Jump to content

AMD HD8180 Graphics Driver for XP


Dave-H

Recommended Posts

Thanks @jaclaz, that has helped quite a bit!
:thumbup
Now I don't know whether to just use this as it is, or still hold out to see if a better driver is possible.
The fact that the ATI driver did work, although it wouldn't stay working over a reboot, leads me to think that it must be possible.
I imagine it's just a matter as we said of pruning the INF file down to just install the driver and nothing else. If it won't work like that then it's probably time to give up!
I did try removing all the "Service Installation" and "Software Installation" sections from the INF, but when I tried that it said it wasn't an XP compatible driver, so I must have removed something which has to be there!
:)
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Try this - install the driver, then immediately disable all of its components in Autoruns.

Reboot and see how it loads. If it succeeds reaching the desktop, enable some components (start with the .sys) and reboot again. Continue until it fails to load, then disable the last thing you enabled.

If there are more disabled things remaining, continue with them and skip the failing one.

 

Or... F8 > enable boot log (although it usually don't help me much)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@dencorso

Thanks Den, I restored the "Service Installation" section to the INF file, and it did then install, but couldn't start, the ubiquitous "code 10"!
:no:

@RainyShadow

Thanks, that was good thinking!
I did the install again, everything was great, the display looked really good, and the refresh rate was fine.
I then disabled in Autoruns everything related to the driver, when I rebooted as expected it reverted to the VGASAVE driver.
I then enabled just the ATI driver (ati2mtag.sys), and nothing else, and it rebooted to the usual BSOD.
:no:

I think we're running out of options here, unless anyone else has any suggestions.
It looks as if the driver itself will not load on booting up, so unless I go through the rignarole of disabling the adapter before I shut down, and then re-enable it once the system has booted, which does work, I see no way around it.
Such a shame, it seemed to be so close to working!
:(

BTW, I now have 1366x768 resolution with 32 bit colour in Safe Mode, which is something I never thought I would ever see, certainly not on XP!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, further thoughts!

The file quoted on the BSOD is not the actual driver file, which is ati2mtag.sys, it's ati2dvag.

Looking in the registry, that appears to be the name of the driver, and all the settings and configuration parameters are set under it.

I'm now wondering if it's doing some operation on boot, which is looping and causing the crash, which it doesn't do when the driver is started from within Windows.

I did think it a bit odd that even after installing the driver from scratch, it didn't insist on a reboot after the installation finished, in fact it just worked.

Only on a subsequent boot does it fail, but I suspect that it's not the actual driver loading that's causing the problem. If it was it would crash when being enabled when Windows is running.

Does that make any sense?

:dubbio:

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, try this next:

Reinstall the driver, don't disable anything.

Restart, hit F8 to bring up the menu, select "enable VGA mode".

Does it load now?

 

[EDIT]

This seems interesting - http://www.sightsea.com/pghpchd/pages/infinite_loop.html

Your system probably uses PCI express instead of AGP, so this is how to find which bus driver to change:

agp-vga.jpg.570ac6090f065f6a05cfc2b757e0ab90.jpg

 

Edited by RainyShadow
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Dave-H said:

Does that make any sense?

There're few things in life that actually do make sense. This notwithstanding, if what you report is a fact, we don't really need to understand it to be able to make use of it. There are command-line programs that can be used in a pair of batch files, one for disabling the ATI driver prior to shut-down and another for enabling it that might be run from the start folder in the start menu, so it'd run just after desktop loading, at the very end of the start-up process. While not perfect, it might be good enough. What you reckon?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Dave-H said:

The file quoted on the BSOD is not the actual driver file, which is ati2mtag.sys, it's ati2dvag.

Looking in the registry, that appears to be the name of the driver, and all the settings and configuration parameters are set under it.

I doubt it. :dubbio:

It is more likely that it is the file ati2dvag.dll

jaclaz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks guys! :)

The machine will boot into VGA mode using the F8 menu.

I've now found that trying to change the resolution settings will cause the BSOD even when Windows is running.

Looking at the bootlog after a BSOD boot failure, it appears the the graphics driver ati2mtag.sys is loading OK, so it's something that's happening later that's causing the BSOD.
The bootlog doesn't seem to give any clue as to what that is unfortunately.

Thanks for that reference @RainyShadow, that's very interesting, although talking about a completely different type of system I suspect.

Yesterday it did boot just once into the correct driver OK, but I now can't reproduce that!
The screen came up asking what folder I wanted to boot from ("Windows XP on D:\" in this case) as if I'd used the F8 menu, although I didn't think that I had, and when I said OK it started up fine.
The problem is I don't know why it was showing me that menu. I've tired other options from the F8 menu, but haven't been able to do it again.

:)

Edited by Dave-H
Amendment
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, RainyShadow said:

This seems interesting - http://www.sightsea.com/pghpchd/pages/infinite_loop.html

Your system probably uses PCI express instead of AGP,...

That's a good catch. Isn't this a cloned system?
Did the source system used a AGP bus?
Are there agp440.sys loaded still, obolete at a PCI express system, causing the BSOD at ati2dvag.dll?

ati2dvag.dll is the main dll, next to driver ati2mtag.sys.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Dave-H

Find the device your video card is directly connected to.

On my picture above it is the "VIA CPU to AGP controller", yours should be diferent.

Try to load a different driver for that device.

 

@cdob

What do you mean by "cloned system"?

That article is about old issue on AGP systems, like mine on the picture.

We're dealing with a different bus now, but i think the issue and solution could still apply.

 

On my desktop i sometimes have issues, even BSOD, when at standard settings. Also, if Windows loads too fast, it often hangs and i have to reboot.

I had those with a GeForce 7600 GS, i had those with the current Radeon HD 2600 too.

What i found to help is slowing down the system a bit.

I disabled fast-writes in BIOS, enabled some delays, and i use RivaTuner to switch AGP from 8x to 4x.

This way it works fine for many days without a crash (unless i cause it, lol).

My system is full of *crashy* components that don't like each other - the VIA chipset, the Audigy2 sound, etc. But i somehow managed to make it stable :P

Edited by RainyShadow
Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, booted into VGA mode, the graphics hardware doesn't seem to be connected to any interface in the PCI bus at all!
It just appears as a separate entry in its own right.

DeviceManager.thumb.jpg.51a3fe7aa40dbf04400261a0c26d1034.jpg

It says it's on "PCI bus 0, device 1, function 0".

:dubbio:

Edited by Dave-H
Amendment
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whenever I see duplicated items in device manager I suspect that there is some cleaning to be done.

You surely don't have three monitors, and I doubt you have two "Motherboard resources" and two "AMD A4-1200 APU. etc." :dubbio:

jaclaz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the duplication of the processor entries is because the two cores are recorded separately.
In the previous netbook there were four entries!
Not sure about the Motherboard Resources though.......
The monitors were added automatically when the driver was installed, although there was only "Default Monitor" and "Plug and Play Monitor", I have no idea where the other "Default Monitor" has come from!
Do you think I should delete everything in Safe Mode and let the Plug and Play system set everything up again?
:dubbio:

To belatedly answer @cdob, the previous netbook was also fairly recent so I'm sure wouldn't have been AGP based.
It was another integrated CPU and graphics device, but an Intel Atom rather than AMD.

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it is a dual core, then those APU's are maybe right, leave 'em alone.

I still have some doubt on motherbaord resources, but leave 'em alone.

I would try deleting the monitors and see what happens.

jaclaz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...