Do I really need Catalyst?

[Dcezy]

I have a MSI 6970 twin Frozzer 3: 940core 1375mem 2gb
Newegg.com - MSI R6970 Lightning Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

For about a year i have had no problems. But recently i have started having system crashes, bsod, and other random lockups. I know it was the drivers for the gpu from the bsod's.

So i did a ton of research and nothing.
To me it all started happening with the catalyst 12.3 update.

So i uninstalled catalyst and rolled back to 12.1 but still have msi afterburner.
After a few days of intense gaming, movies,etc. no problems at all.

So my question is, do i really need Catalyst Control Center?

[stroyal]

I say all the time, no!

Although, I have heard and seen on the ATI sight it is hard to get drivers, without it.
How about the MSI sight?

Video cards run on drivers, and the programs like Catalyst, and After Burner, for the most part, do the same as windows, video controls.

Over clocking, is the only reason for those programs, AFAIK.

I would suspect the drivers, as there was a bug is catalyst, or the drivers, and I read it was fixed.

There is another post, here about uninstalling catalyst, and getting better performance.

This not having a separate down load for driers, is completely new to me.

Some Noob questions about AMD Catalyst, please help!

[Dcezy]

Thanks stroyal.

Yeah just wanted to make sure it wasnt gonna affect the card. And like you mentioned, after uninstalling i def noticed increased performance. Gonna wait for 12.4 drivers to come out before updating again tho.

[Dcezy]

Ok, figures this would happen after i posted lol.

Walked away from the pc for a few minutes and came back to windows login.

After login i get this message:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 116
BCP1: FFFFFA80110DA010
BCP2: FFFFF880052138F0
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: 0000000000000002
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 768_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\040412-41964-01.dmp
C:\Users\Dan\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-335916-0.sysdata.xml

Read our privacy statement online:
Windows 7 Privacy Statement - Microsoft Windows

If the online privacy statement is not available, please read our privacy statement offline:
C:\Windows\system32\en-US\erofflps.txt

[bigBonehead]

You can uninstall just the CCC, not driver, and see if that helps...

[Dcezy]

When i uninstalled CCC it rolled back to the default 12.1 it came with.

Doing a fresh install of CCC to get the 12.3 driver back and see if anything changes.

[Dcezy]

After the re-install of ccc 12.3, i played some Saints Row 3........for about 10 mins, then locked up with audio still playing and black screen. Then the audio stops, ctrl+alt+del doesnt work and i have to manually shutdown my machine. I had this problem with other programs/games also so its not specific to just one.

Any ideas or troubleshooting methods?

[bigBonehead]

How did you uninstall CCC? Using Revo Uninstaller, I was able to remove everything But the GPU driver...

[Dcezy]

Yeah the first time i uninstalled CCC I just did it like normal (change in the uninstall menu of control panel)

I gave CCC a few days to test, and even last night while watching a movie, after about 45mins or so of watching, the screen goes black with audio still playing, then after a few seconds it stays black and i have to manually restart. Skip back to where i was in the movie, watch it for about 15 mins, then bam, same thing. needless to say we didnt finish the movie grrrr.

I just downloaded revo Uninstaller pro, and i must say an excellent program for removing everything. I just removed catalyst with it, rebooted, checked msi afterburner, and the 12.3 drivers are still there :: big thumbs up::

Now i just gotta sit and wait and hope it doesnt crash. I'll post an update

[Dcezy]

I also noticed in msconfig that i have AMD Dual Core Optimizer. Im like hmmmmm i have a i7. Looked into it and saw this thread AMD Dual-Core Optimizer..... ON AN INTEL? - Steam Users' Forums

In short it was part of a demo for Duke Nukem Forever on steam. I downloaded that like last year so its been on here the whole time.

Maybe that has something to do with the crashes?

Uninstalling..

[Dcezy]

Ok now this is weird. I noticed the CCC icon under the arrow to show hidden icons??? This is after using revo to uninstall CCC, so i go back into revo, it doesnt show ccc, control panel no ccc. Did a search and found its still there.

Now what?

[Dcezy]

Playing saints row 3 today when it crashed to desktop. A message popped up saying the display driver crashed but recovered.

The windows problem reporting thing said it needs more information to solve 31 problems i listed below:

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120331-2151.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120331-2131-01.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120331-2201-01.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120404-1901.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120404-1901-01.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120329-0015-01.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120321-1434.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120402-1122.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120327-1727.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120408-1103.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120331-2150.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120405-2341.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120405-0024.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120406-2320.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120327-1729.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120327-1728-01.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120327-1613.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120329-0015.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120327-1034.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120327-1315.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120407-1847.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120327-1728.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120327-1311.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120327-1019.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120331-2123.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120327-1036.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120406-2222.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120330-1115.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Windows
Problem: Video hardware error
Files that help describe the problem:
WD-20120330-2253.dmp
sysdata.xml
WERInternalMetadata.xml
View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

[Dcezy]

Had to redownload the Catalyst install manager from amd's site to uninstall it. Reverted back to 12.1 drivers. Crossing my fingers it doesnt crash using them, but i guess anythings better than what im getting. Hope they get it fixed for the 12.4 release!

[nirakos]

i have the same problem . and how do you fix it ? is it the grafick card ?

[Dcezy]

Took awhile but i installed a beta version of catalyst 12.7 a few months back. Noticable increase in performance, havent had any crashes or bsod's. All games work. My VLC is fine, however the newer versions had problems, not sure if related to the gpu or catalyst.
The version i've been using flawlessly was VLC ver. 1.1.9.
The beta version of catlyst is version: 2012.0626.1157.19430

As of now VLC is up to v. 2.0.2 and catalyst 12.8, there is also a beta 12.9.

But for me im staying at these versions. If it aint broke dont fix it right?

Hope this helps