[MIG-31]

Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System

This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst™ Software Suite for Windows XP. These include:

• 3 Kingdom OL: Playing the Asian game with CrossFire™ enabled on a system running Windows XP no longer results in texture corruption being noticed during the fight preparation menu
• Assassin's Creed: Setting all in-game options to 3 and the display resolution to 1024x768 no longer results in flashing being noticed around the character
• City of Heroes: Character stretching and double character reflection is no longer noticed when the in-game resolution is set to 2560x1600. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35757
• Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts: Enabling CrossFire™ no longer results in the displays flashing corruption when setting the in game graphics options to off or their lowest settings. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35118
• Enemy Territory Quake Wars: Intermittent corruption is no longer noticed when playing the game on a system containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 48x0 series of product
• Fear Perseus Mandate Demo: Launching the game on a system running Windows XP and containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 series of product no longer results in the system failing to respond
• Just Cause: Setting the in-game display resolution to 1280x1024 and all of the other game options to their maximum levels no longer results in corruption being noticed in the lower portion of the display
• Lost Planet: Task switching between the game and the Windows XP desktop no longer results in texture corruption being noticed when switching back to the game. This issue was known to occur on systems containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 36x0 series of product
• Witcher: Enabling AA and setting the in-game options to their maximum levels no longer results in background colors being missing and the game play back being choppy. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35898
• Witcher: Game corruption is no longer noticed when setting all of the in-game options to their maximum values and having CrossFire™ enabled along with AA set to 16x and AF set to 8x
• Witcher: Enabling CrossFire™ on a system containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 48x0 series of product no longer results in game failing to respond
• Using the WinDVD player (versions 14.x, 11.10x, or 9.xx) to play VC1 video content no longer results in corruption being noticed when hardware acceleration is enabled. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35293
• Installing the HDMI audio driver and the VIA audio chipset driver no longer results in a compatibility issue being noticed and a yellow exclamation mark showing up in the Sound, Video and Game Controllers. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35119
• Connecting a display device to the display port no longer results in the Catalyst™ Control Center->Advanced View detecting the display device as a Digital Panel (DVI)
• Hot-plugging an HDMI display device to a system that has a CRT connected to it no longer results in the CRT becoming disabled after the system reboots
• Choppy DVD playback is no longer noticed when enabling the option cinema enhancement and closed captioning within the WinDVD player
• Corruption is no longer noticed in the lower third of the WinDVD player window when cinema enhancement is enabled
• Hot-plugging a display device while the system is in standby state no longer results in the display device failing to be detected
• Hot-plugging a display device no longer results in the display device failing to display an image
• ATI icon corruption is no longer noticed on systems running Windows XP and containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 48x0 series of product
• Resuming from a standby state and right clicking on the Windows desktop no longer results in menu items appearing corrupt when moving the mouse pointer over the drop down menu
• Playing a Blu-ray DVD title using the WinDVD player no longer results in only audio being heard
• Playing a DVD title and selecting the option to use basic color setting to default in the Catalyst™ Control Center now results in the option being applied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35803
• A green tint is no longer noticed around the closed captioning when playing a standard definition DVD using the Cyberlink player

Known Issues Under the Windows XP Operating System

The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows XP operating system in the latest version of Catalyst™. These include:

• Lord of the Rings: Return of the King: Flickering may intermittently be noticed when changing chapters
• Stranglehold: Setting the in-game options to 1024x768, and Decals off may occasionally result in the game failing to respond after a short period of game play
• Connecting a CRT display device as the secondary display and playing a Blu-ray DVD using a Cyberlink player may result in no video playback if extended desktop mode is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-30587
• Connecting a Dual Link Panel to the on-board DVI port, followed by hot plugging a DVI display to the add-on DVI card may result in clone mode becoming disabled when rebooting the machine and the secondary display device remaining blank. Further details can be found in topic number 737-31166
• Setting the display resolution to 1440x900 or lower may result in corruption being noticed when playing a DVD title. Further details can be found in topic number 737-31168
• The display may be come corrupted with 4 bit color depth after hot unplugging the rotated primary HDMI/DFP display. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35116
• Connecting a Dual Link Panel to the on-board DVI port, followed by hot plugging a DVI display to the add-on DVI card may result clone mode becoming disabled when rebooting the machine and the secondary display device remaining blank. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35117
• Catalyst™ Control Center: Configuring a system with multi-adapters may result in an error message being displayed when running the Test Custom Clocks 737-29953
• Enabling pull down detection in the Catalyst™ Control Center may result in flickering being noticed when playing a video clip using the Cyberlink PowerDVD player. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35121
• Connecting a CRT display device as the secondary display and playing a Blu-ray DVD using a Cyberlink player may result in no video playback if extended desktop mode is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35122
• Setting the display mode to 1080p50 and rebooting the system may intermittently result in the display mode failing to be retained
• Avivo Video color settings may occasionally fail to be applied in the video when played using PowerDVD
• Enabling pull down detection in the Catalyst™ Control Center may intermittently result in flickering being noticed when playing a video clip using the Cyberlink PowerDVD player. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35121

Known Issues Under the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition operating system in the latest version of Catalyst™. These include:

• Running an OpenGL application and attempting to rotate the desktop may result in corruption being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29556
• Momentary screen flicker may intermittently be noticed when launching or exiting a D3D or OpenGL application. This issue may be experienced on systems running the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition operating system and containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2 product

For further information and general help on software driver installation, game issues, and more, visit ATI Customer Care.

Please Select your drivers from 32 Bit / 64 Bit

[Zorg]

Installed it and it seems to work just fine for me.

Had some Far Cry issues with 8.7 after long gameplay (display freeze) - will see if the problem persist on 8.8.



EDIT: yes, 8.8 got better - no more crash in Far Cry after long game sessions.

[ktrain]

Can't seem to get these installed for xp 64-bit on gateway m1624 with x1270 integrated, luckily I had a recent ghost, or I would be stuck in VGA mode.

Anyone else tried 64-bit xp drivers on integrated yet?

I remember I did have trouble initially installing the 8.7, but can't remember what i did to get em to work.

[Robert McClelland]

Is there Hot fix for 2600AGP Yet?

[Liqourice]

8.8 is causing CTD's with WWIIOnline. I've had CTD's after only a few minutes on every attempt and as far as the reports goes on the game forum others are experiencing the same with this new driver.

Back to 8.6 again then..

[Liqourice]

I also had some severely garbled graphics in Civilization IV when zooming out to a certain distance. Sadly enough I haven't been able to take a screenie since my computer locked up every time as well and forced me to reset.

Now that I'm back with 8.6 everything works perfectly.

[Robert McClelland]

Try updated direct x Aug

[Liqourice]

Originally Posted by Robert McClelland

Try updated direct x Aug

Me?

I update directx as soon as there is an update so it's as current as it can be.

[Zorg]

After a few weeks 8.8 I gota blue screen this morning - Ati driver (ati2....sys) infinite loop error (0x...EA). there is no memory dump written so I have no details.

uninstall/reinstall fixed the issue


Edit: Just realise yesterday I changed memory usage (system/advanced) setting "adjust for best performance of" from programs to cache. Not sure this may have been the trouble?

Interesting to see it's a large system cache issue!

Anyone seen this before or is it just me?

[CATALYSTCATCHER]

Originally Posted by Zorg

After a few weeks 8.8 I gota blue screen this morning - Ati driver (ati2....sys) infinite loop error (0x...EA). there is no memory dump written so I have no details.

uninstall/reinstall fixed the issue


Edit: Just realise yesterday I changed memory usage (system/advanced) setting "adjust for best performance of" from programs to cache. Not sure this may have been the trouble?

Interesting to see it's a large system cache issue!

Anyone seen this before or is it just me?

Actually there have been past problems using that setting on a desktop system, rather than as intended, for server systems. Some of the early XP tweak ideas were to enable large cache but it turns out not to be a great idea, depending on how much memory is in your sysem and other variables..
You may be starving the system for available memory for the applications and therefore causing a lot more page faults and a lot more swapping to disk. But you have configured more cache so you are swaping to memory. Kinda of a visious circle.

More disk caching may not be a good idea even though it appears to speed things up some times.

Best to turn of large cache if your system is not being used as a file server. IMHO. Others will disagree.

[Zorg]

Hiya,
The large system cache is merely increasing cache from default 4MB to 8MB. I am amazed about the resulting instability issues in XP SP3 not only affecting the ATI driver.

http://support.ati.com/ics/support/d...questionID=986

Originally Posted by CATALYSTCATCHER

More disk caching may not be a good idea even though it appears to speed things up some times.
.

Yes, I disagree, gaming stutter due to excessive hdd shuffling goes away once the large-cache is on. Definitely beneficial!

[Pluvious]

So I finally decided to update my old Omega drivers from 7.10 to the current 8.8. I used Omega's uninstaller and then rebooted.. then I used Driver Cleaner Pro and had it delete all ATI entries.

Rebooted and then clicked on the full 8.8 version for XP. Got this error message.

Setup could not find a driver compatible with your current hardware or operating system. Setup will now exit.

I then redownloaded the 'driver only' version of 8.8 for XP and got the same message. WTF? I know it's be a long time since I've updated my drivers but this shouldn't be hard.

RIght clicking on desktop/properties get's this error:




edit: now im getting this message after trying to use the install disc I got with my x1950 pro :

Can not find ATI video board or no catalyst drivers installed!

WTF!!!! I wish I hadn't used Driver Cleaner Pro methinks.. sigh.

WHAT DO I DO NOW?!

[Zorg]

driver cleaner can not clean Omega mess - sounds like you are stuck until you do a clean OS install.

[Pluvious]

Okay.. I got it sorted out. SIGH. I had to goto Microsofts update website and get the video drivers from that source. I'm back to using Omega's 7.10's and all is back to normal.

This is the exact reason why I've drifted away from PC's and rely on my 360 for gaming now. I just don't have patients to deal with this BS.

[CATALYSTCATCHER]

Originally Posted by Zorg

Hiya,
The large system cache is merely increasing cache from default 4MB to 8MB. I am amazed about the resulting instability issues in XP SP3 not only affecting the ATI driver.

AMD Customer Care


Yes, I disagree, gaming stutter due to excessive hdd shuffling goes away once the large-cache is on. Definitely beneficial!

:-) I did say some would disagree. :-)

If enabling large cache works for you then sure, enable it.

However, MS says. Enabling Large system cache "establishes a large system cache working set that can expand to physical memory, minus 4 MB, if needed." Which sounds like dynamic allocation and potentially a lot more than 8meg to me.

LargeSystemCache: Core Services Linked from this page, Things to consider before you enable System cache mode in Windows XP


My only real point here is that enabling large cache is easy but understanding how it will impact system performace can get real complicated.

I was looking for the ATI KB article you linked , but couldn't find it so I made the vague reference to past problems.

Thanks.

CC

[alpha_omega]

Originally Posted by CATALYSTCATCHER

However, MS says. Enabling Large system cache "establishes a large system cache working set that can expand to physical memory, minus 4 MB, if needed." Which sounds like dynamic allocation and potentially a lot more than 8meg to me.

Enable "large system cache", then rip a DVD or copy a huge file and watch your system starting to swap out the kernel, the services, the drivers, even the disk cache... How exactly is that going to improve the performance?
"Large system cache" makes only sense in server environments with huge amounts of RAM, a fast disk-subsystem and a particular work load for example database, file, print serving etc.

Edit: Oops, I missed CATALYSTCATCHER's earlier comment on this topic. Sorry!