Updated ATI Drivers for the Radeon HD 4850 and other cards -- Added Catalyst 9.6 --

[Bill Gates]

== UPDATE 6/19/09 ADDED CATALYST 9.6 ==

I wanted a driver a little newer than the default that comes with Boot Camp so I decided to modify the ATI Catalyst desktop drivers, using the Boot Camp drivers as a reference. I essentially copied settings from the Boot Camp drivers into the Catalyst 9.5 INF in the hopes that it would work and it seems to be so far. I modified the Windows XP 32-bit driver so far and will be attempting the Vista 64-bit driver as well, although I am unsure if it will work or not until I have tested it on that platform. I have done only minimal testing and as a result am unsure if there are any unintended consequences or defects in the driver. I added support for all the ATI hardware found in the Boot Camp INF so technically these should work on any ATI card supported in the Boot Camp drivers. Please test them and report back with your results!

Note: All the drivers must be manually installed by selecting the card from a list the driver update wizard through device manager. The XP driver includes the control center, but I have omitted it from the Vista/7 driver as I couldn't get it to install. If someone wants to play with it and figure out how to install it, just download it separately from ATI's website.

Links follow:

Catalyst 9.6
Windows 7 & Vista 32-bit
Windows 7 & Vista 64-bit

Catalyst 9.5
Windows XP 32-bit
Windows 7 & Vista 32-bit
Windows 7 & Vista 64-bit

Edit 5/21/09: I've added modified drivers for Vista & Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit. The 64-bit driver was loosely tested on Vista 64-bit and found to work, although its performance was not tested. The 32-bit driver has not been tested. I'll use your responses and testing to gauge the driver's performance.

Edit 5/26/09: Apparently the 64-bit driver was truncated when uploaded to Mediafire before. This may have caused issues for some people trying to install the driver due to one or more corrupted files within the archive. Therefore I recommend that anyone who successfully installed the driver previously redownload and reinstall it from the link above, and for those who were unsuccessfull before, to retry after first redownloading the driver.

 

[Bill Gates]

I got the driver working under Vista 64-bit but not the control center unfortunately. I'm not sure at this point if I'm going to stick with Vista or go back to XP. FYI, to get the Boot Camp software installed without a BSOD, I copied the drivers to the hard disk, and then deleted the ATI folder from the install. I then launched the BootCamp64.msi package from the command line in administrator mode and the install went smoothly. The only issue that remained is 2 drivers that Windows would not load since they lacked a digital signature, so I had to sign them using a utility I found online and then reboot into test mode to bypass the digital signature check. Really, I'm not sure if it's worth having a system "hacked-together" like this.

 

[idreaminbeige]

Hi Bill,

Are the 2 drivers you had to find a workaround for 'keyagent' and 'macHAL'? Can never get these 2 to install as i lack the administrator privileges even though im using the only administrator account and UAC is switched off. Even tried running the bootcamp 2.1 install from the cmd line with 'run as administrator'.

could you spell out how you fixed this? please..

 

[Bill Gates]

Hi Bill,

Are the 2 drivers you had to find a workaround for 'keyagent' and 'macHAL'? Can never get these 2 to install as i lack the administrator privileges even though im using the only administrator account and UAC is switched off. Even tried running the bootcamp 2.1 install from the cmd line with 'run as administrator'.

could you spell out how you fixed this? please..

Yes, I signed those two drivers. I'll edit this post later with the workaround.

Edit:
The problem does not lie with a lack of privileges. Rather, it lies with new driver signing requirements. Ignore the error that pops up during the installation of the BootCamp software package. At the end of the install, choose not to reboot. Disable UAC, reboot, and download the following program: http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=dseo

When the computer boots, open the program and choose the option to sign a driver. (I'm doing this by memory, so it may be slightly different.) Type in the path for the first file, keyagent.sys. I believe it's c:\windows\system32\drivers\KeyAgent.sys but I'm not positive. Follow the prompts, and then choose the option to sign a driver again, this time inputting the path for MacHAL.sys. It should be something like c:\windows\system32\drivers\MacHAL.sys but double-check to be sure. After you have signed the two drivers, choose the option to enable "test mode" in the program. At this point, you may close the program and re-enable UAC if you like. Reboot, and the Boot Camp software should work without issues. Note that you will see a watermark on the desktop indicating that you are in test mode, but I don't know of any other way to get the Boot Camp drivers to load.

 

[Bill Gates]

I've updated the first post with new drivers. Note that if you are having the BSOD issue when installing the Boot Camp software that Apple provides, there is a way around that:

Copy the Boot Camp drivers to the hard drive, and delete the ATI subdirectory. Then install the Boot Camp package by launching BootCamp.msi or BootCamp64.msi with administrative privileges through the command line. I'm not sure if that last step is necessary on 32-bit systems; it may be possible to launch the setup program instead, but I have not tested this on a 32-bit install of Windows. Someone please respond with a yes or no as to whether or not this is superfluous.

 

[Skeli]

I was able to get BootCamp64 to install by following your instructions and then disabling UAC and simply clicking on the BootCamp64.msi. However I was unable to install the drivers you provided. I went thru device manager, update driver software and directed it to the proper location but got the "Windows has determined that the best driver is already installed on your system". I'm not sure if I missing something. Any help would be appreciated.





iMac 24" 3.06 4GB Ram ATI Radeon 4850 HD 1TB HD OS X 10.5.7/ Vista Home Basic x64

 

[Bill Gates]

I was able to get BootCamp64 to install by following your instructions and then disabling UAC and simply clicking on the BootCamp64.msi. However I was unable to install the drivers you provided. I went thru device manager, update driver software and directed it to the proper location but got the "Windows has determined that the best driver is already installed on your system". I'm not sure if I missing something. Any help would be appreciated.





iMac 24" 3.06 4GB Ram ATI Radeon 4850 HD 1TB HD OS X 10.5.7/ Vista Home Basic x64

You have to manually install the driver by selecting it from a list, not by using the option to search a given directory. Try that and report back please.

 

[idreaminbeige]

driver signing works perfectly. thanks Bill.

 

[Skeli]

Tried it from a list and it appeared to install but upon reboot and checking device manager it still shows that the driver is not installed and still unable to set my resolution to proper 1920 x 1200. Any chance you could post a step by step for how to install manually in case I'm missing something?

 

[Bill Gates]

Tried it from a list and it appeared to install but upon reboot and checking device manager it still shows that the driver is not installed and still unable to set my resolution to proper 1920 x 1200. Any chance you could post a step by step for how to install manually in case I'm missing something?

Re-download the driver and try again. It seems that Medafire truncated the archive when I uploaded it previously. I've re-uploaded a fixed version that tested OK on my iMac. Hopefully it will for you as well.

 

[Skeli]

I don't know how you did it, but you did my friend! Genius...pure genius!!! Thank you so much for your help and all your efforts, you are a selfless hero.

 

[hoonu]

I'm going to give them a go tonight and report back. I just got a new iMac with 2.93 and 4850 and I want to squeeze out some more performance from Crysis.

 

[kaptnkill]

Would it work with 2600 ?

hi Bill, i have a question...would this work with my last year Imac 24" on xp cause i try numerous updates found on the web and had a bunch of issues installing them..(those updates were not for the 9.5 driver)

tanx

 

[kaptnkill]

Well try them..no problem during installation but...opening a software that use 3d brings a window saying that i have not opengl card installed...what could be the cause ?

 

[Bill Gates]

Are you sure that the driver is installed correctly, meaning, it shows up in device manager as being the updated driver? Also, what program did you try, and have you tried anything else? As a last resort, you could try the Mobility Modder, found here: http://www.driverheaven.net/modtool.php.

 

[kaptnkill]

in device manager it shows version 8.612.0.0 wich is new cause the last driver was 8.2 (i guess it is the last version my card will use from your driver)

the first thing i tried was gettting driver from ati wich didnt work and would exit on install saying i miss some hardware


then i tried Mobility Modder before and it did the same thing

i am kind of confused here...should i clean the driver and try again ?

 

[Bill Gates]

What program were you using though? Did it work before you updated the drivers? Could it perhaps be a problem with that program? I have been using DirectX and OpenGL applications on my Radeon 4850 HD computer without issues using these drivers.

 

[kaptnkill]

a simple programm called facegen wich was working without problem...before.

So i think i may be doing something wrong...

What is the bes way to clean the drivers and reinstall ?

 

[kaptnkill]

well since i am currently running this little app : http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Benchmarks/OpenGL-Geometry-Benchmark.shtml

i guess i have opengl working on my computer...what do you think ?

 

[Bill Gates]

I would try using the utility I linked above on the official ATI drivers as a start, to see if those drivers work. It could be an incompatibility with these particular drivers. Try running this program and see what versions of OpenGL are listed as supported: http://www.realtech-vr.com/glview/

 

[kaptnkill]

tanx for the link ill try and give you infos back

 

[odin74]

The drivers don´t work in my vista 32

Hallo,

i downloaded the drivers from the link of mediafire, but they don´t work on my vista 32!! my imac is a 3.06 Ghz with a Ati HD 4850 card.

I deinstalled the all the ati driver, deinstalled the vga graphic driver in Device manager. I manually tried to install the new downloaded driver in the device manager but my vista can´t identify. i searched the driver on my hd, select them, but i get a message, that the current vga driver is up to date

Please help me!

Sorry for my poor english

 

[avihappy]

Hallo,

i downloaded the drivers from the link of mediafire, but they don´t work on my vista 32!! my imac is a 3.06 Ghz with a Ati HD 4850 card.

I deinstalled the all the ati driver, deinstalled the vga graphic driver in Device manager. I manually tried to install the new downloaded driver in the device manager but my vista can´t identify. i searched the driver on my hd, select them, but i get a message, that the current vga driver is up to date

Please help me!

Sorry for my poor english

I'm having the same problem. When I try to have Device Manager install the drivers from that folder, it tells me that the generic vga drivers are "the best available"!

 

[Bill Gates]

I'm having the same problem. When I try to have Device Manager install the drivers from that folder, it tells me that the generic vga drivers are "the best available"!

That means you didn't follow my instructions. You have to select the driver from a list, not have it search within that folder. Let me know if that works for you. Are you also running Vista 32-bit?

 

[TheNewGuy083]

Bill,

Having the same problem as Odin and Avihappy. ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4850 is not in the device list, at least for me, so I can't select it. I've got the iMac 3.06 ghz with the Radeon HD 4850 card (duh), and I've got a copy of vista 32 ultimate running.

- Brian

EDIT:

Ooo..you have to hit "have disk", and then you can browse to the appropriate folder specifically, and install it that way. It seems to have worked, waiting for it to restart now. What is the difference between CW and CL? Sorry if you explained that already.