Error: ATIKMPAG.SYS. Bsod on startup, unable to successfully boot.

[Ty Tonus Burman]

Hey Win7 forums,

Recently, my computer has been freezing while doing various things (games, web browsing, whatever.) The computer will sotp responding for a few seconds, then the screen will turn black, and after another 5 seconds, it will turn on again with a popup "AMD display driver has successfully recovered from a crash"

Now, after doing this once or twice, the computer will BSOD, with the error "ATIKMPAG.SYS"

I am completely unable to turn the computer on, as it BSOD's on startup, and then repeats its self-booting cycle.

I've updated the BIOS, (that bricked the whole thing, so i took out the BIOS battery and reset it)
I've made sure all Windows updates are installed.
I've tried MANY different driver versions. 12.10, 13.1, 13.4 beta, etc. The weirdest thing is, the last time I had updated was months ago and it was working just fine, and it was the most recent update, and then all of a sudden this starts to happen.

I've also thoroughly googled it and tried what it's suggested but that hasn't worked.

I don't know what else to try. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Arc]

Can you boot into http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/69585-safe-mode.html ?
If you can, Uninstall The elements of ATI/AMD display driver (including the Catalyst Control Center) from Control Panel > Programs and Features. Then follow Drivers - Clean Left over Files after Uninstalling to free up the leftovers. Now install another version of the display driver and observe the situation. Is it just the same? If so, it is nothing but a failing GPU. Change the GPU. In the mean time use the onboard graphics.

 

[Ty Tonus Burman]

I've done exactly that a total of about five times now. Like i said, ive tried many different versions of the display drivers. 12.10, 13.1, 13.4 Beta......

I really dont want to consider that its a failing GPU, because i dont have the money to replace it, but i need to use the computer for photoshop for my work...

 

[Arc]

I've done exactly that a total of about five times now. Like i said, ive tried many different versions of the display drivers. 12.10, 13.1, 13.4 Beta......

I really dont want to consider that its a failing GPU, because i dont have the money to replace it, but i need to use the computer for photoshop for my work...

If you get this irrespective of display drier version, it is definitely a hardware error.

Working with photoshop will be a pain with it, I guess. As per my experience. Better you either replace the GPU or use onboard graphics.

 

[Ty Tonus Burman]

Another thing worth pointing out is that the ati driver installations go... Roughly. When i try to uninstall it sometimes, the catalyst control center says it cant find a file and doesnt uninstall. Or, itll say that no ati drivers are installed for it to uninstall. As well, sometimes when ive been installing a new/old driver, it will say that the installation completed, but with some errors. Upon opening the explanation up, i see that the drivers have never installed.

Anyways, i believe i have a successful installation on now, but it still wont boot.

And lastly, upon boot, on the motherboard welcome screen, the "Verifying dmi pool data" screen, and a few other boot screens, its covred in artifacts or small green or red dots in a regular pattern.

 

[Arc]

To uninstall the display driver, use AMD Catalyst Un-install Utility .

Try to use the onboard graphics and see if it boots or not.

 

[Ty Tonus Burman]

Without any drivers installed, the system boots properly.

 

[Arc]

Without any drivers installed, the system boots properly.

Elaborate a bit please? What exactly you have changed?

 

[Ty Tonus Burman]

Sorry, I just did what you had outlined in a previous post and removed the drivers completely, booting with the onboard graphics. Whenever no display driver is installed, the system boots properly (BUT, there are still artifacts covering the boot screens and POST screens upon startup.

 

[Arc]

Is the onboard graphics is intel, try updating the driver too.

But artifacts during POST is not good .... Test your RAM modules for possible errors.
How to Test and Diagnose RAM Issues with Memtest86+
Run memtest for at least 8 passes, preferably overnight.

If it comes free from error, and the artifacts continue, the fact is that the POST screen is totally generated by motherboard