PC Drivers & Software

[Aker666]

Hello community,

After being a bit fed up with getting no response and no explanation as to why it takes so long for the Adrenaline software to start up, I've started to investigate why it takes so long for the Adrenaline software to start and be available. I've found out a few things but I'd like your help to see if together we can find out why or get people from AMD (I know there are some on this forums) to clarify or let us know the problem.

After noticing that the Adrenaline software does not appear in the Windows start-up programs, I wondered how it could possibly start when Windows starts up. Searching for information on the internet, I found out that it can be done via the Windows registry. After poking around in the Windows registry, I found these two paths used by the AMD software:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AMD\CN

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\AMD\CN

The most interesting is the second one, where there is a variable that caught my attention after seeing its value: InitDelay. This variable had a decimal value of 60, which was the number of seconds it took for the icon to appear in the system tray after timing it during a normal start-up. After changing the value to 0 and restarting, when logging in with my user the icon appears almost instantly. Surprised I went to right click on it but I saw that it was not loaded at all, only these three options appeared (My system is not in English, so translations may not be accurate):

• Open AMD Software: Adrenaline Edition

• Video profiles

• Hide system tray

To display all options when right-clicking on the icon:

• Open AMD Software. Adrenaline Edition

• Video profiles

• Start AMD Audio Noise Suppression -> This one

• Hide system tray

It takes five minutes timed from system start-up. When I saw that number, I looked at another variable in the above path, the one called UnloadDelay which has a decimal value of 300... which in seconds is five minutes. To test, I changed the value to 0 and restarted the computer to retime the time it takes to show the full menu. It came back to five minutes. I set the value back to 300, as the change had no effect, but I know that something happens after five minutes because when testing by right clicking on the icon, the three options come up quickly until something is 'done' to make the fourth one appear. The Windows cursor appears with the blue circle and the fans speed up a bit for a few seconds.

Still, when you click to open Adrenaline, it takes another 25 seconds for the screen with your games, metrics and everything else to appear. So on my system the original situation was (if you didn't open the software manually):

60 seconds (delay) + 5 minutes + 25 seconds = Almost 6 and a half minutes.

Now:

0 seconds + 5 minutes + 25 seconds = Almost 5 and a half minutes.

But if you manually open the Adrenaline software when the icon appears in the system tray when you log in with your user:

0 seconds + 25 seconds = Almost half a minute.

Since I don't know what else to try anymore, I come here to see if anyone can think of what else we can try (we can't get any worse) or share your values to see if we all have the same value or different values.

Best regards.

[MARLmk1]

Thanks for at least trying to uncover what could be going on with this.

I saw you write on my post on this same AMD blog, so thanks for trying some stuff out. More and more people seems to be noticing this problem, which is good.

AMD-Vik over at Reddit said this a week ago: https://old.reddit.com/r/AMDHelp/comments/1h7epqp/amd_software_adrenalin_edition_24121_release_notes...

Now, back at testing stuff.

For the sake of measuring time, I use the Up Time count you can find on Task Manager > Performance Tab and clicking on CPU, on the bottom of the page.

So:

If I install 24.12.1 and let Windows 10 initialize normally, looking at the Up Time timer, Adrenaline initially shows up on the task bar at 1:25 Minutes, dead on. Game profiles will take a bit longer to react if you start a game right away, though, unless as I said on my post, you manually open Adrenaline first.

However

If by the time Windows has already booted and you are on the desktop, you can Right Click on Desktop, open Adrenaline that way and a few seconds later Adrenaline will be open just fine, and game profiles will also work no issue.

There is some people over at Reddit that mentioned having to add Adrenaline to their Startup folder so that it initialized at a reasonable time (https://old.reddit.com/r/AMDHelp/comments/1e5uh5b/adrenalin_taking_a_long_time_to_start_on_boot/m15d...)

I have honestly ran out of ideas on what to try, so my defeat plan is to just stay on 24.3.1, as it is fine for me right now, and if I ever need to run 24.12.1 or upwards and the issue persists, I'll just eat my pride and add Adrenaline to the Startup folder.

Let me be clear. The user SHOULD NEVER HAVE TO DEPEND OR RELY ON THESE METHODS in order for software (specially GPU software) to work, because it is not intended to having to be initialized that way, but I'm honestly exhausted of trying to figure out the issue.

After formatting twice (two different computers), updating BIOS and having to re-set up my whole Windows just to realize that, in fact, this issue wasn't on my side, I'm just tired. I hope they fix it somehow...

Again, thanks for the insight and attempts to fix it. I'll be around checking replies or further info about this topic. And if you want to get in touch via Discord or something to discuss the topic in a more fluent way, let me know how or where to add you or something!

[Aker666]

Hi,

Thank you very much for stopping by to comment. Seeing the tests you have done, showing that in a clean install of Windows the problem persists, makes it clear to me that it can't be my computer's fault. Hopefully Vik will listen to us (I've replied in the Reddit thread linking to here) and talk to the engineers, maybe seeing what I've posted will help them discover the cause.

About adding us on Discord, I wouldn't have a problem but if we manage to make progress on something, I'd prefer it to be written here as a follow up so that more people or AMD's own people can see if they manage to fix the problem.

But as I say, with your tests of clean Windows installations where you manage to replicate the problem, there is little more I can prove other than gossiping through the Windows registry.

The option of adding the application shortcut to the start menu has the disadvantage that the application opens in the foreground as soon as the computer is turned on and if it is uninstalled or the reference to the original file is lost, if the shortcut is not deleted from the startup folder it can cause problems (from what I have read) when the computer is turned on.

Regards!

[MARLmk1]

Regarding the option of adding Adrenaline to the Startup folder on Windows, it really shouldn't cause any issues even if the reference to the original file was lost. It would be the same as Windows trying to open a file that isn't there anymore and all you'd have to do is get rid of it from said folder

(For context, I'm talking about the folder you can open if you do Win + R and type shell:Startup)

All you'd have to do theoretically is to add a shortcut to Adrenaline itself in there. If it ever came to it and the issue we are facing persisted in the future and I was forced to install 24.12.1 or future drivers that still had the slow start issue, I'll just do that. But I'll be very sad to have to rely on such a hacky method.

About adding on Discord, it'd be a great option in case we found out something new about this, and for the fact that I don't visit these blogs that often. Though I just now noticed that there is no option for sending eachother Private Messages (I believe we have to reach Adept II rank if I read correctly somewhere else).

I'll be super happy if they managed to fix this annoying issue in the foreseeable future.

Cheers! And thanks again!