PC Drivers & Software

[epicwolverine]

I've wanted to update my drivers for quite a while now but any attempt to update past 19.5.2 eventually results in a nauseating flicker that persists until I reboot. I haven't pinned down exactly what causes it but it looks like it's certain effects in games or even common applications. I've filmed a video of causing the problem (apologies for the length): https://youtu.be/JTNwivSCaZo.

Relevant specs:

Windows 10 Home 64-bit (10.0, Build 18363)

Intel i5-4690

ASUS Radeon RX 580 DUAL-RX580-O8G

3x ViewSonic XG2401

I'm not the only person with this issue, but this discussion has no replies: Flicker screen after updating drivers adrenaline We both have multiple monitors and drivers after 19.5.2 are unstable.

I could continue to use 19.5.2 but I've begun to have other weird intermittent problems with certain games (especially CoD:MW) that I suspect are fixed in the current driver version. Thanks in advance!

[epicwolverine]

Since this doesn't seem to be getting any traction here, is there another forum or support site I can contact?

[xiatian]

There is a bug report form: http://www.amd.com/report 

Just do not expect much. I have the same issue with my Radeon VII which I bought because the flicker made me think my old HD7950 was fried…

[willbott]

epicwolverine‌ Did you ever manage to fix this? I have the same issue. If I roll back to 19.1.2 I have no issues - tried 19.9.2 really bad flicker issue. Went back to 19.1.2 no issue again. So figured it was a driver between 19.1.2 and 19.9.2 - so 19.5.2 makes perfect sense.

I get the issue with all versions of 2020...

Been on to AMD and ASUS - but no real joy. They seem to think it should work fine....

My system

MSI B450 Tomahawk Max - Mo Bo

Ryzen 5 3600 CPU

Asus RX580 OC 4GB GPU

2 x Philips 246E 1080p monitors (75hz)

16gb RAM

Really appreciate anything you managed to find out about this!

Will

[epicwolverine]

Indirectly, yes. My SSD died so I had to reinstall Windows and used the latest driver (20.4.2). I haven't had problems yet. Hopefully it doesn't manifest itself again in the next driver update

[willbott]

Thanks man. Looking at your video my issue is exactly the same! And I have an RX580 too. It's really odd as there is no issue on the older drivers - and for a while I was running 2020 fine. Then once the issue started no version of 2020 would get rid of it - only going back to like 19.1.2 fixes it for me. Sounds like I need to do a clean W10 install. Not really go the time to do it. Thanks for the help though - good to know there might be a fix. 

[willbott]

Drat! Full clean W10 install. 20.4.2 installed. Still got the flicker issue..... Dam! Back to 19.1.2 for me.....

[xiatian]

Sometimes after a complete reinstall (with repartitioning) the issue does not manifest for a few days but then it came back with a vengeance and crushed my hopes (cards tested are Radeon HD7950 and Radeon VII).

Does 19.5.2 not work for you?

[willbott]

Hi there

Thank you so much for replying.

19.5.2 works but W10 is now forcing an update on me - even if I block

hardware updates. So I either have to never update W10 again - or get

pushed on to the latest 2020 and the crazy bad flickering comes black....

I'm now in the process of having to reinstall everything on my computer AND

I have the flickering issue really bad..... Not great.

[kingfish]

https://community.amd.com/docs/DOC-2482 

[willbott]

Hi guys. Just had a bit of a play with this again and have discovered what seems like a "fix". If I set both monitors to 75hz I get the crazy flickering on any 2020 driver. However if I set my 2nd monitor to 60hz and keep my main one on 75hz NO FLICKERING at all.....!?! Not sure why that would be but it has fixed the problem for now. I can now watch fullscreen video and not a flicker to be seen. If anyone knows why this works I'd love to know! On the old drivers - say 19.1.2 I could run both at 75hz and no flickering. Something has changed in the drivers that makes it not like two ("extended") monitors running at 75hz when playing fullscreen video....?????

Now running 20.9.1 fine - just at 75hz and 60hz

epicwolverine‌

xiatian‌

kingfish‌

[xiatian]

Must be nice. I do not have any gaming monitors, so both are set to their maximum rate of 60 Hz.

[willbott]

Maybe try dropping your second monitor down to 59hz or 50hz...?

[epicwolverine]

Hmm I wonder if that was the real change. The other thing that changed with my setup is I'm only using one monitor at 144Hz at the moment, where I was previously using 3 at 144Hz.

[willbott]

Seems to be "a thing". I had no issues with one monitor at 75hz. Bad flicker with two at 75hz. No flicker with one at 75hz and one at 60hz. It's not "ideal" as on 19.1.2 I could run both at 75hz - but it's not bad as it's my secondary screen at 60hz so can't really notice any difference.

[willbott]

Interestingly I used to have a set up where one monitor had a max of 60hz - so that probably explains why I didn't notice the issue when it first occurred in the drivers. It's only since I've been running two at 75hz.

[willbott]

PS. I tried this on both DisplayPort's and HDMI - same result.