PC Graphics

[sarahlu]

Hello,

I am having problems with a new laptop and was wondering if anyone could help.  I am not a very technical person, so if I have not included any information in here please forgive me.

I am using an Acer Swift 3 with Ryzen 5 Processor and Vega 8 graphics.  I am repeatedly getting a blue screen error which says TDR failure (see screenshot).  This tends to happen when watching Youtube videos, although it happened this morning and no video was playing.  I have been in regular contact with the shop I bought from and Acer and on their advice I have done the following:

- Uninstalled and reinstalled graphics card

- Tried to update drivers (manually within device manager - says best drivers are already installed.  Also tried AMD detection utility - unable to find drivers)

- Updated BIOS

- Factory reset the laptop

The problem has not been resolved and they now say they don't know what else to try and advise I exchange or get a refund.  I would rather not do this as I'm happy with the laptop otherwise.  This is already the second one I've had, exchanged the first one due to other display related issues, although I wasn't getting a blue screen.

Another screenshot shows the current driver I have.  Is anyone aware of what might be causing this problem and how I can fix it?  If there is any more information I can provide please let me know.  If anyone knows how to fix it and can instruct me I would really appreciate it.

Thank you in advance

[jargon]

I don't trust Windows Update to provide the correct AMD drivers. I'm not sure which exact SF315 model you have but the VGA drivers should be all the same.

This is what I would do:

1. Download DDU​
2. Download the VGA driver from Acer's driver page
3. Shut off your laptop's Wifi and Ethernet
4. Uninstall AMD software from Add or Remove Programs
5. Run msconfig.exe from start menu, go to the Boot tab, and select Safe boot -> Minimal
6. Reboot system at prompt
7. Extract DDU and run it
8. Select the option for system shutdown after driver removal
9. Boot up the system after the system shuts down and install the VGA driver

[sarahlu]

Thank you, I will give that a try.

Will Windows update attempt to update the driver again in future and if so, should I turn that feature off?

[jargon]

You will probably face another AMD driver update from WU due to the recently announced integration of Raven Ridge drivers back into the regular AMD Adrenalin drivers. It would probably be more beneficial than detrimental if you disabled the Windows Update service through services.msc. When the new driver is ready, you can just download it from the AMD website and install it manually.

[sarahlu]

Thank  you, I have done all of the above.  I will monitor it over the next couple of days and see how I get on.

[sarahlu]

I have just had the blue screen again, same as before after doing all of the above yesterday.  Is there anything else I can try?

[jargon]

At this point I think you should try an exchange. That the support suggested getting an exchange or refund without offering to place you in contact with a more technically-experienced person could mean that your problem is known internally, but no solution is currently available. Perhaps this issue is specific to certain hardware, and not just the entire lineup. For all we know this could be a driver problem, but until a new driver is released you'll never know.

[sarahlu]

Had the blue screen another two times, both times I was playing an online slot game.

The only two things I can find that I haven't yet tried are changing the link state power management settings to "off" as explained here: https://www.xtremerain.com/fix-video-tdr-failure/   and adjusting the tdr setting as explained here Graphics driver stopped responding and has recovered....TDR fix

I haven't tinkered with anything yet as I don't really know what I'm doing.  Would you suggest giving either of these a try?

UPDATE:  Adjusting tdr setting to 8 did not work.  Will try changing the link state setting next, if that doesn't work it will have to go back

[Ray_AMD]

You can install the new driver available here : Radeon™ Software Adrenalin Edition 18.5.1 Release Notes

Note :  It is essential that you reboot the system after you install these drivers.

Please submit your feedback on any issues with this driver here.

[jargon]

Unfortunately 18.5.1 does not support mobile Ryzen processors, so she is out of luck.

[sarahlu]

Thank you for the help jargon​, I've now taken the laptop back and swapped it for something else.  I use it for work so couldn't deal with blue screens all day.  Thanks again.