Latitude XT BSOD with Vista, Catalyst Drivers, and RAM upgrade

**pdaignau** · 08-01-2008, 01:54 PM

I'm posting the following in hopes it will save someone else a headache.

I tried upgrading my XT from 1gb to 3gb by adding a 2gb Transcend Stick. Vista didn't approve and would BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) every time it booted. I noticed in Safe Mode Vista would load fine. This made me think it was the video card drivers.

Keeping this short, I tried the latest video cards drivers on Dell's web page. This didn't fix the problem. I then downloaded and installed the latest video card drivers directly from ATI (Version 8.7 at writing). This *fixed* the problem.

I'm running happily with 3gb of RAM.

Also note, plenty of people are having issues with the ATI Catalyst Control Center not opening up after you double click on it. There hasn't been a fix found for this. Some people have had luck reinstalling everything from scratch but I'm too lazy to do that.

Paul

**mrb835** · 08-01-2008, 02:29 PM

Thanks for sharing your story. This should help when I install my new memory.

**pardes3** · 08-01-2008, 06:08 PM

can you post the model/specs of this stick you used?

**pdaignau** · 08-02-2008, 07:29 AM

I spoke too early. Everything worked fine for a few hours and after several reboots but this morning the BSOD returned.

I'm going to give the crucial memory recommended here a try.
Latitude XT Tablet Blue Screen after RAM Upgrade

If it works I'll leave a post here and there.

**EGuT125** · 08-02-2008, 01:25 PM

Sounds similar to what happened to my desktop with All HD 3850. I would ge the ATIkmdag has stopped responded and restarted message before it would BSD. None of the new drives fixed this and only way around it for me was to disable Aero. Not the best solution but may help you too.

**acclimative** · 08-02-2008, 09:02 PM

I had this same problem when I upgraded my RAM. After a bit of searching I stumbled upon this page. Here is the solution presented there:

(1) Control Panel -> Administrative Tool -> Services -> ATI HotKey Poller -> Disable
(2) ATI Catalyst Control Center -> VPU Recover -> Turned Off
(3) ATI Catalyst Control Center -> Hot Keys -> "Enable Hot Keys" -> Turned off
(4) ATI Catalyst Control Center -> POWERPLAY -> Turned off

This will vary depending on which driver is installed. For me all I had to do was turn off PowerPlay and disable the ATI Hot Keys before installing the RAM. I haven't had a problem since.

**pdaignau** · 08-03-2008, 02:51 PM

Thanks acclimative, that worked (sort of)!

I'm unable to open ATI's CCC and change the settings so I simply disabled the the ATI External Event Utility Service. I then put the 2gb RAM back in and booted Vista no problems.

I ran the WEI test and it stayed at 3.5. I'm happy for now, thanks again.