ATI Catalyst Control Center Issue

philbert84philbert84
edited July 2009 in Hardware
I am running a Dell XPS 435MT Desktop system with 3Gb of DDR3 RAM with 64 bit Windows Vista Home. When I leave for work I usually log out by clicking on 'Switch User' so my sister's kids don't mess around on my computer while I'm away. When I return and log back in there is a window saying 'Catalyst Control Center has stopped responding, Windows Vista is searching for a solution'. I usually just cancel it and nothing really happens, it's just annoying. Also I find that this system eats up almost all of the 3 gigs of RAM just from running multiple browser windows and apps such as Winamp, MSN messenger and yahoo messenger. Sometimes after I've logged back in or I have had my system turned on for days at a time the audio will stop working until I restart the computer. I guess I am wondering if there is any quick fix to the Catalyst annoyance or my audio not working other than buying more RAM?

P.S. I have already went to Dell's website and upgraded the newest driver/firmware updates for my Video Card which did not resolve the other issues stated. I have uploaded screenshots of my current system's 'performance' and 'processes' tabs in case that should help at all. Thank you.

Comments

  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited July 2009
    The problem with Catalyst or the audio probably isn't related to the ram, if I had to guess. Vista can run comfortably (albeit without much room for other apps) in 2gb of ram. The reason the "Free" readout says 16MB is because of a service in Vista called Superfetch. This service attempts to load pieces of the programs you most commonly use into ram pre-emptively so that they start quickly when you want to use them. When you launch something that takes up a lot of ram, superfetch automatically unloads as much of this data as it has to to make space. In essence, the fact that you only have 16MB showing as "free" is not a correct readout. The actual amount of ram used by your running apps is much closer to what the green bar on the left beside the left is showing, meaning you still have about 900MB of space in ram that isn't used by running apps.

    Since we're talking about a desktop, try updating your drivers direct from AMD. There's a good chance they'll work with your system.
  • philbert84philbert84
    edited July 2009
    Thanks for the advice I will check out AMD's site for a more up to date driver. If you have any idea's on what might be making my audio not work that would be great to hear. Thank you.
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited July 2009
    If it only happens after the system's been on for several days, could just be a strange bug in the driver...

    if you can figure out who produced the actual audio IC on the motherboard, try downloading a driver for it from the company directly (eg. if it's a realtek chip, find a driver on www.realtek.com.tw for it).
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