Hi guys i managed to get a 5870 and my 4x sli classi board today only thing is i cant really afford the card if anyone in australia wants another 5870 im gonna do some quick benches on it then im gonna sell it im not going subzero on it just stock cooling so pm me if ya want it ..... i really wish i could afford it. i thought i offer you guys first or its hitting ebay .

hey thx
yeah lets hope the ati driver guys dont break anything

Came across this interesting post on ATI forums. I am tryng............**** anythings worth a try at this point posted by DocMartin


Up until last week, I had never seen the atikmdag.sys error. I started getting it all of a sudden, and it has been driving me crazy ever since. I read every post out there, I re-installed every driver I could get my hands on. I updated every BIOS, voltage, and memory timing to make my system rock solid stable. But still within 30 seconds of opening any 3D application, my screen would freeze and reset, with the dreaded yellow triangle.

So here's my solution, that I haven't seen posted anywhere yet:
"High Definition Audio Device"
How many of these are in your device manager?

Normally I install the ATI display driver ONLY, but with a full install I noticed that it installed 2 HDMI audio devices (one for each card). I guess this is so that you can use the HDMI interface for sound, but I only use my DVI ports to my monitors. After doing the ATI uninstall, they are still listed in the device manager. I had 3 copies of "High Definition Audio Device" but I knew that only one of them was my onboard sound. I downloaded the Realtek drivers, and used the "update driver" button to determine which of the 3 was my sound card (it refuses install the realtek driver on the ATI HDMI audio ports). After disabling the remaining 2 HD Audio Devices, I have no more atikmdag errors.

I tested the setup using FurMark, which would always give the error within 60 seconds if it was going to happen:
1. Microsoft/Microsoft/Microsoft = error
2. RealTek/Microsfot/Microsoft (before reboot) = error
3. RealTek/Microsoft/Microsoft (after reboot) = error
4. RealTek/Disable/Disable (before reboot) = error
5. RealTek/Disable/Disable (after reboot) = stable
6. Microsoft/Disable/Disable (after reboot) = stable
7. Microsoft/Microsoft/Microsoft (after reboot) = error again

So it doesn't matter what driver my sound card is using (Microsoft or RealTek), but I need to disable the HDMI audio ports from the graphics cards (with reboot). I remember having some kind of trouble like this back when I had a SoundBlaster card with joystick port (I always had to disable the joystick port). This could explain why some people have limited success using single monitor setups, and maybe why there are similar issues with nVidia cards. (And maybe why it works in XP? I'm not sure how it handles the audio devices)

I'm posting to the AMD forums, but I know there are a billion other websites out there if I google the problem. If this solution works for you feel free to pass along the information, or send a PM I'd be interested to know.


My specs:
Vista x64 Ultimate
M/B: MSI x48C Platinum
CPU: QX9650 (9.0 x 400Mhz)
GPU: 2x MSI ATI Radeon 4870x2 (Crossfire)
RAM: 2Gb x 2 DDR3 G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL (400Mhz FSB 1:2 = 1600Mhz)
PSU: CoolMax CUQ-1200B 1200W
Monitors: 2x HannsG 19" Widescreen (both using DVI)

My solution:
1. Open Device Manager
2. Under Sound Controllers, determine which device is your sound card
3. Disable other/unknown sound controller devices
4. Reboot
5. Test for Stability