Windows 7: BSOD atikmpag.sys - Crashing with Skyrim and other games.

Hello all,

I've had a nightmare with my computer over the last week with various random crashes whilst play Rift. Now I am struggling to even get past the starting video for Skyrim as the game is freezing and crashing (with the dreaded BSOD). When I see the screen it mentions the atikmpag.sys error.

Details:

- Windows 7 x64
- Original OS installed on my PC.
- OEM version
- PC came pre-built and is 4 months old



- Intel Core i5 2500K Sandy Bridge Processor
- Asus P8P67 PRO Motherboard
- 4GB PC3-10666 DDR3 Memory
- Radeon HD 6870 1024MB Video Card

Any help would be much appreciated - I have attached the diagnostics as requested.

Rikki.

Hi.

Download and install Driver Sweeper


Download the most recent software\driver for your ati AMD Graphics Drivers & Software


Uninstall ati software\driver,restart in safe mode,run driver sweeper,choose only AMD-Display and clean,restart in normal mode.


Install the new ati software\driver,restart.


Update DirectX


Read very carefully the instructions and run video-card-stress-test-furmark


Finish and post back the results.

I just followed those instructions and ran the test three times.

1. It reached about 71 degrees after 2 minutes and then my machine froze. It didn't BSOD, but had the same type of freeze which Skyrim gives me. I then tried to reboot twice and the machine turned on, but my monitor was not detecting a DVI input. This happens occasionally after rebooting when I freeze.

2. It reached 61 degrees after about 30 seconds and froze. Same issues with rebooting so I opened my machine and checked for dust. There was very little in there but I cleaned it anyway.

3. Ran the test for 6 minutes and it levelled out at 75 degrees. No freeze, but I may have got lucky.

I'll try and load Skyrim again.

Looks like a gpu problem.

Though stress\test all hardware


RAM - Test with Memtest86+


Hardware - Stress Test With Prime95

It's working fine on Skyrim now with high details. I wonder if the really small amount of dust was causing an issue? My case is really spacious and dust was very minimal...

I'll keep gaming for a few hours (or until it crashes) then run the further tests.

Thanks for the help so far.