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Fix: 43029 atikmdag.sys Blue Screen BSOD in Windows 7

Submitted by on 24 Aug 2010 13 Comments

atikmdag-sys-blue-screenSolution for ATI display driver atikmdag.sys issue
GPU: ATI Graphic Cards
OS: Windows 7 or Vista
Symptoms: Bluescreen or Stop Error 0x0000001E caused by atikmdag.sys, or often get a message: “display driver atikmdag.sys stopped responding and has successfully recovered“.
Solution: Replace the atikmdag.sys file with a newer version

This is also a well-known fix for this issue if you have an ATI graphic card. During the installation of most graphic drivers in Windows Vista, an old version of atikmdag.sys is copied into C:\Windows\System32\Drivers and not the current one in the install. As a result the new drivers are attempting to access the file dated 2006 instead of 2010. To fix this,

atikmdag Stopped Responding – Step 1: Download and install the latest ati graphic driver.

atikmdag Stopped Responding – Step 2: Then go to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers and rename atikmdag.sys to atikmdag.sys.old.

atikmdag Stopped Responding – Step 3: Go to ati directory (usually in C:\ATI) and find the file atikmdag.sy_.

atikmdag Stopped Responding – Step 4: Copy the file to your Desktop directory.

atikmdag Stopped Responding – Step 5: Open cmd.exe by going to Start -> type cmd in the search box and hit enter.

atikmdag Stopped Responding – Step 6: Change the directory to Desktop by typing chdir Desktop.

atikmdag Stopped Responding – Step 7: Then, type EXPAND.EXE atikmdag.sy_ atikmdag.sys. Or,
expand -r atikmdag.sy_ atikmdag.sys

atikmdag Stopped Responding – Step 8: When the expansion is complete, copy the new atikmdag.sys from your Desktop to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers

atikmdag Stopped Responding – Step 9: Restart your computer and the problem should be resolved.

You will probably realise that any uninstallation and reinstallation of ati drivers will not remove the old atikmdag.sys file and will not overwrite it with the latest version. You have to do it manually. Nobody knows why but who cares as long as it’s fixed.

Should you have any questions about nvlddmkm.sys blue screen error, please leave us your message in the comment section below. Also please share your experiences with this problem, including possible solutions. New findings can help others, or maybe we can help you if you tell us your problems.

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  • Joe

    This is an amazing fix. I’ve dealt with Windows-only drivers for months now, and this worked like a champ!

  • http://www.computertipsfree.com/ Alvin Nyau

    It’s great to hear that, thank you for the comment!

  • Marty

    Excellent explanation of the solution to the problem, best I’ve found on any web site. My only problem is, I can’t extract the .sy_ file. Tried with the command line “Windows cannot open the file” and WinRAR but nothing works.

  • Bojan

    Why you want to extract that file? Go to C:ATISupport9-8_legacy_vista32-64_dd_cccPackagesDriversDisplayLH_INFB_85563 and in that folder you have atikmdag.sy_ file. After that go to Step 4.

  • http://www.facebook.com/64A.LA.Nascarfan35 Quinnlan Boser

    Can anyone play games with this aweosme fix? I can’t start anyting except networking programs (AIM, MSN, IE9… etc)
    Help?

  • Coocoo

    I’ve got a atikmpag.sys error when playing some games (Fable the lost chapters, civilization 4, dragon age 2) Does someone know a fix for this? I’ve browsed alot but found nothing

  • Coocoo

    I mean, getting bsods with an atikmpag.sys error

  • Ruediger Wentzell

    In my system, the atikmdag.sys was really the old version, unfortunately exchanging it to the new version did not solve the problem – still on booting windows 7 the system crashes with the atikmdag.sys error…
    Any ideas what could be the reason or what I might try to solve the problem?

  • Robin

    Sorry for the late reaction, but my solution was to uninstall Catalyst Control Center and the drivers by using the ATI Install Manager and afterwards manually installing the drivers without Catalyst Control Center through Device Management. Normally there should be a folder like C:ATISupport where you can find the extracted drivers from previously installed Catalyst drivers. 

    It’s not really the best solution but from what I’ve heard there could be some problems with the Catalyst Control Center and MS Frameworks 3.5 which could cause the problem.

    Hopefully this works out for some of you…

  • Marek

    Hi,

    I have problem with blue screen and atikmpag.sys. I’ve installed latest CCC with drivers, old from CD also but I didn’t start windows without blue screen (blue screen always after windows welcome screen).
    Everything started after installing visual studio 2008 (perhaps with ms framework 3.5, not sure), I can start windows only in safe mode or without display drivers.

    Your idea unfortunately didn’t solve my problem :(
    Still have blue screens.

    Windows 7 64bit
    ATI Radeon HD 6850

    Regards

  • Azra3l

    have you found solution ? i have same  Radeon

  • Arthur

    the same problem after this steps.
    i have installed amd ccc 12.1

  • http://www.nexthardware.com/forum/schede-video-e-acceleratori/76874-bsof-atimkdag-sys-qualcuno-e-stato-ingrado-di-risolverlo.html#post845053 Anonymous

    [...] prova a seguire alla lettera questa guida: Fix: 43029 atikmdag.sys Blue Screen BSOD in Windows 7 [...]

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