ubernub » Win7 dies [solved]

Windows 7 PC just died. BSOD (system_service_exception) on boot up after installing ATI 10.6 and some critical updates. I wonder why I just play games on it and avoid doing any real work on it. This is also why I can’t finish PC games. Because Windows cannot goddamn stay up.

The system restore worked once but then after I was forced to do the updates again, Windows killed itself and now it can’t restore. So I’m backing up all my files (again) using a Linux CD and will do a clean install. Every other option is failing with “unknown error”. Awesome.

Update:Ok, WTF. The restore point thing said it failed but now it boots. Of course the same security updates have already been downloaded and installed without my control. I’m trying to create a system image backup. It’s pretty annoying actually. It randomly picked my Steam drive as a critical OS drive (program files?) and now my backup is 150gb even though my entire C: is 80gb.

I do like the new features they threw in. I wish they were like 10x as powerful and reliable as they are now. I’d actually start “workstation” type projects on my PC instead of doing them all on my Mac. I just can’t trust this thing. I’ve always rebuilt my Wintel every 6mo – 1 year since ’95.

Another Update:Seems to be related to the ATI 10.6 drivers. 10.4 works fine and the Windows updates went in fine when I skipped updating to 10.6.

Solved: Followed the ATI driver uninstall instructions for Windows 7. I guess you’re not supposed to just upgrade in Win7. That’s crap. Anyway, you just

Express uninstall the old ones
Make sure every ATI program is removed in the Add/Remove Programs list
Reboot
Express install 10.6′s
Reboot

Everything worked. It also helped that I did the Catalyst drivers separately from the Windows security updates. I also took a system image backup while I had the 10.4 drivers up and running after I did the security updates.

Also, because I had uninstalled the drivers, my cold bug fix from my previous post wasn’t running. So I just reactivated the custom 2D profile under ATI Overdrive and it bumped the clocks up (I’m using GPU:400mhz and Mem:1000mhz). Interestingly, I don’t remember the GUI updating the clock values right away in the little Overdrive screen in 10.4. Maybe a 10.6 fix?

Anyway, since I didn’t post it last time, here’s my 2d_overclock.xml file that goes under C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\ATI\ACE\Profiles\:

<Profile>
  <Caste name="Graphics">
    <Groups>
      <Group name="Overdrive5">
        <Feature name="TimeUnlocked" />
        <Feature name="OverclockEnabled">
          <Property name="OverclockEnabledProperty" value="True" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="AutoTuneSupport" />
        <Feature name="CoreClockTarget_0">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="40000" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="55000" />
          <Property name="Want_2" value="72500" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="MemoryClockTarget_0">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="90000" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="90000" />
          <Property name="Want_2" value="100000" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="CoreVoltageTarget_0">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="950" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="1038" />
          <Property name="Want_2" value="1050" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="MemoryVoltageTarget_0">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="0" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="0" />
          <Property name="Want_2" value="0" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="FanSpeedProtocol_0">
          <Property name="FanSpeedProtocolProperty" value="RPM" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="FanSpeedAlgorithm_0">
          <Property name="FanSpeedAlgorithm" value="Automatic" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="FanSpeedRPMTarget_0">
          <Property name="Want" value="0" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="FanSpeedPercentTarget_0">
          <Property name="Want" value="0" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="CoreClockTarget_1">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="40000" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="55000" />
          <Property name="Want_2" value="72500" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="MemoryClockTarget_1">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="90000" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="97500" />
          <Property name="Want_2" value="100000" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="CoreVoltageTarget_1">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="950" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="1038" />
          <Property name="Want_2" value="1050" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="MemoryVoltageTarget_1">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="0" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="0" />
          <Property name="Want_2" value="0" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="FanSpeedProtocol_1">
          <Property name="FanSpeedProtocolProperty" value="Percent" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="FanSpeedAlgorithm_1">
          <Property name="FanSpeedAlgorithm" value="Automatic" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="FanSpeedRPMTarget_1">
          <Property name="Want" value="1495" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="FanSpeedPercentTarget_1">
          <Property name="Want" value="40" />
        </Feature>
      </Group>
    </Groups>
    <Adapter name="PCI_VEN_1002&DEV_689C&SUBSYS_25421002&REV_00_6&390AE305&0&00200010A">
      <Aspect name="Overdrive5" />
    </Adapter>
  </Caste>
</Profile>