alpmac
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Q: iMac Retina does not update AMD Catalyst on Bootcamp

I have Windows 7 installed on my iMac Retina (late 2014) with 4 GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 24GB memory and AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4096 MB GPU. Windows 7 installed on Bootcamp and I basically use it for games and very happy with it although it runs on 4k instead of 5K.

 

I have been getting software update warnings from AMD to update AMD Catalyst software from its current version (14.20.1002...) to (15.20.12046-..). However, after the new software is downloaded and extracted I get an error from AMD Catalyst Install Manager with the following message:

 

"We are unable to find a driver for your system. No supported AMD hardware was detected". This is funny as I wouldn't be able to play games that at 4k resolution if the hardware or the driver was not recognised in the first place. It is also very strange that AMD has no support for Mac on its web site.

 

I am not even sure whether the new update would improve anything but it I would appreciate if anyone has a similar problem and/or know how to resolve.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Jul 12, 2015 4:02 AM

by Loner T,Solvedanswer
Loner T Loner T
Level 7 (24,439 points)
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A:

alpmac wrote:

 

 

I have been getting software update warnings from AMD to update AMD Catalyst software from its current version (14.20.1002...) to (15.20.12046-..). However, after the new software is downloaded and extracted I get an error from AMD Catalyst Install Manager with the following message:

The software is not meant for the iMac. It is a WHQL driver which are no relevant to Macs. AMD has http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/bootcamp from which you can Bootcamp-specific drivers that you can use.

 

The latest valid revision for the Macs is 14.301.

 

 

"We are unable to find a driver for your system. No supported AMD hardware was detected". This is funny as I wouldn't be able to play games that at 4k resolution if the hardware or the driver was not recognised in the first place. It is also very strange that AMD has no support for Mac on its web site.

This is expected behavior, because the hardware identifiers used for Apple-AMD versions are not the same as a the ones used in standard Windows PCs.  Please see the AMD-Bootcamp link posted previously.

Posted on Jul 13, 2015 3:57 AM

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alpmac

Q: iMac Retina does not update AMD Catalyst on Bootcamp

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Rudegar,

    Rudegar Rudegar Jul 12, 2015 4:48 AM in response to alpmac
    Level 7 (28,788 points)
    Apple TV
    Jul 12, 2015 4:48 AM in response to alpmac

    every attempt to use another driver then the official bootcamp driver in windows have ended with major crashes all the time

     

    this included imac versions the closest to your model so i would try installing the amd driver from that zip

    Boot Camp Support Software 5.1.5621

  • by alpmac,

    alpmac alpmac Jul 12, 2015 5:50 AM in response to Rudegar
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 12, 2015 5:50 AM in response to Rudegar

    Thanks, but since iMac retina 5K is a newer model (December 2014) iMac, drivers that were installed by the BCA must also be newer than the one above which was introduced back in Feb 2014.

     

    In any case, I tried it and it still doesn't work.

     

    I also want to stress the fact that I don't have any complaints with my current display driver except that it is not compatible with 5k on windows. I just cannot update the new driver that is available to windows users.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jul 12, 2015 10:18 AM in response to Rudegar
    Level 7 (24,439 points)
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    Jul 12, 2015 10:18 AM in response to Rudegar

    Rudegar wrote:

     

    every attempt to use another driver then the official bootcamp driver in windows have ended with major crashes all the time

     

    this included imac versions the closest to your model so i would try installing the amd driver from that zip

    Boot Camp Support Software 5.1.5621

     

    From System requirements to install Windows on your Mac using Boot Camp - Apple Support, BCA supplies newer drivers than the manually downloadable .5621 drivers. I have used 5.1.5766 (unavailable for manual download) for my iMac5K testing using BCA.

     

    Table key

    The tables will have one of these symbols or entries in each column. This is what they mean.

    • BCA: Use Boot Camp Assistant (BCA) to download the latest Boot Camp software. The support software available from Boot Camp Assistant is newer than what is currently available as a manual download.
    • 4 or 5:  These link to the manual download for the related version of the Boot Camp support software you need to install Windows on your Mac. You can also get the right version by using Boot Camp Assistant.
    • DVD: For older Macs, Windows drivers are located on the Mac OS X installation DVD that came with your computer.
    • Dash "-": This version of Windows is not supported.

     

    iMac

    Mac modelWindows 8
    64-bit    		Windows 7
    64-bit    		Windows 7
    32-bit    		Windows Vista
    64-bit    		Windows Vista
    32-bit    		Windows XP
    32-bit
    iMac (Retina 5k, 27-inch, Mid 2015)

    BCA

    		BCA----
    iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014)BCABCA----
    iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2014)BCABCA----

  • by alpmac,

    alpmac alpmac Jul 13, 2015 3:01 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 13, 2015 3:01 AM in response to Loner T

    OK. That's established. Any solution?

  • by Loner T,Solvedanswer

    Loner T Loner T Jul 13, 2015 3:57 AM in response to alpmac
    Level 7 (24,439 points)
    Safari
    Jul 13, 2015 3:57 AM in response to alpmac

    alpmac wrote:

     

     

    I have been getting software update warnings from AMD to update AMD Catalyst software from its current version (14.20.1002...) to (15.20.12046-..). However, after the new software is downloaded and extracted I get an error from AMD Catalyst Install Manager with the following message:

    The software is not meant for the iMac. It is a WHQL driver which are no relevant to Macs. AMD has http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/bootcamp from which you can Bootcamp-specific drivers that you can use.

     

    The latest valid revision for the Macs is 14.301.

     

     

    "We are unable to find a driver for your system. No supported AMD hardware was detected". This is funny as I wouldn't be able to play games that at 4k resolution if the hardware or the driver was not recognised in the first place. It is also very strange that AMD has no support for Mac on its web site.

    This is expected behavior, because the hardware identifiers used for Apple-AMD versions are not the same as a the ones used in standard Windows PCs.  Please see the AMD-Bootcamp link posted previously.

  • by alpmac,

    alpmac alpmac Jul 13, 2015 4:23 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 13, 2015 4:23 AM in response to Loner T

    Thanks Loner T.

     

    Just out of curiousity, similar software from Nvidia on my MBP (that had Nvidia GPU) did not have any issues like that. I could always update Nvidia software along with the drivers on my Bootcamp-Windows 7 partition.

  • by Loner T,Helpful

    Loner T Loner T Jul 13, 2015 4:29 AM in response to alpmac
    Level 7 (24,439 points)
    Safari
    Jul 13, 2015 4:29 AM in response to alpmac

    Both Apple-AMD and Apple-nVidia relationships have their peculiarities and challenges. nVidia kept the conformance much closer, but AMD  created specific product lines. Both vendors are reasonable in their support. The challenge lies in the gaming community which is a cross-over between Macs and PCs. The desire to have unified features across these two has its challenges.

     

    nVidia has been pretty clear in their Support website about Gaming and WHQL drivers. AMD is catching up, hence the separate BC page.

  • by Nasty64,

    Nasty64 Nasty64 Jul 20, 2015 8:28 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 20, 2015 8:28 AM in response to Loner T

    Thanks Loner.  While this explains it, it doesn't make it right.  Graphics drivers are frequently updated to solve issues and improve performance in games.  The fact that we're stuck with an 8 month old driver because of "peculiarities" between Apple and AMD is not cool -- especially when we bought a $3k computer (lots of margin for Apple).

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jul 20, 2015 8:35 AM in response to Nasty64
    Level 7 (24,439 points)
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    Jul 20, 2015 8:35 AM in response to Nasty64

    My views are not Apple's official support policy. Using latest hardware and an OS which is primarily not intended for it, you will see driver issues. Many buy Macs for its engineering, but the Gaming world (especially Game-writers) seem to focus on the Windows Market, less so on the OSX side. If your primary use for a machine is Gaming then Windows PCs offer a much better TCO/ROI compared to Macs. AMD/Apple wrote special drivers for 5K support on the OSX side. Could the Apple BC Engineering have leveraged it? Yes, but they apparently did not see it as a priority.