Category Archives: AMD

12.1, 12.1, 12.1a, 12.1a, 5000 Series, 5000 Series, 6000 Series, 6000 Series, AMD, ATI, Catalyst, Catalyst, Microsoft, Radeon, Radeon, Service Pack 1, Service Pack 1, Service Pack 2, Service Pack 3, Service Pack 3, Windows, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP

ATI / AMD Catalyst 12.1a Preview Driver Released

ATI / AMD have released the Catalyst 12.1a preview driver, you can obtain the new driver from here:

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalyst121apreviewdriver.aspx

Release Notes from ATI/AMD are as follows:

The AMD Catalyst™ 12.1a Preview driver includes all of the features found in AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 Preview

Additional changes for upcoming update of Rage

  • Resolves some new texture corruption issues introduced by the latest version of the game
  • Improved performance ~5%
  • Smoother game play and reduces multicore sync points
  • Fixed mapbuffer failures when switching maps on 32-bit systems
  • Fixed a game crash when switching maps back and forth on 32 and 64bit systems

Happy Gaming 🙂

11.11, 11.11, 11.11c, 11.11c, 11.12, 11.12, 12.1, 12.1, 5000 Series, 5000 Series, 6000 Series, 6000 Series, AMD, ATI, Catalyst, Catalyst, Radeon, Radeon, Service Pack 1, Service Pack 1, Service Pack 2, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP

ATI / AMD Catalyst 12.1 Driver

ATI / AMD have released the Catalyst 12.1 preview driver you can obtain the driver from here http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalyst121Previewdriver.aspx

The AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 Preview includes all of the features found in AMD Catalyst™ 11.12 and also includes all of the latest optimizations found in the AMD Catalyst 11.11c performance drivers (AMD Catalyst 11.12 does not include the latest 11.11c optimizations).   It is highly recommended that all gamers use the AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver.

Feature highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 Preview driver:

AMD HD3D technology support enhancement

  • Enables support for AMD HD3D technology in conjunction with AMD CrossFireX configurations
  • ·         Delivers a new Stereo 3D mode over HDMI 1.4a connections – 1080p at 30Hz is now enabled on supported displays.

AMD Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements – Application Profiles

  • AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver enables users to create per application profiles to individually control 3D and CrossFireX settings for Direct3D applications
  • Please be sure to select the “Restore Factory Defaults” option under the Catalyst Control Center Preferences menu before using the new application profiles feature – this ensures there are no compatibility issues between previous drivers and the new AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver with regards to application profiles

AMD Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements – Video UI improvements

  • AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver includes user interface enhancements to simplify adjustment of video color and video quality control.

Performance highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 Preview driver (in addition to the AMD Catalyst 11.11c performance driver)

  • Improves performance (10-15%) in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim when Multi-Sample Anti-Aliasing is enabled on the AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 Series for single GPU and AMD CrossfireX configurations
Acer, ALI, AMD, ASUS, ATI, DELL, Fujitsu, HP, Intel, Microsoft, Nvidia, Samsung, SBS 2008, Small Business Server 2008, Sony, Toshiba, VIA, Windows, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista

Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and SBS 2008 with Service Pack 2 – You may find that applications stop responding, delays occur during resume from standby and/or files may become corrupt when the computer goes to sleep/hibernate and/or poor AMD processor/chipset performance

A variety of issue exist post service pack 2 with Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Small Business Server 2008, a variety of hotfixes have been released since 2008 to address these issues but you only need to apply the latest to ensure that all subsequent issues are addressed.

 

You should only need to apply the hotfix from KB 980080 to ensure that all the issues below are addressed as this contains the latest versions of the affected files, this can be obtained from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/980080

 

KB 980080 – Files may be corrupted when a computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 enters the sleep mode or the hibernate mode

Info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/980080

KB 977323 – After you change the SATA mode of disk devices to use the AHCI specification on a Windows Server 2008-based or Windows Vista-based computer, the computer or certain applications randomly stop responding for 60 seconds or longer

Info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977323

KB 974073 – An update for the Msahci.sys driver has been released for AMD chipsets

Info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974073

KB 971390 – A minor delay occurs when Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 resumes from sleep if the hard disk is attached to a secondary ATA port

Info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971390

Acer, AMD, ASUS, ATI, BSOD, DELL, Fujitsu, HP, Microsoft, ML110 G5, ML110 G6, ML350 G5, ML350 G6, Nvidia, Primergy, ProLiant, Samsung, SBS 2003, SBS 2008, SBS 2011, Small Business Server 2003, Small Business Server 2008, Small Business Server 2011, Sony, Toshiba, Windows, Windows 2000, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, Windows XP, XP Mode

Windows will not boot with a Stop Error 0x0000007B

A very common BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) is a STOP error 0x0000007B and may indicate either a hardware, software or driver issue.

Please see the great troubleshooting guide put together by Tim Fisher on about.com

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/a/stop0x0000007b.htm

One thing that Tim does not mention is that sometimes it is necessary to slipstream the AHCI SATA Controller Drivers into your Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installation media.  This can easily be done by downloading and using nLite to slipstream drivers and updates into your Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 CD Media, you can get the application from http://www.nliteos.com/

Common AHCI Sata Drivers include:

Intel – http://downloadcenter.intel.com (Look under Chipset, Chipset Software and then Intel Rapid Storage Technology.  You will need the F6 Drivers for either x86 or x64 depending on you using 32bit or 64bit windows)

Nvidia – http://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-uk or http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

AMD/ATI – http://support.amd.com/us/Pages/AMDSupportHub.aspx