Graphics Cards

[kleitus]

I purchased the 6900 XT reference model the day it came out.

I am running on an ASUS X570 ROG Strix mobo with a 5800X3D CPU and 32GB memory.

I often experience that my board won't boot properly and it will get stuck at white LED, which indicates a graphics card error. Sometimes I get a BIOS warning that the UEFI graphics is not compatible. I have looked it up and it seems like several people have had this problem. 

Now a lot of people say they updated the firmware of their nvidia graphics card and that solved it for them, so I'm looking if there is an UEFI firmware update to the reference 6900 XT? There must be some optimization or update since the first production batch that I got, and I'm hoping it will solve my problem.

Looking at this database:
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/?model=RX+6900+XT

It looks like AMD reference firmware is 020.001.000.043.015929, where newer custom AIB versions are up to 020.001.000.060.000000.

Could I flash my reference with one of the AIB versions, or is there any way AMD can provide an updated firmware for my 1.5 year old reference 6900 XT?

[elstaci]

If you purchased the RX6900XT from AMD Store you can try and open a AMD Support Ticket and see if they will send you an updated vBIOS for your AMD GPU Card from here: https://www.amd.com/en/support/contact-email-form

[kleitus]

It was bought through a local webshop and I think it had ASUS on it, but it is the reference design and not a custom design. Would be great if AMD had an updated bios for it.

[elstaci]

Download GPU-Z and that will tell the Manufacturer of your GPU card plus the BIOS version installed.

Then you can go to TechPowerUp vBIOS Database and see if there is a newer BIOS version if your GPU card is made by Asus.

You will need to go to Asus to get the BIOS update if they have one.

Here is TechPowerUp BIOS for Asus RX6900XT to download. See if it is the same one on your GPU card via GPU-Z: https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/?architecture=AMD&manufacturer=Asus&model=RX+6900+XT&interface=&...

[kleitus]

Those two are the TUF and STRIX versions, and I would assume their firmware should not be used on the reference model?

The reference model is with the AMD cooler and design by AMD. The problem with these cards is even though it says ASUS on the box, for all intents and purposes it is an AMD card, and AMD should have a new firmware that will fit with this card as it is the one designed by AMD themselves.

[kodo28]

You should not try to install any other bios from AIB's.

They do have specs like power settings and so, which are not for the AMD reference model. 

[Geforsikus_2021]

Many asus boards sin with a similar problem, it helps someone to include CSM in the bios of the motherboard (this is a crutch) someone changed the cable connected to the video card and monitor (try hdmi or displayport other cable versions of cables) you can also update the firmware of the bios of the motherboard. Maybe the problem is in the power supply unit, and it does not supply voltage to the video card in a timely manner. I don't know, there are a lot of options to check. Run the gpu z utility, it will show you which bios you have and whether it supports UEFI.(logically, it should support since the video card is new, I mean modern) If there is uefi, then the problem is different.

[kleitus]

Thank you for all the suggestions. 

My motherboard is updated to latest bios and all drivers in windows are updated to latest versions (though this is not a windows problem). The problem still persists. I tried ASUS (who is the official manufacturor of the graphics card), but they didn't have any updated firmware/bios for the graphics card, which I expeted. They just asked me to send in the graphics card if I have problems, or pointed to their own versions of the graphics card if I wanted to side-grade...

The problem is it only sometimes will do this. Not every time. And when it does, I can usually force-power off/on a couple of times and eventually it will then prompt the UEFI error, after which I have to go into motherboard bios, where I can then just go "discard all changes and reboot" and then it boots fine as if nothing... And sometimes it will boot without problems.

In Windows I also have problems with random crashes in games - as if the graphics card is not initiated properly. It will happen within the first few minutes or not at all. If the game runs fine it runs fine. Or sometimes it will run very slow and then the entire system will freeze after a minute and I have to reboot. 

All in all it feels like this system is still a "first release" system. I have been holding out on bios upgrades for the motherboard, but every update has not made it any more stable. I have also been through iterations of Ryzen since the first release, and thought by now (with X570 and 5800X3D) it would be stable. Unfortunately there are no bios upgrades to the graphics card, and driver updates do not fix these issues. I very much have a feeling of being punished for bying the first round of production units. Performance is great - when it runs - but never knowing if I have to go through hoops and reboots and system freeze is not fun. I would rather have low stable performance than high unstable performance.

[Geforsikus_2021]

Check the contacts of the video card again, pull it out of the pci e x16 slot and return it back with a click (there is a lock on all the boards, bend it carefully and pull it out) maybe it is not fully inserted and the contact is not there, anything happens. In theory, performance drops either due to overheating or due to problems with the power supply of the video card (the unit does not take out or 8pin additional power is not fully inserted), well, or because it is not fully inserted into the pci e x16 slot that I wrote above. I now have x570 and r7 5800x3d and rx6900xt all good)

[shadow007]

Don't update, not worth the risk

[vinders]

1. PSU, good manufacturer(Seasonic or equal) not less 850W for testing. 2. GPU power connections. 3. GPU overheating.

[Geforsikus_2021]

Try to disable the tpm module for a while, through the bios of the motherboard.