PC Drivers & Software

[Guzto]

Do you know that issue you would usually see on notebooks where it refuses to use the dGPU in some games and programs? This is a somehow similar issue, but I think it's a problem with Adrenalin/drivers, and this a custom built PC (AM5).

I think it's caused by installing the dGPU drivers (most recent, directly from AMD website) and then opening Adrenalin and installing an "update", the version is the same, but it has a more recent release date.

 That "update" is probably related to the iGPU because when you install it, the device manager driver alert ⚠ (see image below) disappears and the iGPU information becomes available on the Adrenalin software.

This was right after I installed the drivers of my, soonish to be replaced, RX 480. I used the latest drivers currently available on the website (Adrenalin 24.3.1).

Step-By-Step to replicate the issue:

1. Uninstall all AMD drivers
   I tested using both AMD's uninstaller and DDU (safe mode), had same issue on both scenarios.
2. Restart 
3. Download/Install your dGPU latest drivers -Full Installation-
4. Restart
5. Open AMD Adrenalin software > Gaming > Graphics
   The dGPU is there, but iGPU is missing.
6. Open the Windows Device Manager, notice that one of the display adapters has a driver issue (PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_164E&SUBSYS_164E1002&REV_CB):
   "This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device. (Code 31)"
   "The driver trying to start is not the same as the driver for the POSTed display adapter."
7. Activate Adrenalin Overlay (Ctrl + Shift + O) and test any game/stress test it
   Everything is working fine. I have all my monitors are connected to the dGPU, so I don't see any issues.
8. Open AMD Adrenalin software, it says:
   "current version 24.3.1 Released: 20/02/2024" > "Update Available! 24.3.1 Released: 20/03/2024"
   So, same driver version, but with a newer release date.
9. Download and install it.
10. Restart
11. Open AMD Adrenalin software > Gaming > Graphics
    You can see both the dGPU and iGPU.
12. Open Device Manager, everything looks fine. Now you don't see any issues with the drivers.
13. Activate Adrenalin Overlay (Ctrl + Shift + O) and test any game/stress test it.
    Something is wrong, everything that is more GPU demanding is running really bad.
    You can see that the dGPU usage is super low while the iGPU is almost always 100%
14. Open Device Manager again, disable the iGPU device and try to open AMD Adrenalin
    It won't let you open it (I forgot what the message says)
    The idea here was to try to force the PC to use the dGPU, but it doesn't work.
    
    You end up having to uninstall the drivers and install only the dGPU drivers.
    
    

Anyway, I just wanted to write about this somewhere before sending the bug report, I still want to try to install the iGPU drivers without adrenalin to see if it's a viable solution.

[432hz]

I think your assessment is correct.

First, I'd:

1. Download AMD iGPU drivers for your CPU (e.g. for the 7600x here)

Then I would try this order:

1. Uninstall AMD drivers via AMD Cleanup Utility and/or DDU
2. Install the iGPU drivers using the "Driver Only" option during install
3. Install the dGPU drivers (full install if you wish) (don't perform the driver update within Adrenalin)

If that doesn't work, try in reverse:

1. Uninstall AMD drivers via AMD Cleanup Utility and/or DDU
2. Install the dGPU drivers (don't perform the driver update within Adrenalin)
3. Install the iGPU drivers

There's additional variations of the above you can try:

1. Both drivers-only
2. dGPU drivers-only, iGPU Adrenalin
3. dGPU Adrenalin, iGPU drivers-only
4. Both Adrenalin

If neither works and you don't need the iGPU, you might be able to disable it in BIOS.

[Guzto]

I tested this:

@Guzto wrote:
...

I still want to try to install the iGPU drivers without adrenalin to see if it's a viable solution.

---

Maybe you shouldn't, but you can download and install the iGPU drivers as "drivers only" and then install the dGPU drivers, the caveat is that it also installs it as "drivers only" (you don't get to choose). Immediately it seems that everything works, the driver alert is gone, so right now my options are:

1. install ONLY the dGPU drivers (full install), and remind to not click/use the Adrenalin "update"
   (ignore the iGPU display driver alert/ disable it)
   or
2. install both drivers (drivers only), without Adrenalin.
   I'm not convinced that you wouldn't run into issues later, so I'm not sure if this is a good idea.

If this issue is affecting users that have both an AMD CPU (iGPU) and an AMD dGPU, and they don't notice it, well, there will be quite a few unhappy users, complaining about performance issues.

AFAIK, this is a bug (I already reported it), but if this is caused by that driver split Vega/Polaris & RDNA then IMO Adrenalin shouldn't even give you the option to "update" it, or at the very least make it clear that it's actually installing drivers for the iGPU, and that it may/will cause issues if you have an older dGPU.

At this point, trying anything else isn't very productive, so I will stop here, thanks for the suggestions.