Problem With 4850's PLEASE HELP =(

[froglegs114]

I am running

4x2gb Kingston 800 ddr2
GA-EP45-D54P Mainboard
Thermaltake Toughpower 750W
2x ASUS EAH4850 W/Crossfire

I can access windows until i install the graphics drivers. Then i get BSOD.
Go to Safe mode, uninstall the drivers and i can get in to windows again.
Tried flashing mainboard bios to no avail.
Tried disconnecting Crossfire to no avail.
Tried taking one graphics card out to no avail.
Tried Installing the drivers without the CCC software to no avail.
The cards come with Glaciator fan sinks which work fine, keep the cards down to about 40C(102F)
Am starting to think that the Mainboard just isn't compatible with these cards, although it does say that it is crossfirex enabled.
I'm thinking it's not a Power supply problem as it has dedicated rails for the PCI-E connectors
On the BSOD it says Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed and in particular mentions ATIKMDAG.SYS
Visited ATI website and this is what they say

Symptoms:
After installing the Catalyst display drivers and rebooting, the system will give a blue screen (BSoD) error referencing ATIKMDAG.SYS

Cause:
This issue is caused by using a motherboard with a chipset that is unsupported in Windows Vista

Surely motherboards that are released now should be compatible with the graphics cards that are released now.
I'm really running out of things to try, anyone care to help??

 

[kylew]

Have you flashed the bios of your 4850s by any chance? There's no way the P45 chipset isn't supported by vista. I've got a P35 and X38 that both work perfectly fine in windows vista 64 and 32bit. With my X38 board having 2 4850s crossfired in it.

If you haven't flashed the 4850 bioses, I'm guessing it's a non-reference overclocked one? It could have a b0rked bios on it or something maybe?

 

[froglegs114]

good thought

No i haven't tried flashing the bios on them. i wouldnt have the slightest clue on how to do it. Would you be able to point me in the right direction ? and they're straight from the box. i don't think it's overclocked or anything. pretty sure they're just stock standard. They're ASUS EAH4850..
Thanks.

 

[PaulieG]

Did you just install the drivers that came with the card? If so, uninstall those, then download and install the latest ATI drivers.

 

[froglegs114]

Paulieg, done that. Same problem. still does the BSOD and reset.

 

[PaulieG]

Have you tried the cards one at a time?

 

[froglegs114]

yes. same problem i'm afraid. it's a real head scratcher.

 

[iStink]

Are these the first cards on the system? Possible some remaining nvidia drivers remain?

 

[froglegs114]

First cards. Installed vista, installed mainboard drivers, installed graphics card drivers, reboot, BSOD, BSOD, BSOD.....

 

[mullered07]

did you install the motherboard drivers off the disc. have you tried updating them ?

 

[froglegs114]

tried updating the motherboard drivers, tried flashing the motherboard bios. both didn't work.

 

[mullered07]

i cant see both cards being faulty, tbh i would probably try a reinstall of windows at this point and see how that goes, to be getting bsod of both cards seprately is weird, maybe a driver conflict ?

 

[froglegs114]

Tried format and reinstall of windows. also didn't work.

 

[Steevo]

Possibly a defective board.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

could you try the cards in another pc? if they fail in that,however weird it is two of them been dead,theres your problem.

 

[erocker]

If you are able to get back into Windows, go to Control Panel-->Administrative Tools-->Event Viewer and check there for errors and or warnings.

 

[Sonido]

i cant see both cards being faulty, tbh i would probably try a reinstall of windows at this point and see how that goes, to be getting bsod of both cards seprately is weird, maybe a driver conflict ?

Uninstall all traces of ATi related material. Once you have done the uninstall, use driver cleaner. It will remove all dead reg keys associated with ATi. Once that is complete, download only the Driver package from ATi.

32-bit Vista Drivers

64-bit Vista drivers

Reinstall from those. I hope it helps you. If you need more help, we're here.

 

[summersend]

First thing i notice is that board doesnt suppoort two cards at 2.0. 16XWhen u reinstalled did u try vista drivers first or just go straight to amd/ati sight?