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ATI drivers mess with NTFS file permissions?

F

figmentpez

Junior Member
Ok, the subject line is a wild guess, but it's the best I can come up with for why I can't set memory usage to best performance of system cache without getting massive amounts of "delayed write failed" messages in Windows XP. I'd best explain:

Windows XP Home
Radeon 7500
Epox 8KHA+
Athlon XP 1600+
2x256MB PC2100 (crucial)
Seagate Barracuda ATA IV 40GB - NTFS formatted
SB Audigy
CL ModemBlaster

Nothing is overclocked or running beta drivers.

Since I have a fair amount of RAM, I want to be able to set Windows to take advantage of it. (System Properties> Advanced> Performance Settings> Advanced> Memory Usage> Best performance of: System Cache) With the 6.13.3267 drivers this works fine, but drivers 6015, 6037 & 6043 I get "delayed write failed" errors when starting Windows. They are so numerous that most of the programs and services fail to load at boot, and trying to go farther than the Login screen usually results in the drive becoming unbootable (though no physcial damage, I don't think).

I've been wary to muck around to much since reinstalling can be a pain, but I do know a little. If I start up in Safe Mode and log in as Administrator it doesn't give me any errors, but other users in Safe Mode still have failures. Since WinXP Home doesn't allow Administrator outside of Safe Mode I'm not sure. I can uninstall my latest drivers and go back to the 3267s and it works fine.

Does anyone have any idea what's going on here? It seems a really bizarre problem to me. I'd really like to be able to take advantage of my memory, programs do load noticably faster when I can adjust my memory usage settings. Is there another way?

---
figmentpez
 
Have two systems with Radeons, 8500 and 7200, and am using the 6037 drivers. They work perfectly and cause no problems in performance or appearance modes. (XP Pro)

But - when it comes down to the final solution, you simply use the drivers that work and forget the rest.
 
Just to check that we're talking about the same options. Because you say "no problems in performance or appearance modes" and I'm not talking about any of the appearance settings (animated windows, shadows under stuff and the like). I'm talking about changing the way Windows uses it's swap file.

Under the Performance Settings menu, the Advanced tab. There is a section called Memory Usage. It has two settings Best Performance of: Programs or System Cache. Setting Programs causes Windows to use the swap file (on the Hard Drive) whenever it thinks best (which doesn't take very good advantage of RAM amounts over 256MB) Setting it to System Cache has Windows use as much of the physical RAM as possible (good for 512MB+). Is this the setting you're talking about? Do you have your motherboard BIOS set to cache the video BIOS? (Grasping at straws) Are you running as Administrator?

I'd go back and use the oldest drivers, but game performance would suffer, including not being able to play OpenGL games without disabling my second monitor first.
 
"Under the Performance Settings menu, the Advanced tab. There is a section called Memory Usage. It has two settings Best Performance of: Programs or System Cache. Setting Programs causes Windows to use the swap file (on the Hard Drive) whenever it thinks best (which doesn't take very good advantage of RAM amounts over 256MB) "

No, that is how I have it set. Furthermore, I define the swap file manually on a spearate drive and fix it at 300 MB, max and min. I have 784 MB of regular RAM, so it rarely gets used.

"Setting it to System Cache has Windows use as much of the physical RAM as possible (good for 512MB+). Is this the setting you're talking about? "

See above. I do not now, nor have ever let Windows manage the swap file. It is highly inefficient.

"Do you have your motherboard BIOS set to cache the video BIOS? (Grasping at straws)"

Yes.

"Are you running as Administrator?"

Yes.
 


<< "Are you running as Administrator?"

Yes. >>



Thanks for clearing things up. Just wanted to make sure. I think this is the reason yours works fine. WinXP Home can't run as administrator except in safe mode (though I've heard there may be a way to trick the system).

I'm gonna start bugging ATI tech support, see if they'll at least recognize the problem, or give any indication that it may be fixed in future driver releases.
 
Good point. Yeah - I am in XP Pro. I just downloaded and installed the new 6043 drivers for the 8500 this PM, and so far it is solid.

Bugging ATI is a career in itself! 🙂
 
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