12.11 beta still unstable...... For some of us at least

So, while the new drivers and catalyst control center does bring big improvements for all of us, there are still problems. I have filled out a form with AMD and I hope others do too.
There seem to be problems with stability for p150EM owners amongst others, and being one of them I feel I should post them since it can bring awareness for others on the forum.
first let me say I have tried every method of installing mentioned here on the forum - without getting stable performance from my system.
- Installing over the top of a 12.8 or a 12.9 ( In combination with switching the order of 7970m drivers/ hd 4000 drivers installment)
- Doing a clean install after cclean and driver wiper + microsoft fixit file removal + manual removal of some amd files( also with regular and switched order of installment as mentioned above)
- Doing a windows reinstall + the methods above
- Method mentioned where you replace atikmpag.sys & atikmdag.sys in system32\drivers with the corresponding ones from the 12.8 install package
- Installing only the 12.11 display driver and keeping the old catalyst
- Trying all the regular methods in combinations with 3 different intel drivers
- Trying different settings in catalyst( All power saving, all maximum performance, everything in between!!) + setting preferred power management mode for every application I could think of
- Windows settings, services, startup applications and settings that could conflict with the new drivers.


Please comment if I forgot something, or if you have tried other things with/without luck
The way in which I know that this is brought on by the new AMD drivers is that currently I am running perfectly stable on the stock 12.8 (At least that was what came with my system). I have restarted a hundred times( which was where I had problems earlier) and NO BSOD. I followed the exactly the same procedure as the second from top mentioned above and there are NO problems whatsoever.

I have to conclude personally that it is unstable rather than me installing it wrong since, as I mentioned earlier the 12.8 is now working perfectly for me, albeit with a degraded performance in some games and applications.

 

I don't have any BSOD since i installed 12.11 this way.

1. Copy atikmpag.sys and atikmdag.sys in system32\drivers right now, with your stock driver. Not from the package, from your C.
2. Install only the 12.11 display driver over your stock driver and keep the old catalyst.
3. Paste the stock driver atikmpag.sys & atikmdag.sys in system32\drivers
4. No more BSOD ever

Otherwise, some ppl seem to say that the timeout BSOD on window start can be solved by enable HPET on bios and OS. That how you can do it. TWEAK: Enable HPET (in BIOS and OS) for better performance and FPS - Neowin Forums

I never try the second method myself but since you want to try everything. Good Luck.

 

can you explain more how to find atikmpag.sys and atikmdag.sys i cant find it in system32 folder.

nwm found it.

 

I still think this has to do with Afterburner and OC. If you shutdown in performance mode with power optimized, next boot you might BSOD. Windows 8 seems to have better support for switchable, at least my initial impression.

 

Even if that works, i havent tried yet, the 12.11 beta IS unstable, it shouldnt be so hard to get it to work without BSODs.
In my BIOS i dont have the hpet option, 1.00.05 BIOS P150EM. I have never flashed my bios and dont know were to start.

apollo21: you can find the files in system32/drivers

 

so your rec would be upgrading to WIN 8 ?

 

made all like was in steps now i am getting error on 3d mark..

 

Dunno, it's up to you. Working fine for me for games and drivers seem to be good. Can try it, it's cheap to ugprade, if you dont' like it, unisntall it. I did a clean install of Win 8 which is fine since I store all my games and media on the other disk.

 

That's a winner for me, Saodexan! Tried restarting multiple times with charger plugged in and no problems so far! Thank you ever so much. Are you getting performance gain though ? Hope so.......

Vozier, I would rather try this saodexan's way instead of flashing your bios. Anyway, as far as I know yours is the latest one from clevo...

 

12.11 beta would BSOD for me even on a clean install of Windows 7. What ended up working for me was using the two files from 12.9 beta to copy over the 12.11beta files, no more BSOD after that.

Interestingly enough, 12.11 beta is rock stable for me on a clean Windows 8 install without any tricks. Just installed it, and that's all, works perfectly. So as far as this driver goes, it is far far far better on 8.

 

The BSOD thing has been on and off for me. Here is my timeline:

I installed 12.11 on launch day by using Driver Fusion and then installing 12.11 and the Intel 8.15.10.2761 driver from mid this year. I had no BSODs for a few days, then started having BSODs on every other restart. Now, over the past few days, I stopped having BSODs again. I don't get it.

 

Well, this is a Beta driver... not official driver. This is also the first released fix as well. Even with the instability issues and utilization issues, this has proven that the problem is fixable. The driver has managed to increase utilization without sacrificing picture quality. Just a matter of time before this issues totally goes away.

 

Have to also chime in. I have a dual boot of Win 7 and Win 8. Been seeing the problem on Windows 7 occasionally, but on Windows 8 no issues at all.

 

Wow, It kinda makes you wanna go for windows 8 doesn't it ? Hmmmm... Just a littttle bit pissed off that they chose to work on the '8 drivers before finishing up windows 7. That's fu....!

Just a note on saodexian's method : I can not seem to find any other stable intel driver then the stock one....... Tried to update but then it started bsod'ing gain.

oh well, I'm going to call it quits for now. Hopefully the official driver will be out soon and with it an easy way to update...

 

Yes i tested 3d mark 6, 3dmark11 and bf3 and see a nice performance gain. But most of my game are still directX9, so I hope another fix soon.

 

Question to the people using the file copy fix. Have any of you been playing Medal of Honor Warfighter. For me that game refuses to start whilst I was on the 12.11 beta.

 

Is Enduro performance any different on Windows 8?

 

Yup! I have the 7970m at P150EM.
I had a load of trouble with the AMD drivers, but now, after a fresh windows 8 installation and 12.11 Beta8 after, I have had zero errors/bsod ore anything, everything works like a charm, and im sooo happy ;-) BTW windows 8 has to be absolutely fresh without apps / docs / settings you brought with you, else the installation of 12.11 will give a bsod, like I had in the beginning.

 

has anyone counted the BSOD threads about AMD's drivers so far?

P.S. not to mention posts....

 

Not in games, but my battery life has been very good.

 

Sometimes 7970M won't activate, making every app to give error or they don't even show up. I keep installing Intel drivers but problem comes back after some time.

How long? My P150EM is 2:45 with %25 remaining. Don't use after %25 that'll shorten your battery life.

 

Well I have a different machine, an MSI GX60 (4600M + HD7970M) but I get 4.5-5 hours with the enduro set of drivers.

 

I have the same problem, after running 12.11 beta4 (i think) for about 1 month without a problem the last 3 day i have gotten BSOD after reboot almost every time.
I have reinstalled windows 7 with 12.11 beta8 and this problem is still there, i must say that im f...ing tired of AMD and the drivers they make.
If only the dansish retailer would supply 680M cards i would be a happy camper.