PC Drivers & Software

[chunseciyuan]

My computer is a dell alienware 18 with dual hd8970m， dell never update graphic driver since 2015，so I download the latest driver(18.8.1) from amd，but when I install it the screen turn to black(the back light are still on and other functions seems work normally except display，I can still switch the caps lock and num lock, if I press the power button computer will go to hibernation) and never recover to normal(I wait it long enough，10 hours maybe more).  I shut it down，and reboot，after the alienware logo screen went to black display nothing on it， that means driver are not installed properly.  I reinstall Windows and try it aging and the same problem happened aging. I found another one are facing the exactly same problem，find him on Alienware 18 M290x Driver issue :: Hardware and Operating Systems  He find the latest driver which can installed successfully is 18.3.3(actually it`s 18.3.4，I tried，and it works fine，but newer driver are not tested. ) It seems the problem is caused by the different between 18.3.4 and 18.5.1(18.5.1 is the oldest driver which can`t install successfully I found.)

operating system：Windows 10 1803  17134.112

cpu：i7 4710mq

graphic cards：dual R9 M290X

graphic driver version：Adrenalin Edition 18.5.1 and 18.8.1(both failed to install)

Wishes amd notice this problem and fix it.

I`m a chinese and my english is pretty bad，so it maybe hard to understand what I`m saying，sorry about that.

[chunseciyuan]

Black Screen on Laptop  coolhand have same problem with me，when the screen turn to black he connect to another screen with HDMI and it display normally，so the driver installed correctly but a bug may caused driver use HDMI as primary and internal screen show nothing. Sounds like this problem is easy to fix by amd if they noticed us.......

[kingfish]

Did you update the Intel drivers before trying to install the AD driver? Laptop graphics update...How to

Did you do a clean install? Clean Install AMD Graphics Drivers

Did you disconnect from the internet until the drivers were fully installed and the computer rebooted? DDU has new instructions..make sure you have the latest version

[chunseciyuan]

Thanks for your advises ，I tried almost everything，even to install in a fresh installed Windows 10， but it does not work，it is a driver issue I am almost sure now， because I found 4 maybe more people have the exact same problem with almost same hardware. If you are a employer of amd please tell them about this problem.

[kingfish]

No I don't work for AMD. You should contact them about your issue > Email Form

[chunseciyuan]

That may help，thank you very much.

[nicktork]

I have finally solved this and am happily running 19.6.2 on my Alienware 18 with dual m290x cards.  You basically have to buy a mini-DisplayPort to HDMI cable and feed the mini-DP output back in to the laptop's HDMI-In port.  The black screen issue goes away immediately.  You don't need to continue using the HDMI port forever: once the drivers are installed you can link/unlink the displays within the Radeon software, unplug the cable and use the laptop screen normally.

[tarsusendri]

I have an Alienware M18x R2 with dual HD 7970M cards.  I'll give this an attempt to see if this works for my older laptop.  I'll post a reply to this once I have the results.

[tarsusendri]

I've just noticed something... you claim to have dual m290x cards, but your screenshots state you have HD 8970m cards.  Can you explain this discrepancy?

[nicktork]

The m290x is just a renamed version of the HD8970M.  Some drivers detect it under one name, some tools call it by the other.  Here’s the actual product, showing both names.

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-HD8970M-Graphics-Alienware-Replacement/dp/B07JZFTHJJ

[mido_fayad]

As nicktork said .. the AMD r9 m290x is renamed HD8970M and the latest drivers doesn't contain the Amd r9 m290x tag so it installs the driver as HD8970m 

But you can simply fix this as you can see in my pic by editing the inf file inside the driver and add the AMD r9 m290x tag in it and it will install perfectly 

[tarsusendri]

Ah, thank you for clarifying.

[mido_fayad]

No it's not the display port to hdmi trick which fix this annoying problem 

AMD finally fixed this bug in the latest update 19.6.2 so you can just install it normally and your display will work without any problem 

Also I don't think that they listened to us but it is just fixed by mistake from their side 

Really this was very bad and annoying problem without any response for one year from amd so I won't even thank them for the fix 

[tarsusendri]

Oh!  So AMD's 19.6.2 driver fixed the issue out right?  All I need to do now, then, is to install the new drivers and it "should" work?  I'll give it a try.  Just in case, I do have the 17.12.2 drivers on hand in case I have to roll back again.

[mido_fayad]

yes and also I tried the latest 19.6.3 driver and it works perfect

you are using very old driver while 18.4.3 driver was the latest one to work 

but anyway now you can use latest drivers without any problem

[tarsusendri]

Yeah, 17.12.2 is the only driver that works for "Windows 7" on my M18x R2 because I did test the 18.4.3 during my experimentation by going through each and every version of the drivers.  I believe 18.4.3 could work if I upgrade to Windows 10, which I plan to do soon.  

I have my Alienware up and upgrading the driver right now.  I'll check back in a few moments to update if 19.6.2 works on Windows 7.

[mido_fayad]

I tested it on windows 10 only and confirmed working so try windows 7 and report 

but anyway I think you should update to latest windows 10 1903 may update which is really great for gaming..

[tarsusendri]

UPDATE:  I have installed the Adrenalin 19.6.3 drivers, and confirmed that IT DID fix the black screen issue on my Alienware M18x R2 running Windows 7 with dual Radeon 7970M cards in CrossFire.  No special steps needed.

[maalsol]

Any special steps? I'm trying to install 19.6.3 but it gives me a Error 1603 - A general error has occurred during installation

[mido_fayad]

what's the model of your laptop and which amd card?

it should install normally without any special steps 

try to use ddu to remove old drivers then install the latest one

[tarsusendri]

Concerning error 1603, a simple reboot of the PC/laptop should correct that, and allow you to update the drivers.  If it is still giving you that error, do as mido.fayad suggested; using the DDU program to remove the old drivers, reboot, and install the newest drivers.