Drivers & Software

[rawintellect]

Summary of Issue Upgrading (or even a clean install) to Windows 10 2004 fails with two errors: (BSOD)

1. DRIVER PNP WATCHDOG ERROR (installation continues after it dumps and reboots, but once in the OS the below mentioned problem exists)

2. If I delete the AMD driver 20.5.1 and force it to use The Microsoft standard driver I can install Windows 10 2004. However, when finally updating to 20.5.1 windows will hang and eventually BSOD with DRIVER POWER STATE ERROR

Both of these BSODS are directly related to the latest AMD display driver 20.5.1 (and I suspect the default driver installed in windows update as well).

If I DDU the driver in safe mode and use DDU to prevent windows from downloading a NEW display driver (aka remove all traces of AMD display drivers) all is well. I can shutdown windows and start it up with no issues. But as soon as I update to ANY AMD driver (latest included) the abovementioned issues return and I am forced to return to version 1909.

 System Configuration

• Motherboard (ASUS ROG X399-E Gaming)
• CPU (AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X)
• PSU (Antec HCP1000 Platinum Power Supply 1000 Watts)
• Display Make, Model and Type (Powercolor Radeon RX 5700 XT Red Devil Overclocked Triple-Fan 8GB)
• System Memory (64Gb Corsair Vengence 3600)
• GPU/VBIOS (Powercolor Red Devil RX 5700XT 8GB (017.001.000.049))
• OS (Windows 10 x64 (18363.836))
• Driver (Radeon: Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition 20.5.1)
• Applications (N/A the entire OS is affected)
• Background Apps (see above)

 
Steps to Reproduce (install or upgrade to Windows 10 2004 with any AMD display drivers)

[rawintellect]

It's not all bad though. 20.5.1 is ROCK SOLID under 1909. I even TRIED to get it to fail. I maxed the memory OC to 1900 and maxed the GPU and the voltage to +50. It ran hard and solid. For the first time ever I was able to stream Planet coaster for an hour solid. I just put the game on and streamed it to FB live...and walked away. It would have kept going but I just stopped the stream at that point. 

Also you've fixed Enhanced sync. It now survives reboots in profiles. 

I'm totally happy with this under 1909. 2004 however...  no bueno.

[kingfish]

Sound familiar? Not everything is caused by AMD.

Microsoft Confirms New Windows 10 Update Warning 

https://community.amd.com/thread/253463 

[rawintellect]

I've seen those articles. I'm not necessarily saying this is an AMD exclusive issue. I posted this in several Microsoft forums as well.  I also reported this via the online reporting. However something to consider, when I remove the AMD drivers all is well. 0 issues.

[rawintellect · Accepted solution]

I fixed the issue by deleting the partition (instead of format) and reinstalling windows from the standpoint of a brand new hard drive. I am currently running Windows 10 2004 and 20.5.1 just fine. Thanks for the response!

[n0fear]

I have the exact same Problem. As soon as the driver is installed, i get a bluescreeen when restarting. 

[rawintellect]

My advice would be to copy your c:\users directory to another drive and then delete the entire partition and install it again. I've had smooth sailing since then and didn't lose anything except the time it took to reinstall my apps. Most game saves are stored in the cloud and the only thing I really cared about was my taxes, my pics of my kid, and some work documents I had. All my games are back up and I gained about 15-30 FPS in games.

Do NOT just format. I tried that. I wasted time because once windows was reinstalled, I was back with the same problem. Something about the actual partition was hosed. I'm thinking I was a victim of a bad AHCI driver (which can corrupt your partitions). So that's why the actual DELETION of the partition worked. 

[claudiuo]

I am pretty sure that is Windows bug. Do you have a NVME SSD  by any chance? 

[rawintellect]

I do but AHCI drivers when they go they can take out whatever the boot drive is. No matter the hardware. I've seen it first hand before. What I'm thinking is that when I upgraded the first time something wonky happened with the controller driver and trashed the partition. Even doing a format won't fix partition errors. You have to delete the entire partition and start from scratch. Which is exactly what I did and my PC is flying now.

[n0fear]

Yes Samsung NVME, 64 Gig RAM, Ryzen 3900X and X 5700 XT. What i did now is reinstalled again, this time i did first install latest Radeon Drivers, and after that AMD Chipset, Sound and all the rest, till n ow it seams to work.