listen even though it solved the exact same problem for me.

~ Brett

 

I know this is off topic, but I hope that he gets that soon, those threads are starting to get old.

 

Hi All,

Just got my W3J imported from the US. Its one beautiful notebook, and everything is fine so far. I have 6.10 installed, just wondering what am I looking for in terms of problems? No rebooting so far.

 

6.8 and 6.10 seems to be fine, at least in my case (6.9 are causing problem)

 

only the 6.11 driver is giving me the rebooting problem. using 6.10 right now

 

Only 6.11 was giving me reboot problems from what I can tell. I'm currently running 6.10 but still having some stability problems that I didn't have before. Day of Defeat crashes within 10 minutes and Company of Heroes crashes at times now.

 

I'm getting a Directx9 crashes in Everquest 2 all the time.

When I check my Catalyst version I am at 6.7 - I presume that means I'm still with the stock drivers? I thought I updated once but perhaps not?

What do you guys suggest I go with? I'm frustrated that I can't even just download them from the ATI site since Asus is not a supported manuf.

 

I actually had more problems with the stock 6.7's than I have with any other driver excluding 6.11. So yeah, I'd definitly recommend you updating. I'd go with 6.10. After running both Cab Cleaner and Driver Cleaner Pro everything seems to be back to normal. http://www.3dnews.ru/download/drivers/ati/ <--- make sure you get the 6.10 Mobility and if you don't have much experience installing new drivers give this a read first: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=64910

That last link is also helpful because it offers a link that allows you to dload new drivers directly from ATI. Of course you don't want to do that now because you will get 6.11's.

 

Intresting, I was getting the same crashes with the Omega drivers, so I went back to the stock ones and it fixed it...although then BF2, and NFS Carbon would no longer work

Last week I retrograded back to 6.8, luckily seems to have fixed all of my problems.

I also concur that 6.11 makes my machine reboot endlessly when going from power cord to battery, haven't tried 6.10.

 

Thx guys - I'll try the 6.10 and see how it goes.

 

Update:

Recently I began noticing the occasional few second lock-up of my computer and couldn't figure out what was causing it. I began leaving the processes graph open and saw a spike in CPU use whenever it would happen - maybe 3 times a day at most. Then I looked at the System Event Viewer and found the matching error, "ati2mtag". After doing some Googleing, I've found it to be a problem with 6.10 which ATI fixed in 6.11. Unfortunately, W3J users can't use 6.11 because of the infinite restart cycle problem when on battery power (reminder - all W3J users PLEASE submit a bug report to ATI on this issue). If anyone else is experiencing this problem, you can confirm that it's the ATI process by going to Start -> Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer -> System. The lock-ups should be at the same time as an error named "ati2mtag". I was worried since I thought it could be hardware related (especially if it was the processor itself) but am now very relieved it's a simple driver issue that I can easily live with 'till the next working version is released.

~ Brett

 

Thanks for the update Nrbelex.

Cheers.

 

Just to be perfectly clear, the problem I am having with 6.10 is the following.

When running off battery (not plugged in), my W3J randomly restarts. I am using the latest BIOS (210) from the ASUS support website and all stock drivers (except video drivers of course). The restarts occur while browsing, installing new programs, chatting, and other instances. I wouldn't classify these as "intensive" processes, just light use.

Is this the problem you are experiencing as well ?

Cheers.

 

I get restarts, but as the result of a BSOD, which I'm now thinking is linked to bad RAM or (hopefully not) the CPU, not the video card in any way - Any problems with it are unrelated and have (I think) been resolved. Sigh

~ Brett

 

I have 6.10 ATI drivers installed.
Fresh copy of Windows XP Pro SP2 + Original Asus Drivers.
NTFS on all partitions (2), and removed Recovery Partition.
No overclocking/underclocking.
BIOS used is 210.

When I unplug the AC Power, no reboot occurs.
When I use without battery, no reboot occurs.

Been using it for the past 2 hours to see if there are any rebooting problems. Glad to say there has been none (Knocks on wood).

Activities include web browsing, listening to music, installing software, downloading, and PORNO. LOL!!! ....NOT!

 

For me, this problem occurs once every 1-2 hrs of continuous use. It's almost as if the computer shuts down as a precautionary measure due to overheating, but it's not that hot at all ... I know there IS somekind of overheating safety feature programmed in the BIOS, correct ? Could this be the problem ?

Cheers.

 

I have had one random restart directly after unplugging the machine using 6.10's. For the most part it hasn't been a problem though.

 

Sorry to sound like a noob, but where do you find the version of driver you're using? I looked into the Catalyst control center and even clicked on the system information button, but I'm not seeing these numbers that are being posted. (e.g. 6.10, 6.11 etc.) Attached is a Screenshot of what I see in my system. Please clarify what version I've got. Thanks!

G

 

When did you get your computer? Are these the stock drivers? In order to download the newest (not always stable) drivers, use the following link:

http://ati.amd.com/online/mobilecatalyst/

The current drivers are 7.10.

~ Brett

 

This is a brand new laptop, brought this baby home on the 4th of this year.

 

If you didn't change the drivers yourself, it could mean Asus is now packaging an updated (and perhaps custom-made/adjusted) set itself. Can any dealers or other new owners confirm this driver number in new W3J models?

~ Brett

 

You're running the stock drivers then (which are 6.6 or 6.5 IIRC, maybe even older drivers).

Personally, I like the 6.8's.

 

Well the usual stock drivers are the 6.8, however the poster seems to have a version labeled as as 6.14 (see his screenshot). Since it's a new laptop I agre that they are probably "stock" drivers but Asus may have created/added new stock drivers to match the developments since 6.8 came out. My puzzlement is over the number 6.14 which doesn't exist...

~ Brett

 

After comparing gDon18's pic with the CCC window in my W3J (it's ver. 6.8 btw), I saw that 6.14 is actually the 2D/Direct3D/DirectGL version. One field that's missing in gDon18's pic is CATALYST version, which says 6.7 in my 6.8 driver. So we are talking about different version actually... ASUS' own driver deletes the CATALYST version information in the CCC window.

 

What do you mean by a "different version"? You mean not 6.8, correct? If this is a stock driver this is potentially very good for W3J owners looking for newer and Asus tested/approved video drivers.

~ Brett

 

Sorry for not making myself clear... I mean, the 6.14 number in gDon18's pic (ASUS' stock driver) means the version of 2D/Direct3D/DirectGL, while the 6.8 number in Mobility Catalyst means the version of Catalyst.

In ASUS's stock driver, the Catalyst version info is not displayed, that's why it's hard to find out which Catalyst the ASUS' stock driver is based on.

The 2D/Direct3D/DirectGL version numbers in Catalyst ver. 6.8 are higher than those displayed in gDon18's pic. So IMHO gDon18's driver is still older than 6.8.

I think we need to compare the numbers in our stock drivers to gDon18's pic. If the numbers are the same then they're the same drivers.

 

Hmm, I have Omegas installed but I hope somebody who still has the stock drivers can make that comparison.

~ Brett

 

Wow, didn't think this would be so complicated.

On my end, I haven't installed any updated video drivers yet so as far as i know it's stock, but yes, the question still stands, which version do i have?.

Actually, I was gonna do a clean restore with the cds included, although, it's not very clean if i do it with the recovery cds is it? is there any way of adjusting how Asus does their partitions when using the recovery cds? I don't like this 60/40 split...

Thanks for the help guys.

 

OK, let's analyze this:
In your CCC information:
1. Driver Packaging Version : 8.204.1-060110a-030194C
2. 2D Driver Version : 6.14.10.6587
3. Direct3D Version : 6.14.10.0362
4. OpenGL Version : 6.14.10.5527
5. Catalyst Control Center Version: 1.2.2201.31681

In my CCC information (I use Mobility Catalyst ver 6.8):
1. Driver Packaging Version : 8.282-060802a-035181C-ATI
2. CATALYST® Version : 06.7
3. 2D Driver Version : 6.14.10.6631
4. Direct3D Version : 6.14.10.0425
5. OpenGL Version : 6.14.10.6012
6. Catalyst Control Center Version: 1.2.2405.30455

Let's ignore the Catalyst version (06.7) in my CCC info since it's not available in yours. The numbers in my CCC info are all higher than the numbers in yours.

Maybe we can conclude that although we're still not sure which version of Catalyst you have, your stock driver is something lower than 6.8 version, do you reckon?

 

Yup. I can agree with that fact that it's lower than the 6.8 version. hhaha.

Btw... When i press on the back of my screen, it's almost like i have 2 pressure points, looks like someone is pushing on the front of the screen, making the picture distort.. i tried pressing lightly on many different areas on the screen, and it's always the same two spots. Is that normal? or something that I should be worried about?

Also, when i'm playing Warcraft 3, i'm getting certain areas of the maps flickering kinda grey like at times, and then it disappears... any other wc3 gamers on here that have seen this or know what I'm talking about?

Thanks.

 

I also have rippling at one point on my screen if I push hard enough. I wouldn't be worried at all. It's common to most laptops and especially those as thin as the W3J. I mean, think about how thin the screen is and how much separation/protection can possibly be in there. It shouldn't be a problem at all, though I don't suggest resting heavy items on the lid of your laptop... but that's just common sense.

Hmm, if it's in-game only then it's most likely driver related. Maybe now's a good time to try out the newer drivers.

~ Brett

 

Hello everyone

I was just wondering if anyone has tried the 7.1 on the W3J?
Id like to know if it runs stable for the X1600 gfx card.

I had alot of problems playing the Dark Messiah of Might and Magic on my laptop up until I installed the 6.8 version of Catalyst, which seemed to slightly solve the problem ( Internal driver error in IDirect 3d device :: Present() ). btw, if anyone knows what that error is on about, please tell me.

I am thinking about moving onto 7.1, hoping that it would run even better, as I am still getting the occasional random errors during game load with the 6.8.

This is my first post in the forum and Id like to say that u guys are doing a great job with all the posts, only a very few questions go unanswered. Ive learnt much from reading the threads in the Asus section of the forum.

cool stuff.

Jeremy

 

It looks it (7.1&W3J) works for me, although I didn't play much recently, not enough time....

 

The consensus seems to be that 7.1 is stable with the W3J. Good luck with your issue. Let us know if this fixes it.

~ Brett

 

gdon18, I a prety sure you have version 6.1.....

 

I downloaded the 7.1s last night after my stock drivers started to have DirectX9 issues...it seemed to coincide with running a new external monitor and messing around with teh resolutions (since it is native 1680 x 1050 i think).

7.1s working great so far.

 

TheUndertow,

hows 7.1 working for you in EQ2? I believe we bought our machines around the same time, so our hardware should be similar.

I just did a fresh install of XP and installed the 7.1 drivers along with the latest directx9 from MS...now my screen seems to flicker while ingame with some other odd graphical glitches, but no crashes as of yet.

 

Anyone have the direct link to the latest driver (I think 7.12)...I can't get through that AWFUL verification tool.

 

I have been using driver 8.204.1.0 without problems, EXCEPT when using an LCD projector - the LCD now has problems "seeing" the W3J (scans for up to 1 minute) and whenever I switch to PPT the LCD needs to find the notebook again. So, I am either going to go back to 6.8 unless anyone has any suggestions? Too bad that Asus is not supported on the ATI web site and their verification tools tells me that my notebook is unsupported and basically quits, just like THEUNDERTOW noted.

Suggestions? Thanks!

 

using Omega drivers ver. 4.8.442 running fallout 3 on med to high settings no probs encountered except occasional weapon sounds not working, and sometimes freezing upon extended playing of the game.