AMD driver stopped working and has recovered

[ChrisZH]

So for some reason this only happens with my Radeon VII inside classic wow. This has never happened with anything else. I've tried DDU, I'm not updating to current driver. Not sure what's going on. Screen goes black and comes back but fps is like halved.

[BTGbullseye]

9 hours ago, ChrisZH said:

I'm not updating to current driver.

There's your problem right there...

[ChrisZH]

36 minutes ago, BTGbullseye said:

There's your problem right there...

I meant that the current driver 20.4.1 was causing it to be unstable. So I went back to the Microsoft certified 20.2.2 ... I like to be up to date on drivers ... But this only happens in WoW classic...

[BTGbullseye]

8 minutes ago, ChrisZH said:

I meant that the current driver 20.4.1 was causing it to be unstable.

20.4.1 isn't the current driver... 20.4.2 is, and the release notes show a bunch of crash/black screen fixes.

[ChrisZH]

36 minutes ago, BTGbullseye said:

20.4.1 isn't the current driver... 20.4.2 is, and the release notes show a bunch of crash/black screen fixes.

Hmm, well I was thinking of using DDU to get rid of everything from AMD and redownload the chipset drivers and gpu drivers to make sure everything is a fresh download to see what happens. I think it has the option to get rid of the AMD folder. I'm also wondering if it's my install of windows that might be messed up. I still need to update my mobo bios to 1408 from 1407. Maybe it has something to do with it as well, for stability issues?

[ChrisZH]

42 minutes ago, BTGbullseye said:

20.4.1 isn't the current driver... 20.4.2 is, and the release notes show a bunch of crash/black screen fixes.

Is there a way to check to see if something is bad with my windows install? Because this card worked perfectly fine in my other build before I made a new one. Idk how to troubleshoot what is causing these strange issues.

[ChrisZH]

Is there some kind of log where I can see why the driver stopped? I'm confused if it's the windows installation, or the driver download was corrupt or if my card is just going bad...

[BTGbullseye]

19 hours ago, ChrisZH said:

Hmm, well I was thinking of using DDU to get rid of everything from AMD and redownload the chipset drivers and gpu drivers to make sure everything is a fresh download to see what happens. I think it has the option to get rid of the AMD folder.

It's a good first step, though the AMD folder is just where it extracts the install files, and you can delete it manually with no ill effects. (it is not really used after installation)

19 hours ago, ChrisZH said:

I'm also wondering if it's my install of windows that might be messed up.

That is very possible. If DDU doesn't affect anything, and updating your BIOS doesn't either, wiping the drive and reinstalling Windows would be my next suggestion.

19 hours ago, ChrisZH said:

I still need to update my mobo bios to 1408 from 1407. Maybe it has something to do with it as well, for stability issues?

It is very possible.

19 hours ago, ChrisZH said:

Is there a way to check to see if something is bad with my windows install?

There are a few tools, but they have never found the critical Windows problems that I've had to deal with before, and I suspect they will just be a waste of time for you as well.

19 hours ago, ChrisZH said:

Because this card worked perfectly fine in my other build before I made a new one. Idk how to troubleshoot what is causing these strange issues.

It could be as simple as the programs your using right now having a slightly different version that doesn't like your GPU. (I have a similar issue with The Division 2, and running my GPU at above -15% power limit)

16 hours ago, ChrisZH said:

Is there some kind of log where I can see why the driver stopped? I'm confused if it's the windows installation, or the driver download was corrupt or if my card is just going bad...

Windows logging might have something in it, but I have very little experience with it since it has never in 20 years held valuable info for troubleshooting any problem I've had to deal with.

[ChrisZH]

34 minutes ago, BTGbullseye said:

It's a good first step, though the AMD folder is just where it extracts the install files, and you can delete it manually with no ill effects. (it is not really used after installation)

That is very possible. If DDU doesn't affect anything, and updating your BIOS doesn't either, wiping the drive and reinstalling Windows would be my next suggestion.

It is very possible.

There are a few tools, but they have never found the critical Windows problems that I've had to deal with before, and I suspect they will just be a waste of time for you as well.

It could be as simple as the programs your using right now having a slightly different version that doesn't like your GPU. (I have a similar issue with The Division 2, and running my GPU at above -15% power limit)

Windows logging might have something in it, but I have very little experience with it since it has never in 20 years held valuable info for troubleshooting any problem I've had to deal with.

Yea won't event viewer I only get some stuff like AMD user experience has stopped working and just a simple display driver has recovered. There is one thing that I know I did. I took my waterblock off for cleaning and redid the thermal paste and use fresh screws. Maybe I tightened a little too much? Would that do anything? I never tighten it past the point to where it requires a lot of force. Besides that the only thing I did was update BIOS for my ram OC and install drivers. I'm running at stock as well when this happens. I see 20.4.2 is out so I'll try ddu and install that and update BIOS after work and see what happens. If that doesn't work I'm gonna have to disassemble my hard line loop and reseat the CPU, and ram and gpu. Use air duster and make sure there is no dust in the sockets. I'm just really scratching my head at this because I love my Radeon VII, for my work that I do with programs and computing this card is great. If this doesn't solve I'm just gonna order a reference 2080S and put a block on that...

[Xkillerpn]

1 - DDU

2 - Get must up to date optional drivers

3 - Games like WOW just use the card in Powersaver mode you will be happy with the powerbill.

[ChrisZH]

34 minutes ago, Xkillerpn said:

1 - DDU

2 - Get must up to date optional drivers

3 - Games like WOW just use the card in Powersaver mode you will be happy with the powerbill.

Well it only happens in classic. Never had it happen in retail wow or any other games.

[BTGbullseye]

12 minutes ago, ChrisZH said:

Well it only happens in classic. Never had it happen in retail wow or any other games.

Could easily be that Blizzard has a bad piece of code... That can cause it. (the same way The Division 2 does for me)

[ChrisZH]

2 hours ago, BTGbullseye said:

Could easily be that Blizzard has a bad piece of code... That can cause it. (the same way The Division 2 does for me)

Yea didn't think of that. But anyways since a new driver is out I should ddu and install anyways to see. While it only does that in game I do have these black lines or streaks and/or flickering randomly on desktop when it never did before. So I'm getting really frustrated now with this card and AMD. They seem to never want to actually fix their drivers..

[BTGbullseye]

1 hour ago, ChrisZH said:

Yea didn't think of that. But anyways since a new driver is out I should ddu and install anyways to see. While it only does that in game I do have these black lines or streaks and/or flickering randomly on desktop when it never did before. So I'm getting really frustrated now with this card and AMD. They seem to never want to actually fix their drivers..

It may not be the drivers if that's a symptom. That actually sounds like the card may be overheating, or getting over/undervolted too far for stability. It could even be a Windows update that borked everything. (can't tell you how many times that's happened since I moved to Win10)

[ChrisZH]

2 hours ago, BTGbullseye said:

It may not be the drivers if that's a symptom. That actually sounds like the card may be overheating, or getting over/undervolted too far for stability. It could even be a Windows update that borked everything. (can't tell you how many times that's happened since I moved to Win10)

If I tightened around the GPU die too much could it cause something like this? I was thinking of taking it out and checking maybe tomorrow.

[BTGbullseye]

16 hours ago, ChrisZH said:

If I tightened around the GPU die too much could it cause something like this? I was thinking of taking it out and checking maybe tomorrow.

It'd be more likely to happen if you tightened it unevenly, similar to how threadripper works. Though if you're not getting any thermal issues, then the only other possibility related to the tightening would be a chipped die, which is highly unlikely to remain functioning at all, so probably not the case.

[ChrisZH]

8 hours ago, BTGbullseye said:

It'd be more likely to happen if you tightened it unevenly, similar to how threadripper works. Though if you're not getting any thermal issues, then the only other possibility related to the tightening would be a chipped die, which is highly unlikely to remain functioning at all, so probably not the case.

Yea but other than that idk what I did. The only other thing would be drivers, windows install, ram, or maybe it's not socketed well enough. 

[BTGbullseye]

3 minutes ago, ChrisZH said:

Yea but other than that idk what I did. The only other thing would be drivers, windows install, ram, or maybe it's not socketed well enough. 

Or it could be entirely outside of your control, like your PSU giving out...

[ChrisZH]

39 minutes ago, BTGbullseye said:

Or it could be entirely outside of your control, like your PSU giving out...

Brand new Corsair 850 watt PSU... I doubt that but I guess it's possible..

[BTGbullseye]

58 minutes ago, ChrisZH said:

Brand new Corsair 850 watt PSU... I doubt that but I guess it's possible..

I agree that it's improbable, but it is entirely possible. I've had a few DOA, or failing on arrival PSUs before, even one that were known to be quality brands.

[ChrisZH]

1 hour ago, BTGbullseye said:

I agree that it's improbable, but it is entirely possible. I've had a few DOA, or failing on arrival PSUs before, even one that were known to be quality brands.

I mean I have custom cablemod cables for my PSU so I could be those by your logic right? It's a RM850x, a really good PSU. But all I know for sure is this never happened before I opened the card and changed pastes.

[BTGbullseye]

6 hours ago, ChrisZH said:

I mean I have custom cablemod cables for my PSU so I could be those by your logic right? It's a RM850x, a really good PSU. But all I know for sure is this never happened before I opened the card and changed pastes.

It's not going to be the cables, unless this only happens when you move the cables. The PSU however might have a weak 12v rail, which would explain the crashes quite well, though not the other symptoms. Most likely it is a thermal issue, or a damaged/dying chip on the GPU. (you can try undervolting the card to see if it's a thermal/power issue)

[ChrisZH]

4 hours ago, BTGbullseye said:

It's not going to be the cables, unless this only happens when you move the cables. The PSU however might have a weak 12v rail, which would explain the crashes quite well, though not the other symptoms. Most likely it is a thermal issue, or a damaged/dying chip on the GPU. (you can try undervolting the card to see if it's a thermal/power issue)

I know for a fact it is not a thermal issue, temps never get too high. It seems some of the problems happen less after upgrading to 20.4.2 driver release. I'm still gonna take it apart and check the chip itself. Really want to get to the bottom of this issue. From what I read online it seems a lot of users are having similar issues to me as well.

[BTGbullseye]

11 hours ago, ChrisZH said:

I know for a fact it is not a thermal issue, temps never get too high. It seems some of the problems happen less after upgrading to 20.4.2 driver release. I'm still gonna take it apart and check the chip itself. Really want to get to the bottom of this issue. From what I read online it seems a lot of users are having similar issues to me as well.

Well, it'd probably be a good time to replace the thermal paste then, since you'd have it apart. I've had great thermals using Prolimatech PK-3 on my 5700 XT reference blower...

[ChrisZH]

8 hours ago, BTGbullseye said:

Well, it'd probably be a good time to replace the thermal paste then, since you'd have it apart. I've had great thermals using Prolimatech PK-3 on my 5700 XT reference blower...

I'm using thermal grizzly, non conductive paste anyways so nothing bad there.