BSOD caused by Atikmpag.sys

So, I’m dealing with a brand new PC here. I built the whole thing myself and everything was running perfectly fine at first.
Over the last few days, though, things have gone sideways. My monitor starts showing these weird, distorted squares, then the screen goes black, and suddenly I'm staring at a Windows blue screen with a "video TDR failure atikmpag.sys" error—pretty much like what you see in this link.

https://www.drivereasy.com/knowledge...or-windows-10/
I already tried the fixes suggested in that link, but the problem just keeps coming back.
Every single time I reboot, the computer works normally, but yesterday it completely lost the signal. The screen just went black and wouldn't respond to anything at all.
Right before the blue screen hits, my monitor actually gave me a "going into sleep mode" notification twice.

Here is the setup: Intel Core i7 6700, 16GB of RAM, a Sapphire Nitro + Radeon RX 480 GDDR5 8GB graphics card, running on Windows 10 x64.

I've got the latest drivers for the GPU and the chipset, and I've updated everything else too.
One of the solutions mentioned in the link involves renaming a file called atikmdag.sys inside the System32 folder, but I can't even find that file anywhere!

What is going on here? Is this a software issue or a hardware problem, and how do I fix it? Thanks!

Edit: WhoCrashed says:

On Sat 12/17/2016 1:36:17 PM your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\121716-14468-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: atikmpag.sys (atikmpag+0xF284)
Bugcheck code: 0x116 (0xFFFFB3057E7A94A0, 0xFFFFF8062951F284, 0x0, 0xD)
Error: VIDEO_TDR_ERROR
file path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\c03 09270.inf_amd64_47c09dd18e1ee4c5\atikmpag.sys
product: AMD driver
company: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
description: AMD multi-vendor Miniport Driver
Bug check description: This indicates that an attempt to reset the display driver and recover from a timeout failed.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: atikmpag.sys (AMD multi-vendor Miniport Driver, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.).
Google query : Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. VIDEO_TDR_ERROR

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Conclusion
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5 crash dumps have been found and analyzed. A third party driver has been identified to be causing system crashes on your computer. It is strongly suggested that you check for updates for these drivers on their company websites. Click on the links below to search with Google for updates for these drivers:

atikmpag.sys (AMD multi-vendor Miniport Driver, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)

If no updates for these drivers are available, try searching with Google on the names of these drivers in combination with the errors that have been reported for these drivers. Include the brand and model name of your computer as well in the query. This often yields interesting results from discussions on the web by users who have been experiencing similar problems.

Read the topic general suggestions for troubleshooting system crashes for more information.

Note that it's not always possible to state with certainty whether a reported driver is responsible for crashing your system or that the root cause is in another module. Nonetheless it's suggested you look for updates for the products that these drivers belong to and regularly visit Windows update or enable automatic updates for Windows. In case a piece of malfunctioning hardware is causing trouble, a search with Google on the bug check errors together with the model name and brand of your computer may help you investigate this further.

So, should I try rolling back to the previous drivers? Like, the ones released right before these current ones?

From what I can tell looking at your description, it seems like you're running into some trouble with your AMD drivers. My suggestion? Use this tool to do a completely clean uninstall of your current AMD drivers—it really helps clear out any leftover junk—then give your PC a quick restart and install the latest, freshest drivers available. If that doesn't do the trick, or if the issue persists, maybe try rolling back to an older version of the drivers? But honestly, if neither of those options works, it might be time to take that graphics card into a repair shop for a professional look.

http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/...-download.html

Thanks a million!

I tried doing a full uninstall and then reinstalled the latest version, but things still aren't running steady.
With the older drivers, the whole thing just froze up on me while I was gaming a bit ago. The screen gets covered in these weird little colored squares—it's a total mess. I'll try to upload a photo so you can see what I mean. There’s this weird sound coming through the speakers that just cuts out. No BSOD or sudden restarts, though; I actually have to hard reboot by hitting the power button on the tower and starting over.
Could this be a power supply issue? I'm running a Fortron Hyper 500 W, which is supposed to be a decent unit. Or maybe it's the hard drive? Or did I just not seat the graphics card correctly? I doubt it, since the PC was running perfectly fine at first.
I've been keeping an eye on temperatures using GPU-Z and CPUID, and everything seems totally normal—GPU and CPU are both hovering around 60 degrees.

So you mean across a bunch of different legit Steam games?

I don't play anything through Steam; I don't even have the thing installed on my rig.

The only thing I run is World of Warcraft, which I pay for regularly—so yeah, it's a legit, official copy.

Honestly, there's a slim chance the GPU is actually dying. You could nail that down pretty easily with a stress test... maybe try running 3DMark or something similar if you can...

Do you happen to have a Windows.old folder sitting on your C drive? If so—and this might just work—try locating those two specific files, atikmpag and atikmdag, within that old directory. Once you find them, just copy them over directly into your current Windows folder, placing them in the exact same spot.

Edit: I should probably mention—it’s highly likely that folder is hidden by default. You might need to jump into your Folder Options and toggle the setting to show hidden files and folders before you can actually see it.

I’m going to try putting her through a bit of a graphical stress test. Found a free program online that looks like it might do the trick!

@Jonathan Mendoza17 - Nice call, man! That was a smart move. Honestly, I didn't even think of that. Since I upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10, I’m pretty sure there’s a win.old folder hanging around somewhere. I checked the standard Windows folders but couldn't find those specific files to mess with. I'll dig into it later today, give it a shot, and let you know how it goes! Thanks for the hand!

Edit: So, just to be clear—I'm looking for Windows.old---System32---drivers---those .sys files, and then I just copy them?

Edit 2: I tried copying over the atikmdag file—it was the only one I could actually track down. The other one, atikmpag? It’s nowhere to be found. It just doesn't exist in the folder. And guess what? Same old story. Another BSOD, a full reboot, and then there it is: a TDR failure error pointing straight to that missing atikmpag file. Like, how am I supposed to fix a file that isn't even there?

My last attempt at a reinstall threw an error saying the installation failed, but strangely enough, it just kept going anyway. It finished like nothing happened. Honestly, I'm starting to think these drivers are just broken. Is their support or software just too outdated? Who knows.

I'm pretty sure that TDR failure stands for some kind of timeout detection and recovery issue or something along those lines. Basically, the driver is acting up. I ran into a similar headache with my NVIDIA card and tried everything to fix it... ended up just swapping out the GPU entirely to call it a day.

I ran into a nearly identical headache myself. You might want to take a look at this thread—it could spark an idea for you.

I’m honestly stumped as to why you can't find atikmpag.sys even in your old Windows directory—that really should be one of the core driver files. It’s even more baffling that your crash dump is pointing toward a file that doesn't even seem to exist on the system! Have you made sure your settings allow you to view hidden files? That might be part of the mystery.
The DDU tool that Larry Ortiz5 linked in his other post is definitely something you should run while in Safe Mode. Did you give it a shot that way?

Honestly, WhoCrashed spelled everything out for us—it's just that none of us are actually paying attention.

Keith Lee94 said:So, I’m dealing with a brand new PC here. I built the whole thing myself and everything was running perfectly fine at first.
Over the last few days, though, things have gone sideways. My monitor starts showing these weird, distorted squares, then the screen goes black, and suddenly I'm staring at a Windows blue screen with a "video TDR failure atikmpag.sys" error—pretty much like what you see in this link.

https://www.drivereasy.com/knowledge...or-windows-10/
I already tried the fixes suggested in that link, but the problem just keeps coming back.
Every single time I reboot, the computer works normally, but yesterday it completely lost the signal. The screen just went black and wouldn't respond to anything at all.
Right before the blue screen hits, my monitor actually gave me a "going into sleep mode" notification twice.

Here is the setup: Intel Core i7 6700, 16GB of RAM, a Sapphire Nitro + Radeon RX 480 GDDR5 8GB graphics card, running on Windows 10 x64.

I've got the latest drivers for the GPU and the chipset, and I've updated everything else too.
One of the solutions mentioned in the link involves renaming a file called atikmdag.sys inside the System32 folder, but I can't even find that file anywhere!

What is going on here? Is this a software issue or a hardware problem, and how do I fix it? Thanks!

Edit: WhoCrashed says:

On Sat 12/17/2016 1:36:17 PM your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\121716-14468-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: atikmpag.sys (atikmpag+0xF284)
Bugcheck code: 0x116 (0xFFFFB3057E7A94A0, 0xFFFFF8062951F284, 0x0, 0xD)
Error: VIDEO_TDR_ERROR
file path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\c03 09270.inf_amd64_47c09dd18e1ee4c5\atikmpag.sys
product: AMD driver
company: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
description: AMD multi-vendor Miniport Driver
Bug check description: This indicates that an attempt to reset the display driver and recover from a timeout failed.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: atikmpag.sys (AMD multi-vendor Miniport Driver, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.).
Google query : Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. VIDEO_TDR_ERROR

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusion
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5 crash dumps have been found and analyzed. A third party driver has been identified to be causing system crashes on your computer. It is strongly suggested that you check for updates for these drivers on their company websites. Click on the links below to search with Google for updates for these drivers:

atikmpag.sys (AMD multi-vendor Miniport Driver, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)

If no updates for these drivers are available, try searching with Google on the names of these drivers in combination with the errors that have been reported for these drivers. Include the brand and model name of your computer as well in the query. This often yields interesting results from discussions on the web by users who have been experiencing similar problems.

Read the topic general suggestions for troubleshooting system crashes for more information.

Note that it's not always possible to state with certainty whether a reported driver is responsible for crashing your system or that the root cause is in another module. Nonetheless it's suggested you look for updates for the products that these drivers belong to and regularly visit Windows update or enable automatic updates for Windows. In case a piece of malfunctioning hardware is causing trouble, a search with Google on the bug check errors together with the model name and brand of your computer may help you investigate this further.

So, should I try rolling back to the previous drivers? Like, the ones released right before these current ones?

@placidtinker39, I’m really hoping it doesn't come down to me having to RMA this card because I am doing everything in my power to avoid that. I picked it up from an international online retailer, so if I have to send it back, I'd have to go through a friend and some courier service. Honestly, who knows when or how it would even get back to me? It’s such a massive headache, so I'm trying to dodge that scenario at all costs.

@Jonathan Mendoza17—okay, so we all missed that one. Does that mean I should just copy and paste the files into that folder, or is there something else I'm overlooking? Thanks for linking that thread, I'll definitely check out the advice over there!
I honestly don't get why my log is reporting a missing file. I ran DDU in Safe Mode and reinstalled everything after the reboot. But this time, I actually used the drivers from the disc that came in the box with the card, and hey—it hasn't crashed once since yesterday!
I'm going to keep monitoring things to see what happens. I'll run a stress test and try out some other games. If it starts acting up again, I'll keep digging for more solutions! Huge thanks to everyone for the help so far!

I’m not entirely sure what the specific culprit is here. In my experience—and this is just one case, mind you—I ran into an issue during a Windows update where it failed to copy certain files into the drivers folder properly; specifically those two files, atikmpag and atikmdag. Of course, that doesn't mean you're facing the exact same headache! One thing you could try right now is manually copying that file into Windows\System32\drivers—it might just do the trick. It’s also worth checking the digital signatures on those two files, just to see if the date and version actually align with the driver version you installed.
If things still aren't running smoothly, I'd suggest starting from scratch—just take it slow. Boot into Safe Mode, use DDU to completely wipe out the old drivers, run a quick sweep with CCleaner to tidy everything up, and then go ahead and install the latest version.

It didn't crash at all yesterday! But the day before? Total disaster—it tanked while I was playing both World of Warcraft and Fallout 4.
Honestly, what "every few days"? I have no clue what’s actually going on here.
I was reading through that other thread, and man, I think I'm right there with them. It feels like my drivers are just giving up the ghost during specific loading screens or certain heavy workloads.
I managed to dig up that atikmpag file and the other one too. Maybe they weren't wiped out when I installed the latest drivers? They seemed to show up after I used the drivers from the original graphics card CD.
The thing is, I have zero clue how to actually mess with those files using the command prompt. I still need to look into how to handle that.