PC Drivers & Software

[colesdav]

Bored constantly repeating the following to help people with their messed up AMD Driver install or crashing AMD GPU - so created this post.

I assume Windows 10 OS as the only one supported.

When you post a question about corrupted AMD Drivers on your system, you need to post the following information or no response:

System Specifications:

CPU:
Motherboard:
Motherboard BIOS Version:
RAM:
OS:
OS Version:
GPU:
GPU Driver Version:
PSU:

Type winver at cmd line in Windows to get exact Windows version and build.

Make sure your PC CPU, RAM, and GPU CLK and Memory are NOT OVERCLOCKED before posting about a problem.
Turn off all overclocking and see if you can repeat the problem before reporting. 

To remove and reinstall your drivers:

1. Make sure your Windows 10 version is up to date with  the latest windows update patches.

2. Remove all 3rd party GPU OC tools from your system. Even if they came with the GPU. Such as MSI Afterburner, old versions of Sapphire Trixx, etc etc.

3. Open windows cmd shell and run the foillowing checks

chkdsk

chkdsk /scan

sfc /scannow

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

if problems then run:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

4. Go to https://www.wagnardsoft.com download latest version of DDU. Extract it and create a link to DDU executable on your desktop.

5. Go to https://www.amd.com/en/support and download the latest drivers for your PC.
[Edit: - Go to Laptop Manufacturer Support page for AMD Drivers specific to your Laptop make and model]

6. Disconnect from internet completely.

7. Boot into Windows 10 safe mode.

8.  Run DDU. Leave settings at default. Remove any traces of previous AMD or Nvidia GPU Drivers. Leave Intel drivers alone.

9. Boot into Windows 10 Normal mode.

10. Run the AMD installer. Do not select Factory Reset Install. You do not need it.

11. Once install completes. Reboot your PC into normal mode again.

12. Once PC powers up you can then reconnect to the internet.

I will add more fine details later.

[colesdav]

Bored constantly repeating the following to help people with their messed up AMD Driver install or crashing AMD GPU - so created this post.

I assume Windows 10 OS as the only one supported.

When you post a question about corrupted AMD Drivers on your system, you need to post the following information or no response:

System Specifications:

CPU:
Motherboard:
Motherboard BIOS Version:
RAM:
OS:
OS Version:
GPU:
GPU Driver Version:
PSU:

Type winver at cmd line in Windows to get exact Windows version and build.

Make sure your PC CPU, RAM, and GPU CLK and Memory are NOT OVERCLOCKED before posting about a problem.
Turn off all overclocking and see if you can repeat the problem before reporting. 

To remove and reinstall your drivers:

1. Make sure your Windows 10 version is up to date with  the latest windows update patches.

2. Remove all 3rd party GPU OC tools from your system. Even if they came with the GPU. Such as MSI Afterburner, old versions of Sapphire Trixx, etc etc.

3. Open windows cmd shell and run the foillowing checks

chkdsk

chkdsk /scan

sfc /scannow

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

if problems then run:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

4. Go to https://www.wagnardsoft.com download latest version of DDU. Extract it and create a link to DDU executable on your desktop.

5. Go to https://www.amd.com/en/support and download the latest drivers for your PC.
[Edit: - Go to Laptop Manufacturer Support page for AMD Drivers specific to your Laptop make and model]

6. Disconnect from internet completely.

7. Boot into Windows 10 safe mode.

8.  Run DDU. Leave settings at default. Remove any traces of previous AMD or Nvidia GPU Drivers. Leave Intel drivers alone.

9. Boot into Windows 10 Normal mode.

10. Run the AMD installer. Do not select Factory Reset Install. You do not need it.

11. Once install completes. Reboot your PC into normal mode again.

12. Once PC powers up you can then reconnect to the internet.

I will add more fine details later.

[Maciej]

What do you mean by downloading the latest drivers. You mean the normal adrenalin installer, right?

[Maciej]

What do you mean by downloading the latest drivers. You mean the normal adrenalin installer, right?

[pokester]

Now if only you could get this pinned. I see no pinned messages in this new forum. 

[colesdav]

No delete post available?

[elstaci]

The "Delete" option has been removed on this new AMD Forums.

Also the "Edit Reply" option is removed after around ~24 hours.

[pokester]

Yah I noticed that too which is frankly STUPID. Lots of times I need to edit. Often I even post in error or think I am helping to find out I read it wrong and or another like yourself gave way better advice and I want to delete what I said to help the OP and future people looking for answers. 

This lack of being able to edit and delete is really bad and leads to needless confusion.

@Sam_AMD  maybe you can look into this please?

[colesdav]

Yes - it is stupid not being able to edit to fix formatting/grammer/typos. 

I often have to save quickly before lose the post.

If people are completely changing their answer though without at least using strikethrough and saying EDIT... that is different. 

[colesdav]

If you are simply updating an older Adrenalin 2020 driver version to a newer one then you may get away with just installing the new driver and using "Factory Reset" option.

That runs amdcleanuputility.exe to uninstall the old driver first, and sets windows registry to prevent Microsoft installing wrong drivers before the Adrenalin 2020 installer installs the new one.

Running DDU is by far the best guarantee to fix driver issues. 
You should still make sure all latest Windows updates and system check are completed. 

I have seen cases where Adrenalin 2020 installer w/o Factory Reset option does not even see Adrenalin 2019 or earlier drivers are already installed, for example.

The old Adrenalin 2019 or earlier GUI is running alonside the Adrenalin 2020 installer in these cases. 
Device manager showed the older AMD drivers are installed, yet Adrenalin 2020 installer is blind to them.
Therefore the installer overwrites an existing driver install before removing them, breaking AMD own driver install instructions. 

[Earnhardt]

Way over complicating.

This should only be done IF you are having Issues.

[colesdav]

RE: "Way overcomplicating this should only be done if you are having issues"

Not really.
It takes about 10 minutes at most to complete. 
It has worked every time to fix problems on the many PC builds I work on.  

Lots of people do have issues with AMD drivers.  
The AMD Installer is still pretty useless.
Lots of people do get corrupted windows registry / driver after AMD driver crash because of bad drivers.
AMD GPU hardware running too hot, like the RX5700XT VRAM, also causes crashing. 

[Earnhardt]

And many do not,I've been through this many times in the past.

almost 20 years with AMD(a few intel and 2 Nvidia)CPU and GPU(9600 pro til now)

pretty much 0 issues with any of them,Ran Crossfire until March 2019.

Played competitive BF from 1942 until BF4.belonged to many Game Clans,Had many switch over to AMD as well.

I currently have had my ASUS Strix RX5700XT for a year now,0 issues,no crashes at all.

I have always just installed drivers on top of drivers and just let CCC,Adrenalin,Crimson do there thing.no issues.

I have never used DDU.nor has anyone I know has needed/used it.

I have read about all issues people have had over the years,and honestly don't personally know of anyone having the same amount of problems

This is just my personal experience over the years.

I have personally built probably 50-60 systems and have helped many others with picking parts for there systems.

[pokester]

I would say that most the time I use the express installer. Unless I have an issue and then DDU and install. Most the time I don't need to DDU but definitely have had many times where I had to.

[colesdav]

You must be lucky.

[pokester]

I literally just had to use DDU on my Nvidia driver last night as ansel stopped working after the last update but been too lazy to fix it for a couple weeks not. Luckily a quick DDU and re-install with their reset option and good as new. I had probably loaded the last 10 driver updates though with just the express installer with no problem. So yep sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. 

[jammerjonn]

I uninstalled the amd drivers from programs and ran the amd cleaner program. I yhen downloaded the amd installer program from the website and then install the recommended drivers.

[Nataku]

Hello, thank you for the information! I would like to try this method to fix some issues I am facing. However, I would like to know if the DDU will as well remove my CPU drivers, or if I can somewhat ask which drivers to remove?

[jammerjonn]

I tried using the AMD cleanup software but it did not help. The new drivers would not install the chipset drivers.

[serefd]

Hi Colesdav,

I have followed your instructions and unfortunately I could not get rid of my green screen crash problem.

I have a custom build with the details below; I hope you can help me solve my problem.

System Specifications: Custom Build

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3500 6-Core Processor, 3600 Mhz,16 MB 65W 7nm
Motherboard: MSI B450 GAMING PLUS MAX (MS-7B86)
Motherboard BIOS Version: American Megatrends Inc. H.A0, 26.11.2020
RAM: 16 GB DDR4 (Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8x2)
OS: Windows 10 Pro
OS Version: 20H2 (OS Build 19042.746)
GPU: Sapphire Radeon RX 5500 XT Pulse GDDR6 8GB 128Bit
GPU Driver Version: 21.1.1 Released 18.01.2021 (due to crashes from previous one updated to Beta)
PSU: 650W

Windows is up to date last I checked before I posted this.

Thank you in advance for your help.