ATI Catalyst drivers and Dell Radeon HD 3470?

I have an Optiplex 760 with Dell's ATI Radeon HD3470 256MB, running Windows 7 Professional x64 (I also experienced this problem with the 32-bit version).

Dell's latest drivers for the card work fine (version 8.640), but anytime I try to install a newer (including the latest) version of the ATI drivers, Windows bluescreens. The initial setup procedures go ok, and I can choose to install, then I select Custom (although I have tried Express with similar results), and when it begins to detect the hardware, it gets to about 10-20% and then bluescreens. The same thing happens when trying to install the Avivo Video Converter; it bluescreens on the detection page. So far, I have only tried the driver-only package and the Avivo converter.

As far as I can tell, Dell does not have a custom BIOS on their video board, and ATI reference drivers have always worked on past boards.

Dell's driver package does not seem to include any specializations, so I cannot see why the ATI drivers would fail.

The Dell drivers are here:
Drivers and Downloads

Here is the error from the crash report in the System log:

Log Name: System
Source: EventLog
Date: 11/13/2009 1:15:10 PM
Event ID: 6008
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer:
Description:
The previous system shutdown at 1:13:06 PM on ‎11/‎13/‎2009 was unexpected.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="EventLog" />
<EventID Qualifiers="32768">6008</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-11-13T19:15:10.000000000Z" />
<EventRecordID>759</EventRecordID>
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer></Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>1:13:06 PM</Data>
<Data>‎11/‎13/‎2009</Data>
<Data>
</Data>
<Data>
</Data>
<Data>132</Data>
<Data>
</Data>
<Data>
</Data>
<Binary>D9070B0005000D000D000D000600A901D9070B0005000D0013000D000600A901600900003C000000010000006009 000000000000B00400000100000000000000</Binary>
</EventData>
</Event>


Usually I can work around things like this, but I have not found any solutions so far. Using the Dell driver would not be the end of the world, but I would prefer to run the latest, and I certainly want to run the Avivo converter.

Thank you in advance for any help or advice!

Install the driver and video converter from ATI's site and forget Dell when doing graphics updates. Use the device manager in safe mode if you have to.

Since you like transcoding over the gpu, I highly recommend MediaShow Espresso too.

I totally agree about using ATI's drivers and not OEM versions.

I think I tried installing them in safe mode with the same results, but I will try again (it's been awhile -- I worked on this a lot, trying lots of combinations, before posting here).

I have not tried version 9.11 yet; I was mostly trying with 9.10, although earlier versions were failing as well. I just don't know if there is something Dell-specific somewhere.

Thanks!

You're welcome.

Just to verify, this is a PCI-e card, right?

Disable the onboard vga in the bios if you can.

Yes, pci-e card. The onboard video is disabled, and Dell's BIOS does not allow it to be re-enabled.

Thanks!

OK, a little more information:

I have been using "Run as administrator" when right-clicking the file to launch the installer.

Safe Mode will not install the driver. During the hardware detection phase, it errors with "Failed to load detection driver", which it displays twice. Then the status shows as "Failed to detect system configuration".

The first time I tried version 9.11, Win7 launched the compatibility wizard automatically (first time for everything!), and it used those settings. I got past the hardware detection phase this time without bluescreening (YAY!!!), but then the installer hung on the part where it's installing ATI's Installation Manager. It was using 100% of 1 CPU core during this time, and I let it sit there for over 30 minutes, with no apparent progress. I had to reboot the system to exit the installer.

The next time I tried the installer, the compatibility wizard did not come up, and it bluescreened again. This time I had enough time to see some text on the bluescreen, which was 'Plug and play error most likely caused by faulty driver', or something close to that.

I then launched the compatibility wizard manually, and it suggested running it as XP SP2, which I tried. Bluescreen was the result (during the hardware detection phase, again).

This is really frustrating, and I was really hopeful the first time I ran 9.11 (thought ATI fixed something), but no luck. I've tried a few more settings with the compatibility wizard with no success. I would prefer not to use it, though, since this driver build is for Win7.

I have not gone to more drastic measures (removing other hardware, unplugging second monitor, etc) since those should not really have an effect.

Also, for a few of the attempts, I uninstalled the working Dell ATI drivers first (as used to be best practice; not sure if you have to anymore), but that did not seem to make a difference, so now I don't bother.

Any other ideas from anybody? I'm certainly running out of them!

:torrentg: The MediaShow Espresso certainly looks intriguing (I've been searching for an easy, fast transcoder for my DVR-MS and WTV files that is not a scam or stealing ffmpeg code), but I noticed it said in the system requirements that it *requires* "ATI Radeon HD 4600 and Radeon HD 4800 series graphics cards". Any idea if it will still install and run on my systems (lowly 3470 in one/3450 in the other), just using the CPU and not using the ATI card? Their website details seem pretty sparse.

Thanks!

Check motherboard bios for a setting called Plug and Play OS. Set it to yes.

Install the new driver for graphics in safe mode using the device manager.

Mediashow Espresso should work well for you as it does for me. I have an AGP HD 3850.

Good luck.

:torrentg: THANKS! Installing through Device Manager in Safe Mode did the trick. I'm not sure why I didn't think of that. That's how I usually install ALL of my drivers (well, not in safe mode); I don't like .exe installers in general. I guess for some reason I just thought that for ATI's drivers it is required.

Just for reference, there are no real PnP options in the Optiplex 760 BIOS. They do have an OS install mode, but it just reduces the available memory.

So far the new drivers are working well, and Windows 7 even improved the Aero score by 0.2, so there is some improvement.

There's still just one problem.... I don't know how to install Avivo converter without the installer package. It has the same hardware detection routine that bluescreens the system. I tried installing some of the .msi's directly, but they either do nothing or error saying some .dlls are missing (I'm assuming the installer installs those .dlls).

Anybody have any idea how to install Avivo Video Converter without the main setup.exe installer? Or, how to force exclude the video detection from the process?

Thanks again!!!

Now that your driver is installed, try simply running the installer .exe as if you had no driver at all.

It should install the CCC.

Then, you'll be able to install the Avivo transcoder.

If you don't know from never using it before, Avivo will be an option in CCC's basic mode.

You're welcome.

Yes, that is what I am doing. Unfortunately, the Avivo installer has the whole ATI installation manager, and attempts to detect the video card. Once it hits the video detection stage -- bluescreen.

I've poked around the expanded install package, and most of the .MSI's do nothing on their own, and the .exe's either do nothing or launch the installer.

Too bad it's not just a standalone installer, and not a mini-driver package.

I'm using Avivo on another system with an ATI HD3450 (Vista) with no problems.

Thanks again!