Blank screen after updating Radeon drivers past version 17.9.3

[mitchjones31]

Hi,

I'm having an issue with my graphics card where whenever I try to update my RX 480 Radeon drivers past version 17.9.3, my PC boots into a black screen and my monitors stop detecting input. I get past the BIOS screen, but the loading circle freezes at the Windows logo screen and then my screen goes black, my keyboard and mouse lights go off and then it sounds like my PC is trying to take off. To fix this, I have to boot into safe mode and use DDU to uninstall the faulty drivers. I cannot update to the most recent drivers while in safe mode because of a digital signature error. It is important to note that when the newer drivers are being installed, the bar will often freeze at a certain point (varies from 40% to 70%) and then my screen will turn off, before restarting my PC into the same blank screen cycle as I mentioned before. I haven't actually seen the progress bar reach 100% and prompt me to restart my PC, so I feel as though something is inhibiting its ability to install properly and this is what is causing the issue. AMD support have only gotten me to test a bunch of different driver versions, none of which actually work. I have tried installing the new drivers without an internet connection, with Defender turned off and with the Windows Firewall turned off. My BIOS is fully updated, as is Windows. I have also tried to install the drivers on both of my drives to see if it is a problem with one of my drives, but the problem persists. I don't exactly have the means to test my GPU in another system (which AMD support has suggested I try), but I do have my old motherboard and CPU that I can test this with if it could help. Although this is not ideal as it isn't really as powerful as my current CPU. This issue stops me from playing some newer games that I would really like to play, so I would really like some kind of fix that doesn't require me to get a new card or change to NVIDIA just for a working product.
Any potential solutions or help would be greatly appreciated.

Specs:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600
Motherboard: ASUS PRIME B350-PLUS
Ram: Kingston HyperX Fury (2x4GB) DDR4 2133mHz
SSD/HDD: SanDisk SSD PLUS 240GB (boot drive), WD Caviar Blue 1TB 7200RPM HDD
GPU: MSI Radeon RX 480 Gaming X 8GB
PSU: Antec 700W ATX (Bought in December 2016)
Chassis: Corsair Carbide SPEC-02 Mid Tower Case
OS: Windows 10 Home (v. 10.0.18362 Build 18362)

[Levent]

Have you tried reinstalling windows? Amd drivers are sketcky at best and combined with w10 it is a shit show. 

[KarathKasun]

9 minutes ago, Levent said:

Have you tried reinstalling windows? Amd drivers are sketcky at best and combined with w10 it is a shit show. 

I have similar issues with AMD and NV drivers... as in I havent had any real issues for years (at least in the context of RX 400/500).

 

Going to suggest a fresh Windows install if you are still on an install from pre 2017 though.  Several big updates have happened to Windows 10 since then, and a fresh install can fix some issues that arise from the windows update process.

[Master Disaster]

Agreed with the above posters, try a reinstall.

[KarathKasun]

Oh, if you do a fresh install, make an updated installer USB drive using the tool from the Microsoft website.

 

If you have to use an outdated installer, make sure to "check for updates" in Windows untill it does not suggest any updates before you install any drivers or software... aside from network drivers if you need them.  Make sure to have a copy of those on a flash drive just in case.